Brick Shakespeare: The ComediesA Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tempest, Much Ado About Nothing, and The Taming of the Shrew (25 page)

FLUTE [as thisby] (cont.)

And, farewell, friends;

Thus Thisby ends:

Adieu, adieu, adieu.

THESEUS

Moonshine and Lion are left to bury the dead.

DEMETRIUS

Ay, and Wall too.

ACT V. Scene I (406–421).

PUCK

If we shadows have offended,

Think but this, and all is mended,

That you have but slumber’d here

While these visions did appear.

And this weak and idle theme,

No more yielding but a dream,

Gentles, do not reprehend: if you pardon, we will mend:

And, as I am an honest Puck,

If we have unearned luck

Now to ’scape the serpent’s tongue,

We will make amends ere long;

Else the Puck a liar call;

So, good night unto you all.

Give me your hands, if we be friends,

And Robin shall restore amends.

The Tempest

I
NTRODUCTION

T
he Tempest
was written around 1610 and is thought to be one of the last of Shakespeare’s plays. The play centers on Prospero, the Duke of Milan, and his daughter Miranda, who have been stranded on a deserted island for many years, since Prospero’s ambitious brother stole his position as Duke and set Prospero and Miranda adrift.

While many of Shakespeare’s other plays explore the theme of magic to some extent,
The Tempest
deals with this topic directly. Magic is both the cause and the solution to the problems that arise in the play: Prospero ignored his duties as Duke of Milan, spending his days studying as his brother plotted to overthrow him. But when Prospero and baby Miranda are sent out to sea, they are able to survive because Gonzalo slips them Prospero’s magic books.

As with other plays that explore magical themes, Prospero’s craft is sometimes used to draw parallels to the
art
of theater. In fact, some scholars think the character Prospero represented Shakespeare himself, as the artist-magician who set the fantastical scenes of the play in motion. Prospero spends much of the play running around behind the scenes, moving his plan along with the help of his magical right-hand man. The way he uses his magic is particularly theatrical as well: he plays on his audience’s perception, using strange noises to lead them where he wants them to go and intimidating them with visual displays and neat parlor tricks, like having a banquet disappear into thin air.

There are also interesting themes of colonization in
The Tempest
. The play was written during a time of busy exploration, when European sailors were visiting faraway lands, like the many islands around the Americas, and encountering people and cultures that had never been heard of before. For this reason many people have called it the “New World Play,” both because they believe it is set on an island in the New World and because it deals with themes of power and colonization. Regardless of Shakespeare’s original intent, many aspects of the play have resonated with people from cultures that have been colonized, and this particular reading of the play has become popular. The character of Caliban, specifically, serves to represent colonized people. Caliban had been master of the island before Prospero and Miranda arrived, and when they landed, he graciously shared all of the secrets of the island so they could survive and prosper. But at the time that the play is set, Caliban acts as Prospero’s servant because he had tried to rape young Miranda.

The Tempest
is a fascinating play, filled with existential meditations and hilarious drunken rambles, as well as insightful reflections on global politics that echo in a world many hundreds of years beyond that in which it was written.

D
RAMATIS
P
ERSONAE