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The Tempest

The Tempest


by William Shakespeare

Prince Ferdinand Timeline and Summary

  • 1.2: Ferdinand hears Ariel's enchanting music while he weeps over his father, who he thinks is dead. The music calms his passion, and he follows it straight to—you guessed it—Miranda. He realizes he's in "no mortal business" when the music sings directly of his dead father, but he's quickly distracted by mortal feelings, namely of the "who's that girl" type.
  • 1.2: Ferdinand is a bit tongue-tied, seeing Miranda and assuming she is goddess of the island. All his questions end up amounting to "Hey baby, are you a real woman?"
  • 1.2: Ferdinand is practically won over because Miranda can speak his language (the language of love—no, seriously, isn't that what Italian is?), but he gives the sad news that he is King of Naples, since his father died.
  • 1.2: His father's death has obviously hit him hard, as not a few lines later he's already gladly offering the spot of Queen of Naples to Miranda, whom he doesn't know. Let's just hope his mother isn't alive. Also, he demands to know whether Miranda is a virgin, which is like version two of the best pick-up line ever, the first being "You must be a goddess."
  • 1.2: Prospero demands that, as a traitor, Ferdinand eat withered roots and acorn husks, to which Ferdinand gives a hearty "no thanks" and is promptly entrapped by Prospero's enchantment.
  • 1.2: Knowing he's bested, Ferdinand figures that all the weird things of late may get the better of him, but the burden isn't hard to bear if he can only look out at "this maid" once a day.
  • 3.1: Ferdinand talks long and hard about how all this tough work isn't difficult because he's in love. Super. Good job, love.
  • 3.1: Though the work will be long, Ferdinand will not let Miranda do it, even though she offers. He's all, "tis fresh morning with me when you are by at night." Smooth operator, indeed. He then asks her name, which is sometimes important.
  • 3.1: What follows is a long speech about how much he admires Miranda, and how, though he has been exposed to many ladies, he likes her best of all. This brings us to the third best pick-up line ever: "Hey! There's nothing ostensibly wrong with you!"
  • 3.1: He drops, not-so-subtly, that he is the Prince of Naples, but loves her enough that he would be her log-man. (Make fun of it if you will, but that's what he says.)
  • 3.1: Now that he's got her name, he proclaims to heaven and earth that he does love, prize, and honor her.
  • 3.1: They informally marry each other by holding hands.
  • 4.1: Ferdinand promises Prospero, after he's been threatened, that even if a Motel 6 should pop up on the island with a weekend special, there will be no touching of Miranda until they're married.
  • 4.1: He further promises Prospero that a cold, white, virgin snow is upon his heart, cooling the passion of his liver.
  • 4.1: Ferdinand, after watching the spirits' show of gods, declares the island to be Paradise, with so rare a wonder'd father and wife.
  • 5.1: Prospero pulls the curtain back to his cell, revealing Ferdinand and Miranda engaged in a rousing game of chess. Yes, chess. Ferdinand, though he seems to be cheating at the game according to Miranda, promises he would not play her false for the world.
  • 5.1: After happily greeting his father, newly-not-dead to him, Ferdinand announces he chose Miranda for his wife, without his father's advice, but only because he was dead at the time and unable to give permission. He glosses over the whole part where his father stole Prospero's dukedom, and declares he has a second father in Prospero, now that he has a wife in Miranda.
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