Images of the fierce and powerful sea are prevalent in Shakespeare's The Tempest. The play opens with a terrible storm at sea, and all the subsequent action takes place on an island which, by definition, is surrounded by the ocean on all sides. The threatening force of the sea is evident from the beginning of the first act, when the boatswain incongruously challenges Gonzalo to "use [his] authority" against the storm (Ii18). Emphasizing that no one, not even a royal advisor, has power over the sea, the boatswain emphasizes the irresistible force of the sea. The language used by the characters to describe the ocean also alludes to its threatening power. In Act II, scene I (114) Francisco describes Ferdinand's swim to the shore by saying that he "conquered the waves...whose enmity he cast aside [to remain above the] contentious waves." By personifying the sea as a malevolent adversary, Francisco testifies to its overwhelming power. In light of these and other descriptions, the sea appears to be a symbol of the powerful and vicious power of nature. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Because of its prevalence and power, the sea constantly reminds the characters and the audience that man is helpless and insignificant in the eyes of nature. Throughout The Tempest the vast images of the ocean speak to the vulnerability of man, regardless of his position in society. However, it makes no sense in the play when the ocean actually harms someone. Indeed, one of the individuals shipwrecked in the scene's storm is noted to have his clothes appear "rather freshly dyed than salt-water stained." (II.i.62; Gonzalo) This observation raises some questions about the dramatic function of the ocean. After all, if the vision of a stormy sea is meant to illustrate man's weakness, why doesn't it cause physical harm to anyone? To answer this question and fully understand the role of the sea in The Tempest we must look at the passage in Act I, scene ii in which Ariel sings to Ferdinand about her drowned father. The song, which begins "Full fathom five", is about a man killed at sea; even if the public knows that the man described is still alive. By analyzing this passage in light of the actual events of the play we come to see that the sea is an instrument of change and rebirth rather than death. Specifically, by making the characters aware of their own insignificance, the powerful sea forces them to reevaluate their lives. In this light the "epochal change" that Ariel sings about can be understood as a rebirth rather than a gruesome death. Throughout the work the ocean serves as a testament to people's vulnerability. From the first scene, the audience is clearly shown that man's greatest powers are useless in the face of the might of nature. Aboard the troubled ship are two of society's most powerful members; the King of Naples and the Duke of Milan, Alonzo and Antonio respectively. But it doesn't take long for the audience to realize that all their "power" is meaningless. In line 15 of Act I, scene i, the boatswain scolds Alonzo and Antonio for bothering him during the storm at sea. "When there is the sea. So! What does the name of the king matter to these roarers?" The boatswain knows that angry waves have no sense of a person's rank or position. By making this observation the Boatswain highlights the futility of society's concern with status and position. According to the boatswain's warning, when the boat splits at the end of the scene, Alonzo and Antonio end up overboard just like everyone else on board the ship. Apparently, the shipwreck of thefirst act that strands Alonzo, Antonio and the rest of the ship's passengers is not an accident. The audience soon learns that Prospero, who inhabits the barren island where the survivors find themselves, masterminded the entire storm and subsequent shipwreck. Prospero is Antonio's older brother, and therefore the legitimate Duke of Milan. Antonio deprived Prospero of his dukedom (with Alonzo's help) twelve years before the start of the play, putting him into the sea from where he eventually arrived on the island. Later in the play, while searching for his son Ferdinand, Alonzo complains that "the sea mocks our frustrated search on land." Once again the sea is personified as an evil enemy, which dares to ridicule the king's desperate search for his only son. Once again the audience is shown that anyone, even the king of Naples, is insignificant compared to the ferocious sea. But what about Prospero's relationship with the sea? After all, how can the ocean make Prospero feel helpless and unimportant if it can control him? To see that Prospero is as subject to the will of the sea as all the men who were on the ship, we need only look at his description of his journey to the island. “They prepared a rotten carcass of a butt… [and] there they hoisted us up to shout at the sea that roared towards us,” he explains to his daughter (I.ii.145). His story presents the public with the image of a totally helpless man, holding his baby and crying as he drifts in a small boat in the middle of the vast and indifferent sea. Equally pitiful is Prospero's memory of having "decorated the sea with drops full of salt". What could be more useless than crying in the ocean? These lines demonstrate that there is no one in The Tempest who is not rendered helpless by the ferocious sea. While everyone in the play is subject to the ferocious power of the sea, there is not a single character who is harmed by the ocean waves. We can be sure of this because Ariel, Prospero's spirit/nymph assistant, assures his master that "not a hair died" in the wreck of the ship. Why then is it so important for the characters to recognize their insignificance compared to the vast ocean? Why are there so many images of the sea that don't help advance the plot? We can answer these questions, and better understand the meaning of the play, by looking at Ariel's song to Ferdinand in Act I, Scene ii. This key passage is sung to Ferdinand as he wonders about the island looking for his father Alonzo, who Ferdinand assumes is dead. Full fathom five song your father lies. Of his bones are made of coral; Those are pearls that were his eyes; Nothing about him vanishing, but he undergoes a sea change, into something rich and strange. The sea nymphs ring his death knell every hour: (I.ii.400) Immediately after hearing this song, Ferdinand assumes that he has heard the story of his father's death, "the little song recalls my drowned father." But the public had already been told that no one was injured in the wreck. In fact, the next scene opens with Alonzo searching for Ferdinand on the island. So what is the purpose of this song? To understand this we need to look more closely at the song itself and the narrative of what happens to Alonzo while he is on the island. The first three lines of “full fathom five” definitely suggest the image of a person drowned in water. ocean and whose body was later taken by sea creatures. But since we know that Alonzo is still alive we must continue to look at the passage to see if any other interpretation is logical. Line four seems to suggest that Alonzo is actually alive, as there is "nothing about him that fades away." In light of this interpretation, the song seems to be about a sort offundamental change, as described in points five and six. Unfortunately this interpretation leaves two important questions unanswered; What is the nature of the "epochal change"? and why is the ocean the central image of Ariel's song? To answer these questions we need only look at Alonzo's story. Everything we know about Alonzo before he was on the island comes from what the audience hears of Prospero's story or what they see of him in the storm scene of the first act. from Prospero is that Alonzo was part of Antonio's plot to rob Prospero of his dukedom. What we see in the scene is that Alonzo expects to be treated like royalty, even as a violent storm threatens the lives of everyone around him. Both accounts suggest that Alonzo is a power-hungry villain who values ​​position and deference above all else. However, as the show progresses, our opinion of Alonzo changes a lot. As she searches for her son on the island, she repeatedly wishes she could give her life in exchange for her son's. This implies that he has come to understand the value of family over position. Likewise, when Alonzo finally sees Prospero, he immediately promises to return his dukedom to him. Showing the audience once again that Alonzo is not the evil man he once was. In light of this tale it is suddenly quite easy to answer the questions raised by "full fathom five". The "sea change" Ariel sings about refers to Alonzo's transformation from a power-hungry tyrant to a loving father and honest man. The sea is the central image of the song, because only after the sea forced him to recognize his own insignificance and impotence was Alonzo able to reinvent himself. The implication is that we must be aware of our vulnerability to have a clear understanding of who we are. In The Tempest it is the sea that provides the characters with this sense of impotence and insignificance. In fact this theme of "epochal change" affects many of the characters in this love story. Antonio sees him transform from a confident duke to a humble subject and although he is different it is just another example of Alonzo's sea change. Specifically, Antonio changes because he cannot bear the pressure that the situation at sea has created for him. Antonio attempts to kill Alonzo, proving that he cannot be trusted and that he is a bad leader. It is because he has not successfully endured the situation that the sea has placed him in the audience and he feels that it is right for him to lose the dukedom to Prospero by the end of the play. Prospero himself undergoes a change, but his is very different from that of his brother. Antonio succeeded in taking power away from Prospero, because Prospero was more interested in studying than in governing. He himself says, "My library was quite a large ducat," when he tells his daughter about his life in Milan (I.ii.109). The Prospero we see in The Tempest is an excellent ruler who seems to be aware of everything that happens in his kingdom. When Ariel asks about his freedom in Act II, Prospero uses just the right mix of pleading and intimidation to ensure he stays focused on the task at hand. This type of rhetoric is clearly political skill. And later, when Prospero's evil servant plots to kill him, Prospero has everything in his hands. He is able to ensure that the plot fails and punishes the offenders. Finally, in Act V Prospero promises that he will bury his book "to certain depths of the earth, and deeper than sound ever fell." This appears to be a total rejection of the life he led when he ruled Milan. The implication is that Prospero will now return home to be a ruler.