The Tempest - Context

The Tempest - Context

1. Written 1610-1611

   • Believed it was first performed at court (1611) for the marriage of Jame's daughter, Elizabeth

2. Jacobean era

   • King James I
     • 1566 - 1625

3. Tragicomedy

   • Shakey's last play
     • Ending - really about Shakey leaving his 'art' behind?
       • Can be seen as aborted revenge tragedy spectacle
         • Link to masques

4. Witchcraft

   • King James - Daemonologie
     • A treatise about witchcraft
     • He presided over many witch trials. Many people condemned.
       • He believed witches caused the storm which delayed him and his new wife getting back to Scotland

5. Colonisation and fear of the Other

   • Sycorax originates from Algiers in the play
     • Algiers - North Africa

6. William Strachey

   • 'Eyewitness Account of a Shipwreck in the Bermudas'
     • 'A most dreadful Tempest'
     • By the mercy of God [we were brought] safe into the Island'

7. Montaigne 'Of the Cannibals'

   • those who forgive immediately are less virtuous than those who want to take revenge, but struggle against this desire

8. Francis Bacon 'Of Revenge'

   • Revenge is 'a kind of wild justice'
     • Those who take revenge are equal to the person who wronged them but those who forgive are superior

9. Machiavelli (The Prince)

   • Antonio
     • Machiavellian Character

10. White Magic ('rough magic')

11. Etymology of Names

    • Prospero - 'prosperous'
    • Miranda - 'worthy of admiration'
    • Ferdinand - 'bold adventurer'

12. John Dee

    • Possible influence on the characters of Faustus and Prospero
      • Marlowe likely knew Dee
    • Magician at court of Queen Elizabeth
    • Fell out of favour in Jacobean era as James I was unsympathetic towards magic
    • Died in poverty 1608/9