The TempestWilliam Shakespeare
About The Tempest
Shakespeare's , performed at court in 1611, is among his last sole-authored plays. Prospero, rightful Duke of Milan, has been living twelve years on an island with his daughter Miranda after his brother Antonio usurped the dukedom. By his art he raises a storm that wrecks a ship carrying Antonio, King Alonso of Naples, and Alonso's son Ferdinand. The passengers are scattered but unharmed.
The plot braids several strands. Ferdinand and Miranda fall in love under Prospero's watch. Alonso's party is led by the spirit Ariel through guilt and confusion; Antonio and Sebastian plot further murder and fail. The monster Caliban, native to the island and enslaved by Prospero, joins the drunken Stephano and Trinculo in a comic conspiracy. Prospero stages a masque, renounces his magic, frees Ariel, and forgives his enemies. He will return to Milan and think on death.
The play takes up nature and art, rule, forgiveness, and the education of a ruler who has preferred books to government. Caliban and Ariel pose opposite relations of master to servant. Prospero's abjuring of his books is the moral center: power is laid down so that justice and mercy can close the action. Later ages read the island as theater, colony, or soul; the text itself keeps the focus on a man who chooses to end his enchantment.