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The Tempest: Difference between revisions
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[[File:Scene_From_tempest_Poole.jpg|frame|A scene -- after <s>
''[[The Tempest]]'' is one of [[William Shakespeare]]'s "problem plays" (neither comedy or tragedy), also called "romances." The play centers around Prospero, the former Duke of Milan who was usurped by his brother, Antonio, and sent out to sea with just his books and his daughter, Miranda. Twelve years later, Prospero is ruling over a seemingly deserted island, with two of the island's only other beings at his command: Ariel, an air spirit (who's grateful to Prospero for rescuing him from being trapped in a tree, but would like to be freed from his service soon), and Caliban, the deformed son of a witch (who hates his master, and makes no secret of it).
▲''The Tempest'' is one of [[William Shakespeare]]'s "problem plays" (neither comedy or tragedy), also called "romances." The play centers around Prospero, the former Duke of Milan who was usurped by his brother, Antonio, and sent out to sea with just his books and his daughter, Miranda. Twelve years later, Prospero is ruling over a seemingly deserted island, with two of the island's only other beings at his command: Ariel, an air spirit (who's grateful to Prospero for rescuing him from being trapped in a tree, but would like to be freed from his service soon), and Caliban, the deformed son of a witch (who hates his master, and makes no secret of it).
When Antonio, along with a group that includes the King of Naples and his son, Ferdinand, sails by the island, Prospero has Ariel create a storm (the emponymous tempest) to shipwreck them onto the island, so that Prospero may have his revenge. The story ends happily, though, with Prospero forgiving those that wronged him, Ferdinand and Miranda falling in love and getting married, and Ariel getting his hard-earned freedom.
This play remains one of Shakespeare's finest, even to this day, and was once theorized as the final play he wrote by himself. It inspired the science fiction classics ''[[Brave New World (
There are roughly twenty-one filmed and televised versions of this play. Some play it straight, some update to modern times, and others such as ''Prospero's Books'' are [[Mind Screw|massively wild re-interpretations]].
{{tropelist}}
* [[The Alcoholic]]: Stephano and Trinculo.
* [[Artistic License Geography]] / [[Critical Research Failure]]: '''Averted'''. Act I Scene 2 tells us that Prospero and Miranda were taken from Milan by "bark" (boat) "some leagues to the sea" where they were put aboard "a rotten carcass of a boat". While Milan does not have direct access to the ocean, Milan does have access to an extensive network of canals, one of which connects Milan to the Mediterranean Sea via the Ticino river. The Grand Canal (''Naviglio Grande'') [https://web.archive.org/web/20120511005339/http://
* [[The Atoner]]: Prospero has moments of this later in the play, and renounces sorcery at the end.▼
* [[Attempted Rape]]: In the [[Backstory]], Caliban tried this on Miranda.
** The writer Brian Aldiss has worked this into an [[Alternate Character Interpretation]], with Miranda and Caliban in love with each other, and Prospero separating them against their will. Decide for yourself whether he's nuts.
* [[Author Avatar]]: Prospero, according to many critics. The [[Fourth Wall]]-breaking speech at the end certainly helps this idea.
** Some critics view Prospero's farewell to magic as Shakespeare's farewell to theater and writing. This does ignore the official timeline that Shakespeare wrote more plays after this.
▲* [[The Atoner]]: Prospero has moments of this later in the play, and renounces sorcery at the end.
* [[Beam Me Up, Scotty]]: The line is ''not'' "[[The Maltese Falcon|the stuff dreams are made of]]", but rather, this:
{{quote|
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep'' }}
* [[Butt Monkey]]: Stephano and Trinculo, whilst having nothing to do with the usurping of Prospero, spend the entire play being ridiculed whilst flat out drunk. Caliban too, but since he once [[Attempted Rape|attempted to rape]] Miranda, one can debate that he deserves it.
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* [[Cassandra Truth]]: Gonzalo is right about ''everything,'' but no one ever listens to him.
* [[The Chessmaster]]: Prospero
* [[Clap Your Hands If You Believe]]: Prospero references this in his fourth-wall breaking speech at the end.
* [[Drowning My Sorrows]]: Caliban, after [[Those Two Guys]] meet him.▼
* [[Daddy's Girl]]: Miranda
▲* [[Drowning My Sorrows]]: Caliban, after [[Those Two Guys]] meet him.
* [[Evil Prince]]: Antonio.
* [[Evil Plan|Good Plan]]: A rare heroic version; the entire play is Prospero's [[God Game]] to end his exile from Milan. 'Good' because all he wants is to get his home back and teach his evil brother a lesson. No one gets hurt, not even the evil brother, and almost all of them go back to Milan as more or less friends. ▼
** Prospero (Superego)▼
** Caliban(Id)▼
* [[Friend to All Living Things]]: Miranda. She cries for the victims of the storm, and only calms down when her father assures her nobody was hurt. According to some versions of the play, she tried to teach Fish-Man and resident [[Enemy to All Living Things]] Caliban to read prior to the events of the play, but gave it up when he attempted to rape her.
* [[Gender Blender Name]]: Yes, confused readers: Ariel is male. Sometimes. See [[Viewer Gender Confusion]].
* [[Gender Flip]]: In addition to making Ariel female, some productions (like the upcoming [[The Lion King|Julie Taymor]] film) have an actress play Prospero. Though less common, some productions also recast Trinculo as a woman because of the massive ammount of [[Ho Yay]] between him/her and Stephano. Even characters such as Stephano and Antonio have switched genders on the odd occassion.
* [[Genre Savvy]]: Prospero -- why else would the guy fake a [[Parental Marriage Veto]] while playing [[The Matchmaker]]?
▲* [[Evil Plan|Good Plan]]: A rare heroic version; the entire play is Prospero's [[A God Is You|God Game]] to end his exile from Milan. 'Good' because all he wants is to get his home back and teach his evil brother a lesson. No one gets hurt, not even the evil brother, and almost all of them go back to Milan as more or less friends.
* [[Happiness in Slavery]]: Averted. Both Caliban and Ariel are Prospero's slaves, and both demand freedom, though they use different arguments. Ariel is eventually freed; Caliban's fate is left more ambiguous.
* [[Harmless Villain]]: It's clear from the beginning that Caliban's takeover has no chance of succeeding.
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* [[Jerkass]]: Antonio and Sebastian.
* [[Karma Houdini]]: Antonio gets absolutely no comeuppance for his actions against Prospero.
* [[Kissing Cousins]]: Ferdinand and Miranda's fathers are brothers.
** [[Surprise Incest]]
* [[Lampshade Hanging]]: Shakespearean costuming was usually done with rich, well kept contemporary clothes regardless of the setting. This is why Prospero mentions how he was given rich linens before being exiled from Milan, and why the shipwrecked noblemen comment on how their clothes are bone dry despite having been sent through a storm.
* [[Love At First Sight]]: Ferdinand and Miranda.
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* [[Parental Marriage Veto]]: Subversion - Prospero only ''pretends'' to oppose Ferdinand and Miranda's relationship.
* [[Plot Parallel]]
▲* [[Power Trio]]: [[Alternate Character Interpretation|One possible reading:]]
▲** Prospero (Superego)
▲** Caliban(Id)
▲** Ariel (Ego)
* [[Rags to Royalty]]
* [[Reverse Psychology]]: Prospero's fake [[Parental Marriage Veto]]
* [[Secret Test of Character]]: Another reason for the above-mentioned [[Parental Marriage Veto]].
* [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong]]: Prospero summons the eponymous storm and performs [[Evil Plan|his elaborate plot]] in a seeming effort to avenge his exile from dukedom. But the way his actions serve to teach his scheming brother, and the swiftness in which he agrees to Ariel's plea for mercy, suggest Prospero wasn't in this for revenge: he just wanted to go home with his daughter.
* [[Shown Their Work]]: The commands shouted by the boatswain in the opening storm are exactly the actions a contemporary ship's crew would need to perform in their situation.
* [[Space Jews]]: In some ways Caliban could be one of the earliest examples, as he is often interpreted as a metaphor for natives of the Caribbean islands and/or a black slave and their subjugation by Europeans during the Age of Exploration.
* [[Tender Tears]]: Miranda, on seeing the shipwreck.
* [[Those Two Guys]] / [[Those Two Bad Guys]]: Stephano and Trinculo.
* [[Unusual Euphemism]]: Sycorax, Caliban's mother and the witch who trapped Ariel in a pine tree long before the play's events, is described as "blue-eyed" as a euphemism for "pregnant." [[Get Thee to
** Reportedly, this expression refers to the eyelids of pregnant women turning bluish. Maybe an iron deficiency?
** Or, Sycorax is meant to be a blue-eyed Algerian. Or both.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Theatrical Productions]]
[[Category:Works by William Shakespeare
▲[[Category:Theatre]]
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