The Tempest

A.What’s the story?

Written between 1610 and 1611, The Tempest is William Shakespeare’s final play.

For a lot of audiences and literary scholars, Prospero, the main character, seems like

a stand-in in for Shakespeare, who spent a lifetime dazzling audiences before retiring

in 1611, shortly after The Tempest was completed. Not only is the play full of self

conscious references to the workings of the theater, its epilogue seems to be a final

and fond farewell to the stage. When Prospero appears alone before the audience he

confesses, "Now my charms are all o'erthrown, / And what strength I have's mine own," we can't help but wonder of Shakespeare is

speaking through this character here.

Regardless of whether or not Shakespeare intended for us to understand the

epilogue as a big goodbye to his own art, the play does seem to be a nice ending to

a brilliant career because The Tempest revisits some of the most important issues and themes to have emerged from Shakespeare's previous plays. Literary scholar Stephen Greenblatt, who

calls the play an "echo-chamber of Shakespearean motifs," points out that The

Tempest resonates "with issues that haunted Shakespeare's imagination throughout his career."

B. Why Should I Care about The Tempest?

As we already discussed The Tempest was the last play that William Shakespeare ever

wrote, and Prospero's decision to move to Naples and break his magic staff is similar to

Shakespeare's decision to let go of his art. We could argue that Shakespeare is one of the most popular figures in the entire universe. So, the

fact that we get to watch this genius take a bow and say goodbye through this play

makes us care. It's like watching a comet that only comes around every three hundred

years – we hang on Shakespeare's every word, listening for last drops of wisdom.

If Shakespeare is like Prospero, then playwriting is similar to being a lonely magician

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on an island. Writing is like performing

magic. This is not just pull-a-bunny-out-of-a-hat magic – we're talking storm-inducing, ship-splitting magic. If

giving up playwriting is similar to giving up magic, making peace with your sworn

enemy, and moving to Naples, then we might infer that the life of an artist is a lonely

one.

Discussion So just what do you think it means to be an artist? Do you have to be alone, separated

from society in order to be a good one?

C. The Plot

It's stormy – you might even call it tempestuous –

when we meet some characters on a boat, which is a

decidedly bad place to be in a storm. We learn that

the King of Naples and several of his attendants are

on this boat. The boat splits in half and the people float off into the sea.

We cut to Prospero (on dry land), chatting with his daughter Miranda. We learn that

Prospero was the source of the magic that caused the storm that sank this boat, and

that he did it for good reason. However, he promises his sweet daughter that nobody

was hurt in spite of all the fire, boat-splitting, and drowning that was clearly going on.

He also tells Miranda that it's time she found out that she's a princess. Prospero says he used to be the Duke of Milan until his brother, Antonio,

betrayed him and stole the dukedom (with the consent of the King) while Prospero was

busy learning magic in his library. After all the usurping (which is a great word for

stealing something, especially positions of power), Prospero and the three-year-old

Miranda were shuttled out to the ocean in a wreck of a boat. They ended up on this

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island, where the ex-Duke has raised his daughter for the last

twelve years. However, Prospero thinks the time is right for action and revenge.

We briefly meet his two servants. One is a delicate and airy spirit who was

imprisoned in a tree by a witch for not being nasty enough (Ariel) and the other is the

child of said witch and the Devil (Caliban). Then we learn that mostly all the folks

responsible for stealing Prospero's dukedom were on the sinking boat from the

beginning of the play. Alonso, the King, fears he lost his son (the Prince) in the storm.

The shipwrecked group set off to find Alonso's son, the lost Prince Ferdinand.

Meanwhile, the not-so-lost Prince is alive and convinced that his dad and

everyone else from the boat are dead. He's already fallen in love with Prospero's daughter Miranda. Prospero accuses the shipwrecked Prince of

being a traitor and puts Prince Ferdinand to work clearing wood. On Ferdinand's

second encounter with Miranda, he learns her name and promises to marry her. She

also declares her love for him; though he is only the third man she has ever seen.

Back with the search party looking for the Prince, everyone feels weary and assumes

the guy is dead. A banquet appears in front of the shipwrecked group, set up by silent

fairy spirits. Yes, this is weird, but the search party is hungry and wants to eat. Before

they can dig in, a scary sea monster shows up (a result of Prospero's

magic) and says that the sea took Prince Ferdinand in exchange for the wrong Alonso committed against Prospero many years ago.

Switching back to the other group on the island, Prospero now accepts Ferdinand,

saying that he was just testing the young man with all that hard labor. Since the Prince has worked for at least three hours carrying heavy wood, he has permission to marry Prospero's daughter.

Prospero now goes to meet the shipwrecked King & Co. The monster really shook up

the King, so Alonso apologizes to Prospero and returns his dukedom. Prospero starts

some banter about how he recently lost his daughter to the tempest too, commiserating

with the King. Prospero changes the subject and asks if they'd like to see his cell (the

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place he lives). He pulls back the curtain covering his dwelling to

reveal – you guessed it – two not-dead children very much in love. Alonso rejoices to

see his son, Ferdinand rejoices to show-off his new girl, and Miranda rejoices at seeing

so many men – hence the line "O brave new world that has such people in it."

During the closing lines, Prospero speaks directly to the audience, and says they can free him from the island with their applause. It's like "clap if you believe in fairies" except it's actually the best

playwright in Western history saying goodbye to writing plays.

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D. To tempest or not to tempest?

1. What was Prospero’s title before his position was usurped and he

was forced to flee Italy?2. How long have Prospero and Miranda been on their island? 3. Who are Prospero’s servants? Describe their personality.4. What does Ferdinand discover on his second meeting with

Miranda?5. What happens at the banquet for the shipwrecked party?6. How does the king discover his son is still alive?7. How do you think the king feels?8. Do you agree that Shakespeare was saying goodbye to his

audiences?

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Did you know?

Shakespeare's play may have been inspired by a real life shipwreck. In 1609, a ship named the Sea Venture (part of the Virginia Company) was on its way from England to Jamestown (yep – that's the early American colony alright) when it wrecked in the Bermudas. The crew was thought to be lost forever but managed to survive on a deserted island. So, does this mean The Tempest is inspired by the New World?.The title of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World comes directly from Miranda's speech "O brave new world, that has such people in it!" There's even a character in Brave New World who can't stop talking about Shakespeare.

BBC News Broadcasting House has a statue of Ariel and Prospero on the front of the building.

. Patrick Stewart, known as Captain Picard of Star Trek and Professor Xavier in the movie versions of X-Men, has played Prospero on stage. We can totally see that.

Musician Beck's 2002 release, Sea Change, was ranked 440 in Rolling Stone's list "Top 500 Albums of All Time." The term "sea change" originated in The Tempest, with Ariel's "Full fathom five thy father lies" speech, and has come to mean an incredibly significant change.

The Tempest