The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1610–1611, and thought to be one of the last plays he wrote alone. After the first scene, which takes place on a ship at sea during a storm, the rest of the play is set on a remote island, where Prospero, a magician, lives with his daughter Miranda and his two servants: Caliban, a savage monster figure, and Ariel, an airy spirit. The play contains music and songs that evoke the spirit of enchantment on the island. It explores many themes, including magic, betrayal, revenge, forgiveness, and family. In Act IV, a wedding masque serves as a play-within-a-play and contributes spectacle, allegory, and elevated language.
Although The Tempest is listed in the First Folio as the first of Shakespeare's comedies, it deals with both tragic and comic themes. Modern criticism has created the category of late romance for this and other later plays by Shakespeare. The Tempest has been widely interpreted in later centuries. Its central character, Prospero, has been identified with Shakespeare, with Prospero's renunciation of magic signaling Shakespeare's farewell to the stage. The play has also been seen as an allegory of Europeans colonising foreign lands.
The play has had a varied afterlife, inspiring artists in many nations and cultures through stage and screen adaptations, literature, music (especially opera), and the visual arts.
Characters
Prospero – the rightful Duke of Milan and a magician Miranda – daughter to Prospero Ariel – a spirit in service to Prospero Caliban – an enslaved servant of Prospero Alonso – King of Naples Sebastian – Alonso's brother Antonio – Prospero's brother, the usurping Duke of Milan Ferdinand – Alonso's son Gonzalo – an honest old councillor Adrian – a lord serving under Alonso Francisco – a lord serving under Alonso Trinculo – the King's jester Stephano – the King's drunken butler Juno – Roman goddess of marriage Ceres – Roman goddess of agriculture Iris – Greek goddess of the rainbow and messenger of the gods Master – master of the ship Mariners Boatswain
Plot
Act I Twelve years before the action of the play, Prospero, formerly Duke of Milan and a gifted sorcerer, had been usurped by his treacherous brother Antonio with the aid of Alonso, King of Naples. Escaping by boat with his infant daughter Miranda, Prospero flees to a remote island where he has been living ever since. There he used his magic to force the island's only inhabitant, Caliban, to protect him and Miranda. He also frees the spirit Ariel and binds him into servitude.
When a ship carrying his brother Antonio passes nearby, Prospero conjures up a storm with help from Ariel and the ship is destroyed. Antonio is shipwrecked, along with Alonso, Ferdinand (Alonso's son and heir to the throne), Sebastian (Alonso's brother), Gonzalo (Prospero's trustworthy minister), Adrian, and other court members.
Acts II and III Prospero enacts a sophisticated plan to take revenge on his usurpers and regain his dukedom. Using magic, he separates the shipwreck survivors into groups on the island: Ferdinand, who is rescued by Prospero and Miranda and given shelter. Prospero successfully manipulates the youth into a romance with Miranda. Trinculo, the king's jester, and Stephano, the king's drunken butler, who encounter Caliban. Recognizing his miserable state, the three stage an unsuccessful "rebellion" against Prospero. Their actions provide the comic relief of the play. Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Gonzalo, and two attendant lords (Adrian and Francisco). Antonio and Sebastian conspire to kill Alonso and Gonzalo so Sebastian can become King; Prospero and Ariel thwart the conspiracy. Later, Ariel takes the form of a harpy and chastises Antonio, Alonso, and Sebastian for their crimes against Prospero and each other. The ship's captain and boatswain, along with the other surviving sailors, are placed into a magical sleep until the final act.
Act IV Prospero intends that Miranda, now aged 15, will marry Ferdinand, and he instructs Ariel to bring some other spirits and produce a dramatised masque.
Ariel and other spirits, performing as the classical goddesses Juno, Ceres, and Iris, celebrate the betrothal while instructing the young couple on the value of chastity and marriage.
The masque is suddenly interrupted when Prospero realises he had forgotten the plot against his life. Once Ferdinand and Miranda are gone, Prospero orders Ariel to deal with the nobles' plot. Caliban, Trinculo, and Stephano are then chased off into the swamps by goblins in the shape of hounds.
Act V and Epilogue Prospero vows that once he achieves his goals, he will set Ariel free, and abandon his magic, saying:
Ariel brings on Alonso, Antonio, and Sebastian. Prospero forgives all three. Prospero's former title, Duke of Milan, is restored. Ariel fetches the sailors from the ship, and then Caliban, Trinculo, and Stephano. Caliban, seemingly filled with regret, promises to be good. Stephano and Trinculo are ridiculed and sent away in shame by Prospero. Before the reunited group (all the noble characters with the addition of Miranda and Prospero) leave the island, Ariel is instructed to provide good weather to guide the king's ship back to the royal fleet and then to Naples, where Ferdinand and Miranda will be married. After this, Ariel is set free.
In an epilogue, Prospero requests that the audience set him free – with their applause.
Date and sources
Date It is not known for certain exactly when The Tempest was written, but evidence supports the idea that it was probably composed sometime between late 1610 to mid-1611. Evidence supports composition perhaps occurring before, after, or at the same time as The Winter's Tale. It is considered one of the last plays that Shakespeare wrote alone. But it was not, as is sometimes claimed, Shakespeare's last play, since it is post-dated by his collaborations with John Fletcher: Henry VIII, Cardenio and The Two Noble Kinsmen. Edward Blount entered The Tempest into the Stationers' Register on 8 November 1623. It was one of 16 Shakespeare plays that Blount registered on that date.
Sources
There is no obvious single source text for the plot of The Tempest: it appears to have been created by Shakespeare with several sources contributing.
The Sea Venture: William Strachey's A True Reportory of the Wracke and Redemption of Sir Thomas Gates, Knight, an eyewitness report of the real-life shipwreck of the Sea Venture in 1609 on the island of Bermuda while sailing toward Virginia, may be considered a primary source for the opening scene, as well as a few other references in the play to conspiracies and retributions. Although not published until 1625, Strachey's report was first recounted in his "Letter to an Excellent Lady", a private letter describing the incident and the earliest account of all. It was dated 15 July 1610, and it is thought that Shakespeare – who had personal connections with a number of members of the Virginia Company – may have seen the original sometime during that year. At around the time Shakespeare could have read Strachey's letter, another Sea Venture survivor, Silvester Jourdain, published his account, A Discovery of The Barmudas, otherwise Called the Ile of Divels. Also there is the Council of Virginia's 1610 pamphlet True Declaration of the state of the Colonie in Virginia, with a confutation of such scandalous reports as have tended to the disgrace of so worthy an enterprise. Regarding the influence of Strachey on the play, Kenneth Muir says that although "there is little doubt that Shakespeare had read ... William Strachey's True Reportory" and other accounts, "the extent of the verbal echoes of [the Bermuda] pamphlets has, I think, been exaggerated. There is hardly a shipwreck in history or fiction which does not mention splitting, in which the ship is not lightened of its cargo, in which the passengers do not give themselves up for lost, in which north winds are not sharp, and in which no one gets to shore by clinging to wreckage."
Montaigne's Of The Canibales: Gonzalo's description of his ideal societyThe Tempest 2.1.148–169 thematically and verbally echoes Montaigne's essay "Of the Canibales", translated into English in a version published by John Florio in 1603. Montaigne praises the society of the Caribbean natives: "It is a nation ... that hath no kinde of traffike, no knowledge of Letters, no intelligence of numbers, no name of magistrate, nor of politike superioritie; no use of service, of riches, or of poverty; no contracts, no successions, no dividences, no occupation but idle; no respect of kinred, but common, no apparrell but natural, no manuring of lands, no use of wine, corne, or mettle. The very words that import lying, falsehood, treason, dissimulation, covetousnes, envie, detraction, and pardon, were never heard of amongst them."
Ovid's Metamorphoses: A source for Prospero's speech in act five, in which he bids farewell to magicThe Tempest 5.1.33–57 is an invocation by the sorceress Medea found in Ovid's poem Metamorphoses. Medea calls out:
Shakespeare's Prospero begins his invocation:
Other sources: Other shipwreck narratives probably drawn on by Shakespeare include those of Antonio Pigafetta contained in Richard Eden's travel anthologies of 1555 and 1557. And some of the characters' names may derive from a 1594 History of Italy.
The Tempest may take its overall structure from traditional Italian , which sometimes featured a magus and his daughter, their supernatural attendants, and a number of rustics. The often featured a clown known as Arlecchino (or his predecessor, Zanni) and his partner Brighella, who bear a striking resemblance to Stephano and Trinculo; a lecherous Neapolitan hunchback who corresponds to Caliban; and the clever and beautiful Isabella, whose wealthy and manipulative father, Pantalone, constantly seeks a suitor for her, thus mirroring the relationship between Miranda and Prospero. Other dramatic influences on Prospero's character include Greene's Friar Bacon, Marlowe's Dr. Faustus and Shakespeare's own Owen Glendower. Bremo in Mucedorus may have influenced Caliban.
Scholars have debated the influence of Virgil's Aeneid, which Robert Wiltenburg described as "the main source of the play ... not the source of the plot ... but the work to which Shakespeare is responding".
Recently, scholars have also identified the influence on the Tempest of Marston's The Malcontent, Beaumont and Fletcher's Philaster and the anonymous romance Primaleon, Prince of Greece.
Text
The Tempest first appeared in print in 1623 in the collection of 36 of Shakespeare's plays titled, Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies; Published according to the True and Original Copies, which is known as the First Folio. The plays, including The Tempest, were gathered and edited by John Heminges and Henry Condell.
The Folio text was based on a handwritten manuscript of The Tempest prepared by Ralph Crane, a scrivener employed by the King's Men. Crane probably copied from Shakespeare's rough draft, and based his style on Ben Jonson's Folio of 1616. Crane is thought to have neatened texts, edited the divisions of acts and scenes, and sometimes added his own improvements. He was fond of joining words with hyphens, and using elisions with apostrophes, for example by changing "with the king" to read: "wi'th' King".The Tempest 1.2.112 The elaborate stage directions in The Tempest may have been due to Crane; they provide evidence regarding how the play was staged by the King's Men.