The Tempest - William Shakespeare

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 ended up washed up on an island with his daughter Miranda. Upon this island he came across Caliban a savage who he taught to speak English. It is here that he also conjured up spirits.

Prospero as you may have now gathered has some degree of magical powers which it s believed come from his books. These powers enable him to control the spirits as well as the weather. With these powers he conjures up a tempest, which shipwrecks a nearby boat on the island – upon this boat is the very people that sent him to the island and Prospero bears a grudge.

However despite his powers Prospero didn’t count on Miranda falling in love and also failed to realise the cunning of all those around him.

The Tempest is in my opinion a wonderfully written play in so many respects. It is lyrical yet fitting to each character and from the very beginning the phrasing captures the audience. The play’s epilogue is however the most perfect piece of writing throughout the play and both tidies the play up and concludes it in a powerful way. It is said however that this play’s epilogue was merely Shakespeare’s way of saying that this was to be his last main play and that his characters are no longer speaking for him. Knowing this when reading the section does taint the ending a little for me though so I try not to think about it.

Continuing on the theme of writing and language the play has so many memorable lines, which quite shocked me. I’m not saying they’re lines that everyone will know but they are ones that are frequently quoted by Shakespearean’s and other language scholars. This in my opinion is merely a testimony to the wonderful lyricism of the play and can’t understand why it isn’t remembered more. Most people have heard of ‘To be or not to be’ from Hamlet but how many have heard of ‘Remember first to take his books for without them he is but a sot as I am’ or ‘when all my charms are o’erthrown and the strength I haves mine own’ and both of these are far more poetic.

The language in the play though can also be a problem for some people because for those unaccustomed to Shakespearean language interpreting what exactly is being said can be difficult. All I can say about this however is that the more such piece of work you read the easier it becomes and The Tempest is in my opinion one of the easier ones to read, as a starter piece.

The play isn’t only interesting however from a linguistic perspective but also from a character one, as each individual within the action of the play is unique and brings with them their own themes for contention with the scenes. Prospero is of course the lead character but Caliban is personally my favourite because it is through him that themes such as colonial displacement and native culture can be seen and it is these that interest me the most.

I recognise that Shakespeare isn’t everyone’s cup of tea and will even go as far as to say that I wasn’t particular a Shakespeare fan until a year or so ago but this play along with Hamlet have made my mind up for me – I’m definitely going to specialise in Shakespeare at University over the next two years. If this play can do that for me what can it do for you?