AQA GCSE in English Literature · Free · no account needed
The Tempest key quotes: every quotation analysed
36 quotations from The Tempest (William Shakespeare), each with its speaker and scene, what the words are doing, the techniques at work and how to use it in a AQA GCSE English Literature essay. By character: Prospero (12), Caliban (12), Ariel (6), Miranda (6). Indexed by theme below.
A quotation is worth marks only when it is exact and doing work. The Tempest is examined on 8702 Paper 1, Section A — Shakespeare (closed book; a printed extract, then the play as a whole), and what scores is the analysis. Every entry here gives the analysis first: read the quotation, then the line on what it is doing, then close the page and say it back. The character studies linked from each section carry the readings and essay arguments the quotations serve; the Grade 9 Notes hold the whole text.
By theme
Magic, illusion and theatre (11) · Colonisation and ownership (10) · Freedom and servitude (10) · Power and control (8) · Forgiveness and revenge (6)
Prospero — 12 quotations
Prospero: character analysis, readings and essay arguments →
“Dost thou attend me?”
Prospero · Act 1, Scene 2
What it is doing. He keeps checking that Miranda is listening to his story.
Techniques. Rhetorical question
In an essay. Show his control extending even to how his story is received.
Themes: Power and control
“my library / Was dukedom large enough”
Prospero · Act 1, Scene 2
What it is doing. He admits he preferred books to governing.
Techniques. Metaphor
In an essay. Argue that his neglect enabled the usurpation.
Themes: Power and control · Magic, illusion and theatre
“If thou more murmur'st, I will rend an oak”
Prospero · Act 1, Scene 2
What it is doing. He threatens Ariel with a worse imprisonment.
Techniques. Threat · Violent verbs
In an essay. Show the force behind his mastery.
Themes: Freedom and servitude · Power and control
“Thou best know'st / What torment I did find thee in”
Prospero · Act 1, Scene 2
What it is doing. He reminds Ariel of the debt he owes him.
Techniques. Reminder of debt
In an essay. Show service held by the memory of rescue.
Themes: Freedom and servitude
“They now are in my power”
Prospero · Act 3, Scene 3
What it is doing. His enemies are helpless before him.
Techniques. Possessive emphasis
Structure. The point at which revenge becomes possible.
In an essay. Set up the choice that Act 5 resolves.
Themes: Power and control · Forgiveness and revenge
“Our revels now are ended”
Prospero · Act 4, Scene 1
What it is doing. He ends the masque abruptly.
Techniques. Metatheatre
In an essay. Show his own theatre failing as he remembers the plot.
Themes: Magic, illusion and theatre
“We are such stuff / As dreams are made on”
Prospero · Act 4, Scene 1
What it is doing. Human life is as insubstantial as a dream.
Techniques. Metaphor
In an essay. Read in context: an apology for his distraction.
Themes: Magic, illusion and theatre
“A devil, a born devil, on whose nature / Nurture can never stick”
Prospero · Act 4, Scene 1
What it is doing. His verdict that Caliban cannot be educated.
Techniques. Antithesis
In an essay. Set against Caliban's noises speech.
Themes: Colonisation and ownership
“The rarer action is / In virtue than in vengeance”
Prospero · Act 5, Scene 1
What it is doing. He chooses mercy as the finer act.
Techniques. Antithesis · Alliteration
In an essay. Central evidence that forgiveness is a decision.
Themes: Forgiveness and revenge
“this rough magic / I here abjure”
Prospero · Act 5, Scene 1
What it is doing. He gives up the magic that made him powerful.
Techniques. Renunciation
In an essay. Discuss what giving up power means for him.
Themes: Magic, illusion and theatre · Power and control
“this thing of darkness I / Acknowledge mine”
Prospero · Act 5, Scene 1
What it is doing. He claims Caliban as his own.
Techniques. Ambiguity
In an essay. Weigh ownership, responsibility and self-recognition.
“Let your indulgence set me free”
Prospero · Epilogue
What it is doing. He asks the audience to release him.
Techniques. Direct address · Rhyming couplet
In an essay. Show the final reversal of power to the audience.
Caliban — 12 quotations
Caliban: character analysis, readings and essay arguments →
“This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother”
Caliban · Act 1, Scene 2
What it is doing. He claims the island by inheritance.
Techniques. Legal register
In an essay. Open any essay on ownership.
Themes: Colonisation and ownership
“Which thou tak'st from me”
Caliban · Act 1, Scene 2
What it is doing. He accuses Prospero of taking it.
Techniques. Direct address
In an essay. Show dispossession framed as a legal wrong.
Themes: Colonisation and ownership
“And then I loved thee”
Caliban · Act 1, Scene 2
What it is doing. He once loved Prospero and showed him the island.
Techniques. Memory · Simple diction
In an essay. Show the relationship began in trust.
Themes: Colonisation and ownership
“You taught me language, and my profit on't / Is I know how to curse”
Caliban · Act 1, Scene 2
What it is doing. Education has given him only the power to curse.
Techniques. Commercial metaphor
In an essay. Argue about what Prospero's teaching was for.
“O ho, O ho! Would't had been done!”
Caliban · Act 1, Scene 2
What it is doing. He wishes his assault on Miranda had succeeded.
Techniques. Exclamation
In an essay. Acknowledge the evidence against sympathy.
Themes: Power and control
“I'll kiss thy foot”
Caliban · Act 2, Scene 2
What it is doing. He kneels to Stephano and takes him as a new master.
Techniques. Gesture of submission
In an essay. Show his 'freedom' becoming new servitude.
Themes: Freedom and servitude
“Has a new master: get a new man”
Caliban · Act 2, Scene 2
What it is doing. He celebrates freedom while only changing masters.
Techniques. Song · Irony
In an essay. The play's sharpest irony about liberty.
Themes: Freedom and servitude
“Remember / First to possess his books”
Caliban · Act 3, Scene 2
What it is doing. He knows the books are Prospero's power.
Techniques. Imperative
In an essay. Show Caliban understands Prospero better than the drunks do.
Themes: Power and control · Magic, illusion and theatre
“Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises”
Caliban · Act 3, Scene 2
What it is doing. He comforts the drunks about the island's music.
Techniques. Verse · Sensory imagery
In an essay. The speech no simple reading survives.
Themes: Colonisation and ownership
“I cried to dream again”
Caliban · Act 3, Scene 2
What it is doing. He weeps on waking from beautiful dreams.
Techniques. Pathos
In an essay. Show his inner life and longing.
Themes: Magic, illusion and theatre
“I'll be wise hereafter, / And seek for grace”
Caliban · Act 5, Scene 1
What it is doing. His last promise of reform.
Techniques. Religious vocabulary · Ambiguity
In an essay. Weigh how much the ending gives him.
Themes: Forgiveness and revenge
“The red plague rid you / For learning me your language!”
Caliban · Act 1, Scene 2
What it is doing. He curses Prospero for teaching him.
Techniques. Curse
In an essay. Pair with 'You taught me language'.
Themes: Colonisation and ownership
Ariel — 6 quotations
Ariel: character analysis, readings and essay arguments →
“All hail, great master! Grave sir, hail!”
Ariel · Act 1, Scene 2
What it is doing. His first words are an eager, formal greeting to his master.
Techniques. Formal address
In an essay. Show willing service before the request.
Themes: Freedom and servitude
“Is there more toil?”
Ariel · Act 1, Scene 2
What it is doing. He protests at more work.
Techniques. Rhetorical question
In an essay. Show the strain in the service.
Themes: Freedom and servitude
“Remember I have done thee worthy service”
Ariel · Act 1, Scene 2
What it is doing. He argues for the freedom he was promised.
Techniques. Argument
In an essay. Show a servant pleading his rights.
Themes: Freedom and servitude
“Hell is empty, / And all the devils are here”
Ariel (reporting Ferdinand) · Act 1, Scene 2
What it is doing. The terror of the storm.
Techniques. Hyperbole
In an essay. Show how powerful and frightening Prospero's illusion is.
Themes: Magic, illusion and theatre
“Full fathom five thy father lies”
Ariel · Act 1, Scene 2
What it is doing. He sings to Ferdinand of his father's drowning.
Techniques. Song · Transformation imagery
In an essay. Link to the 'sea-change' of the play.
Themes: Magic, illusion and theatre
“Mine would, sir, were I human”
Ariel · Act 5, Scene 1
What it is doing. He would pity the prisoners if he were human.
Techniques. Conditional
In an essay. The hinge of the play's forgiveness.
Themes: Forgiveness and revenge
Miranda — 6 quotations
Miranda: character analysis, readings and essay arguments →
“O, I have suffered / With those that I saw suffer!”
Miranda · Act 1, Scene 2
What it is doing. She feels the shipwrecked strangers' pain.
Techniques. Repetition
In an essay. Establish her compassion from her first speech in the play.
Themes: Forgiveness and revenge
“Abhorred slave”
Miranda · Act 1, Scene 2
What it is doing. She condemns Caliban as a slave beyond goodness.
Techniques. Insult
In an essay. Show the household's view of Caliban.
Themes: Colonisation and ownership
“I am your wife, if you will marry me”
Miranda · Act 3, Scene 1
What it is doing. She proposes marriage to Ferdinand herself.
Techniques. Directness
In an essay. Show her free will inside her father's plan.
Themes: Power and control
“Sweet lord, you play me false”
Miranda · Act 5, Scene 1
What it is doing. She accuses Ferdinand of cheating at chess.
Techniques. Playful accusation
In an essay. Show a shadow in the lovers' harmony.
Themes: Magic, illusion and theatre
“How beauteous mankind is!”
Miranda · Act 5, Scene 1
What it is doing. She wonders at the court party.
Techniques. Exclamation · Irony
In an essay. Show innocence meeting a group of guilty men.
Themes: Forgiveness and revenge
“O brave new world, / That has such people in't!”
Miranda · Act 5, Scene 1
What it is doing. Her wonder at people she has never seen.
Techniques. Exclamation · Dramatic irony
In an essay. Set against Prospero's ''Tis new to thee'.
Themes: Magic, illusion and theatre · Colonisation and ownership
The quotations by theme
Magic, illusion and theatre (11)
Magic, illusion and theatre in The Tempest, taught in full →
- “my library / Was dukedom large enough” — Prospero, Act 1, Scene 2
- “Our revels now are ended” — Prospero, Act 4, Scene 1
- “We are such stuff / As dreams are made on” — Prospero, Act 4, Scene 1
- “this rough magic / I here abjure” — Prospero, Act 5, Scene 1
- “Let your indulgence set me free” — Prospero, Epilogue
- “Remember / First to possess his books” — Caliban, Act 3, Scene 2
- “I cried to dream again” — Caliban, Act 3, Scene 2
- “Hell is empty, / And all the devils are here” — Ariel, Act 1, Scene 2
- “Full fathom five thy father lies” — Ariel, Act 1, Scene 2
- “Sweet lord, you play me false” — Miranda, Act 5, Scene 1
- “O brave new world, / That has such people in't!” — Miranda, Act 5, Scene 1
Colonisation and ownership (10)
Colonisation and ownership in The Tempest, taught in full →
- “A devil, a born devil, on whose nature / Nurture can never stick” — Prospero, Act 4, Scene 1
- “this thing of darkness I / Acknowledge mine” — Prospero, Act 5, Scene 1
- “This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother” — Caliban, Act 1, Scene 2
- “Which thou tak'st from me” — Caliban, Act 1, Scene 2
- “And then I loved thee” — Caliban, Act 1, Scene 2
- “You taught me language, and my profit on't / Is I know how to curse” — Caliban, Act 1, Scene 2
- “Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises” — Caliban, Act 3, Scene 2
- “The red plague rid you / For learning me your language!” — Caliban, Act 1, Scene 2
- “Abhorred slave” — Miranda, Act 1, Scene 2
- “O brave new world, / That has such people in't!” — Miranda, Act 5, Scene 1
Freedom and servitude (10)
Freedom and servitude in The Tempest, taught in full →
- “If thou more murmur'st, I will rend an oak” — Prospero, Act 1, Scene 2
- “Thou best know'st / What torment I did find thee in” — Prospero, Act 1, Scene 2
- “this thing of darkness I / Acknowledge mine” — Prospero, Act 5, Scene 1
- “Let your indulgence set me free” — Prospero, Epilogue
- “You taught me language, and my profit on't / Is I know how to curse” — Caliban, Act 1, Scene 2
- “I'll kiss thy foot” — Caliban, Act 2, Scene 2
- “Has a new master: get a new man” — Caliban, Act 2, Scene 2
- “All hail, great master! Grave sir, hail!” — Ariel, Act 1, Scene 2
- “Is there more toil?” — Ariel, Act 1, Scene 2
- “Remember I have done thee worthy service” — Ariel, Act 1, Scene 2
Power and control (8)
Power and control in The Tempest, taught in full →
- “Dost thou attend me?” — Prospero, Act 1, Scene 2
- “my library / Was dukedom large enough” — Prospero, Act 1, Scene 2
- “If thou more murmur'st, I will rend an oak” — Prospero, Act 1, Scene 2
- “They now are in my power” — Prospero, Act 3, Scene 3
- “this rough magic / I here abjure” — Prospero, Act 5, Scene 1
- “O ho, O ho! Would't had been done!” — Caliban, Act 1, Scene 2
- “Remember / First to possess his books” — Caliban, Act 3, Scene 2
- “I am your wife, if you will marry me” — Miranda, Act 3, Scene 1
Forgiveness and revenge (6)
Forgiveness and revenge in The Tempest, taught in full →
- “They now are in my power” — Prospero, Act 3, Scene 3
- “The rarer action is / In virtue than in vengeance” — Prospero, Act 5, Scene 1
- “I'll be wise hereafter, / And seek for grace” — Caliban, Act 5, Scene 1
- “Mine would, sir, were I human” — Ariel, Act 5, Scene 1
- “O, I have suffered / With those that I saw suffer!” — Miranda, Act 1, Scene 2
- “How beauteous mankind is!” — Miranda, Act 5, Scene 1
Think you know them?
Knowing a quotation is the start. On Incandio a character or theme counts as mastered only once you have taught it back and defended your reading of it against William Shakespeare — the two things a quotation list cannot ask of you.
- Teach Prospero · Defend your reading against Shakespeare
- Teach Caliban · Defend your reading against Shakespeare
- Teach Ariel · Defend your reading against Shakespeare
- Teach Miranda · Defend your reading against Shakespeare
- Grade 9 Notes: The Tempest · The Tempest on Incandio · Every set text
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