The Tempest

The Tempest is one of William Shakespeare's later plays, and is the only one in which he more-or-less-successfully attempts to abide by the prescribed "unities" of classical drama. Unity of place is achieved by setting the play on a remote island, and unity of time by having all the action take place within the space of a few hours. It was performed for the first time on Novmeber 1, 1611 at Whitehall Palace in London.

The sorcerer Prospero, Duke of Milan, and his daughter, Miranda, have been stranded for sixteen years on the island, as a result of the machinations of Prospero's jealous brother. Having developed magic powers as a result of his great learning, Prospero is able to survive on the island, with the aid of a spirit, Ariel, whom he has rescued from imprisonment in a tree. Ariel was placed there by the deceased witch Sycorax, who was exiled to the island years before. Caliban, the witch's monstrous and embittered son, has been compelled by Prospero to serve as the sorcerer's servant.

Having discovered that his brother, Antonio, is on a ship passing close by the island, Prospero 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, and Alonso's son, Ferdinand. Prospero, by his spells, contrives to separate all the survivors of the wreck so that Alonso and Ferdinand believe one another dead. Caliban falls in with Stephano and Trinculo, two drunken crew members, and attempts to raise a rebellion against Prospero, but this fails. Meanwhile, Ferdinand, imprisoned by Prospero, falls in love with Miranda. All ends happily, as Prospero forgives his enemies and produces a magical masque to celebrate the union of Miranda with Ferdinand. This is the cue for one of the best-known speeches in Shakespeare (Prospero's final speech), including the lines:

Our revels now are ended. These our actors,

As I foretold you, were all spirits and

Are melted into air, into thin air:

And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,

The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,

The solemn temples, the great globe itself,

Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve

And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,

Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff

As dreams are made on, and our little life

Is rounded with a sleep. [. . .]

In this speech, reference appears to be made to the Globe Theatre. The character of Prospero is believed by some to be based on Shakespeare's contemporary, Dr John Dee. Because The Tempest was one of Shakespeare's very last plays, it has been popular to excerpt this speech and interpret it as Shakespeare's own farewell to the theatre. In the context of the play, however, this speech does not stand out as an author's personal confession, and this reading may be more than a little fanciful. Shakespeare did not end his career with The Tempest, but went on to collaborate with John Fletcher on perhaps three more plays.

Some recent criticism of The Tempest has interpreted it in terms of colonialism; other readings of the play interpret it as a discourse on the nature of evil.

External links

• Quotations from the play at Wikiquote
• The Tempest - searchable, indexed e-text
• The Tempest - Project Gutenberg e-text