Ariel And Caliban In Shakespeare's The Tempest

In the play “The Tempest there is always a presence of hierarchy but none is more persistent than the hierarchy between Prospero and his minions Ariel and Caliban. The hierarchy in a way distinguishes which of the three characters is more powerful than the other,The three times the hierarchy was prevalent during the play was when Miranda asked Prospero why he caused the tempest that caused the shipwreck, then there was when Ariel managed to divert Caliban, Trinculo and Stephano from murdering Prospero and finally when Caliban is stuck collecting wood and mistakes Trinculo for one of Prospero’s spirits. The first time one of the characters asserted their position in the hierarchy was in Act one Scene 2 when, Miranda said “ If by you art, my …show more content…
Though it is never revealed where Ariel gets his powers that helped him throughout the course of this play it was certain that there might be a little correlation between his singing and his ability to hypnotize Caliban and his “friends” or alert Gonzalo without him knowing that he was in danger considering this seemed to show him at his most powerful due to everything in these particular situations coming out perfectly. Ariel must have been a way for Shakespeare to give the audience some comedy due to his participation in one of the funniest situations which was again when he leaned Caliban and the other drunks to swamp like waters and made them dance/move without their …show more content…
Which meant he mistook Trinculo for one of Prospero’s spirits to get him back on track since he was not doing a very good job of collecting wood. Even though this situation might show Caliban as a scared victim trying to defy Prospero, he has showed from the very beginning that he was evil and deeply resents Prospero. The main reason that Caliban resents Prospero for is that he feels that he treated him like a father and showed him the qualities of the island and that then Prospero stole it from him and is using him as a slave. Nevertheless if Caliban had never tried to assault Miranda and then have no remorse for it afterwards, is what led to Prospero’s harsher treatment towards him. Even though Caliban was the son of a witch it is never shown or mentioned that he had any power/s. It is showed more often that he has the slave like mentality so engraved that when he met Stephano and he gave him alcohol, it was like a puppy changing its owner since that small gesture prompt him to swear allegiance to Stephano. This shows that in a hierarchy Caliban is and always will be in the bottom or in last