Write a note on the tricks played by Ariel in the Tempest

Ariel as the name means is primarily a spirit of air . He is quite at home in sea and fire. He serves
Prospero loyally lovingly he and cheerfully. But Ariel has a mischievous turn for playing tricks upon
people. But his mischief is directed add to tormenting evildoers. If Prospero stands for the theory of
magic aerial stands for its practice.

From the beginning to the end of the play Ariel plays wonderful tricks. His love for making mischief can
be compared with that of Puck in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. He is not seen by others but he can
see others. In the very first act of the play, after Prospero reveals his true identity to Miranda, relating
an act of treachery by his own brother Antonio, Miranda yields to the ‘good dullness’ of irresistible
sleep. Prospero reinvests himself with the magic of his cloak to summon his spirit Ariel. He wishes to
know how the latter managed to create an image of ship wreck of the king’s vessel. Ariel gives a lively
account of his activities in performing the storm to Prospero’s command. Ariel boarded the king’s ship in
the shape of a flame and appeared one moment to the bow of the ship, next on the waist, ‘the deck, in
every cabin’. Sometimes he divided himself into several flames and burned at several places
simultaneously, ‘on the topmast,/ The yards and bowsprit would I flame distinctly,/ Then meet and join.’
Even Jove’s lightning seen before he hurls is dreadful thunderbolts are not so swift as Ariel’s
movements. The flash of lightning and the roars of thunder he produced besieged the most powerful
Neptune. Such was his tricks that every royal member boarding the ship played some prank out of
desperation. All except the sailors jumped into the ocean as they saw the whole ship to be burning. The
king’s son Ferdinand with his hair resembling reeds, standing on ends with fear was the first one to jump
into the sea. He scattered them in groups with the king’s son landed upon the island all alone in some
remote corner of the island, cooling the air with sighs of sorrow and sitting with his arms folded looking
very sad as he thought him to be the sole survivor of the wreck. Whereas in reality not a single person
was drowned and none of them even lost a hair. The ship was anchored safely in the harbour with
sailors gone to sleep under the magic spell of Ariel.

In Act ii we find Ariel sings and sends the king of Naples and his courtiers to sleep except for Antonio and
the king’s brother, Sebastian. Antonio is seen instigating Sebastian to kill his brother Alonso, with
Ferdinand already having been supposed dead and Claribel the king’s daughter having absolutely no
chance to govern Naples being married to the price of Tunis in Africa, Sebastian has every chance of
becoming the king of Naples. Antonio and Sebastian plan to kill Alonso and his loyal courtier Gonzalo. As
they are about to draw out their swords, Ariel sings and wakes up Gonzalo followed by Alonso. Thus
Ariel foils the conspiracy by playing a trick. Ariel played the fun in the beginning by sending all to sleep
and then at the right moment wakes them up to escape being murdered.

Ariel plays some funny tricks. Caliban wants to kill Prospero with the help of Trinculo and Stephano.
When Stephano and Caliban are talking, Ariel invisibly sends forth his sharp replies and thus provokes
both Stephano and Caliban against Trinculo. When Caliban tells Stephano that he will take him to
Prospero when he is asleep, Ariel intervenes and says, ‘Thou liest, thou canst not.’ Caliban mistook it to
be Trinculo telling him this and abuses Trinculo. Again when Stephano charges Trnculo for saying so,
Ariel intervenes and tells , ‘Thou liest’, making Stephano believe that Trinculo is speaking rudely to him
for which Stephano beats Trinculo. Ariel then misleads the drunken fools to fall in a filthy pond. They
come out of the pool with their clothes dirty. When they move towards Prospero’s cell, they see
beautiful clothes hanging on the branches of a lime tree. These clothes have been hung their by Ariel to
deceive them. The two drunkards Stephano and Trinculo forget about their plan to kill Prospero and get
involved in possessing those garments although Caliban keeps reminding them of their plan. Finally
when they put on the robes, they are chased by the spirits of Prospero in the shape of hounds. Thus we
find Ariel playing a number of tricks on the drunken fools.

Ariel plays tricks on the king and his courtiers too. When the king and his courtiers have been vainly
searching for Ferdinand on the island they become tired and hungry. Suddenly for nowhere strange
shapes bring in a banquet before them. The party is invited to enjoy the feast while a lively dance of the
spirits goes on. Sebastian and others decide to enjoy the feast. No sooner do they begin to do so than
Ariel enters with thunder and lightning. He flutters his wing upon the table and the feast disappears.
Ariel besides befooling them punishes them verbally as well. He reminds them of their crimes in the past
and thus makes them repent .

But Ariel’s tricks are full of good purpose. They are a means to a happy end. Ariel brings Ferdinand
before Miranda for their final union. He exposes the villains like Antonio and Sebastian and makes the
sinners repent on their crimes except for Antonio and Sebastian who never really repent for their deeds.