William Shakespeare

Anne Barton

Shakespeare's play about the workings of magic on a mysterious island is accompanied by commentary

The Tempest

A storm strikes a ship carrying Alonso, Ferdinand, Sebastian, Antonio, Gonzalo, Stephano, and Trinculo, who are on their way to Italy after coming from the wedding of Alonsos daughter, Claribel, to the prince of Tunis in Africa. The royal party and the other mariners, with the exception of the unflappable Boatswain, begin to fear for their lives. Lightning cracks, and the mariners cry that the ship has been hit. Everyone prepares to sink.

Chiara Cabras

I liked the setting and the overall plot. Ariel’s song is simply perfection and I like the interactions between Miranda and Ferdinand, I also like the comic relief Caliban and the drunk servants provided BUT, a lot of characters seemed inconsistent. The kings and Prospero change weirdly. At the begin they all want to seek revenge and kill but at the end they just talk everything out. I expected a different, better written ending. And I couldn’t connect with it as I did with other classics…

Yalin Tsikun

Jamieson

Really liked this one. Easy to read, complex characters and an interesting play to reflect upon in the context of settler colonialism and islamophobia occurring at the time it was written

The tempest

Fleur van Ravesteijn 

3.5. As far as (Shakespearean) comedies go, I found it slightly(!) disappointing. Still, there very interesting takes on freedom and power (of course!) and resentment or perhaps vengeance. 
(I recommend watching the Julie Taymor’s 2010 film after you’ve read it. Not because the film is good (I don’t think it is), but because Prospero is a woman in this version.)

A storm rages. Prospero and his daughter watch from their desert island as a ship carrying the royal family is wrecked. Miraculously, all on board survive. Plotting, mistaken identities, bewitching love and enchantment follow as the travellers explore this mysterious place of spirits and monsters, and discover that all is not as it seems. Shakespeare's late, great play is a work filled with marvels, music and strangeness, fully exploiting the power of language and the magic of theatre.

Vanya de Lang 

A really fun read. Full of magic and choices. I enjoyed it immensely. I would recommend it.

Haley Murray

I love the ideas and themes in this but I have never been able to fall in love with it.

La tempesta

gio☕

Uno dei miei Shakespeare preferiti.

Ho volato. Mi sono librata in cielo, ho spiegato ali che non sapevo di avere, mi sono fatta guidare dai venti e ho volato, proprio come Ariele, lo spirito al servizio di Prospero.
E mi sono sentita Ariele, e Miranda, e Ferdinando e Prospero e sono stata su quella nave affondata nel mare in tempesta, mi sono sentita intrappolata in un sogno profondo, in un sonno dal quale non avevo intenzione di svegliarmi. E me la sono sentita, sentita dentro, la frase “L’inferno è vuoto, e tutti i diavoli sono qui”, urlata prima che mi buttassi da quella nave andata distrutta.

È stata una lettura sublime, celeste.
Una lettura che mi ha trascinata su un’isola lontana, che mi ha portata su una barca che va per mare in balia dei venti e delle acque, in balia di Ariele e del Fato, della magia di Prospero e della sua voglia di vendetta.

E ho amato l’amore di Ferdinando e Miranda e il quinto atto magnifico, la conclusione di tutto, la chiusura di un cerchio, la perfetta sintesi dell’essenza della vita, di ciò che veramente importa, di quanto conti l’esistenza umana in tutto il proprio valore e in tutta la propria potenza e bellezza.

shakespeare had to be high when he wrote this

mars opal barry

I really loved some of the themes explored by Shakespeare, and loved the character of Ariel. Beautiful writing as always.

Charlotte Squire

Celeste Richardson

“How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world, that has such people in ’t!”

Sometimes, when life throws a storm at you, things aren’t really as bad as they seem. Or, even if things really are as terrible as they look, good things are being blown in by the same gale. That was exactly the case in The Tempest. A storm of Biblical proportions wrecks a king’s ship, leaving him and his men stranded on an island. However, the island is not as deserted as they thought. The wrongs of their past have caught up with the ship’s passengers, but love and forgiveness are enough to cover a multitude of sins. People do bad things. We live in a fallen world, and people are always going to give into temptation and do things they regret. But, given the chance, most people want to make recompense for those actions, and want to do good.

This play was much more hopeful than I recollected. I’m glad I decided to reread it. But reading Shakespeare is tedious, and I’m done with him for the year. If you should decide to read or reread a Shakespearean play, definitely pick up a copy that has a modern interpretation provided for every original line in the script. It was a tremendous help!

nair

We are such stuff as dreams are made in; and our little life is rounded with a sleep.

Autumn 

I feel awkward reviewing Shakespeare...it's Shakespeare!

Jade Flynn

Elaine

I don't know what it was, but I just couldn't get into this. The story was strange and kind of pointless in my opinion. The language however, was wonderful...

Elene

Where the bee sucks, there suck I:

In a cowslip's bell I lie;

There I couch where owl do cry.

On the bat's back I do fly

After summer merrily.

Merrily, merrily shall I live now,

Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.

Ava Shaffer

shakespeare really said i’m gonna write Dungeons & Dragons fan fiction about myself

The Tempest

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