Genre
Drama
Language
French, translated into English
Setting and Context
An unspecified island in the Caribbean
Narrator and Point of View
There is a Master of Ceremonies only in the very beginning, but they do not narrate.
Tone and Mood
Dramatic, meta-theatrical at times, political, postcolonial
Protagonist and Antagonist
Caliban is the primary protagonist, Prospero the antagonist
Major Conflict
The major conflict of the plot is Prospero's enslavement of Caliban and Ariel. Caliban wants to resist his colonial subjugation by force, and struggles to find ways to gain the upper hand in his relationship to his master.
Climax
At the end of the play, Ariel is freed, and the rest of the characters plan to return to Naples.
Foreshadowing
Understatement
Ariel, in accepting his fate as a colonial subject, understates the injustice of his situation.
Allusions
Allusions to Roman mythology, to West African mythology, to postcolonial theory.
Imagery
The tempest, the island, the masks, moments of supernatural events.
Paradox
When Ariel is finally freed as a reward for his good behavior, he seems not to know how to be an independent entity, as if he has completely ceded his identity to his position as a colonial subject.
Parallelism
Being both of them slaves to Prospero, Ariel and Caliban are parallels for one another, though they are very different in their respective approaches to enslavement.
Personification
Use of Dramatic Devices
Uses of soliloquy, meta-theatrical breaking of the "fourth wall"
