Summary
Stephano asks Caliban where the sounds of the sea are coming from, and Caliban tells him that the sea is his friend. "And yet it helps me breathe. That's why I call it a pal. Sometimes it sneezes, and a drop falls on my forehead and cools me with its salt, or blesses me..." Caliban says of the sea. As Caliban waxes poetic about nature, Stephano and Trinculo are confused.
As the two mortals comment on the mud and the mosquitoes stinging them, Caliban insists, "Those aren't mosquitoes. It's some kind of gas that stings your nose and throat and makes you itch. It's another of Prospero's tricks. It's part of his arsenal." He suggests that Prospero has a bunch of different tricks to prevent people from rioting on the island. "He's got a lot of gadgets like these...gadgets to make you deaf, to blind you, to make you sneeze, to make you cry..."
Stephano becomes worried that it is dangerous to attack Prospero, such a powerful man, but Caliban insists that, while they must not underestimate Prospero, they also must not overestimate him. Suddenly, some colorful clothing is seen hanging from a nearby rope. When Trinculo sees some of the clothes, he goes to take some trousers, but Stephano wants the first pick. They fight over who will get the trousers, and Caliban becomes frustrated that he has such idiotic fellow revolutionaries. Prospero appears suddenly, and Caliban advances on him with a weapon. Prospero does not defend himself, however, and calls for Ariel to take the three rebels as prisoners.
Scene 5. In Prospero's cave, Miranda and Ferdinand are playing chess. Miranda catches Ferdinand cheating and he tells her that the fact that she caught him makes him less worried about her leaving her "innocent flowery kingdom for [his] less-innocent world of men." Alonso and Gonzalo enter, and they are both overjoyed about Ferdinand and Miranda's engagement.
As they congratulate Miranda and Ferdinand, Prospero enters and tells them that their ships are undamaged and that tomorrow he will return to Europe with them. Gonzalo exclaims, "With one voyage Antonio has found a brother, his brother has found a dukedom, his daughter has found a husband. Alonso has regained his son and gained a daughter." Prospero announces that for his loyalty, Ariel will be freed.
Ariel launches into a song about his newfound freedom, and his desire to taunt those who remain imprisoned. He sings, "I shall be the thrush that launches/its mocking cry/to the benighted field-hand/"Dig, nigger! Dig, nigger!" To this, Prospero says, "That is a very unsettling agenda! Go! Scram! Before I change my mind!"
Stephano, Trinculo, and Caliban enter, and the two fools explain what happened to them. Trinculo says, "...We were mistaken for thieves and treated accordingly." The men argue about the best course of action, when Gonzalo suggests they perform an exorcism on Caliban, which causes Caliban to burst out laughing. Prospero calls him over and asks if he wants to defend himself, to which Caliban replies, "I'm not interested in defending myself. My only regret is that I've failed...To get back my island and regain my freedom."
Prospero tries to make peace with Caliban, suggesting that they have always worked side-by-side. Caliban, however, tells him that he does not want peace, but freedom. Prospero tells him, "It's odd...no matter what you do, you won't succeed in making me believe that I'm a tyrant!" Caliban delivers a monologue denouncing Prospero, telling him, "I don't give a damn for your power/or for your dogs or your police or your inventions!" He goes on to say, "And you lied to me so much,/about the world, about myself,/that you ended up by imposing on me/an image of myself:/underdeveloped, in your words, undercompetent/that's how you made me see myself!/And I hate that image...and it's false!" He suggests that Prospero is addicted to being a colonizer and tells him that he hates him.
Prospero fires back, "Well, I hate you as well! For it is you who have made me doubt myself for the first time." Prospero then makes a speech about how he is important to the island because he helps to decipher it and make its chaos intelligible. When the nobles leave, Prospero and Caliban are left alone.
Time passes, and Prospero appears, somewhat older, and "his speech weak, toneless, trite. He speaks about the fact that the island has become overrun with opossums. "I shall protect civilization!" he yells. In the distance, Caliban sings a song about freedom.
Analysis
While Caliban understands nature and feels connected to it, Prospero uses his power to control it. As Caliban explains to Stephano and Trinculo, Prospero uses his magical powers to wield nature in such a way that it suppresses any uprising on the island. He refers to this as Prospero's "anti-riot arsenal," a specifically political way of wielding magic that suppresses any rebellion or resistance against his authority. This further illustrates the ways that Prospero is not only a sorcerer, but someone who combines magic with political power to keep his resistors under his thumb.
In spite of Caliban's convictions and his desire to take back the island, he ends up falling prey to Prospero's anti-riot arsenal, but not in the typical fashion. When Caliban goes to fight with Prospero, Prospero does not defend himself, which confuses Caliban. In the moment when Caliban imagines he will be able to conquer his master man-to-man, his master does not even try to fight back. Instead, Prospero quickly imprisons the resistors, with help from Ariel.
In Scene 5, all of the royal factions are reunited and all former offenses are amended by the engagement of Ferdinand to Miranda. Alonso and Prospero resolve their issues from the past and plan to return to Europe, together. Additionally, Prospero frees Ariel after years of bondage. It turns out that Ariel's response to imprisonment—to try and get on his master's good side—has paid off after all, while Caliban has found himself imprisoned. Ariel's liberation fills him with a vibrant if somewhat manic attitude, and he sings a song about his newfound freedom that includes his desire to become "the thrush that launches/its mocking cry/to the benighted field-hand."
Caliban, while he is not explicitly given freedom by Prospero, retains his dignity, which is more than the crazed Ariel can say. When Prospero tries to get him to defend himself for rebelling, he insists that he will not defend himself, but that he was planning to expel Prospero from the island and regain his freedom once and for all. Prospero tries to spin their relationship into something that has been mutually beneficial and equal, but Caliban insists that he does not want peace, but freedom. In Caliban and Prospero's relationship, we see a representation of the struggle between colonizer and colonized, white exploiter and black slave. While Prospero does not see their dynamic as contentious in any way, Caliban sees clearly that he has been taken advantage of throughout their relationship—exploited and robbed of his freedoms.
In this way, Caliban frees himself from the logic of slavery and colonialism. He goes on a long tirade about Prospero's unjust treatment of him, suggesting that—worse than enslaving him—Prospero robbed him of a sense of self. "And you lied to me so much,/about the world, about myself,/that you ended up imposing on me/an image of myself:/underdeveloped, in your words, undercompetent,/that's how you made me see myself!" Caliban yells, before suggesting that this manipulation was false, and only a way to keep him down. This is the gravest injustice of their colonial dynamic; not only has Prospero controlled Caliban, but he has controlled how Caliban perceives himself.
