feat_summary_path: finished_summaries/gradesaver/The Tempest/section_1_part_2.txt
feat_book_id: The Tempest.act 2.scene 2
feat_summary_id: act 2, scene 2
feat_summary: {"name": "act ii, Scene 2", "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20210309152602/https://www.gradesaver.com/the-tempest/study-guide/summary-act-ii", "summary": "Caliban curses Prospero, as another storm approaches the island; he takes the storm as a sign that Prospero is up to mischief, and hides at the approach of what he fears is one of Prospero's punishing spirits. Trinculo, Alonso's court jester, finds Caliban lying still on the ground and covered with a cloak, and figures him to be a \"dead Indian\"; but, the storm continues to approach, so he also hides himself, using Caliban's cloak as a shelter, and flattening himself on the ground beside Caliban's prostrate form. Alonso's drunken butler, Stephano, enters, drunk and singing, and stumbles upon the strange sight of the two men under the cloak; he figures, in his drunken stupor, that Trinculo and Caliban make a four-legged monster. Caliban,in his delirium, thinks that Stephano is one of Prospero's minions, sent to torment him; Stephano thinks a drink of wine will cure Caliban of what ails him, and bit by bit, gets Caliban drunk as well. It takes Stephano a while to recognize his old friend, Trinculo, whom Caliban seems to be ignoring. Because of Stephano's generosity with his \"celestial liquor,\" Caliban takes him to be some sort of benevolent god; much to Trinculo's disbelief, Caliban actually offers his service to Stephano, forsaking the \"tyrant\" Prospero. Stephano accepts the offer.", "analysis": "Act 2 begins with a speech by Gonzalo that sounds similar to Claudius' speech to Hamlet in Act 1 of that play. Gonzalo tries to console the king over the loss of his son, saying that his \"hint of woe is common,\" and speaking about all the people who share his \"theme of woe\". In Hamlet, Claudius bandies about similar language when soothing Hamlet, mentioning the \"common theme\" of paternal death, and begging him to cast off the \"woe\" that burdens him. The tone of these two speeches, also, is similar; both, though directed toward one person, are made before a larger audience of listeners, and so are somewhat formal, impersonal, and diplomatic in language and form, in order to sound proper and impress their point on those who are not being directly addressed. However, Alonso responds badly to Gonzalo's good-hearted and carefully-worded attempt to cheer him up; \"he receives comfort like cold porridge\" is the simile that Sebastian uses to describe the King's reaction, and the comparison highlights King Alonso's sober, aloof, and disconsolate personality. In the first scene of Sebastian and Antonio first display a mischievous skill with language which they use to mock Gonzalo, then the nobleman Adrian. Sebastian teases the somewhat long-winded but good-hearted councilor by saying that Gonzalo is \"winding up the watch of his wit, by and by, it will strike\" when he begins another entreaty to the king. When Gonzalo opens his mouth again, he is answered with Sebastian saying \"one,\" as if Gonzalo had struck the hour, like a clock. Then, they change the subject of their puns to money; \"what a spendthrift is he of his tongue,\" says Antonio, speaking of Gonzalo as if he were a character more akin to the very garrulous, somewhat foolish Polonius from Hamlet Gonzalo and Polonius hold the same position, of head councilor to the king, but is not the same wastrel of words that Polonius proved to be; he makes a few remarks in this act that are beside the point, like his statements about their garments being \"fresh,\" but nothing that sounds so foolish as Polonius' \"brevity is the soul of wit\" speech in Act 2 of Hamlet. Antonio and Sebastian detach themselves from their party through their mocking wit. Adrian and Gonzalo try, in a levelheaded way, to both take stock of their situation, and hearten their party; they note the \"subtle, tender, and delicate temperance\" of the island, and report that \"here is everything advantageous to life\". Gonzalo becomes optimistic, making statements about how \"lush and lusty the grass looks\"; Antonio and Sebastian's replies to Gonzalo's benign remarks are distinctly negative, contradicting Gonzalo with claims that \"the ground indeed is tawny,\" and that \"he lies\" in his positive assessments. In this act, notice how Sebastian and Antonio are thoroughly characterized as heedless, careless, harsh, and arrogant through their disregard for their fellows, their predicament, and through their constant bickering and insulting remarks. All of their character flaws that are exposed in this act are important in the later action, foreshadowing their backstabbing tendencies and their eventual comeuppance. Several allusions to The Aeneid are sprinkled throughout the play, Antonio and Sebastian's debate about the \"widow Dido\" and the uniqueness of Carthage among the most prominent of these. Although the Carthage/ Tunis debate is elusive, and perhaps nonsensical, Gonzalo is correct that \"Tunis, sir, was Carthage,\" because Tunis became the political and commercial center of North Africa after Carthage,as it is described in The Aeneid, was destroyed. The Tempest inhabits, roughly, the same geographic realm as Virgil's work; Alonso's ship, before the shipwreck, was following the same route that Aeneas took from Carthage to Naples. The Aeneid raises issues about royal authority and political legitimacy that are also present in Shakespeare's work; and the allusions are, at the least, noteworthy because of the associations present during Shakespeare's time between the strong, intelligent, and powerful Queen Dido, and the equally strong, intelligent, and powerful Queen Elizabeth. Note the contrast in tone between Alonso's lament in lines 104-111 of scene 2, and Franscisco's answer to the king; Alonso's statement is somewhat crude in its metaphors, describing how the \"stomach of sense\" is being force-fed by having to listen to his friends' long-winded chatter. Francisco answers this complaint with elevated rhetoric, about how he saw Alonso's son \"beat the surges under him\" and \"trod the water, whose enmity he flung aside\"; Francisco's formalized description is more elegantly worded and image-laden than Alonso's, and the difference in language signifies a possible difference in knowledge and communicative abilities in the two characters. As in Act 1, there are a number of allusions to proverbs in this act as well, one of which appears in line 136. Rub the sore\" is a phrase Gonzalo uses to tell Sebastian that his attempts to console the king do no more than aggravate the loss; and this phrase was a popular one during Shakespeare's time, and is much easier to understand than some of the more obscure and outmoded allusions that Shakespeare includes in his work. Once Antonio and Sebastian begin to conspire in scene 1, parallels with Macbeth begin to surface. My strong imagination sees a crown dropping upon thy head,\" Antonio says to his brother, creating an image similar to the one that the three witches describe for Macbeth in Act 1, scene 3 of Macbeth. The presence of a conspiracy against the throne and a plot of murder creates another similarity; and Sebastian reacts to his brother's ambitious vision as Macbeth reacts to the witches-- that is, with thoughts of murder. Before Sebastian is convinced to follow his brother's plan, he exclaims that he is \"standing water\"; the statement is a metaphor, but the words are somewhat vague in their connotation. What Sebastian means with this comparison is that he is waiting to be moved in some direction, and will remain still, or \"standing,\" until he finds his purpose and motivation. The phrase could be alluding to another proverbial saying, but exactly which saying is being referred to is unclear. Act 2 returns to the themes of political legitimacy, source of power, and usurpation that arose in the first act. While Prospero firmly believed that the only legitimate power was the power that came from one's knowledge and hard work, Antonio believes that the power he usurped from his brother is legitimate, because he deserved it more and had the skill to wrestle it away. Look how well my garments sit upon me, much feater than before,\" Antonio brags to Sebastian; Antonio's lack of remorse over his crime, and his arrogant claim that his power is just because he uses it better, foreshadow a confrontation with his brother Prospero, and an eventual fall from this ill-gained power. However, Ariel's involvement in this conspiracy shows it to be part of Prospero's plan; Ariel makes all but Antonio and Sebastian go to sleep, and then causes conspiratorial seriousness to settle on them as well. The situation is created as part of Prospero's project, to reinforce his idea of his brothers as villains, and act as Prospero \"foresees through his art\" that they will. His project dies\" if Antonio and Sebastian's deviant plot is not made; and here, Prospero again shows himself to be a manipulator of the play's events, influencing the course of the play from within. There is great dramatic irony in this situation, and in the fact that Prospero causes his brothers to do the very things that he condemns them for. The most important literary elements in the second scene are probably those that are used to refer to Caliban. Upon finding Caliban lying on the ground, Trinculo calls him a \"dead Indian\"; indeed, in Elizabethan times, natives were brought back to England from foreign lands, and their captors could earn a great deal of money exhibiting them in London. Trinculo's speech is significant because he describes Caliban as a \"fish,\" and a \"strange beast,\" showing his Western contempt and lack of understanding of a person with a different skin color than his own. Stephano assumes that Caliban is a \"mooncalf,\" or a monstrosity, the term alluding to a folk tale of the time. Although Caliban asserted his natural authority over the island in Act 1, Prospero's usurpation of Caliban's power is negated by Caliban's portrayal as a savage seeking a new master. Caliban proves Prospero's view of him, as a natural servant, to be true, when Caliban immediately adopts Stephano as his new master upon Stephano's sudden appearance. Caliban, as a native, is seen as a \"monster,\" not only by Prospero, but by Trinculo and Stephano also; their contempt for dark-skinned Caliban is analogous to Europeans' view of \"natives\" in the West Indies and other colonies, and Shakespeare's treatment of Caliban provides some interesting social commentary on colonization. In fact, when this play appeared in the First Folio of Shakespeare's work, shortly after Shakespeare's death in the early 17th century, Caliban's character description marks him as \"a savage and deformed slave,\" despite glimpses of his noble character in the play. As a representation of a man apart from Western society, Caliban is seen as a contemptuous character because of prejudices of Shakespeare's time; these Elizabethan-period social prejudices also belong to many of the characters in the play, and are the prime determinant of the negative view that Prospero, Stephano, and Trinculo have of Caliban in the play. Other colonization-related themes are raised by Gonzalo's description of his Utopia, from lines 145 to 162 in scene 1. Gonzalo's speech recalls many of Thomas More's ideas from his book Utopia, and summons up the spirit of Renaissance political idealism with his ideas about reform. These topics were particularly relevant at the time of the play, because of New World colonization, and Europeans finally had the chance to start new governments and societies that reflected these idealistic tenets. But, Gonzalo's imagining is also self-contradictory and impractical, as Antonio and Sebastian are quick to notice; and perhaps this is Shakespeare's statement about the naivete of Utopian thought in general"}
text: SCENE II.
  
  _Another part of the island._
  
    _Enter CALIBAN with a burden of wood. A noise of thunder heard._
  
  _Cal._ All the infections that the sun sucks up
  From bogs, fens, flats, on Prosper fall, and make him
  By inch-meal a disease! His spirits hear me,
  And yet I needs must curse. But they'll nor pinch,
  Fright me with urchin-shows, pitch me i' the mire,                   5
  Nor lead me, like a firebrand, in the dark
  Out of my way, unless he bid 'em: but
  For every trifle are they set upon me;
  Sometime like apes, that mow and chatter at me,
  And after bite me; then like hedgehogs, which                       10
  Lie tumbling in my barefoot way, and mount
  Their pricks at my footfall; sometime am I
  All wound with adders, who with cloven tongues
  Do hiss me into madness.
  
    _Enter TRINCULO._
  
                          Lo, now, lo!
  Here comes a spirit of his, and to torment me                       15
  For bringing wood in slowly. I'll fall flat;
  Perchance he will not mind me.
  
  _Trin._ Here's neither bush nor shrub, to bear off any
  weather at all, and another storm brewing; I hear it sing i'
  the wind: yond same black cloud, yond huge one, looks               20
  like a foul bombard that would shed his liquor. If it should
  thunder as it did before, I know not where to hide my head:
  yond same cloud cannot choose but fall by pailfuls. What
  have we here? a man or a fish? dead or alive? A fish: he
  smells like a fish; a very ancient and fish-like smell; a kind      25
  of not of the newest Poor-John. A strange fish! Were I
  in England now, as once I was, and had but this fish
  painted, not a holiday fool there but would give a piece of
  silver: there would this monster make a man; any strange
  beast there makes a man: when they will not give a doit to          30
  relieve a lame beggar, they will lay out ten to see a dead
  Indian. Legged like a man! and his fins like arms! Warm
  o' my troth! I do now let loose my opinion; hold it no
  longer: this is no fish, but an islander, that hath lately
  suffered by a thunderbolt. [_Thunder._] Alas, the storm is come     35
  again! my best way is to creep under his gaberdine; there
  is no other shelter hereabout: misery acquaints a man with
  strange bed-fellows. I will here shroud till the dregs of the
  storm be past.
  
    _Enter STEPHANO, singing: a bottle in his hand._
  
  _Ste._ I shall no more to sea, to sea,                              40
                  Here shall I die a-shore,--
  
  This is a very scurvy tune to sing at a man's funeral: well,
  here's my comfort.                                  [_Drinks._
  
  
  [_Sings._ The master, the swabber, the boatswain, and I,
                         The gunner, and his mate,                    45
                 Loved Mall, Meg, and Marian, and Margery,
                     But none of us cared for Kate;
                     For she had a tongue with a tang,
                     Would cry to a sailor, Go hang!
                 She loved not the savour of tar nor of pitch;        50
                 Yet a tailor might scratch her where'er she did itch.
                     Then, to sea, boys, and let her go hang!
  
  This is a scurvy tune too: but here's my comfort. [_Drinks._
  
  _Cal._ Do not torment me:--O!
  
  _Ste._ What's the matter? Have we devils here? Do                   55
  you put tricks upon 's with savages and men of Ind, ha? I
  have not scaped drowning, to be afeard now of your four
  legs; for it hath been said, As proper a man as ever went
  on four legs cannot make him give ground; and it shall be
  said so again, while Stephano breathes at's nostrils.               60
  
  _Cal._ The spirit torments me:--O!
  
  _Ste._ This is some monster of the isle with four legs, who
  hath got, as I take it, an ague. Where the devil should he
  learn our language? I will give him some relief, if it be
  but for that. If I can recover him, and keep him tame, and          65
  get to Naples with him, he's a present for any emperor that
  ever trod on neat's-leather.
  
  _Cal._ Do not torment me, prithee; I'll bring my wood
  home faster.
  
  _Ste._ He's in his fit now, and does not talk after the             70
  wisest. He shall taste of my bottle: if he have never drunk
  wine afore, it will go near to remove his fit. If I can recover
  him, and keep him tame, I will not take too much for
  him; he shall pay for him that hath him, and that soundly.
  
  _Cal._ Thou dost me yet but little hurt; thou wilt anon, I          75
  know it by thy trembling: now Prosper works upon thee.
  
  _Ste._ Come on your ways; open your mouth; here is that
  which will give language to you, cat: open your mouth; this
  will shake your shaking, I can tell you, and that soundly:
  you cannot tell who's your friend: open your chaps again.           80
  
  _Trin._ I should know that voice: it should be--but he
  is drowned; and these are devils:--O defend me!
  
  _Ste._ Four legs and two voices,--a most delicate monster!
  His forward voice, now, is to speak well of his friend;
  his backward voice is to utter foul speeches and to detract.        85
  If all the wine in my bottle will recover him, I will help
  his ague. Come:--Amen! I will pour some in thy other
  mouth.
  
  _Trin._ Stephano!
  
  _Ste._ Doth thy other mouth call me? Mercy, mercy!                  90
  This is a devil, and no monster: I will leave him; I have
  no long spoon.
  
  _Trin._ Stephano! If thou beest Stephano, touch me,
  and speak to me; for I am Trinculo,--be not afeard,--thy
  good friend Trinculo.                                               95
  
  _Ste._ If thou beest Trinculo, come forth: I'll pull thee
  by the lesser legs: if any be Trinculo's legs, these are they.
  Thou art very Trinculo indeed! How earnest thou to be
  the siege of this moon-calf? can he vent Trinculos?
  
  _Trin._ I took him to be killed with a thunder-stroke.             100
  But art thou not drowned, Stephano? I hope, now, thou
  art not drowned. Is the storm overblown? I hid me
  under the dead moon-calf's gaberdine for fear of the storm.
  And art thou living, Stephano? O Stephano, two Neapolitans
  scaped!                                                            105
  
  _Ste._ Prithee, do not turn me about; my stomach is not
  constant.
  
  _Cal._ [_aside_] These be fine things, an if they be not sprites.
  That's a brave god, and bears celestial liquor:
  I will kneel to him.                                               110
  
  _Ste._ How didst thou 'scape? How camest thou hither?
  swear, by this bottle, how thou camest hither. I escaped
  upon a butt of sack, which the sailors heaved o'erboard, by
  this bottle! which I made of the bark of a tree with mine
  own hands, since I was cast ashore.                                115
  
  _Cal._ I'll swear, upon that bottle, to be thy true subject;
  for the liquor is not earthly.
  
  _Ste._ Here; swear, then, how thou escapedst.
  
  _Trin._ Swum ashore, man, like a duck: I can swim
  like a duck, I'll be sworn.                                        120
  
  _Ste._ Here, kiss the book. Though thou canst swim
  like a duck, thou art made like a goose.
  
  _Trin._ O Stephano, hast any more of this?
  
  _Ste._ The whole butt, man: my cellar is in a rock by
  the sea-side, where my wine is hid. How now, moon-calf!            125
  how does thine ague?
  
  _Cal._ Hast thou not dropp'd from heaven?
  
  _Ste._ Out o' the moon, I do assure thee: I was the man
  i' the moon when time was.
  
  _Cal._ I have seen thee in her, and I do adore thee:               130
  My mistress show'd me thee, and thy dog, and thy bush.
  
  _Ste._ Come, swear to that; kiss the book: I will furnish
  it anon with new contents: swear.
  
  _Trin._ By this good light, this is a very shallow monster!
  I afeard of him! A very weak monster! The                          135
  man i' the moon! A most poor credulous monster! Well
  drawn, monster, in good sooth!
  
  _Cal._ I'll show thee every fertile inch o' th' island;
  And I will kiss thy foot: I prithee, be my god.
  
  _Trin._ By this light, a most perfidious and drunken               140
  monster! when's god's asleep, he'll rob his bottle.
  
  _Cal._ I'll kiss thy foot; I'll swear myself thy subject.
  
  _Ste._ Come on, then; down, and swear.
  
  _Trin._ I shall laugh myself to death at this puppy-headed
  monster. A most scurvy monster! I could find in                    145
  my heart to beat him,--
  
  _Ste._ Come, kiss.
  
  _Trin._ But that the poor monster's in drink: an abominable
  monster!
  
  _Cal._ I'll show thee the best springs; I'll pluck thee berries;   150
  I'll fish for thee, and get thee wood enough.
  A plague upon the tyrant that I serve!
  I'll bear him no more sticks, but follow thee,
  Thou wondrous man.
  
  _Trin._ A most ridiculous monster, to make a wonder                155
  of a poor drunkard!
  
  _Cal._ I prithee, let me bring thee where crabs grow;
  And I with my long nails will dig thee pig-nuts;
  Show thee a jay's nest, and instruct thee how
  To snare the nimble marmoset; I'll bring thee                      160
  To clustering filberts, and sometimes I'll get thee
  Young scamels from the rock. Wilt thou go with me?
  
  _Ste._ I prithee now, lead the way, without any more
  talking. Trinculo, the king and all our company else being
  drowned, we will inherit here: here; bear my bottle: fellow        165
  Trinculo, we'll fill him by and by again.
  
  _Cal. sings drunkenly._] Farewell, master; farewell, farewell!
  
  _Trin._ A howling monster; a drunken monster!
  
  _Cal._ No more dams I'll make for fish;
                  Nor fetch in firing                                170
                  At requiring;
               Nor scrape trencher, nor wash dish:
                  'Ban, 'Ban, Cacaliban
                  Has a new master:--get a new man.
  
  Freedom, hey-day! hey-day, freedom! freedom, hey-day,              175
  freedom!
  
  _Ste._ O brave monster! Lead the way.    [_Exeunt._
  
  
    Notes: II, 2.
  
    4: _nor_] F1 F2. _not_ F3 F4.
    15: _and_] _now_ Pope. _sent_ Edd. conj. (so Dryden).
    21: _foul_] _full_ Upton conj.
    35: [Thunder] Capell.
    38: _dregs_] _drench_ Collier MS.
    40: SCENE III. Pope.
    [a bottle in his hand] Capell.]
    46: _and Marian_] _Mirian_ Pope.
    56: _savages_] _salvages_ Ff.
    60: _at's nostrils_] Edd. _at 'nostrils_ F1. _at nostrils_ F2 F3 F4.
      _at his nostrils_ Pope.
    78: _you, cat_] _you Cat_ Ff. _a cat_ Hanmer. _your cat_ Edd. conj.
    84: _well_] F1 om. F2 F3 F4.
    115, 116: Steevens prints as verse, _I'll ... thy True ... earthly._
    118: _swear, then, how thou escapedst_] _swear then: how escapedst
      thou?_ Pope.
    119: _Swum_] _Swom_ Ff.
    131: _and thy dog, and thy bush_] _thy dog and bush_ Steevens.
    133: _new_] F1. _the new_ F2 F3 F4.
    135: _weak_] F1. _shallow_ F2 F3 F4.
    138: _island_] F1. _isle_ F2 F3 F4.
    150-154, 157-162, printed as verse by Pope (after Dryden).
    162: _scamels_] _shamois_ Theobald. _seamalls, stannels_ id. conj.
    163: Ste.] F1. Cal. F2 F3 F4.
    165: Before _here; bear my bottle_ Capell inserts [To Cal.].
      See note (XII).
    172: _trencher_] Pope (after Dryden). _trenchering_ Ff.
    175: _hey-day_] Rowe. _high-day_ Ff.
  
  
  
  
  
  
feat_summary_name: act ii, Scene 2
target: Caliban curses Prospero, as another storm approaches the island; he takes the storm as a sign that Prospero is up to mischief, and hides at the approach of what he fears is one of Prospero's punishing spirits. Trinculo, Alonso's court jester, finds Caliban lying still on the ground and covered with a cloak, and figures him to be a "dead Indian"; but, the storm continues to approach, so he also hides himself, using Caliban's cloak as a shelter, and flattening himself on the ground beside Caliban's prostrate form. Alonso's drunken butler, Stephano, enters, drunk and singing, and stumbles upon the strange sight of the two men under the cloak; he figures, in his drunken stupor, that Trinculo and Caliban make a four-legged monster. Caliban,in his delirium, thinks that Stephano is one of Prospero's minions, sent to torment him; Stephano thinks a drink of wine will cure Caliban of what ails him, and bit by bit, gets Caliban drunk as well. It takes Stephano a while to recognize his old friend, Trinculo, whom Caliban seems to be ignoring. Because of Stephano's generosity with his "celestial liquor," Caliban takes him to be some sort of benevolent god; much to Trinculo's disbelief, Caliban actually offers his service to Stephano, forsaking the "tyrant" Prospero. Stephano accepts the offer.
feat_summary_analysis: Act 2 begins with a speech by Gonzalo that sounds similar to Claudius' speech to Hamlet in Act 1 of that play. Gonzalo tries to console the king over the loss of his son, saying that his "hint of woe is common," and speaking about all the people who share his "theme of woe". In Hamlet, Claudius bandies about similar language when soothing Hamlet, mentioning the "common theme" of paternal death, and begging him to cast off the "woe" that burdens him. The tone of these two speeches, also, is similar; both, though directed toward one person, are made before a larger audience of listeners, and so are somewhat formal, impersonal, and diplomatic in language and form, in order to sound proper and impress their point on those who are not being directly addressed. However, Alonso responds badly to Gonzalo's good-hearted and carefully-worded attempt to cheer him up; "he receives comfort like cold porridge" is the simile that Sebastian uses to describe the King's reaction, and the comparison highlights King Alonso's sober, aloof, and disconsolate personality. In the first scene of Sebastian and Antonio first display a mischievous skill with language which they use to mock Gonzalo, then the nobleman Adrian. Sebastian teases the somewhat long-winded but good-hearted councilor by saying that Gonzalo is "winding up the watch of his wit, by and by, it will strike" when he begins another entreaty to the king. When Gonzalo opens his mouth again, he is answered with Sebastian saying "one," as if Gonzalo had struck the hour, like a clock. Then, they change the subject of their puns to money; "what a spendthrift is he of his tongue," says Antonio, speaking of Gonzalo as if he were a character more akin to the very garrulous, somewhat foolish Polonius from Hamlet Gonzalo and Polonius hold the same position, of head councilor to the king, but is not the same wastrel of words that Polonius proved to be; he makes a few remarks in this act that are beside the point, like his statements about their garments being "fresh," but nothing that sounds so foolish as Polonius' "brevity is the soul of wit" speech in Act 2 of Hamlet. Antonio and Sebastian detach themselves from their party through their mocking wit. Adrian and Gonzalo try, in a levelheaded way, to both take stock of their situation, and hearten their party; they note the "subtle, tender, and delicate temperance" of the island, and report that "here is everything advantageous to life". Gonzalo becomes optimistic, making statements about how "lush and lusty the grass looks"; Antonio and Sebastian's replies to Gonzalo's benign remarks are distinctly negative, contradicting Gonzalo with claims that "the ground indeed is tawny," and that "he lies" in his positive assessments. In this act, notice how Sebastian and Antonio are thoroughly characterized as heedless, careless, harsh, and arrogant through their disregard for their fellows, their predicament, and through their constant bickering and insulting remarks. All of their character flaws that are exposed in this act are important in the later action, foreshadowing their backstabbing tendencies and their eventual comeuppance. Several allusions to The Aeneid are sprinkled throughout the play, Antonio and Sebastian's debate about the "widow Dido" and the uniqueness of Carthage among the most prominent of these. Although the Carthage/ Tunis debate is elusive, and perhaps nonsensical, Gonzalo is correct that "Tunis, sir, was Carthage," because Tunis became the political and commercial center of North Africa after Carthage,as it is described in The Aeneid, was destroyed. The Tempest inhabits, roughly, the same geographic realm as Virgil's work; Alonso's ship, before the shipwreck, was following the same route that Aeneas took from Carthage to Naples. The Aeneid raises issues about royal authority and political legitimacy that are also present in Shakespeare's work; and the allusions are, at the least, noteworthy because of the associations present during Shakespeare's time between the strong, intelligent, and powerful Queen Dido, and the equally strong, intelligent, and powerful Queen Elizabeth. Note the contrast in tone between Alonso's lament in lines 104-111 of scene 2, and Franscisco's answer to the king; Alonso's statement is somewhat crude in its metaphors, describing how the "stomach of sense" is being force-fed by having to listen to his friends' long-winded chatter. Francisco answers this complaint with elevated rhetoric, about how he saw Alonso's son "beat the surges under him" and "trod the water, whose enmity he flung aside"; Francisco's formalized description is more elegantly worded and image-laden than Alonso's, and the difference in language signifies a possible difference in knowledge and communicative abilities in the two characters. As in Act 1, there are a number of allusions to proverbs in this act as well, one of which appears in line 136. Rub the sore" is a phrase Gonzalo uses to tell Sebastian that his attempts to console the king do no more than aggravate the loss; and this phrase was a popular one during Shakespeare's time, and is much easier to understand than some of the more obscure and outmoded allusions that Shakespeare includes in his work. Once Antonio and Sebastian begin to conspire in scene 1, parallels with Macbeth begin to surface. My strong imagination sees a crown dropping upon thy head," Antonio says to his brother, creating an image similar to the one that the three witches describe for Macbeth in Act 1, scene 3 of Macbeth. The presence of a conspiracy against the throne and a plot of murder creates another similarity; and Sebastian reacts to his brother's ambitious vision as Macbeth reacts to the witches-- that is, with thoughts of murder. Before Sebastian is convinced to follow his brother's plan, he exclaims that he is "standing water"; the statement is a metaphor, but the words are somewhat vague in their connotation. What Sebastian means with this comparison is that he is waiting to be moved in some direction, and will remain still, or "standing," until he finds his purpose and motivation. The phrase could be alluding to another proverbial saying, but exactly which saying is being referred to is unclear. Act 2 returns to the themes of political legitimacy, source of power, and usurpation that arose in the first act. While Prospero firmly believed that the only legitimate power was the power that came from one's knowledge and hard work, Antonio believes that the power he usurped from his brother is legitimate, because he deserved it more and had the skill to wrestle it away. Look how well my garments sit upon me, much feater than before," Antonio brags to Sebastian; Antonio's lack of remorse over his crime, and his arrogant claim that his power is just because he uses it better, foreshadow a confrontation with his brother Prospero, and an eventual fall from this ill-gained power. However, Ariel's involvement in this conspiracy shows it to be part of Prospero's plan; Ariel makes all but Antonio and Sebastian go to sleep, and then causes conspiratorial seriousness to settle on them as well. The situation is created as part of Prospero's project, to reinforce his idea of his brothers as villains, and act as Prospero "foresees through his art" that they will. His project dies" if Antonio and Sebastian's deviant plot is not made; and here, Prospero again shows himself to be a manipulator of the play's events, influencing the course of the play from within. There is great dramatic irony in this situation, and in the fact that Prospero causes his brothers to do the very things that he condemns them for. The most important literary elements in the second scene are probably those that are used to refer to Caliban. Upon finding Caliban lying on the ground, Trinculo calls him a "dead Indian"; indeed, in Elizabethan times, natives were brought back to England from foreign lands, and their captors could earn a great deal of money exhibiting them in London. Trinculo's speech is significant because he describes Caliban as a "fish," and a "strange beast," showing his Western contempt and lack of understanding of a person with a different skin color than his own. Stephano assumes that Caliban is a "mooncalf," or a monstrosity, the term alluding to a folk tale of the time. Although Caliban asserted his natural authority over the island in Act 1, Prospero's usurpation of Caliban's power is negated by Caliban's portrayal as a savage seeking a new master. Caliban proves Prospero's view of him, as a natural servant, to be true, when Caliban immediately adopts Stephano as his new master upon Stephano's sudden appearance. Caliban, as a native, is seen as a "monster," not only by Prospero, but by Trinculo and Stephano also; their contempt for dark-skinned Caliban is analogous to Europeans' view of "natives" in the West Indies and other colonies, and Shakespeare's treatment of Caliban provides some interesting social commentary on colonization. In fact, when this play appeared in the First Folio of Shakespeare's work, shortly after Shakespeare's death in the early 17th century, Caliban's character description marks him as "a savage and deformed slave," despite glimpses of his noble character in the play. As a representation of a man apart from Western society, Caliban is seen as a contemptuous character because of prejudices of Shakespeare's time; these Elizabethan-period social prejudices also belong to many of the characters in the play, and are the prime determinant of the negative view that Prospero, Stephano, and Trinculo have of Caliban in the play. Other colonization-related themes are raised by Gonzalo's description of his Utopia, from lines 145 to 162 in scene 1. Gonzalo's speech recalls many of Thomas More's ideas from his book Utopia, and summons up the spirit of Renaissance political idealism with his ideas about reform. These topics were particularly relevant at the time of the play, because of New World colonization, and Europeans finally had the chance to start new governments and societies that reflected these idealistic tenets. But, Gonzalo's imagining is also self-contradictory and impractical, as Antonio and Sebastian are quick to notice; and perhaps this is Shakespeare's statement about the naivete of Utopian thought in general