The Tempest

[Unregistered]

well u have to realize that in the decade of shakespeare situations like these were very common and it is expected of shakespeare to adapt thses ridiculous ordeals and why star in the production if you don't like the play?

[Susie]

We have this group at school where we put on shakespeare plays and we have to try out with monolouges from some of shakespears plays. I got mine from "The Tempest." I loved it! Before I had never hearde of it but it's a great play. anyway I was wondering if anyone knew all the characters. Just post a message if you do. And Hurry, I need help!!

[Unregistered]

how can the play be funny if there is no storyline? surely the events in the play contribute to the humour, for example when stephano comes across trinculo and caliban lying under the cloak, and he mistakes it for a four legged monster. i do think though that the ending seems a little rushed, there was no satisfying conclusion......

[Unregistered]

How can you say that the Tempest has no storyline? It is all about how Prospero is using his magic to bring his enemies to him, get revenge on them and, ulitmately, arrange a marriage between Miranda and Ferdinand! I agree with whoever wrote the first comment here: why appear in the Tempest if you think it has no storyline?

[Unregistered]

I agree, i fail to see the point if the story. what is he trying to prove? I don't know why such a great writer would create such a pointless story!!!

[Unregistered]

Its a hard play because the set-up of the central drama (Prospero is kicked out of Milan by his usurping brother) happens a long way before the play's action begins. And in the first scene between Miranda and Prospero it can be very hard to care about what happened to Prospero before this, because he's seems obviously done alright for himself since - he's alive and a very powerful magician. And the language in this scene is very clotted and dense and can be hard to follow; this makes it very tricky for the actor playing Prospero, who has to simultaneously tell a clear story and become very distressed as he tells his daughter about what her uncle did. If he doesn't get really distressed, we don't key into why so it's important for him to get revenge.<br>The second difficulty is that this central drama is never resolved in the text. At the end, when Prospero finally confronts Antonio, saying he forgives him and demanding the return of the dukedom, Antonio says - nothing!!! The silky-tongued manipulator, who has never been short of a glib lie till now, says- nothing!!!! Of course that doesn't mean that in a performance nothing HAPPENS - Antonio can prostrate himself abjectly in front of Prospero, Antonio can ceremonially hand Prospero the official sword of Milan back, Antonio can draw a concealed weapon and try to kill Prospero, Antonio can spit on Prospero and throw a spectacular temper tantrum, Antonio can rush offstage and jump off a cliff (except irritatingly he has one inconsequential line later on in the scene). Unfortunately, this lack of response can make it seem to the audience as though the Dukedom of Milan doesn't matter very much - so why has the whole play been about Prospero getting it back? Whatever - the audience HAS to (1) want Prospero to get the dukedom back (2) want to see Prospero kill his brother having tortured him and sent him nearly crazy (3) get a shock when Prospero changes his mind and decides to pardon Antonio instead. That to me is the play's central drama.<br>

[matthew]

I don't agree with the other comment that part of Prospero's motivation is to marry off Miranda - I think that's an extra idea that only starts to come to Prospero when he hears that Alonso's son is stranded on the island - when he whispers to Ariel ('Hark in thine ear') in 1(ii) he's saying 'Entice Ferdinand here', an idea that's just come to him. To me, one of the most brilliant things about the play is that he doesn't MAKE Miranda or Ferdinand fall in love, though presumably he easily could have done. If they hadn't fallen in love at first sight ('At the first sight they have chang'd eyes') he wouldn't have forced it to happen. They might have hated the sight of each other! Or - Shakespeare's point - it might not have been equal on both sides. Prospero doesn't force anything about the relationship at all, except to make them drastically slow down the speed of their courtship. Check out all his asides when Miranda and Ferdinand are in dialogue, in 1(ii) and3(i) - they are the words of a delighted, amazed and tender parent, who's occasionally sad that he's losing his little girl. It's a masterstroke for there to be something in the play that the all-powerful Prospero is NOT in control of, and gives a much-needed opportunity for the actor to show that Prospero is more than a vicious Godfather-type control-freak thirsting for bloody revenge.

[Alice]

I agree that the tempest has no real storyline or climax. There is no real point in the play, unlike Romeo and Juliet, but yes, it is very funny at parts.

[Unregistered]

maybe you didnt realise there was a story line because it is a little confusing

[Lara O'Reilly]

Just a short comment about the tempest to say about how I believe there is no storyline. I am currently in the stage production of the tempest starring as Stephano and have yet to find something really gripping about it. Still a funny play nevertheless

[trinityshiva]

whom i should address
my ill informed children i do not blame you but feel frustratingly helpless for i cant reach you individually come to this forum and let me know your objections i shall explain and convince you. shakespeare's intellect had been eclipsed and you all should help me through this forum to revive his dead intellect.
god bless you
shiva

[trinityshiva]

Examine the meanings of the word “He is every man in no man” [The Tempest]

According to W Turner “he has every man’s faults but he is no man at all”
For Roma Gill “He has every body else’s characteristics and no personality of his own”
Refer Roget’s Para 78 and the meaning option for word Every in this context should be general i.e. “ man in general appearance”
Refer Roget’s Para 861 and the meaning option of the word No Man should be No courage in this context. Then a meaningful translation would be as “he is a man in general appearance but womanishly a coward.”
However you be the better judge
Lament”400 years have already gone when will this intellectual eclipse end Shakespeare’s intellect be revealed in it’s true perspective???

[mcadams]

In my opinion The Tempest is one of the best plays of Shakespeare, I see Prospero a powerful character since he created the tempest at the very beginning to prepare his revenge, then he already knew that Miranda and Ferdinand would fall in love. The fact that there is not storyline is because we have multi-plots in the play that doesn't define just one main plot.

[Annette_dea]

Okay, I just finished reading this book for my sophomore advanced humanities class. I think it's a wonderful book and it had a lot of great plots in it, but I can't seem to find much on each individual character because I'm trying to type up and essay (character analysis) on one of the characters. I just can't seem to find much information on one of them. Any help? They were all great and I just can't pick one. Thanks

[ophelia2602]

Okay, I just finished reading this book for my sophomore advanced humanities class. I think it's a wonderful book and it had a lot of great plots in it, but I can't seem to find much on each individual character because I'm trying to type up and essay (character analysis) on one of the characters. I just can't seem to find much information on one of them. Any help? They were all great and I just can't pick one. Thanks

calibans a good one, as you can go into the whole idea of servitude, and usurpation - some useful things to think about are: was he the rightful owner of the island? did he try to rape miranda out of malevolence or an innate desire to reproduce? he wants freedom, but he immediately subjugates himself under stephano and trinculo, is he a natural slave or has he been conditioned to be this way by prospero? etc. a good essay to look up is Michel de Montaigne's 'of cannibals', a comparative anthropology where he sympathises with the 'noble savages' and compares them to european culture (shakespeare would have almost certainly read this); you can also compare and contrast him to ariel ... good luck! :) xxx

[whiteangel]

I havent read all of shakespears plays to consider The Tempest as the best. I was forced to read the tempest for a A level exam and to be honest, didnt like shakespeare's work beforehand. however, in reading the tempest i understood why people call him a "genius". i tought the play was very interesting, and perhaps people find it difficult to understand the plot because shakespeare while writting it was bound by the "Three Greek Unities" and therefore could have no subplot and thus was very limited in what he wrote. he had to intertwine each individual plot with the main...(Prospero's revenge) and rember that it was vital that all took place on the Island and revolve around the protaganist Prospero. due to this, maybe there was confusion in the plays essential plot itself....
i agree with those who said the ending was rushed, in the sense that Prospero is convinced by Ariel and forgetts that usurpation he suffered in the space of 1 hour.
i do not belive that prospero didnt create "Love" in between Miranda and ferdinand. the question really comes down to, if one belives that there really is any love between Miranda and Ferdinad or if it is simply sexual attraction...this instant attraction to one anther is evident when miranda calls ferdinad a "sprit" and a "temple" and he her a "godess". pysical attraction is masked as love in the tempest.
as far as saying Prospero "loved Miranda" i personaly dont agree...he treats her like a second class citizen and constantly refers her as some kind of material possesion or worth, going as far as calling her as his "rich gift" and owning her.
Freudian school of thought would also argue that Prsperos intenstions for Miranda are not as "fatherly" as the seem, infact freud agrues that Prospero secretly lusts after Miranda and that is why he hates Caliaban so much and abuses Ferdinand.....he is jelous....
as always opinions along with theories and interpretations differ and vary....

[Compost]

I'd suggest that the point and purpose of the play is to demonstrate the qualities of a virtuous ruler (observe Portia's speech on mercy in "MoV" to see how Prospero fits the bill perfectly of her hypothetical, merciful monarch) and to expose our own sanguinary delights. As an audience we expect / demand bloody satisfaction, and we never receive it. Prospero considers his own culpability in the genesis of his affairs (observe his ownership of Caliban, his "thing of darkness") and elects to hug it out to end, once and for all, the cycle of violence and viciousness; this is the symbolic function of Miranda and Ferdinand's marriage (a successful union of two families, unlike the ill-fated "R&J").

Our disappointment and bewilderment at the resolution of the play says more about human nature than could a speech or contrived unknotting of the conflict. This wouldn't be the first time that Shakespeare indirectly turned his critical gaze on his audience (consider the human touch W.S. gives Shylock and the hypocrisy that he endows his Christian characters with).

"The Tempest" is one of Shakespeare's best (in an unconventional way) but least understood plays.

[faithosaurus]

This has got to be my favorite one by William Shakespeare. I love how it's a drama/comedy (especially the comical parts with Stephano, Trinculo, and Caliban). I just loved the whole plot of it.