The Oxford Companion to English Literature | The Tempest
Tempest, The, a romantic drama by
Shakespeare
probably written in
1611
, when it was performed before the king at Whitehall; in
1613
it was included in the wedding celebrations for the Princess Elizabeth and the elector palatine. It was not printed until
1623
when it appeared as the first play in the
First folio
. It is usually taken to be his last play written without a collaborator for the London stage before his retirement to Stratford. Although there are several analogues for the story of The Tempest, and contemporary accounts of the shipwreck of the Sea-Venture in
1609
on the Bermudas and passages from
Golding
's Ovid and
Florio
's Montaigne contribute details to the play, no single source for it is known. As
Dr
Johnson
observed, The Tempest's ‘plan is regular’, that is, it conforms to the
unities
.
Prospero, duke of Milan, ousted from his throne by his brother Antonio, and turned...
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