The Importance of Act 1,Scene -1 of The Tempest /The Dramatic Significance of Act 1,Scene-1, of The Tempest

                                                 The  Importance Of  Opening  Scene Of   THE TEMPEST

The opening scene of  Shakespeare's  play  THE  TEMPEST  is dramatically significant.The  Tempest begins with a storm or tempest where as in many other plays, the opening scene begins with a conversation.It is the tempest which renders the play its charm and also supplies it with the atmosphere and lends it the scope for the necessary action.The opening scene also provides the play with thrill and is thus successful in catching the attention of the audience.This scene helps the play to shape its intended course.The desire for revenge burning in the heart of  Prospero would not have been satisfied if there had been no tempest in the opening scene.It is the tempest which is instrumental in bringing Prospero's enemies to this uninhabited island.
       
        The play The Tempest, suggestive of its name opens with a storm and the audience finds a royal fleet tossing in the storm.The royal ship,which has on board  many dignitaries ,is in peril.There is a state of complete chaos.The master of the boat issuing orders to his mariners,the boatswain,tense and in a nasty mood is doing his best to save the ship .Alonso, the king of Naples ,Sebastian,his brother,Antonio,the duke of Milan and some high ranking nobles are in the royal ship.The violent tempest has brought them to the deck of the ship.All of them seem to be panic-stricken,Gonzalo a lord or counsellor however seems to have maintained his calm and has not lost his sense of humor even in the face of imminent death.The perilous situation brings out the worst in Sebastian and Antonio as they engage in a verbal duel with the boatswain. Unable to restrain himself,Sebastian curses the boatswain.."A pox o' your throat,you bawling,blasphemous ,incharitable dog.'Antonio uses more abusives as he yells at the boatswain  'Hang cur!Hang,you whore son,insolent noisemaker'
 The panic and pandemonium in the ship heightens to such a level  that the passengers throw themselves into the sea to save their lives.

         The opening scene also throws light on a profound truth that death and calamities are great levellers and bring the prince and the pauper to the same platform.Thus the boatswain doesn't think of the king but himself when he gives his best efforts to save the ship from being wrecked.Thus  he answers Gonzalo..."None that I love more than myself,"when the latter reminds him of the presence of the important persons on the ship.
                 
                            The opening scene is also remarkable for another reason.It again shows the skill and mastery of Shakespeare and his knowledge of the marine terms and the language  used by the mariners.Shakespeare has used his marine vocabulary very aptly and with great accuracy.
         "Heigh my hearts;cheerly,cheerly my hearts!
           Yare,Yare!take in the topsail...."
                     
                              The main drama takes place in this opening scene .Nature does not care for royal personage,thus the boatswain speaks out...
   "What cares these roarers for the name of the King?"

    The skillful use of language and punctuations have made the scene very dramatic. "All lost!To prayers,to prayers" highlighting a great sense of loss and arousing the imaginative powers of the audience to visualise the storm and its effects on the passengers.

        The opening scene with its thunder and lightning,noise and cries of the passengers and mariners,shouts and curses of the peerage have been succesful in capturing the attention of the audience and they are suspense and dying to know what follows....   

Compare Ariel and Caliban

                                                    CALIBAN AND ARIEL

In  Shakespearre's play THE TEMPEST ,we come across a strange creation  CALIBAN,who has been labelled as one of Shakespearre,s masterpiece by critics.

  Caliban has been wonderfully portrayed as a creature of nature,an embodiment of all that is gross and earthy.he is 'freckled,' 'a misshapen knave 'not  honoured with a human shape.He is the son of a wicked witch  Sycorax who had been banished from Algiers for her evil practices.It is said that Caliban had been fathered by the Devil  himself,as such ,he is all that is brutish,evil,ugly and stinking .Trinculo,when he finds Caliban ,calls him"A strange fish...legged like a man"Prospero,his master calls him a tortoise, a fish, and a beast.In Act 5 Scene 1,Prospero calls him "a misshapen knave"

Caliban is  brutal and savage and considers himself to be the rightful heir of this island and regards Prospero as the usurper.He is filled with intense hatred for his master Prospero and even ,conspires to kill Prospero  for treating him cruelly.He is arrogant ,vicious and ungrateful with no print of goodness in him and 'capable of all ill'

    

   Ariel another servant of Prospero on the hand  serves as a perfect contrast to Caliban. Ariel has been regarded as a unique creation of Shakespearre. Ariel is a link between the two worlds--the human and the supernatural,thus he is a perfect blend of the natural and the supernatural.Ariel is a spirit of the air.However ,he is equally at home in all the spheres.He performs incredible tasks promptly  at the orders of Prospero.He can change his shape when needed to perform his tasks,the best example being that of the Harpy(Act 3,Scene3).Though Ariel is a spirit ,he has human qualities.He is devoted to Prospero and is happy on being complimented.However like every living being ,he longs for freedom and thus sulks when Prospero tells him"there's more work..."and  says "Is there more toil?" 

           Caliban and Ariel,  both serve Prospero who is their master but they are poles apart. Caliban is is ugly, a savage ,disobedient and arrogant where as Ariel who is  invisible to all others except Prospero is grateful and servile.There is a marked difference in their relation to their master,Prospero. .Ariel  is faithful and eager to please Prospero. He is the right hand of  Prospero and serves him in the same way as FRIDAY  serves  Robinson Crusoe in Daniel Defoe's novel  "Robinson Crusoe"On the other hand,Caliban hates Prospero as he feels that Prospero has usurped the island which Caliban had inherited from his mother Sycorax. His hatred is so deep rooted that he conspires to get rid of Prospero with the help of Stephano and Trinculo. The only similarity between Ariel  and Caliban is perhaps in their longing to be free.Both Ariel  and Caliban  long for freedom  but their way to achieve it as different as jet and ivory.Ariel hopes to get his freedom by following the orders of Prospero in verbatim where as Caliban tries to get it by hatching a conspiracy .Freedom to Ariel means being his own master where as to Caliban it means a change from one  master to another.Thus Caliban's idea of freedom is as shallow as he himself is.Nature wise also,they  are a stricking contrast to the other.Ariel is intelligent and more human where as Caliban is brutal and beastly.Thus we can conclude by saying that Ariel is symbolic of the goodness and nobility in man,while Caliban stands for all that is wicked and foul.