When first reading this play you think that Prospero is all out for revenge. He controls all the characters around him and seems very selfish. The last act though, I almost had a second thought about his motives. It almost seemed like he just let go all of his power. He even says he will…

In the Tempest, I found very difficult to find a absolute antagonist in both the written and performed versions. In Titus and Henry V, the villains or antagonist were clear, Tamora in Titus and in one way or another The French in Henry V but who is the real villain in Tempest? Is it Calliban…

A few other people have posted about comparing or contrasting the play’s text against the live performance, and many people I’ve heard talking about the two have been saying things such as “Caliban was too vengeful” or “the plot was too focused on Prospero.” While they have valid points, one thing they may not necessarily…

While at the Synetic Theater performance of The Tempest, there were many things I found different between what I remember reading and what we saw. One thing I adore about live theater is the fact that the director has so much creative freedom. Shakespeare uses very little stage cues in his plays which I find to be…

The Tempest is one of Shakespeare’s later works in his career. Therefore, since this work was probably created  at the peak of Shakespeare’s career or afterwards, our friend Shakespeare had to switch up his style. This explains why The Tempest is a harder piece to comprehend, language-wise. Compared to Henry V and Titus, the plot…

Prospero is first presented in act I scene ii of The Tempest wearing his magical cloak.  Prospero and Miranda witness the ship wreck, he starts to explain to Miranda where she comes from as well as his background. While conversing with Miranda, she starts feeling sleepy and actually ends up falling asleep. Ariel, the spirit is…

Miranda’s new found love interest in Ferdinand shows how “love at first sight” hasn’t been the first time Shakespeare has used this theme, especially on a young, naive, and not even 16 year old teenager. The setting in far away and “exotic” scenery moves the audience from dreary England to a place where love seems…

Although Shakespeare’s plays have been known more creative imagery and use of a stage, the opening ship during a storm scene for Tempest seems to be the most technical of all the plays to be read in this class so far even against Henry V when the chorus asks the audience to use their imagination for…