THE TEMPEST AND OTHER OF SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS
Shakespeare, as you know, wrote plays. Here is the story of one of
these plays: Prospero, an old man, and his daughter, Miranda, a very
beautiful girl, lived alone on an island in the sea far from any
known land. Their only dwelling was a cell made in a rock; probably
the cell was really a cave in the rock. Now Prospero was a duke in
exile, the Duke of Milan in Italy, and Miranda was a princess, his
only child.
Prospero was a very clever man and a great student. He had had in
Milan a younger brother, Antonio, to whom he trusted all his affairs
so that he might give his time wholly to study. Prospero's special
study was magic. Shakespeare wrote this play very early in the
seventeenth century: _The Tempest_, therefore, is more than three
hundred years old.
Antonio conspired against his brother Prospero, and in this
conspiracy he was aided by the King of Naples. Prospero and Miranda,
then a baby, were kidnapped, carried on board a ship and later cast
adrift in a small boat. Finally, the sea carried them to this
island. A kind nobleman, Gonzalo, had concealed on the little boat,
water, food, clothing and some books, which were Prospero's books of
magic.
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Prospero and Miranda lived for years on the island. During this time
her father took care of Miranda and educated her. Now the island was
an enchanted island which had been placed under a spell by a witch
called Sycorax, who had died shortly before Prospero and Miranda came
to the island, leaving a son who was a misshapen dwarf called
Caliban. Prospero found this dwarf, and tried to teach him how to
speak and how to do useful work, but Caliban was not able to learn
much. Perhaps he was not very willing to learn.
The witch Sycorax, before she died, had imprisoned in trees on the
island many good spirits, because they would not obey her commands;
since they were gentle spirits and Sycorax had tried to get them to
do cruel and wicked deeds. Prospero found these good spirits and
released them from their prisons. The chief of these spirits was
Ariel. You will love Ariel very much when you read about him in the
play.
Now we have the island, Prospero and Miranda, Ariel and a host of
other gentle spirits, and Caliban, whose only idea of God was that
there was something more powerful than he was himself. But Caliban
thought his god must be cruel, hard and unkind as well as strong,
since he did not know any better. This idea he had of a god he
called Setebos.
Prospero was able to work magic. Three hundred years ago some people
believed in magic. Prospero, since he was a good man, never wanted
to work anything but good with his magic; and he used Ariel and the
other gentle spirits whom he had released from prison to carry out
his {37} commands. _The Tempest_, you will understand by this time,
is a good deal like what we call a fairy tale. But fairy tales are
lovely things.
The King of Naples, his son Ferdinand, Antonio, who had usurped his
brother's place as Duke of Milan, and a number of noblemen, including
kind Gonzalo, when the play begins had been on a voyage on a ship.
Prospero by his magic raised a great storm, and commanded Ariel to
bring the ship to the island where it was to be shipwrecked, but
everyone on board was to be brought to shore safe and unharmed.
Prospero's plan was that Ferdinand, who was an admirable young
prince, and his dear and beautiful daughter Miranda, should fall in
love with one another. Further, he planned by this shipwreck that
Antonio should be punished and he himself restored to the Dukedom of
Milan. In the play, we see and hear all these things happening.
Prospero's plans are carried out exactly as he directed. Ferdinand
and Miranda find each other so beautiful and attractive that at first
sight they fall in love. Antonio is confronted with his wrong doing.
Gonzalo finds reward and praise. Prospero is again Duke of Milan,
buries his books and magic garment and gives up magic forever. The
king of Naples repents his misdoing, and is only too happy for his
son Ferdinand to marry Miranda. And most joyous of all these
happenings, the gentle Ariel and his companions, having served
Prospero well, regain full liberty, and fly away to wander free in
islands where beautiful trees and flowers grow, there to live happy
all the long day.
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We cannot help wondering how Shakespeare came to write this play
about a far away, unknown, enchanted island. It is almost certain
that people have been able to make a very good guess at the origin of
the story. _The Tempest_ was written in 1610 or 1611. In 1609, a
British fleet, commanded by Sir George Somers, which had sailed for
the new plantation of Jamestown in Virginia, met a great storm in the
West Indies. The Admiral's ship, the _Sea-Venture_, was driven on
the coast of one of the unknown Bermuda Isles. The sailors had to
stay there for ten months. Finally, they escaped in two boats which
they made out of cedar logs, and in these boats they managed to reach
Virginia. When these sailors returned to London in 1610, there was
great excitement; one person would report to another their marvellous
stories. The island had been over-run with wild pigs, and the
sailors said they had heard odd noises. Therefore, they concluded
that the island was enchanted. Shakespeare, who was writing his
wonderful plays at the time, is likely to have heard these stories;
and he made use of the sailors' tales of enchantment in a strange,
beautiful, fairy-like play.
Shakespeare's plays are printed, so that we can read them in books.
They are also, of course, acted in theatres. Some of you may have
seen one of Shakespeare's plays, or more than one, acted on a stage.
As you grow older, you will have opportunities, let us hope, to see
great actors in Shakespeare's plays. For, since the plays are so
great themselves, they can only be acted properly by great actors.
You can always read these {39} plays in books, however; and some of
Shakespeare's plays seem almost better when they are read than when
they are acted. The reason for this is that we can imagine scenes
more vividly sometimes than we can see them when other people try to
show them to us.
One of the best ways to read Shakespeare is to take a scene from one
of his plays, such as the Casket scene in _The Merchant of Venice_,
assign the characters to different people, boys and girls, or men and
women, and then read the scene aloud, each character speaking in his
turn. You will enjoy the reading better if someone first tells the
complete story of the play.
The whole world highly regards, and very many people dearly love,
Shakespeare's plays. There are many of them. Some of the plays to
choose first for reading are, _The Merchant of Venice_, _Julius
Caesar_, scenes from _A Midsummer Night's Dream_, from _As You Like
It_, _Romeo and Juliet_ and _Twelfth Night_. How delightful you will
find the fairy scenes in _A Midsummer Night's Dream_, and the scenes
in the forest from _As You Like It_.
_Julius Caesar_ is a political play. Politics, as you know, is one
of the great pursuits of men; and more recently, political questions
are becoming of importance to women. Politics is not a way to earn
one's living, like farming, or being a doctor, or an engineer; but it
offers one of the chief avenues by which one may serve one's country.
_Julius Caesar_, besides being a very interesting story, is a
splendidly wise and clear picture of how men and women are influenced
by political questions and actions.
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Shakespeare wrote and put into his plays numbers of very beautiful
songs. They are so beautiful and natural that to read them is almost
like listening to the song of a bird. In _The Tempest_ you will find
Ariel's songs, "Come unto these yellow sands", "Full fathom five thy
father lies", and "Where the bee sucks, there suck I". There are
songs in _A Midsummer Night's Dream_. Amiens in _As You Like It_,
sings "Under the greenwood tree", and "Blow, blow, thou winter wind".
"It was a lover and his lass" comes near the end of the play.
_Twelfth Night_, too, is rich in songs, "O mistress mine, where are
you roaming?", "Come away, come away, death"; the play ends with the
inimitable, "When that I was and a little tiny boy".
Shakespeare is as great in the poetry of his plays as he is in their
dramatic action. He had the power so to suit his thoughts with words
that our minds are filled and enriched with life and beauty. Read
Prospero's great speech which you will find in _The Tempest_, act iv,
scene i.
These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
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