| Soliliquy | The soliliquy requires that the character must think that he is alone on stage, as he reveals to the audience what he is really thinking. This is not often used inn The Tempest but Prospero still uses this device most notably in Act V when he tells the audience what he has accomplished with the helped of magic and that soon he would no longer have use for such devices. |
| Aside | Shakespeare also frequently employs the aside, in which the character addresses the audience, but other characters do not hear these words. There is a suggestion of conspiracy in the aside, which allows the audience to learn details that most of the characters on stage do not know. For example, Miranda uses an aside in Act I, Scene ii, when she confides to the audience her concern for her father. The aside is usually assumed to be truthful.The aside also has a dramatic effect as it builds suspense and tension but also keeps the audience engrossed in the play. Asides can also be be used for characters to comment on the actions as it unfolds. Though Prospero has many asides, his language rarely gives direct access to his thoughts. He tells stories, gives orders, comments on the action, and he renounces his magic in long, spell-like speeches. |
| Masque | A form of drama that is found midway between a regular play and a pageant, combining the characters and action of a story with the elaborateness and display of a public celebration. It is characterized by the use of mythological creatures, unusual scenery, clothing and apparel, impressive dialogues, song, music and dance.The first masque takes place forest while members of the court are lost and a harpy is introduced into the play. This mythological creature was used to peak the audience’s interest. The second masque occurs in Act IV. Prospero puts on this masque for entertainment and he invited Goddesses to bless Miranda and Ferdinand’s engagement and to ensure that the two remain pure until marriage. he ensured that Venus and Cupid were not invited because they were associated with passionate physical love and would thus contradict Prospero’s warning to Ferdinand. |
| Similie | A similie compares one thing to another using the words ‘as’ or ‘like’ . For example, Trinculo exclaims that Caliban ‘smells like a fish’. Ariel compares Gonzalo’s weeping to rain falling from a thatched rook: ‘ His tears run down his beard like winter’s drops/ From eaves of reeds’. |
| Metaphor | A metaphor is also a comparison, suggesting that two dissimilar things are the same. Prospero describes the leaky boat in which he and Miranda were set a drift as ‘ A rotten carcass of a butt’ . His image for the tears he wept on the voyage becomes ‘ I have decked the sea with drops of salt’. |
The Tempest- Major literary devices
July 12, 2019