Ariel Shakespeare: Encyclopedia - Ariel Shakespeare

Ariel (Shakespeare)

Ariel is a fictional sprite who appears in William Shakespeare's play The Tempest. He is bound to serve the magician Prospero, who rescued him from Sycorax, the witch who previously inhabited the island. Ariel, much like Puck in "A Midsummer Night's Dream", is given many of the play's most lyrical passages, which are sung by Ariel to befuddle and enchant the other characters.

The name, which is a variation of the word "air" from which the spirit comes, is reused in later literature for other sprites, most notably in Alexander Pope's mock epic The Rape of the Lock.

Categories: Fairy and sprite characters | Shakespearean characters

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Ariel Shakespeare", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki