The Tempest

[D-Roc]

As referenced above, here's the synop from Shakespeare's The Tempest:

The sorcerer Prospero, rightful Duke of Milan, and his daughter, Miranda, have been stranded for twelve years on an island, after Prospero's jealous brother Antonio—helped by Alonso, the King of Naples—deposed him and set him adrift with the three-year-old Miranda. Prospero secretly sought the help of Gonzalo and their small and shoddy boat had secretly been upgraded to be more than sea worthy, it had been supplied with plenty of food and water, it had an excellent library and contained surviving material in case the boat capsized. Possessed of magic powers due to his great learning and prodigious library, Prospero is reluctantly served by a spirit, Ariel whom he had rescued from imprisonment in a tree. Ariel was trapped therein by the African witch Sycorax, who had been exiled to the island years before and died prior to Prospero's arrival; Prospero maintains Ariel's loyalty by repeatedly promising to release the "airy spirit" from servitude, but continually defers that promise to a future date, namely at the end of the play. The witch's son Caliban, a deformed monster and the only non-spiritual inhabitant before the arrival of Prospero, was initially adopted and raised by the Milanese sorcerer. He taught Prospero how to survive on the island, while Prospero and Miranda taught Caliban religion and their own language. Following Caliban's attempted rape of Miranda, he had been compelled by Prospero to serve as the sorcerer's slave, carrying wood and gathering pig nuts. In slavery Caliban has come to view Prospero as a usurper, and grown to resent the magician and his daughter, feeling that they have betrayed his trust. Prospero and Miranda in turn view Caliban with contempt and disgust.
The play opens as Prospero, having divined that his brother, Antonio, is on a ship passing close by the island (having returned from the nuptials of Alonso's daughter Claribel with the King of Tunis), has raised a storm (the tempest of the title) which causes the ship to run aground. Also on the ship are Antonio's friend and fellow conspirator, King Alonso, Alonso's brother Sebastian, Alonso's royal advisor Gonzalo, and Alonso's son, Ferdinand. Prospero, by his spells, contrives to separate the survivors of the wreck into several groups and Alonso and Ferdinand are separated, and believe one another dead.

Three plots then alternate through the play. In one, Caliban falls in with Stephano and Trinculo, two drunken crew members, whom he believes to have come from the moon, and drunkenly attempts to raise a rebellion against Prospero (which ultimately fails). In another, Prospero works to establish a romantic relationship between Ferdinand and Miranda; the two fall immediately in love, but Prospero worries that "too light winning [may] make the prize light", and so compels Ferdinand to become his servant so that his affection for Miranda will be confirmed. He also decides that after his plan to exact vengeance on his betrayers has come to fruition, he will break and bury his staff, and "drown" his book of magic. In the third subplot, Antonio and Sebastian conspire to kill Alonso and his advisor Gonzalo, so that Sebastian can become King. They are thwarted by Ariel, at Prospero's command. Ariel appears to the three "men of sin" as a harpy, reprimanding them for their betrayal of Prospero. Alonso, Sebastian and Antonio are deeply affected while Gonzalo is unruffled. Prospero manipulates the course of his enemies' path through the island, drawing them closer and closer to him. In the conclusion, all the main characters are brought together before Prospero, who forgives Alonso (as well as his own brother's betrayal, and warns Antonio and Sebastian about further attempts at betrayal) and finally uses his magic to ensure that everyone returns to Italy.
Ariel (as his final task for Prospero) is charged to prepare the proper sailing weather to guide Alonso and his entourage back to the Royal fleet and then to Naples. Ariel is set free to the elements. Prospero pardons Caliban who is sent to prepare Prospero’s cell, to which Alonso and his party are invited for a final night before their departure. Prospero indicates he intends to entertain them with the story of his life on the island. In his epilogue, Prospero invites the audience to set him free from the island by their applause.

Source:The Tempest - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I love the notion that Ben's a sorcerer (a notion several of us have believed possible for some time now) - it not only fits with this episode and the conduit that was Harper, but past episodes and connections, such as Jacob, Alpert and the Whispers..

Interesting stuff.

I'm also glad that Ben has been revealed to being a romantic (I thought so ever since that moment on the cliff with Sawyer), despite not being the worlds best date :P

[Reed]

Originally Posted by D-Roc

I love the notion that Ben's a sorcerer (a notion several of us have believed possible for some time now) - it not only fits with this episode and the conduit that was Harper, but past episodes and connections, such as Jacob, Alpert and the Whispers..

That is an interesting thought.

"a person who practices sorcery; black magician; wizard".

Perhaps he posesses some kind of energy which enables him to do "things" - an energy which brings him good fortune perhaps or of which allows him to be so good at manipulation.

[D-Roc]

Originally Posted by Reed

That is an interesting thought.

"a person who practices sorcery; black magician; wizard".

Perhaps he posesses some kind of energy which enables him to do "things" - an energy which brings him good fortune perhaps or of which allows him to be so good at manipulation.

I certainly believe that his 'connection' to the island has heightened some nature ability of somekind - first evidenced when he saw his dead mom as a child and met Alpert who told him to be "patient" (which seems to be Ben's virtue).

I believe that his communion with the island - which perhaps extends to the island's spirits - allows him to be 2-steps ahead of the game, as it were. Perhaps he has flahes, or perhaps he is able to send his mind through time, or perhaps he is able to communicate with the dead (this seems extremly likely considering he saw his dead mom back in 3.20).

But yeah, he certainly has an aptitude for gettings things done..

[Reed]

Originally Posted by D-Roc

I certainly believe that his 'connection' to the island has heightened some nature ability of somekind - first evidenced when he saw his dead mom as a child and met Alpert who told him to be "patient" (which seems to be Ben's virtue).

I believe that his communion with the island - which perhaps extends to the island's spirits - allows him to be 2-steps ahead of the game, as it were. Perhaps he has flahes, or perhaps he is able to send his mind through time, or perhaps he is able to communicate with the dead (this seems extremly likely considering he saw his dead mom back in 3.20).

But yeah, he certainly has an aptitude for gettings things done..

Good point; and evidence to support him being a Sorcerer of sorts. I suppose we could argue Locke is very much like Ben, if not more 'connected'. Though Ben is always ten steps ahead of John.

Ben is shockingly clever though perhaps he has "help" in this attribute through Sorcery. I recall a discussion a while back in regard to Ben 'seeing' the future to some extent as it would explain alot of things.

[The_other_other]

Also i see a big link between 'ariel' and smoky. Perhaps Ben 'freed' smoky, who now obeys him as a favour?

[Reed]

Originally Posted by The_other_other

Also i see a big link between 'ariel' and smoky. Perhaps Ben 'freed' smoky, who now obeys him as a favour?

It would be just like Ben to not tell anyone about the Black Smoke.

[firebreathingfishies]

I don't think any of the stations are what they are supposed to be. If you watch the vid in the thread Orientation Outtakes in the Lost discussion bit (i'd post a link but i'm lazy ) That Wax-guy who has a different name every week says something like "now you'll know the Orchid isn't a botanical research station". I think Juliet said the Tempest was a power station because that's what she was told, and lets face it she's probably not in on everything. just random musings probably a load of balls

[Malion]

Airel.. who seems similar to the Smoke monster... appears as a Harpy to the sailors to tell them off...

Harper (note the name) appears to Juliet to tell her off, and give her orders apparently from Ben.

I smell an allusion.

[D-Roc]

Originally Posted by The_other_other

Also i see a big link between 'ariel' and smoky. Perhaps Ben 'freed' smoky, who now obeys him as a favour?

Yeah could be - it seems relevant that they have never really given us any direct connection between Smokey and Ben (except when Locke asked him what it was and he replied "I don't know") - it could be that they are leaving that ambigious until they're ready to make it apparent.

..another possibility is that Ariel represents Jacob in this context - Jacob being 'trapped' for so long inside his ring of ash, perhaps. It certainly seemed that Ben was the boss of the two in the 3.20 cabin sceen, despite Jacob's ability and being Ben's "leader". Ben went as far as to scold him for 'having his fun'

Originally Posted by firebreathingfishies

I don't think any of the stations are what they are supposed to be. If you watch the vid in the thread Orientation Outtakes in the Lost discussion bit (i'd post a link but i'm lazy ) That Wax-guy who has a different name every week says something like "now you'll know the Orchid isn't a botanical research station". I think Juliet said the Tempest was a power station because that's what she was told, and lets face it she's probably not in on everything. just random musings probably a load of balls

Yeah, I was really looking out for any signs as to the extent of Jules' knowledge in this episode, but EM is so good at maintaining a neutral expressing no matter what is happening with her character, that it was difficult to tell how knowledgeable Jules was with events. Not that the actors know much anyways, since they're also kept in the dark. However Jules didn't appear that surprised at Harper's appearance, and she also seemed to know quite a bit about the Tempest - telling Jack that it's safer for him if he doesn't know - why? why is it safer if he doesn't know? This seems to be inkeeping with the Others general code of secrecy, which with Jules' commnets in mind, may actually be more about protecting people from danger (not sure 'what' danger exactly), as opposed to simply witholding information.

Anyway, yeah most of the stations do have 2 purposes - one that everyday Joe's are told about, and the other being the true nature of their purpose

Originally Posted by Malion

Airel.. who seems similar to the Smoke monster... appears as a Harpy to the sailors to tell them off...

Harper (note the name) appears to Juliet to tell her off, and give her orders apparently from Ben.

I smell an allusion.

Interesting, I forgot about the notion that Smokey can perhaps manifest into people (dead people, the living..perhaps both?). Which could make Harper a fake spirit, if you will.

But it's interesting, because if she was Smokey, then it's quite a clever mechanism by TPTB as it reminds us that a characters current mindset/consciousness (usually paralleled with a flashback) is being observed not only by us (the viewer), but by Smokey..as how else would it know to 'get to her' in this way at that moment in time..

..of course (as mentioned) Smokey may well be controlled by Ben - although that wouldn't explain why he would try to kill her and Kate at the sonic fence. Although it would explain why he would take pictures of her and Kate (the flashes) covered in sweaty-mud

I'm still leaning towards Ben being able to communicate with the spirits (the dead), but at the same time, Smokey itself may be a spirit or part of that mechanism..

[D-Roc]

BTW, anyone catch the logo?

[Reed]

Originally Posted by firebreathingfishies

I don't think any of the stations are what they are supposed to be. If you watch the vid in the thread Orientation Outtakes in the Lost discussion bit (i'd post a link but i'm lazy ) That Wax-guy who has a different name every week says something like "now you'll know the Orchid isn't a botanical research station". I think Juliet said the Tempest was a power station because that's what she was told, and lets face it she's probably not in on everything. just random musings probably a load of balls

Good point, though if it were a lie you would imagine "they" would have come up with something more interesting, for example "that is where we make the fish biscuits".

I still cannot really decide if she knows what the Station really does based on her reaction to Daniel and the Time countdown.