The Tempest - William Shakespeare

I first saw a production of the Tempest when I was far too young to understand the language or appreciate the plot. I recall that I was frightened by the opening scene that (if acted well) portrays very vividly the terror of shipwreck. I was then bemused by the attempts of the adults with me to explain the whole idea of spirits that could be conjured up by magicians to control the winds. These same adults were the ones responsible for my rational upbringing through which, by the age of seven, I already knew to disregard fairies and the like as childish things. I had no understanding of ... more

The Tempest by William Shakespeare is another piece of literature that I have had to read as part of my degree and I must admit one of the pieces I was most looking forward to. In general I must admit that I am quite a lover of plays and really enjoy both reading and watching plays by Shakespeare, Webster and Marlowe. Because of this I hit this play running so to speak and threw myself whole-heartedly into devouring it and must admit that I am so pleased that I did. The Tempest tells the story of Prospero who after loosing his dukedom because of his love of books and the power they gave up ... more

The Tempest is a fascinating play, bleniding large scale politics with the personal, drawing on strong natural imagery and dabbling with magic - lots of the best Shakespeare ingredients. Obvious comparions can be made with "A MIdsummer Night's dream" but this is by far the more focused text, and has a far smaller cast. The Plot: Prospero is the rightful Duke of Milan, but due to some politicking, he's an exile, trapped on a small island with his daughter. Fate, chance or magic brings a boat to flounder on the island's shore - on that boat is Ferdinand, son of the King of Naples, and the Duke ... more

Well who knew that this play was full of so many issues? It explores the themes of slavery, disloyalty, nature vs. nurture, punishment and redemption. This play is an amazing piece of literature in which Shakespeare says goodbye to his audience. This was the last of his plays, and Shakespeare knew that his life was coming to an end, he was an old man and conveyed the message that man cannot control nature. The opening scene is when the Tempest is occuring and there are men on a ship, they are the Royal party who are trying to get back home to Milan. On this ship are men that have sinned ... more

I'm so sorry.... I know The Bard is some kind of a VIP, I know everything he wrote was wonderful. Still, I don't like The Tempest. To me, it's one of his worst plays. I must say that some of his plays are really boring... For instance, The Winter Tale, it is very cute, but it looks like Mickey Mouse in Wonderland, mum comes back, we are glad, we cry a bit, but finally we smile. Completely excentric. Titus Andronicus... How could Shakespeare write such a tragedy ? It is so tragic that I laughed for hours. Lavinia is raped, her hands and her tongue are cut off, and Titus says something very ... more