Part of: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (The Oxford Shakespeare) The Tempest

Thought to be one of Shakespeare’s latest plays, The Tempest is haunted by magic and by images of humans at their best and their worst. Many critics read Prospero’s farewell to his books at the play’s end as conveying, in some way, the thoughts of the play’s aging author about his own theatrical career. This edition comes from the 1916 Oxford University Press edition of all of Shakespeare’s plays and poems.

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Citation

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (The Oxford Shakespeare), ed. with a glossary by W.J. Craig M.A. (Oxford University Press, 1916).

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Geoffrey Chaucer (Author)

The greatest English writer before Shakespeare, Chaucer pioneered the use of English, rather than French or Latin, for serious literary works. He also brought all classes of society onto the page together, particularly in his masterwork, The Canterbury Tales.

Key Quotes

Literature & Music

I must eat my dinner. This island’s mine, by Sycorax my mother, Which thou tak'st from me. When thou camest first, Thou strok'dst me, and mad'st much of me; wouldst give me Water with berries in’t; and teach me how To name the bigger light, and how the less, That burn by day and night: and then I…

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Critical Responses

Miranda

W. H. Auden

Auden’s “The Sea and the Mirror” follows a performance of The Tempest, with Auden’s poems serving as speeches or thoughts from the characters. The best known of these is his villanelle “Miranda” with its plaintive refrain, “My Dear One is mine as mirrors are lonely.”

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Film

Prospero’s Books

Peter Greenaway’s Prospero’s Books is an avant-garde revisioning of the story of The Tempest.

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Connected Readings

Essays of Montaigne, Vol. 2

Michel de Montaigne

Montaigne’s essay “Of Cannibals” explores cultural difference and what it means to be “civilized” or “savage.”

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In Praise of Folly

Desiderius Erasmus

Shakespeare’s comedies are known for their use of the “fool.” His fools are sometimes truly foolish, and sometimes foolish in a way that reveals a deep and important wisdom. Inspiration for the wise fool can be traced to Erasmus’s Praise of Folly.

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