The Tempest Audiobook

Publisher Description

In The Tempest, long considered one of Shakespeares most lyrical plays, Prospero, a sorcerer, and his daughter, Miranda, have been stranded on an enchanted island for twelve years. When a shipwreckcaused by the eponymous tempestbrings enemies to the island, the stage is set for comedy, romance, and reconciliation. The Tempest embodies both seemingly timeless romance and the historically specific moment in which Europe began to explore and conquer the New World. Its poetic beauty, complexity of thought, range of charactersfrom the spirit Ariel and the monster Caliban to the beautiful Miranda and her prince Ferdinandand exploration of difficult questions that still haunt us today make this play wonderfully compelling. Download and start listening now! Prosperos use of magic in The Tempest is a source of apparently endless critical speculation. It has been defined as benign and redemptive, its violence excused or legitimated. At the opposite end of the critical spectrum it has been defined as witchcraft and read as a metaphor for colonial oppressionBy whatever means The Tempest is approached, magic is the defining factor in the relationship between Prospero and Caliban. Times Literary Supplement

Quotes

Part of The Tempests permanent facination for so many playgoers and readers, in a myriad of national cultures, is its juxtaposition of a vengeful magus who turns to forgiveness. Harold Bloom The play is full of extraordinary anomalies and fantastic interludesThe creation of Caliban has particularly fascinated critics, who have noticed in his creation a colonial dimension to the playCritics and historians have debated the extent to which the play endorses or criticizes early English colonial expansion. Amazon.co.uk editorial review Shakespeares blend of romance, comedy and political intrigue and his echoings of Virgil and Ovid can make this, like his other late work, feel at once classical and incipiently postmodern. New York Times