Time and the Tempest

A detailed Summary of Time and the Tempest

'The Tempest', penned by playwright William Shakespeare, as one of his last works circa 1612 is a story about many things: love, revenge, greed, politics, magic, and mystery. Even the notion of time plays a major role, and it is this aspect we shall be discussing in the following pages. Time plays a fairly large role in many of the ideas put forward in this rather wistful tale of one man's (Prospero) betrayal at the hands of his brother and his initial attempts at revenge. Essentially 'The Tempest' ends with the age-old moral that 'time heals all wounds' as he finally finds it in his heart to forgive his brother and bring the tale to a peaceful resolution. It is not just here however, that we find time to be a useful plot device. One should also pay attention to the various goings on within the play - such as Pospero's comments on the brevity of life - as well as the title of the play itself.

To begin with we shall look at the title 'The Tempest' which serves to hold a double meaning. Whilst the word 'Tempest' of course can be seen to refer to the great storm that is used by Prospero to imprison his captives on the isle, as well as the 'tempest' of emotion invoked in the characters an the imbalance of power amongst the

The theme of time in relation to its brevity also appears as a running theme throughout 'The Tempest'. Although it is only truly noticeable when it comes to a head with Prospero's speech to Miranda and Ferdinand, in which he tells them not to worry about his attempted assassination: "... be cheerful, sir: our revels are now ended: these actors... were all spirits, and are melted... into thin air: And, like the baseless fabric of this vision... Yea, 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." It is here that we see Prospero's lamentation on his age and ailing health, insisting the youths not worry about his welfare, as he is old and that life is too short for worries and regrets. It is possible to see here that perhaps Shakespeare has created Prospero as a reflection of himself, and that these are similar thoughts to his as he wrote the play; considering his age (early 50s) at the time of writing 'The Tempest' and the fact that its release coincided roughly with the time of his retirement. This could in fact be the source of the play's inspiration as many of its concurrent themes stem quite closely to this Carpe Diem ideology. In fact it's whole jovial nature seems to stem from this idea of life being too short for worry, regret, animosity, and other such negative emotions. Music, which also seems to play a rather major role in 'The Tempest', seems to serve as a reminder of this also. "...Sitting on a bank Weeping again the king my father's wreck, This music crept by me upon the waters; Allaying both their fury and my passion." Here we see Ferdinand's spirits roused by the sound of Ariel's music, reminding him the futility of lamenting what is past and to look towards the beauty of the present.

So as should by now be seen, time plays a major, not entirely unsubversive role in Shakespeare's final farewel

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Approximate Word count = 1329
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English