How does Prospero foil the plot hatched by Caliban, Stephano and Trinculo to murder him?

Prospero summons Ariel, the spirit of air, and instructs him to foil Caliban’s plot to murder him. Ariel informs him that with the help of his musical tune, he lured the three drunken rouges through prickly bushes, thorns and shrubs into a filthy pool. At this time, they were busy dancing in that stinking pool. Prospero, then directs Ariel, to fetch cheap and flashy garments from his cell and place them in a line to attract the three fellows. Ariel brings a large number of shining garments and places them on a line. Both Prospero and Ariel remain invisible and wait for the three rouges to come there. All the three are drenched because they have been dancing in the filthy pool. As Stephano has lost his bottle of wine in that pool, both he and Trinculo feel sad.

Caliban, who is active and impatient to execute the plot to kill Prospero, asks Stephano to enter Prospero’s cell quickly and kill him so that he could become the King of the island. As Stephano gets ready to enter Prospero’s cell, Trinculo draws his attention to the flashy garments. Caliban knows that these garments are cheap and asks Trinculo to ignore them and let Stephano execute the plot to kill Prospero. But Stephano also gets attracted by the flashy garments. Caliban urges Stephano not to be lured by these cheap garments but both – Trinculo and Stephano – get attracted to the garments and become indifferent to the murder plot. In fact, soon they forget all about the plot.

In the meantime, Prospero directs some of his spirits to assume the shapes of dogs and hounds and attack them. They chase the three drunken rouges away. In this way, Prospero foils the plot hatched by the three to kill him.

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