Can be at once, shall step by step attend You and your ways, whose wraths to guard you from—
80 Which here, in this most desolate isle, else falls Upon your heads—is nothing but heart’s sorrow
82 And a clear life ensuing.
Once again Shakespeare establishes a connection between fate (or destiny) and Prospero; for, as Ariel explains the situation, fate (as well as Prospero) has caused the sea to shipwreck Alonso and the others on the island. The men are creatures of the earth, the “lower world”; by this Ariel also suggests that they are lowly or base. Ariel and his companions, on the other hand, are spirits or creatures of the air. Thus, the men are unfit to live on the island of spirits because these men are not only human, but because they are also base (dishonorable and immoral). The island symbolizes a place free from dishonor. The island is Prospero’s utopia.
Ariel also comments that he has made them mad (line 58) to explain why the food has appeared and disappeared so rapidly. In madness men may act rashly or bravely (“such-like valor”), but even courageous mad men will sometimes commit suicide (by hanging themselves or drowning themselves). In Christianity the act of suicide was a grievous sin because the person committing such an act could not ask God for forgiveness. Thus, such a person would be damned to hell for all eternity. During the Middle Ages and Renaissance, Christians would not allow a person committing suicide to be buried in a church graveyard (or holy graveyard). Christians believed that such a person was a disgrace in the eyes of God and that all good Christians should regard such sinners as contemptible.
At this point the frightened Alonso and his two companions draw their swords to fight off the monstrous harpy-like Ariel. But Ariel calls them fools and explains that they cannot fight against Fate (line 61). Fate, as Shakespeare reveals in nearly every one of his plays, is an irresistible force beyond man’s control. Ariel tells them that their swords will not have any effect on him and the other spirits. Shakespeare uses the metaphor of a man stabbing his sword at wind or water. The act is futile. Ariel describes the water in this metaphor as “still-closing” (64). The word still here means always. No matter how many stab wounds a man might make in the water, that water always closes up the opening: the water heals itself.
Ariel then enchants the three men so that their swords become too heavy for them to lift, and they drop their arms (at line 68).
Ariel then explains to the men that Fate is taking vengeance upon the men because of the crime that they had committed against Prospero and his daughter. Fate, or the “powers” as Ariel now calls it (at line 73), has taken a long time to enact its vengeance; but Fate never forgets and in time comes to right all wrongs. An old Christian proverb of unknown origin asserts, “God stays long his hand but strikes at last.” In other words, God may not strike a sinner down immediately, but at some point the sinner will feel God’s wrath. The Powers and God and Fate and Prospero himself are all one and the same here in enacting vengeance upon the evil Antonio and Alonso. However, Prospero is a largely benevolent power whose vengeance is neither severe nor harsh.
Part of Alonso’s punishment, Ariel explains, is the death of his son Ferdinand. Moreover, all three men will suffer “ling’ring perdition” or slow starvation on the island. The word perdition means hell, and Ariel intends that the three men will be experiencing a living hell as they starve to death. Ariel then adds that the only alternative to experiencing such a harsh punishment and avoiding the wrath of the powers (or Fate or Prospero) is to be truly repentant or contrite (to be truly sorry) in their hearts for the misdeeds that they have committed and for ever after to live a clean or sinless life. Prospero, in other words, can be a forgiving god instead of a wrathful and vengeful one.
After his speech, Ariel and the other spirits
vanish.