Preview

The Tempest Play Review

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
945 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Tempest Play Review
The Tempest Play Review

The tempest is a comedy even though the play is filled with moments that can end in chaos but are greatly avoided. The story begins with the ship of Alonso king of Naples in a huge storm, which is called a “Tempest”. Which is conjured by the story’s protagonist Prospero who is the resident witch of the island and who is also the rightful duke of Milan.
Prospero’s main goal is to restore her and her daughter Miranda’s rightful place in Milan by using magic and manipulation on the shipwrecked king and his council with the help of her spirit servant Ariel. However they spot the son of King Alonso named Ferdinand. Miranda is struck by Ferdinand’s arrow and they become an item very quickly just as Prospero planned. Mean while Alonso and his council are looking all over the island to find Ferdinand but are having no luck in finding him. Alonso had recently married his daughter away and is having an emotional time accepting this with also the possible death of his son. Gonzalo is the Kings right hand and is a very honorable man however Antonio and Sebastian see his weakness and plot to kill him and gain power and nobility. However Ariel ends up disrupting their plan and causes Alonso and Gonzalo to awaken and stop the plan. Miranda and Ferdinand begin to court and Prospero reminds them to remain pure until marriage they preform the ceremony with the help of Ariel. However it ends abruptly when it is brought to attention an attempt on Prospero’s life from 3 drunken men. Prospero also calls Ariel to bring Alonso to her and she explains how Ferdinand and Miranda are married and also they begin to talk on the past. This is where the story shows Prospero’s human side and how easily she forgave her brother who ploted to kill her so many years ago. The overall quality of the play was good however I believe they missed an opportunity to make this play amazing. The main reason it was not taken well was because of the drawn out scenes that bored us.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    First off, the overall play was well preformed. The audience seemed to understand what was taking place and connected with the actresses' emotions. The people who were involved in putting on the play did an outstanding job. The transitions from sitting down until…

    • 826 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    An individual’s personal experience can act as a catalyst to reveal momentous discoveries that can ultimately enable some to re-evaluate their values. This notion is prevalent in George Orwell’s 1936 confessional essay, “Shooting an Elephant” whereby an individual is exposed to the inhumane and callous nature of mankind during his time in Burma. The text condemns the despotic British Imperialism within the East through the lens of a single police officer’s recollection of his time in Burma. Similarly, William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” conveys a dominant character, Prospero who holds authority over Ariel.…

    • 547 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Machiavelli The Tempest

    • 623 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Ultimately, Prospero loses his daughter to Ferdinand and Milan, which I think parallels how he was harshly treated by Milan's politics. Prospero becomes expresses his helplessness:…

    • 623 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Tempest is a story of the many personal developments we have in life. . An excellent example of this would be Prospero, one of the main charcters and catalyst for the plot. Once the Duke of Milan, Prospero began dabbling in magic this is contradicted by his lack of power to exact revenge upon those who betrayed him. This…

    • 261 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Tempest by William Shakespeare was written in the 17th century, a time where exploration and colonialism were of high priority in Europe and the people were fascinated with the discovery of new lands. In the play, Propsero, once the Duke of Milan, resides on a remote island in the Caribbean with his daughter Miranda where he has spent many years ever since his brother Antonio dethroned him. Prospero possesses magical powers which allow him to control the entire island. Caliban, the only native to the island, exchanged his knowledge of the land for the knowledge of language. Prospero takes advantage of his inherit powers and makes Caliban his slave. The story begins when Prospero uses his magic to coordinate a storm called, The Tempest, which causes a shipwreck that leaves his brother Antonio and the rest of the crew abandoned on the same island. All members of the ship end up in different areas of the island. Assuming it is unsettled, the characters become power hungry and aim towards ruling the island themselves until they find out the daunting news that Prospero resides there. This play addresses colonization and prejudice towards the indigenous people, the dependance of the native people to the survival of the colonizer, and can relate to today's endeavors the West has in the Middle East.…

    • 1186 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Tempest Research Paper

    • 2269 Words
    • 10 Pages

    In the Tempest, written by William Shakespeare in 1611, Prospero the sorcerer was the Duke of Milan until Antonio usurped his power. Prospero is banished to an isolated island with his daughter Miranda. Here he practiced his sorcery and controlled every aspect of Miranda’s life. Prospero used his sorcery to create a magnificent tempest to bring all his enemies to the island, including Antonio, for revenge. Caliban was a native to the island Prospero lives on. Prospero catches Caliban trying to rape Miranda so he makes him his slave. Prospero makes Caliban carry firewood and other hard labor. Prospero frees Ariel from a tree and then makes him his personal servant. Both of these men are Prospero’s slaves but they are much more than…

    • 2269 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Overall, I truly enjoyed the play tremendously. I thought that the acting was awesome. Each of the main characters had a very good physicality, and they held their bodies in a way that each of the characters would have done in real life. For example, Sean Fannin's character was shy and unsure of himself, especially when conversing with Tory Parker's character, and he depicted this by the way he frequently touched his hair as well as hunched his shoulders and held his hands close to his chest, which gave his character some reality. Additionally, the acting choices as well as the blocking were well done, the sightless were clear from where I was sitting and the movement throughout the audience was a strong choice (breaking the 4th wall). At one point, Chris Lockhart delivered a line directly at P. Roush it was a strange acting choice, but all around a…

    • 531 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Macbeth Theatrical Review

    • 373 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Overall, I thought the play was fantastic. I enjoyed the dark atmosphere that the director created that helped enhance the plot and mood of the play. I also appreciated the great deal of work and effort the actors had to put in, to present a play written in a different form of english. The actresses that played the witches did an excellent job portraying the insanity and mysterious values of the witches. I also thought the Porter did a great job, as he brought some much needed comic relief the play. To be quite honest, I can’t think of any characters that didn’t give a good performance. From what I saw, no characters messed up lines, cues or made errors that had an impact on the outcome of the play.…

    • 373 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    discovery- Tempest

    • 966 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In The Tempest this sense of discovery is primarily evoked through the use of the Island as a metaphor, creating a sense of isolation and realisation in order for characters to consolidate with ones self. As Prospero states, “thy father was Duke of Milan and a prince of power” , his diminished isolating environment allows him to evaluate his past as he were and realise the great potential he lost. But as he undergoes the isolation, he learns to accept his past consequences , “ i embrace thy…company, i bid a hearty welcome”, thus appreciating his at first demeaning setting for allowing for his understanding of a need of forgiveness within him to allow him to fulfil his future requests.…

    • 966 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The play The Tempest, by William Shakespeare, is centralized around the main protagonist Prospero and his seemingly revengeful plot against his brother Antonio. At the beginning of the play, it is learned that Prospero was once the Duke of Milan; however, he had lost this title to Antonio, who conspired against him and exiled his daughter Miranda and himself to an island leaving them for dead. The political theme present throughout the play is relatable to Machiavelli’s The Prince, which acted as a guide for future rulers. Prospero failed as a Machiavellian Prince as shown by his course of actions that defied several of Machiavelli’s rules and ultimately led to the loss of his dukedom.…

    • 654 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Tempest Research Paper

    • 1519 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Shakespeares so called late plays including works such as The Tempest and The Winters Tale present the audience with a world of incomparable wealth of interest in the unseen world of magic and adventure, all the while conveying Shakespeares unique capabilities with the English language and his risk-taking attitude towards theatre. Although this sudden change in attitude towards a risky side of presenting his plays, Shakespeare still maintains the overall product found in many of his plays; that of the journey of a character often ending in self-realisation and eventually death. All of these journeys are neither of magical or even fantastical nature, but simply of human nature and, in the end, it is the human aspect of theatre, and of life, that Shakespeare attempts to convey. The journey of Prospero presents the story of a rogue, untrustworthy man who once chose self-benefit over serving his country and consequently paid the price, but he is, abnormally, given a second chance.…

    • 1519 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Tempest was written during the years 1610-1611. The Tempest is Shakespeare's last play. The play has many parts that represent groups of people during the colonization of Virginia. Shakespeare created different people to emphasize the different influences that were present during the colonization of the new world. The Tempest can be approached as a fascinating tale that served as a masquerade for the creation of a new society in America” (Takaki 28).…

    • 580 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Other in the Tempest

    • 1382 Words
    • 6 Pages

    In order to understand the characters in a play, we have to be able to distinguish what exactly makes them different. In the case of "The Tempest," Caliban, the sub-human slave is governed largely by his senses, making him the animal that he is portrayed to be and Prospero is governed by sound mind, making him human. Caliban responds to nature as his instinct is to follow it. Prospero, on the other hand, follows the art of justifiable rule. Even though it is easy to start assessing "The Tempest" in view of a colonialist sight. I have chosen instead to concentrate on viewing Caliban as the monster he is portrayed to be, due to other characters that are not human, but are treated in a more humane fashion than Caliban.…

    • 1382 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Tempest Criticism

    • 547 Words
    • 3 Pages

    “The Tempest is more than romance, for its characters exceed the roles of villains and heroes, some of them becoming villains and heroes…The Tempest belongs not only to the world of romance, but also to the period of colonialism, written as it was in the early stages of the European exploration and conquest of the New World” (Mowat and Werstine). Mowat and Werstine’s idea that The Tempest is both a romantic novel and expresses colonialism is shown through the master mind of the story’s plot named Prospero. Towards the beginning of the novel, Shakespeare depicts Prospero as a poor man who is automatically assumed to be the hero of the story after Antonio and Alonso unfairly uproot him from his position as Duke of Milan and abandon him with his daughter at sea. Prospero describes the event saying “In few they hurried us aboard a bark, / bore us some leagues to sea… / There they hoist us / to the cry of th’ sea that roared to us” (1.2.172-177). Once Prospero settles on the island with his daughter, Miranda, he begins to take control of the island, announcing himself as ruler. The villainous aspect of Prospero’s character is apparent in the way he tortures Caliban after he enslaves him. Prospero’s negative attitude towards Caliban is shown when he says “Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil himself / upon thy wicked dam, come forth!” (1.2.383-384). In this excerpt Prospero calls Caliban a slave who is created by the devil, and beckons him to do his labor for him. Prospero’s character shows how The Tempest is a romance novel, in which he is originally made out to be the hero of the story, and then appears to become another villain along with Antonio or Alonso. Prospero’s plan to take revenge against the usurpers of his dukedom also represents an idealized situation in which all of Prospero’s ideas fall perfectly into place, which also represents an element of a romance novel. Prospero’s ability to use and control magic also aids him in his plot for revenge, and also…

    • 547 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In the Tempest, by Shakespeare we see the love of family, love of country, and personal love dominate The Tempest and inform nearly every significant action. Caliban loves the island, Ariel loves natural freedom, Prospero loves his daughter, Alonso his son, and so on. But the traitors Antonio and Sebastian are also defined by love, or really the lack thereof. They are in love with power, or the potential for it. In this play, each player is on a quest for some kind of love or another, fulfilling their own version of what it means to be appreciated and, in the case of the best, to appreciate others.…

    • 1576 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays

Related Topics