Concurrent with writing this week’s Vaughan’s Vocabulary is my study of “The Tempest’s” scene 3 of Act III. I’m lecturing on that scene, soon.
The royal party of Naples is shipwrecked on an island that has been inhabited by only a few people, namely Prospero and his daughter, Miranda, who has never seen a young man until she meets Ferdinand, who is believed by King Alonso and others to have perished at sea. Scene 3 opens with Ferdinand’s father, the king, and others searching futilely for Ferdinand.
The men are unaware that Prospero, a powerful magician, is watching them. Ghosts appear bringing in a banquet and the ghostly shapes are dancing, singing, and inviting the men, who are famished, to eat. These men have betrayed Prospero and he is seeking retribution.
1. drollery (DROLL-uh-ree)
A. whimsical humor
B. puppet-show
C. something that is of a droll
D. the act or an instance of jesting
As he gazes at the ghosts and banquet, Sebastian says, “A living drollery.” All four choices are correct. A footnote in the script says “drollery: puppet-show.”
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2. harpy (HAR-pee)
A. a harp player
B. a repugnant creature of Greek mythology, part bird and part human
C. a happy ghost
D. None of the above
Ariel, disguised as a harpy, claps his wings on the banquet table and makes the food vanish before their eyes. B is the answer.
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3. denouement (day-nu-MAHn)
A. a granular scene
B. a protagonist’s victory
C. the outcome of a complex series of events
D. when a scene transpires within a day
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4. Which name isn’t in “The Tempest”?
A. Caliban
B. Trinculo
C. Stephano
D. Gonzalo
E. Katherina
Let the last syllable in denouement (day-nu-MAHn) rhyme with the last syllable in Elon as in Elon University.
Cliff Notes website points out that this scene provides the climax of Prospero’s plan and the denouement of Antonio’s many plots.
No. 4 is E. Katherina is the shrew in “The Taming of the Shrew” by Shakespeare.
Editor’s Note: Dr. Don Rodney Vaughan is the pastor of Mt. Vernon Baptist Church near Eupora and is on the faculty of East Mississippi Community College, Golden Triangle Campus. Contact him at dvaughan@eastms.edu.
