Structured Questions and Answers from The Tempest Act 3 Scene 3 by William Shakespeare
Questions Answers from Passages of The Tempest Act 3 Scene 3
Passages from The Tempest Act 3 Scene 3
Who am myself attach'd with weariness
To th' dulling of my spirits. Sit down and rest.
Even here I will put off my hope, and keep it
No longer for my flatterer. He is drown'd
Whom thus we stray to find, and the sea mocks
Our frustrate search on land. Well, let him go.
1. Who is called 'Old lord'? Why does not Alonso blame him?
Answer
Gonzalo is called 'Old lord'. Alonso himself is bone-weary, after the long walk on the island, so he says that Gonzalo who is much older than him, cannot be blamed if he wants to take rest.
2. Bring out the context of the extract.
Answer
Seeing Gonzalo tired, Alonso says that he cannot blame him for he is older than him. Alonso says that he himself is weary and desperate. He is losing hope and adds that their search is fruitless for his son is drowned in the sea and they have to give up.
3. Why does Alonso say that he will no longer keep hope his flatterer?
Answer
Alonso has searched for his son all along the island and has now lost hope and will not allow it to tempt him to believe otherwise.
4. What does Antonio say to Sebastian soon after?
Answer
Antonio says that he is glad Alonso is tired and dejected. He tells Sebastian that failure of the earlier attempt to kill Alonso should not disappoint him and shake his resolve to kill him.
5. What decision do they make at this time?
Answer
They decide to kill Alonso and Gonzalo that night itself; since they are tired by travel and will not be so alert as when they are fresh.
6. What surprising event takes place immediately after this conversation?
Answer
Immediately after this, several figures come and serve a banquet to the accompaniment of solemn and strange music. They dance around the tables and with gentle actions courteously invite the king and others to feast.
7. Give the meanings of the words as they are used in the context of the passage:
attached; duling; frustrate
Answer
Attach'd - taken hold of,
seized Dulling - exhaustion
Frustrate - unsuccessful, fruitless
2. Sebastian :
A living drollery! Now I will believe
That there are unicorns; that in Arabia
There is one tree, the phoenix' throne, one phoenix
At this hour reigning there.
1. Who is Sebastian? Who all are here present?
Answer
Sebastian is the brother of Alonso who aspires to be the King of Naples. Alonso, Antonio, Gonzalo, and a few others are present at the scene.
2. What is meant by living drollery?
Answer
A living drollery means a live puppet show. This refers to the spirits serving feast at Prospero's command.
3. Explain the meaning of the extract.
Answer
Sebastian says that after seeing the magic events, he is willing to believe in legends like the existence of Unicorns and the Phoenix in Arabia.
4. How does Antonio respond to his speech?
Answer
Antonio says that will also believe whatever strange things that happen. Now he believes that whatever travellers say is true, whereas the ones who stay home are fools to condemn them.
5. What comment does Gonzalo make regarding the islanders?
Answer
Gonzalo says that when he would tell the people of Naples about this strange episode, and the creatures on the island, they will refuse to believe. The islanders may look like monsters but, they are gentler than any other human beings.
6. Give the meanings of the words as they are used in the context of the passage:
living; phoenix; reign
Answer
Living - live
Phoenix - a unique mythological bird
Reign - rule
3. Gonzalo :
Faith, sir, you need not fear. When we were boys,
Who would believe that there were mountaineers
Dewlapp'd like bulls, whose throats had hanging at 'em
Wallets of flesh?- or that there were such men
Whose heads stood in their breasts?—which now we find
Each putter-out of five for one will bring us
Good warrant of
1. Bring out the context of the extract.
Answer
Gonzalo, Alonso, and others are resting and a banquet appears before them as though by magic. Gonzalo says this may be real like the tourists narration of strange creatures. Earlier, if people heard there were beings with fleshy necks like those of bulls or there were people with their heads in their chests, they would not have believed but, the truth is that such people exist.
2. What magical thing happens when they decide to have the banquet?
Answer
Thunder and lightning fill the air and Ariel in the form of a Harpy, claps his wings on the table, and strangely the banquet disappears.
3. What appearance does Ariel take at this point? Where is Prospero now?
Answer
Ariel takes the form of a Harpy, a strange-looking bird and Prospero in an invisible form is standing nearby.
4. What does Ariel say?
Answer
Ariel addresses them as three men of sin whom Destiny made the sea to throw them up on the island with no inhabitants. He has made them mad which may drive them to desperate acts like suicide.
5. Give the meanings of the words as they are used in the context of the passage:
mountaineer; dewlapp'd; warrant
Mountaineer - mountain-dweller
Dewlapp'd - lumps of flesh around the neck
Warrant - proof
4. Ariel :
You fools! I and my fellows
Are ministers of Fate—the elements
Of whom your swords are temper'd may as well
Wound the loud winds, or with bemock'd-at stabs
Kill the still closing waters, as diminish
One dowl that's in my plume. My fellow ministers
Are like invulnerable. If you could hurt,
Your swords are now too massy for your strengths,
And will not be uplifted.
1. Whom does Ariel call "You fools"? Why?
Answer
Ariel addresses Alonso, Antonio and Sebastian. He calls them "You fools” as they think they can attack agents of Fate. Just as they cannot cut wind or water with their swords made of a base material, they cannot harm a single feather of his wing.
2. How does he introduce himself and his companions?
Answer
He introduces himself and others as agents of Fate who have come to settle certain matters. They are invulnerable, and the heavy swords of the attackers cannot be lifted by them or used against the spirits.
3. What does he say about Prospero?
Answer
Ariel says that Alonso and others have usurped Prospero from the throne of Milan and exposed him and his innocent daughter to the dangers of the sea. For this. Heaven wants to punish them. So the Gods have turned the sea, the shore and all living things against them. Alonso has been deprived of his son, and through Ariel, will wreak endless agony on all of them. If they want to escape torture, they should genuinely repent and decide to live a sinless life.
4. How do Prospero praise Ariel and his fellow spirits?
Answer
Prospero says Ariel has brilliantly executed the character of the Harpy. It was with grace that he made the banquet disappear, without deviating from any of his instructions. The assisting spirits also performed their duties with utter finesse and they should also be praised.
5. What does Prospero say about his charms? What is he planning to do, at this point of time?
Answer
Prospero says his magic has started working and his enemies are lost and confused. They are now completely under his control. He is planning to leave them in their confused state and visit Ferdinand and Miranda.
6. Give the meanings of the words as they are used in the context of the passage:
bemock'd; plume; massy
Bemock'd - mocked, derided
Plume - feather
Massy - colossal, heavy
5. Alonso : O, it is monstrous, monstrous!
Methought the billows spoke and told me of it,
The winds did sing it to me; and the thunder,
That deep and dreadful organ-pipe, pronounc'd
The name of Prosper: it did bass my trespass.
Therefore my son i' th' ooze is bedded; and
I'll seek him deeper than e'er plummet sounded,
And with him there lie mudded.
1. What is referred to as monstrous?
Answer
The supernatural voice of Ariel blaming them and threatening them is referred to as monstrous. Alonso felt that the air is resounding with the strange voice.
2. Give the meaning of: "The name of ______ lie mudded".
Answer
The waves and thunder conveyed the word 'Prospero' in a supernatural voice resembling the tone of an organ. Heavy with guilt, he feels that he has lost his son as a punishment but, he will search for him deeper than the plummet can go and lie in the mud with him.
3. What did the bellows and thunder speak?
Answer
Alonso says that the thunder roared the name of Prospero and sang about Alonso's crimes and because of his crimes conveying that he lost his son because of his criminal deeds.
4. What does Gonzalo say about the three desperate wrong doers?
Answer
Gonzalo says that the three of them are as desperate as their great guilt, like a poison that affects slowly, begins to trouble their minds.
5. How is the theme of revenge fulfilled here?
Answer
Prospero, with his magic skills, produces a storm in the sea when Alonso and others are coming from Tunis. He makes them shipwrecked but saves them to undergo mental agony and fear. They are made to go through some supernatural experiences which make them almost mad. Alonso thinks that his son is swallowed by the sea and is desperate. They are made to feel guilty.
6. Give the meanings of the words as they are used in the context of the passage:
monstrous; billows; plummet
Monstrous - horrible
Billows - Clouds
Plummet - weighted line used for measuring the depth of water