mass market paperback, 288 pages
English language
Published Sept. 19, 1998 by Signet Classics.
The Signet Classics edition of William Shakespeare’s fantastical play that combines elements of tragedy and comedy.
Prospero, sorcerer and rightful Duke of Milan, along with his daughter Miranda, has lived on an island for many years since his position was usurped by his brother Antonio. Then, as Antonio’s ship passes near the island one day, Prospero conjures up a terrible storm…
This revised Signet Classics edition includes unique features such as:
• An overview of Shakespeare’s life, world, and theater • A special introduction to the play by the editor, Robert Langbaum • Selections from William Strachey, Sylvester Jourdain, Montaigne, and Ovid, sources from which Shakespeare derived The Tempest • Dramatic criticism from Samuel Taylor Coleridge, E.M.W. Tillyard, Lori Jerrell, and others • A comprehensive stage and screen history of notable actors, directors, and productions • Text, notes, and commentaries printed in the clearest, most readable text • And more… …
The Signet Classics edition of William Shakespeare’s fantastical play that combines elements of tragedy and comedy.
Prospero, sorcerer and rightful Duke of Milan, along with his daughter Miranda, has lived on an island for many years since his position was usurped by his brother Antonio. Then, as Antonio’s ship passes near the island one day, Prospero conjures up a terrible storm…
This revised Signet Classics edition includes unique features such as:
• An overview of Shakespeare’s life, world, and theater • A special introduction to the play by the editor, Robert Langbaum • Selections from William Strachey, Sylvester Jourdain, Montaigne, and Ovid, sources from which Shakespeare derived The Tempest • Dramatic criticism from Samuel Taylor Coleridge, E.M.W. Tillyard, Lori Jerrell, and others • A comprehensive stage and screen history of notable actors, directors, and productions • Text, notes, and commentaries printed in the clearest, most readable text • And more…
I like this book so much, especially how even though their love isn't really possible in his kingdom but still that did't stop them. I can't wait to read the next part.
Shortly after I started this book I got to see it live - my first time attending a Shakespeare play! - and I have to say it tainted my perception of this book greatly. The comedy of the situation is a bit hard to notice at times, and the plot is quite serious on the whole, but it really does share a lot of structure with other Shakespearean comedies and, if you poke at it a bit, it really is quite funny. Trinculo is a gem.
If it was just that it would probably just be 3 stars, I quite like how it eases some reflections on colonization in among the rest. Caliban is presented as decrepit and stupid next to the others, but when he is on his own we see that he really is more intelligent than he is given credit for. While many of the themes to …
Never or seen this before, I liked it.
I'm not sure if it's a drama or a comedy. On the one hand you have the elegant and poetic journey of Prospero from betrayal, to revenge, to melancholy forgiveness. All the while potentially echoing the bard himself - who wrote this at the end of his career - reflecting on his own life and work.
On the other hand you have the dudebro comedy of Caliban and the lads getting plastered and hilariously failing at every step in their drunken attempt at a coup.
Good fun.
If, as I assume, there's a book with Charlie as the MC I do not want to read it. He sounded like a condescending dick. Guess that is the problem with reading books out of order. Charlie is probably meant to be very charming but he was super annoying. Anyway, DNF.
I haven’t read any Shakespeare since high school, probably, so this was a long time overdue. I was inspired to read The Tempest because of a certain scene in a video game, and I saw that it wasn’t too long—how bad could it be? Shakespeare seriously humbles my understanding of English vocabulary and wordplay. I did miss having the Folger edition with the page-facing commentary to help make sense of certain phrases or words, but I think in the end I got the main gist of it.
The plot begins in media res, and apparently you learn by the end that not much time has taken place in the course of the play. Of course the main questions are—who is this Prospero fellow and how will he effect his revenge? In that view, the ending was a bit lackluster, as it seemed fairly anticlimactic; Prospero’s fate at the end …
I haven’t read any Shakespeare since high school, probably, so this was a long time overdue. I was inspired to read The Tempest because of a certain scene in a video game, and I saw that it wasn’t too long—how bad could it be? Shakespeare seriously humbles my understanding of English vocabulary and wordplay. I did miss having the Folger edition with the page-facing commentary to help make sense of certain phrases or words, but I think in the end I got the main gist of it.
The plot begins in media res, and apparently you learn by the end that not much time has taken place in the course of the play. Of course the main questions are—who is this Prospero fellow and how will he effect his revenge? In that view, the ending was a bit lackluster, as it seemed fairly anticlimactic; Prospero’s fate at the end is a bit unclear as well, especially with the epilogue. (Or maybe I just didn’t understand it fully.)
The characters in this are enjoyable, more or less. I enjoyed Prospero’s antics with Ariel, though he did have a tendency to drone on and on with exposition… maybe that is why he was exiled? …I jest, of course. Still, any human with a fondness for books has my sympathy, if not my complete understanding. I would’ve liked more background and context for Prospero’s spirits and his magic powers, or even the lore about the previous witch and the island they are on—but these details are tossed through bits of exposition like sprinkles. Miranda and Ferdinand have a miraculous romance, by Shakespearean accounts, that doesn’t seem to end in immediate tragedy. (Though, really, falling in love and aiming for marriage in the span of a few hours is extremely questionable. And asking if the woman is a virgin first? Have some tact, man!)
I enjoyed reading some of the famous scenes and quotes that I’ve seen quoted countless times in literature, and of course, Shakespeare is a master with words and descriptions. Even if the expositions were boring, at least they were full of clever metaphors and beautiful diction. Though I’m really not sure what to make of the ending, and what the take-home message here was… I might have to sit and contemplate that a bit more. There are flickering themes of madness, revenge, inheritance, visions vs. reality, what exactly one is owed by others, and family, among others. I am sure this would be great to see performed. In any case, I need to read more Shakespeare, so I can grease that small section of my brain into better comprehension again.
“Me, poor man, my library
Was dukedom large enough.”
“Hell is empty and all the devils are here.”
“Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.”
“We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.”
“O, brave new world
that has such people in't!”
I'm weirdly confused as to what this was about. Either I missed a big chunk of text or I simply didn't understand more subtle passages or backgrounds.
Mi requisito para ver, por fin, Prospero's Books de Peter Greenaway. Una maravilla de texto, con alusiones a la providencia de la magia usada para bien y sin ninguna alusión a referencias cristianas, lo cual coloca el paganismo a los pies del lector y del entonces público del teatro callejero de Shakespeare (algo que, curiosamente, se colocaba al margen de la manera en que la magia se consideraba en el Renacimiento por científicos y magos de la época). Los personajes -propios de las tragedias del autor- y el momento en que Prospero cambia su actitud frente a ellos, sobre todo, frente a su hermano, remite, por qué no, a otro mago veterotestamentario (José, que perdona la traición de sus hermanos).
I loved the Tempest: the setting on an island in the Mediterranean Sea, the intriguing characters and the ideas behind it! more
