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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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The Tempest
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(c.1611)
Drama by *Shakespeare, usually considered his last, forming a magic interplay of discovery and enchantment, recrimination and reconciliation. Prospero, the rightful duke of Milan and a learned magician, has had his throne usurped by his brother Antonio. For 12 years he has been living on an island with his books and his daughter, Miranda. The only previous inhabitant of the island, Caliban, the misshapen offspring of the witch Sycorax, labours reluctantly for Prospero; so, with slightly better grace, does Ariel, a spirit imprisoned in a cloven pine by Sycorax and released by Prospero. Prospero uses his magic to summon a tempest, which wrecks on the island a shipload of enemies and friends from the courts of Milan and Naples.
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As a result, the enchanted island becomes full of people wandering around in a daze. Ferdinand, son of the king of Naples, falls in love with Miranda, who is bowled over by her first glimpse of a young man. Caliban allies himself with two comic characters from the shipwreck (the jester Trinculo and the drunken butler Stephano), and tries to get them to murder his master Prospero. In the final scene the court characters settle their scores with each other; Prospero breaks his magic staff and releases Ariel from his service, before returning to his rightful place in Milan and to the promised wedding of Miranda and Ferdinand; and the island is left once again to Caliban.
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