‘Full Fathom Five Thy Father Lies’ is an extract from William Shakespeare’s play ‘The Tempest’. In this extract, Shakespeare is concerned with the appreciation of death. His attitude towards death is different from society’s attitude towards death. Society considers death in negative parameter considering it as the end of life but the poet regards death is positive parameter considering it as a meaningful process. It is through Ariel’s consolation to Ferdinand in the poem, he projects death as a significant process which changes our physical existence into something rich and strange. Shakespeare concludes the poem suggesting death as a gateway to enter the world of purity and holiness from the physical world.
This poem is in fact Ariel’s song to Ferdinand. Ariel, an airy spirit suggests Ferdinand, the prince of Naples, not to cry as Ferdinand is crying thinking that his father is dead drowning into the sea. In the first line of the poem, Ariel informs Ferdinand about the location of the dead body of his father; Ferdinand’s father is lying 30 feet below the sea. Though his father is dead, Ariel advises Ferdinand not to cry because death has changed his father’s bones into corals and eyes into pearls. In fact, no body part of his father has decayed rather every body part has changed into something rich and strange. It is through the reference of the transformation of the body parts of Ferdinand’s father, Shakespeare implies that death is a meaningful process which transforms our bodily existence into something more meaningful.
Towards the end of the poem, Ariel brings the reference of the sea-nymphs and the bells. The sea-nymphs stand for the idea of purity and holiness. They are ringing bells which signal the departure of Ferdinand’s father from the physical world. With the juxtaposition of sea nymphs and bells, Shakespeare projects death as a gateway to enter the world of purity and holiness from the physical world.
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