The relationship between Prospero, Caliban and Ariel in The TempestShakespeare's play, The Tempest, is set on a mysterious island surrounded by the ocean. Here the magician Prospero is ruler of the island with his two servants Caliban and Ariel. Caliban is the annoying, foul-mouthed son of the evil witch Sycorax. When Prospero was shipwrecked on the island, Prospero treated him kindly but their relationship changed when Caliban attempted to rape Prospero's daughter, Miranda. Caliban then became Prospero's reluctant servant. Caliban serves his master out of fear of Prospero's wrath. Prospero's other servant, Ariel, is a graceful spirit with courtesy and charm. Ariel made her services available to Prospero in gratitude for his kind actions towards her. Prospero saved Ariel from the captivity of Sycorax who was holding her captive. Prospero treats his two servants in very different ways as their behavior and attitude towards him are contrasting. Hence the question arises: why does he treat his equally hard-working servants in different ways and whether he is wise in his actions. Prospero treats Caliban very severely, even ruthlessly, insulting him: "You poisonous slave, taken by the devil" himself' 1/2/319 and threatening him with harsh punishments which he can inflict with his powerful magic,'...tonight you will have cramps ...you'll pinch yourself...every pinch more stinging than the bees made them. ' 1/2/325Prospero appears to be a ruthless tyrant who strikes fear into Caliban into working, but later in the text we learn that this is not the case. Caliban's foul-mouthed insults, '...blister you.' 1/2/324describe his degraded and brutal nature. In Act 1, Scene 2 Caliban complains about how Prospero has used paper, thus becoming impractical and lacking in common sense. Shakespeare tries to show in the form of the essay Prospero the balance between the two sides, the lower one and the nobler one. If you let one part dominate your personality, you lose sight of your individual person and lose balance. Woks cited and consulted Cahn, Victor L. Shakespeare, The Playwright Praeger Publishers. Westport CT. 1996Charney, Maurice. "Bad" Shakespeare Associated University Press. London, England. 1996How, James. Shakespeare Associated University Press by a Buddhist. Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. 1994Hylton, Jeremy. Collected Works of WilliamShakespeare, October 4, 1999. Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyKathman, Dave. Dating The Tempest Personal website http://www.clark.net/pub/tross/ws/tempest.html