The Tempest

Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. Henley Shakespeare. Edinburgh, 1901.

The Tempest is a fantastical play of magic, revenge, and reconciliation. Prospero, the ousted Duke of Milan, and his daughter Miranda live on a remote island. Ariel, a powerful spirit who can control tides, winds, and other spirits, acts as Prospero’s assistant, while the creature Caliban is his servant or slave. Prospero creates a storm that brings his brother and company to the island, where after wandering and facing trials, the entire group is reunited. Prospero forgives his usurping brother, and they travel back to Italy, where Prospero assumes his rightful title.

This page features reincarnations of The Tempest. Reproduced time and again, perhaps there really is something magical about this play. The scope of the items, from operas, to children’s editions, to censored works, shows the mutability and pervasiveness of the Bard’s works.

Opening of Halevy's score for La Tempesta

List of actors in The Tempest, an Opera, as it was performed at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane, 1756

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Halévy, Jacques Francois. La Tempesta: opéra en trois actes, précede d’un prologue. Translated into Italian by Giannone. Paris, [185- ?].

Shakespeare, William The Tempest; An Opera. Music composed by Mr. Smith. London, 1756.

These two operas show the reach of Shakespeare’s text, which over the course of 200 years went through musical adaptations and two translations. Halevy's opera (top) was originally written in French and later translated into Italian. Published in the 1850s, this edition includes the piano score with lyrics in Italian.

Mr. Smith’s opera (bottom), performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, pares the play to three acts. In Shakespeare’s play, Ariel is the sole musical character, influencing other characters through songs, which serve to mesmerize and move characters. Smith gives almost every character a chance to sing. Since others share the gift for music, Ariel cannot perform one of her primary functions. Instead, though, the island becomes more whimsical with its increased musicality.

List of Arthur Rackham's illustrations for Charles and Mary Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare and the first page of their retelling of The Tempest

Page 2 of Charles and Mary Lamb's retelling of The Tempest, and Rackham's illustration of Ariel and Caliban

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Lamb, Charles. Tales from Shakespeare. Illustrated by Arthur Rackman. London, 1909.

Charles Lamb’s Tales from Shakespeare retells famous plots from Shakespeare for children. In this version of The Tempest, Ariel behaves more like a pixie than a powerful spirit who can control tides, winds, and other spirits. By explicitly making Caliban into a monster, he seems more deserving of being a slave. The illustrations are by Arthur Rackham.

Engraving of scene from The Tempest, and title page of Bowdler's The Family Shakspeare

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Shakespeare, William. The Family Shakespeare: In Which Nothing is Added to the Original Text but Those Words and Expressions are Omitted Which Cannot with Propriety be Read in a Family. Vol. 1. Edited by Thomas Bowdler. London, 1853.

For The Family Shakespeare, Thomas Bowdler combed through Shakespeare’s works, removing anything he deemed offensive or not suitable to present to his family, and published his edition of the Bard’s plays without the objectionable material and with “PG” place-fillers where needed. The Tempest loses some of its bawdy humor, feeling more like Lamb’s tales than the original.

Title page of Shadwell's opera of The Tempest; or The Enchanted Island

List of characters and opening scene of Shadwell's opera of The Tempest; or The Enchanted Island

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Shadwell, Thomas. The Tempest; or The Enchanted Island: A Comedy as it is Now Acted by His Majesties Servants. London, 1701.

Thomas Shadwell’s The Tempest; or The Enchanted Island builds on Shakespeare’s original play, but contains new twists. He adds a few characters: Hippolyto, “one that never saw Woman;” Dorinda, Prospero’s second daughter; and Sycorax, now a speaking character and Caliban’s sister (instead of his mother). The prologue of this play poetically states that from “old Shakespeare’s honour’d draft...Springs up and buds a new reviving Play.”

Prospero weaving a spell, illustration by Edmund Dulac

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Shakespeare, William. Comedy of the Tempest. Illustrations by Edmund Dulac. London, 1908.

This version of The Tempest contains text from the Oxford Shakespeare, one of the most commonly reproduced editions, and one that strives to present a text that is as close to how the play would have first been performed as possible. This edition contains elaborate illustrations by Edmund Dulac, like this one of Prospero.