ATM Education · Toolkit
The Tempest Toolkit
ToolkitPower, command, illusion, freedom, forgiveness, and the difficult act of giving up control.
Choose a pathway ↓At a Glance
Track who directs events, who obeys, who resists, and who is denied choice.
Ariel, Caliban, Prospero, and others all understand freedom differently.
Music, enchantment, spectacle, sleep, and staging alter what others can know and do.
The play ends with a choice about whether mastery itself can be surrendered.
Start Here
Begin with one task
Notice the first moment one character controls another character’s choices.
Do not decide yet:
- whether the control is justified
- whether the person using power is “good” or “bad”
- whether the outcome makes the method acceptable
Track only this:
Who has choice—and who does not?
Core Frame
Power shapes the island
Prospero does not simply live on the island. He organizes what happens there.
He can:
- summon a storm
- separate people
- direct Ariel
- punish Caliban
- test Ferdinand
- create spectacles
- control the timing of revelation
The play therefore asks more than whether Prospero uses power wisely.
It asks what happens to everyone else when one person has too much of it.
GETS TO CHOOSE? Command. Obedience. Resistance. Freedom. Release.
Choose One Pathway
Do not try to resolve the whole island at once. Follow one form of power through the play.
Work Through the Toolkit
Pathway I Command Who controls the terms of action?
Track Orders
Listen for direct commands.
- Who gives them?
- Who receives them?
- Who can refuse?
- What happens when someone resists?
Track Prospero
Prospero knows more than almost everyone around him and controls when information is revealed.
How does controlling knowledge become another form of power?
Track Miranda
Miranda is loved by Prospero, but she is also deeply managed by him.
Notice where care and control become difficult to separate.
Pathway II Bind What does it mean to belong to someone else?
Ariel
Ariel serves Prospero while repeatedly asking for promised freedom.
Is service freely given when release depends on the person being served?
Caliban
Caliban understands the island as his inheritance and Prospero as an occupier.
Track the language of ownership, labor, punishment, and possession around him.
The Island
Ask what it means to claim a place.
- Who names it?
- Who governs it?
- Who works on it?
- Who believes it belongs to them?
Pathway III Resist What happens when obedience becomes impossible?
Ariel’s Resistance
Ariel’s resistance is often verbal, strategic, and tied to promises.
Notice when Ariel reminds Prospero of obligations Prospero would prefer to control.
Caliban’s Resistance
Caliban’s resistance is angrier, more direct, and often punished.
How does the play invite us to judge different forms of resistance?
Comic Rebellion
Stephano and Trinculo parody political ambition while joining Caliban’s attempt to overthrow Prospero.
What becomes visible when rebellion becomes comic?
Pathway IV Enchant Beauty can delight—and direct.
Track Spectacle
Notice when sound, music, movement, apparition, or illusion changes what a character believes is happening.
Prospero as Director
Prospero stages encounters, controls entrances, manages timing, and creates emotional effects.
When does theatre inside the play become a form of coercion?
Wonder and Threat
The island can feel beautiful and dangerous at the same time.
Track moments when enchantment makes control easier to overlook.
Pathway V Forgive What can mercy repair—and what remains?
Prospero’s Enemies
Prospero chooses not to destroy the people who betrayed him.
Ask what changes because he does not complete the revenge he has prepared.
Uneven Remorse
Not everyone responds to forgiveness with equal remorse.
Does forgiveness require repentance?
Unrepaired Harm
Reconciliation does not automatically restore what was taken from Ariel or Caliban.
What remains unresolved when the nobles prepare to leave?
Pathway VI Release What becomes possible when mastery ends?
Freeing Ariel
Ariel’s freedom has been promised throughout the play.
Notice what changes when the promise finally becomes action.
Renouncing Magic
Prospero’s final transformation requires giving up the very power that enabled him to control the island.
Why might surrendering power require more strength than using it?
Beginning Again
The ending does not erase betrayal, occupation, servitude, or harm.
It creates a threshold.
Ask what each character may now be able to do that was impossible while Prospero controlled the story.