relief, Trinculo and Stephano? Even though it is their function in the play to be goofy, their antics often serve to reveal much about their personalities (besides being drunks....). In Act II sc ii Stephano relates to Trinculo that he survived the tempest and “ escaped on a butt of sack that the sailors threw o’er board”. (Act II sc ii ) Whereas Ferdinad leapt into the sea crying “ hell is empty”, Stephano, when faced with life and death , chose to swim after a barrel of booze. He must hate his life of servitude so much that he would rather spend his last moments in drunker stupor then swim for his life. Both he and Trinculo must resent their noble masters so much that their drunken revelry takes the form of plotting to murder the authority figure of the island. Their constant labor makes them so jealous of their masters that they get suckered in by Prospero’s clothesline of gaudy robes. Trinculo and Stephano take their time pretending to be dukes and kings , even forcing Caliban to carry their luggage, in spite of Caliban’s warnings. Even though Trinculo and Stephano are silly creatures, their humor does a lot to reveal the kind of resentment they bear for their powerful masters. They are clearly frustrated by their years of unrewarding toil, and it manifests itself in their wackiness. Shakespeare’s humor shows us that they are not just drunks, but angry , disgruntled drunks. Shakespeare uses his gift for humor and goofiness to reveal new facets of his characters. By making his players laugh and be stupid, we get to see them as actual , complex people with thoughts and vulnerabilities and weird agendas. He uses humor as the tool nessecary to make humans out of words, as opposed to roles....
