by Ariel's magic show and his accusation. Note how the supernatural
quality of the scene makes his speech affect their consciences as if
they were themselves accusing themselves, and how it drives them into
mental disorder. Dr. Bucknill, a specialist in brain disease, who has
commented on Shakespeare's knowledge of such maladies, explains that
Alonzo's frenzy leads him by an imaginative melancholy to the idea of
suicide, while the madness of Antonio and Sebastian expresses itself
in the idea of desperate fight.

POINTS. 1. What is a 'catch,' a 'tabor'? Give an account of the music
in the play, and show the fitness of its different effects on the
different characters. 2. Explain the allusions, 'unicorns,' 'one tree,
the Phoenix throne,' 'mountaineers,' with 'wallets of flesh,' etc. 3.
What is a harpy? Give an account of the mention of harpies in Virgil
(Æneid, Book III), and 'Paradise Regained' (Book II). What
appropriateness to the purpose in this 'quaint device'?

QUERY FOR DISCUSSION

Do the counter-plots introduced in this act mainly affect events or
character?


ACT IV

THE CONFUSION OF THE PLOTTERS

Show how the story of Act IV consists in the smoothing down of all
that disturbs Prospero's designs, and foreshadows the complete
reconciliation of the last act. The lovers, whose readiness to fall in