Character Analysis: Ariel

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Ariel, the airy spirit bound to serve Prospero in The Tempest, is one of Shakespeare's most intriguing and multilayered creations, embodying themes of freedom, power, transformation, and the boundary between the natural and supernatural realms. Though neither human nor entirely divine, Ariel stands at the center of the play's magical architecture, functioning as Prospero's agent, the facilitator of the plot's significant events, and the embodiment of an otherworldly moral clarity that contrasts with human imperfection. His presence shapes the play's structure, its tone, and its philosophical explorations.

As an indispensable role in The Tempest, he is the executor of Prospero's designs and the direct cause of every significant event that unfolds on the island. The violent tempest that opens the play, a storm so realistic it once convinced early audiences that the theatre was collapsing, results from Ariel's mastery of elemental forces. It is Ariel who scatters the royal party across the island, enabling the intersecting narrative threads: the political intrigue of Antonio and Sebastian, the romantic meeting between Ferdinand and Miranda, and the comic, drunken rebellion of Caliban, Stephano, and Trinculo. Without Ariel's interventions, none of these encounters would unfold in the precise ways that move the play toward its harmonious resolution.

Throughout the play, he appears as an omnipresent force, sometimes visible, often invisible, constantly aware, guiding characters to specific locations, creating illusions that manipulate their emotional states, and ensuring that Prospero's carefully crafted plan for reconciliation, revelation, and restoration proceeds without deviation. In this sense, Ariel functions almost like a stage manager in a drama, orchestrating events with precision and artistry.

Ariel's relationship with Prospero is central to understanding both characters and the play's ideological fabric. Bound to Prospero for having been rescued from the tree in which the witch Sycorax imprisoned him, Ariel serves with loyalty tempered by increasing impatience. His repeated pleas for freedom reveal a character who feels deeply and yearns for autonomy, even as he fulfills Prospero's commands with unwavering skill.

Prospero controls him through magical authority, yet never wholly owns him, for Ariel's essence is too free, too ethereal to remain permanently contained. The tension between obligation and liberation culminates in Prospero's decision to grant Ariel his long-desired freedom. This moment marks not only Ariel's liberation but also Prospero's moral and emotional evolution. Ariel's plea for mercy toward the shipwrecked nobles, he tells Prospero their suffering "would become tender" were he human, becomes the catalyst for Prospero's renunciation of vengeance. Thus, Ariel does not merely execute Prospero's will; he shapes it.

Ariel has long been read as the living embodiment of air, imagination, and artistic creativity. His ability to transform, to make music from nowhere, and to conjure illusions speaks to the power of the theatrical medium itself. The Renaissance stage relied on the audience's imagination, and Ariel, unseen by the characters but visible to the spectators, serves as a literal and metaphorical reminder of the theatre's magic. He animates the masque for Ferdinand and Miranda, an act that explicitly connects him to artistic creation. In this sense, Ariel is often viewed as Prospero's imaginative faculty, the part of him that can envision beauty, transformation, and mercy. When Prospero breaks his staff and drowns his book, some critics interpret this as the relinquishing of the creative force that Ariel represents. This reading frames Ariel's final release not only as his freedom but as Prospero's farewell to the imaginative and theatrical powers that once defined him.

Ariel also symbolizes moral guidance. Although he performs frightening, awe-inspiring tasks, such as appearing as a harpy to condemn the nobles, he lacks the cruelty that such actions imply. His interventions are always carefully calibrated to provoke self-reflection rather than punishment. When Prospero contemplates inflicting further suffering, Ariel's reminder that "the rarer action is in virtue than in vengeance" invokes a moral philosophy that supersedes human frailty. In this way, Ariel represents the possibility of moral clarity untainted by resentment or ambition. His compassion ultimately becomes the ethical turning point of the play, pushing Prospero toward forgiveness rather than retribution. Through Ariel, Shakespeare suggests that mercy is not a sign of weakness but of wisdom.

Ariel's character extends into historical, political, and postcolonial interpretations of The Tempest. Some readings position Ariel as an alternative model of colonized subjectivity, one that contrasts with Caliban's resistance. Ariel's compliance, diplomacy, and negotiation reflect a different mode of surviving domination, one based on adaptability and strategic obedience. Yet this obedience is not without agency; Ariel consistently reminds Prospero of his promise of freedom, asserting boundaries and expectations with surprising boldness. Such a portrayal complicates any simplistic view of compliance as passivity. In a colonial framework, Ariel becomes the figure who works within the imposed structure to secure eventual liberation, a counterpoint to Caliban's violent rebellion. Both figures reveal distinct dimensions of colonial oppression and strategies of survival, underscoring Ariel's centrality to the play's engagement with power and subjugation.

Ariel also operates as a philosophical symbol of the human desire for transcendence. His longing for freedom transcends physical freedom, pointing toward liberation of the spirit, imagination, and identity. When he is finally released, the play does not specify where he goes or what form his existence takes. This open-endedness suggests infinite possibility. Ariel returns to the elemental world, unconfined and uncontainable. The ambiguity surrounding his departure invites audiences to reflect on the nature of freedom itself: is it simply the absence of constraint, or the ability to realize one's essence without limitation? Ariel's final disappearance leaves behind an atmosphere of hope and renewal, underscoring the play's movement toward reconciliation and transformation.

Ariel is far more than Prospero's servant or a supernatural spectacle. He is the animating force of The Tempest, the embodiment of magic, morality, and imagination, and the catalyst for the play's emotional and ethical progression. Through Ariel, Shakespeare crafts a vision of power that is restorative rather than destructive, of obedience that coexists with agency, and of freedom that is both personal and universal. Ariel's character resonates not only within the play's world but also in broader cultural, theatrical, and philosophical contexts, making him one of Shakespeare's most enduring and evocative creations.