The+Tempest+as+Shakespeare’s+“final+bow”2

=__Shakespeare's "Final Bow"__- Tom Hoven and Corinne Lee, Period 2=

Shakespeare’s last published works was probably the play, “The Tempest”. Because of this, the story has been analyzed many times over. The character of power is without a doubt the main character, Prospero, who is portrayed as a cross of a modern day scientist and magician. Prospero has also been viewed as a type of portrayal as Shakespeare himself. This is said because throughout the play, Prospero is the controler of all the the people (like Shakespeare, for he is the one who says how the play will begin and end). Prospero uses his magic to manipulate, control and **direct** every person. It is also suspected that the epilouge of the story, which is given by Prospero, is Shakespeare's way of retiring from the theater, although this was never formally confirmed by a reliable source.

//__Prospero's Final Speech__:

"Now my charms are all o'erthrown And what strength I have's mine own, Which is most faint. Now, 'tis true, I must be here confined by you, Or sent to Naples. Let me not, Since I have my dukedom got And pardoned the deceiver, dwell In this bared island by your spell, But release me from my bands With the help of your good hands. Gentle breath of yours my sails Must fill, or else my project fails, Which was to please. Now I want Spirits to enforce, art to enchant, And my ending is despair, Unless I be relieved by prayer, Which pierces so that it assaults Mercy itself and frees all faults. As you from crimes would pardoned be, Let your indulgence set me free."//

In this epilouge, lines like "my charms are all o'erthrown" is suggesting Shakespeare is finished writing famous plays and living in the limelight of London. And the line also says lines It also shows that he has written all he intended and has nothing left to say to the world. This is possibly Shakespeare's way of announcing his retirement from the play writing world, though it just as easily could be the epilouge of one of his famous plays. However, it is certainly coincidental and extremely relatable to the things going on in Shakespeare's own life.

The Story: The Tempest begins on a ship that is in the middle of a fierce tempest. On the ship are the King of Naples, Alonso, and his son, Prince Ferdinand. They and their entourage become shipwrecked on a desolate island. Alonso and Ferdinand are separated and presume the other is dead. Alonso wanders with his still surviving entourage in search of people while Ferdinand looks for a solution on how to get to his new position as king. Meanwhile, the only two inhabitants of the island, Prospero and his daughter, Miranda, learn the news of the shipwreck from Prospero’s sprite assistant, Ariel. Prospero was once the Duke of Milan, but after being dethroned and him and his daughter set adrift in the ocean. They found an island and Prospero, using some of the

[|Caliban, Ariel, Prospero, and Miranda.] Magic that he knew got a sprite to do his biding. Prospero also had the deformed creature, Caliban as his slave as well. He had Ariel set a tempest on the ship that Alonso, the person who dethroned him, was on so he too would be on the island. While roaming the island, Ferdinand comes across Miranda. Ariel, doing the bidding of Prospero, makes him fall in love with her. But, in cold vengeance of what his father did to him, he refuses her to him. He makes him prove himself worthy through a series of hard task. To continue giving all of the other minor details would be too much, so I shall give a quick summary of what happens next. Prospero continues but then stops to get Alonso to come to him. Alonso comes with more help from Ariel and, with some persuasion he is given his position of Dukedom back. There is an extravagant feast to celebrate this occasion in which Ariel and Caliban are freed from their serves. The group feast and dances away the night. The final part of the play is a speech made by Prospero that is said to be Shakespeare’s Farewell to the theater.

A Deeper Look at //the Tempest// Source: //Shakespeare’s Comedies// by Jack A. Vaughn. Published by Frederick Ungar Publishing Co.

On the surface, the tempest is theater masterpiece, an enjoyment for all who watch it. But when you take a deeper look, there is much more to the story than a magic and comedy. There is much about the tempest that can only be noticed when you take time to analyze the play. To start, a list of some of the reasons why the tempest was such a hit There are many other things that could be said about the tempest, but most of the things you would read are probably personal opinions by the author of the piece.
 * The tempest is one of the few plays to achieve all of the Three Unities of Dramatic Construction. These are supposed to be the guidelines of a good play and they are as followed: Unity of time (in the character’s world, the span of the play is from two o’clock to six o’clock) Unity of Place (besides the beginning, the entire play is on the island) and Unity of Action (how Prospero deals with all the sub plots throughout the play). This is the only play Shakespeare achieved all three of these unities.
 * Conspiracy is brought up in the play twice, both making the audience nervous and concerned, but always ending in a calm and delightful manor. The first is when Sebastian and Antonio plot to kill Alonso. It is an unexpected seen in a play that is a humors comedy, not an intense tragedy. The two plot to kill the king after the others had been put to sleep by Ariel. But as they were about to do the devious deed, Ariel quickly awakens the party, realizing he could’ve almost ruined his master’s plan. The second conspiracy is when the three equally drunk Stephano, Trinculo, and Caliban * Caliban is actually an anagram for Cannibal* plot to kill Prospero. The audience is once again taken by surprise, but the all seeing eye of Ariel warns Prospero. Prospero makes a note of this but completely forgets until he is reminded at the masque party. Using sprites in the form of dogs, he drives three drunken men off in a most comical style. Each of the three is left feeling stupid, especially Caliban, who thought of Stephano and Trinculo as gods.
 * Contrast was used in the play, especially in Act I. One was the optimism of Gonzalo, and the pessimism of Ferdinand. On The boat, Gonzalo mocks the moaning boatswain that he looks like a man who will die in a noose, not at sea. Basically, he’s trying to convince the crew they will not drown. Ferdinand however, was quite unhappy on landing on the island. He was moaning and whining on how he was the only survivor and that he was hopeless. Thus, you can see the two opposites.
 * There is also Ariel and Caliban as opposite. Ariel is swift, smart and agile whereas Caliban is slow, dumb, and clumsy.

The Tempest Today:

The Tempest is still preformed today, but mostly in the U.S. The play does not do huge productions like a massive Broadway show however. It is mostly preformed at Shakespeare festivals and companies all around the country. These include the Colorado Shakespeare festival, The Shakespeare Theater Company, the St. Louis Shakespeare festival, and many more. There are even some outside of the U.S., such as Shakespeare Company Berlin, The Saint John Shakespeare festival in Canada, and He Bell Company in Australia. Even though the play was written almost 400 years ago (Scholars say it was written around 1604-1611) they comical story of the island adventure is still remembered and preformed, as with many of Shakespeare’s plays.

Work Cited:
 * http://www.william-shakespeare.info/shakespeare-play-the-tempest.htm
 * http://www.enotes.com/tempest/
 * http://www.field-of-themes.com/shakespeare/essays/Etempest.htm
 * http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/plays/tempestmagus.html
 * //Shakespeare Comedies// by Jack A. Vaughn, Published by Frederick Ungar Publishing Co.

(Could not find desired information on the school provided websites)

Pictures:
 * Prospero, Miranda, Caliban, and Ariel-http://www.william-shakespeare.info/shakespeare-play-the-tempest.htm