The action of The Tempest play takes place on an island in the Mediterranean. The enchanted island, inhabited by spirits, full of strange sounds and music, is the setting for a magical drama of loss, love and reconciliation.
Date written: 1611
Genre classification: The Tempest does not conform to any of Shakespeare’s usual play genres.
Main characters in The Tempest: Prospero, the Duke of Milan, overthrown by his brother, Antonio, lives on the island with his Daughter, Miranda after having been put into a boat and pushed out to sea fifteen years before. During that time he has studied magic and now controls the island through that art.
Prospero causes a shipwreck as his brother, Antonio, with a party of other dignitaries is returning from a wedding in Tunis.
Alonso, the King of Naples, helped Antonio to depose Prospero. With him is his villainous brother, Sebastian and his son, Ferdinand, who falls in love with Miranda the moment he sets eyes on her. The other members of the party are Gonzago, an old courtier of Milan, the man who tried to help Prospero and Miranda after the coup and two of Alonso’s courtiers, Adrian and Francisco.
Prospero has two servants: Ariel, a delicate and bird-like spirit who is invisible, except to his master and he performs magical tasks for him, and Caliban, a misshapen monster, the son of the wicked witch Sycorax, who died before Prospero arrived on the island.
Trinculo, Alonso’s jester and Stephano, his butler, have also survived the wreck.
There are three goddesses who make an appearance on the island – Iris, Ceres and Juno. See a full list of characters in The Tempest.
The Tempest themes: The play is about forgiveness and reconciliation as Prospero forgives all those who have wronged him and his daughter, and returns to resume his Dukedom in Milan. In a more postmodern fashion the play is concerned with itself as a play. With its theatrical illusions and disguises, and the action directed by the main character, Prospero, it explores theatrical production.
Magic was a taboo subject in Shakespeare’s time, with withces and other occultists routinely burnt at the stake. Shakespeare is exploring the potential of magic for good rather than evil.
Other themes are civilization versus nature; authority, and, as usual in Shakespeare, appearance and reality.
Here is a brief plot summary of The Tempest:
Alonso, the king of Naples, is returning from his daughter’s wedding in Tunis. He is accompanied by his son, Ferdinand, his brother, Sebastain, and Antonio, the Duke of Milan. An old Milanese courtier, Gonzalo, is also on board. The ship is wrecked in a storm and all the passengers and crew are thrown into the furious sea.
Prospero, the former Duke of Milan, and his fifteen year-old daughter, Miranda, are watching the shipwreck from an island. He tells her, for the first time, how they came to be on the island. Twelve years before, when he had been Duke of Milan, his brother Antonio, had usurped him, but with Gonzalo’s help he had escaped in a small boat with his baby daughter, Miranda, and his library of books about magic. They had ended up on the island and Prospero had turned the only inhabitant, Caliban, a deformed and savage creature, into his slave. There are also spirits on the island. One of them, Ariel, had been imprisoned in a tree trunk by Caliban’s mother, the witch, Sycorax, who had then died. Prospero used his magic abilities to rescue him and he made the spirit swear to serve him.
The ship’s passengers are cast up on the island unharmed, and even their clothes are not wet or damaged. Alonso believes his son to be dead but Ferdinand has landed on another part of the island. He encounters Miranda and they fall in love at first sight. He is the first man, apart from her father and Caliban that she has ever seen. Prospero puts Ferdinand to work manually, controlling all his movements with magic. Ariel pesters Prospero for his freedom and Prospero promises it once he has done some things for him, regarding the newcomers.
Arial leads the party towards Prospero’s cell. During this journey Antonio and Sebastian plan to kill Alonso so that Sebastian can be king. Two other members of the party, Trinculo, the court jester, and Stephano, a boisterous butler, are also wandering about on the island. Caliban recruits them to help him overthrow Prospero. They all get drunk then set off for Prospero’s cell. Ariel reports the plot to Prospero.
Prospero has released Ferdinand and given his blessing to the marriage of the two young people. When the three would-be usurpers arrive at his cell they are distracted by some brightly coloured clothes that have been hung out for them, then they are chased away by a band of spirits who have taken on the form of dogs.
Ariel brings the party to the cell. Prospero renounces his magic and reveals himself. He forgives his brother and prepares to return to Milan to resume his dukedom. Miranda and Ferdinand are betrothed. Sailors arrive and announce that the ship hasn’t been wrecked after all, and is safely anchored off the island. Ariel is set free. Caliban and the drunken servants are also forgiven. There is a final celebration of their reunion
See below for a full list of all the characters in The Tempest:
ALONSO, King of Naples
SEBASTIAN, his Brother
PROSPERO, the right Duke of Milan
ANTONIO, his Brother, the usurping Duke of Milan
MIRANDA, Daughter to Prospero
ARIEL, an airy Spirit
CALIBAN, a savage and deformed Slave
FERDINAND, Son to the King of Naples
GONZALO, an honest old Counsellor
ADRIAN, FRANCISCO, Lords
TRINCULO, a Jester
STEPHANO, a drunken Butler
Master of a Ship, Boatswain, Mariners
IRIS, CERES, JUNO, Nymphs, Reapers, presented by Spirits
Other Spirits attending on Prospero
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