A Leg up on the Canon Book 4: Adaptations of Shakespeare’S Romances and Poetry and Thompson’S Hound of Heaven

By Jim McGahern

Shakespeare had extraordinary intelligence, unheard-of powers of observation and interpretation, a soaring imagination, a way with words that defies description, and a defining interest in the theater. He brought kings, queens, heroes, and peasantry to the stage so they could be seen in a more realistic fashion. Even so, in modern times, assistance is often needed to interpret Shakespeares work.

In A Leg Up on the Canon, author Jim McGahern provides an extensive biography of Shakespeare and offers an introductory guide to his histories, comedies, tragedies, romances, and poems. McGahern presents summaries of the texts, explanations of difficult passages, extensive historical context, and glossaries of terms no longer in use. In each volume, he outlines the plot of plays in that category and then delivers a one-act play with inclusive commentary. McGahern includes pertinent remarks and important speeches and soliloquies interlaced with brief explanations and descriptions of the actions on stage as well as plot developments.

A Leg Up on the Canon, a four-volume series, provides insights into the word music of the talented man from Stratford.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Sep 14, 2012
• ISBN: 9781475945232

Jim McGahern

Jim McGahern immigrated to New York from Ireland in 1953. He earned a PhD in organic chemistry and worked at Brooklyn Poly and Lederle laboratories in Pearl River, where he wrote more than fifty publications in chemical literature and generated seventeen US patents. Now retired, he lives in New Jersey.

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Copyright © 2012 Jim McGahern

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ISBN: 978-1-4759-4522-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4759-4523-2 (e)

iUniverse rev. date: 8/16/2012

Contents

Introduction to the Romances (1608-1613) and the Problem Plays (1601-1604)

Pericles, Prince of Tyre

Cymberline

The Winter’s Tale

The Tempest

Two Noble Kinsmen

Troilus and Cressida

All’s Well that Ends Well

Measure for Measure

The Hound of Heaven

References

Introduction to the Romances (1608-1613)

and the Problem Plays (1601-1604)

The Romances

In his forty-fourth year, perhaps in frustration, Shakespeare left his last tragedy Timon of Athens unfinished and turned to what are called the late romances. According to Harold Bloom, these plays were written in the years shown below. The so-called problem plays are listed here, as well, because it is the most convenient spot for me to put them.

In 1608, the King’s Men were allowed to stage plays at Blackfriars, which was part of a monastery confiscated by Henry VIII from the Dominican friars years before. This indoor theater could accommodate less than a quarter of the crowd that could be packed into the Globe. It was situated on the north side of the Thames, not far from where St Paul’s cathedral is now located. Plays could be performed at night and in winter weather because it had some form of candle or torch lighting system.

On the average, the cost of admission was about five or six times the amount charged at the outdoor theaters; consequently it catered to an upscale audience. About that time Ben Jonson was having great success at court with his musical masques and Shakespeare was probably being pressured by his company to come up with lighter fare. In addition, according to E.W. M. Tillyard in Shakespeare’s Last Plays, the works of Fletcher and Beaumont were becoming quite popular and the King’s Men were well aware of the promising tragi-comic writers on the horizon of London’s theatrical world.

The tragedies were great theater, but the endings were sad and gloomy and it was time for a change. King Lear is probably Shakespeare’s greatest work, but in 1681 an Irishman, Nahum Tate, rewrote it, restoring the happy ending of the source material where Cordelia and Edgar fall in love and Lear regains his kingdom. That rewrite was popular for one hundred and fifty years, and during that time Shakespeare’s masterpiece was ignored. So it would seem that upper-class spectators of those days liked their theater to end on the upbeat side.

Shakespeare was betting on the power that storytelling, laced with a little myth, might help to lure audiences to a comfortable indoor theater on cold winter evenings. Hence his first romance was Pericles, Prince of Tyre, a story of a father-daughter relationship spiced with wild sea-snortings, high adventure, trials and tribulations in a brothel, enduring love, and of course a happy final scene of family reunification. It was not among his finer efforts and his rival and professional competitor, burly Ben Jonson, called it a mouldy tale. However, it was very popular at Blackfriars and even did well at the Globe.

The story unfolds like this: As a young prince, Pericles was intrigued by forbidden fruit in the person of the beautiful daughter of Antiochus the Great. When he learns of the incestuous relationship between father and daughter, he wisely beats a hasty retreat back to Tyre. After consultation with his astute counselor, Helicanus, he sails to Tharsus, where in exchange for safe haven he delivers much needed food and grain to a city ruled by Cleon and his wife, Dionzya. Because of his very persistent pursuer, Thaliard, an employee of Antiochus, Helicanus sends him word that he is no longer safe at Tharsus. He boards ship once more and takes to sea only to be shipwrecked in a fierce storm. Pericles alone manages to make it ashore, where he is assisted and succored by thee fishermen. They inform him that he is in the realm of good King Simonides. The next day, with the help of the fishermen, Pericles is in Pentapolis, where knights are competing to win the hand of Thaisa, the King’s daughter. Although poorly equipped, Pericles enters the tournament and wins it; both Simonides and Thaisa are impressed by the courtly behavior of the strange impoverished knight. Thaisa makes it clear that this is the man she wants to marry and Simonides is pleased. The pair are married. Sometime later, when Thaisa is heavy with child, Pericles has a message from Helicanus that Antiochus and his daughter were killed by lightning and that the nobles of Tyre were concerned about his long absence. It is agreed that he should return home at once.

Soon he is aboard a ship headed for Tyre with Thaisa and her nurse, Lycorida. Neptune is angry once again and, perhaps because of a dreadful storm, Thaisa gives birth to a daughter. Lycorida is convinced that the mother has passed away in the process. Because superstitious sailors want the dead woman thrown overboard to save the ship, Pericles seals his wife’s body in a chest, together with spices and an identifying paper, and commits her to the sea. The chest is recovered some hours later and taken to the house of a famous physician and scientist, Cerimon, in Ephesus. He succeeds in reviving Thaisa, who cannot explain who put her in the chest, but is aware that she gave birth to a child and that no human being or ship could have survived the storm that was raging at the time. Since she believes her husband and child to be dead, she enters the temple of Diana in Ephesus as a votaress.

When the storm subsides, because of the presence of his newborn baby girl, Pericles decides to head for Tharsus rather than go directly to far-off Tyre. Cleon and Dionzya, who have a baby girl of their own, Philoten, welcome them.

Pericles has to get back to Tyre, so he leaves his infant, Marina, and her nurse in Tharsus, perhaps because he believes that Neptune has something against him and he does not want to risk the life of his daughter. Dionza promises to raise the child as if she were her own. She does that well enough and teaches both girls dancing, singing and other fine arts. But as they approach womanhood, Marina is excelling in all their endeavors and Dionzya becomes so jealous that she hires a thug, Leonine, to kill her. The best opportunity arises when Lycorida dies and a sad Marina puts flowers on her grave; Dionza tells her to walk on the beach with Leonine. He is about to slay her when some pirates fortuitously appear and take off with Marina. Dionza poisons Leonine and then convinces Cleon to build a monument to Marina and they will pretend that she died a natural death when or if Pericles comes to fetch her.

The pirates take Marina to Mytilene, where they sell her to Pander and his wife, Bawd, who run a brothel where one Boult is the procurer and doorman. Marina is determined to retain her virginity and because of her training and talents, she is able to cajole customers to mend their ways rather than take advantage of a poor virgin. Word gets around and the Governor, Lysimachus, comes to investigate for himself. He has a battle of wits with Marina and she convinces him that she is decent and honest and held in thrall by Pandar and Bawd. This scene is as good as any Shakespeare has written. Lysimachus gives her gold and promises to help her as soon as he can. Her masters realize that Marina is a danger to their business so they give her to Boult to crack the glass of her virginity. In another great scene, she shames the procurer into advertising her talents among the scholars and decent people of Mytilene, and she will give him the gold given her by the Governor and most of her earnings so that they can buy her freedom from Pandar and Bawd. He agrees to try and Lysimachus comes through with a place for her to live and work.

Inexplicably, fourteen years go by before Pericles is again on the high seas to visit Tharsus to recover his daughter. By this time he is King of Tyre and accompanied by Helicanus; they have left Escanes in charge in Tyre. On arrival in Tharsus, they are shown Marina’s monument and told of her natural death. Upon hearing the sad news, perhaps from guilt, Pericles removes his robes, puts on sack cloth and vows never to change or cut his beard or nails again. Helicanus has a real problem with regard to taking his king back to Tyre in this condition. As fortune would have it, their ship is driven by gale force winds to anchorage off Mytilene. In due time, Lysimachus and aides arrive on a barge to find out what this ship is doing near their shores. Helicanus informs them of where they are from and that they have a king aboard who will not speak to or respond to anyone. Pericles ignores the Governor’s efforts to talk to him. Marina is summoned and the situation explained to her to see if she can reach the distraught king. Because of her appearance and her singular persistence, Marina manages to get through to him and there is a great recognition scene between father and daughter. Pericles then has a strong urge to sleep and he dreams of hearing the music of the spheres and of being aware of the goddess, Diana, telling him to go to her temple in Ephesus and offer sacrifice while at the same time explaining out loud how Marina was born and what happened to her mother, Thaisa, at that time.

When Pericles, Helicanus, Lysimachus, and Marina visit Diana’s temple, Thaisa and Cerimon are present. Again there is another recognition scene where Thaisa is restored to her husband and daughter. They happily agree that Lysimachus and Marina should marry and rule in Tyre and Thaisa and Pericles should reign in Pentapolis. At the end, narrator Gower describes how the people of Tharsus rise up and lay waste to Cleon and Dionzya for their crimes.

Shakespeare’s second attempt at romance was a drama about the Celtic king, Cymbeline, of southeast England in the final days of Roman emperor, Caesar Augustus. Once again it is about the father-daughter relationship of Cymbeline and his only daughter, Imogen, and the plot is rife with all kinds of unlikely episodes which ultimately lead to forgiveness and reconciliation within the King’s family. Many critics regard it as an improvement on Pericles because Imogen is one of Shakespeare’s most delightful women. She has the misfortune to fall in love with a commoner, Posthumus, who initially is described by gentlemen as an outstanding citizen, but subsequently behaves like a lunatic. He is absent from the stage from the end of Act II until Act V, where he reforms and acts like a hero again. However, he is not one of Shakespeare’s memorable characters.

The convoluted plot has three strands to it, the most important of which is probably the Imogen-Posthumus affair. Posthumus was the orphan son of a Roman, Leonatus, who fought with Cymbeline’s father against the forces of Julius Caesar. He was raised in Cymbeline’s court along with Imogen. The king had two young sons, Guiderius, and Arviragus, who were abducted by Belarius, a noble Briton who was falsely accused of being a traitor. Calling himself Morgan, Belarius reared these boys in the Welsh mountains as Polydore and Cadwal. Cymbeline’s first queen died after the birth of Arviragus; he later married a second queen who had a loutish son, Cloten. This queen was a conniving and evil woman who was strongly motivated to have Cloten become king, and she thought that the best way to achieve that was to have him marry Imogen. Cymbeline was so attracted to her that he blindly went along with this idea. Imogen was in love with Posthumus, and in desperation she secretly married him. Because of her basic integrity, she sought her father’s approval immediately afterwards, but his unbelievably cold reaction was to banish Posthumus, who had no choice but to go at once to Rome.

The second strand has to do with the adventures of Belarius and his two boys in Wales. The third strand is concerned with war between Cymbeline and Roman consul Lucius over payment of tribute; the result of this third strand gets Cymbeline and his real family together again. Frequently the characters on stage do not know what is going on, but the audience are kept well aware of all the little twists and turns in a truly taxing story.

In the last long scene of Act V, everything is explained when the corrupt Iachimo is given a chance to redeem himself. At one stage in the battle between the Romans and the Britons, Posthumus, who had deserted the Romans and thrown in his lot with the Britons, is face to face with Iachimo, the man that has supposedly cuckolded him. They fight and Posthumus disarms his opponent and leaves him to consider his past horrendous actions. We’ll never know his true motivation for allowing Iachimo to survive but of this we can be certain, that the villain’s elimination at that stage would have made it difficult even for Shakespeare to resolve all the dilemmas the story had given rise to up to that point.

While in Rome, Posthumus had made a foolish bet with Iachimo. The latter was convinced that if given a letter of introduction he could compromise the chastity of Imogen. Posthumus had tried to do just that before they were married and failed, even though he was convinced that she loved him. Hence he was absolutely confident that he was betting on a sure thing. Imogen easily withstands Iachimo’s onslaught, but being a cool operator, by a kind of jack-in-the-box trick, he gathered enough convincing evidence that he was able to pretend to her husband that she had been a strumpet to his bed. It is Posthumus who fails the test of his own convictions while Imogen is a winner all the way. In his total dejection and loneliness, he has a few insane moments and writes letters to Imogen and his servant, Pisanio, setting up a situation where Imogen is to be murdered. Fortunately Pisanio could not perform such a dastardly act. There is little doubt that Posthumus lost his head for a short period after he was falsely convinced of Imogen’s infidelity. Shakespeare has him utter a Lear-like condemnation of all women in his anger and frustration.

The plot has some other unusual twists, especially when Cloten, who has cruel, predatory intentions towards Imogen is in fact beheaded by one of Cymbeline’s long lost sons, Guiderius. At the time, he was wearing an outfit belonging to Posthumus and was laid to rest among flowers in the cave where Imogen was also similarly buried. Imogen was just in a coma because she had felt sick and taken a soporific which the physician Cornelius had made up for the royal stepmother. the Queen had asked him for poison but since he distrusted her he gave her the soporific instead. She recommended it to Pisanio as a cure-all for migraine or whatever, and he, in turn, gave it to Imogen who was disguised as the boy, Fidele. She was feeling off-color and took some of it and when Cymbeline’s sons returned from hunting, they thought he had passed away so they placed him in their burial cave. Upon reviving from her coma she was sure that the headless body beside her was that of Posthumus.

Her inability to identify her husband’s body has led some critics to believe that she was still a virgin, since she had not obtained her father’s approval for the marriage. Posthumus’ statement of Me of my lawful pleasure she restrain’d and pray’d me oft forbearance seems to indicate that. These critics assume she told her father about her marriage soon after the ceremony but his reaction was to banish Posthumus at once to make sure that there was no opportunity for consummation. This postulation perhaps gives a little credence to Posthumus’ reaction to the falsehoods of Iachimo. Shakespeare leaves it to us how we read it, so the idea is not outrageous.

In the last act, the Romans lose a battle because of an old man, his two alleged sons, a peasant and a lane, which certainly was unexpected. Iachimo’s repentance and explanations reunites Cymbeline, who is a widower again, with Imogen, Posthumus, his two long lost sons and his wronged warrior Belarius. Because he has agreed to pay tribute again, he even reestablishes his good relationship with the Roman proconsul, Lucius. All of these benign events are credited to the good offices of the god Jupiter. Shakespeare puts it another way in Pisanio’s words: Fortune brings in some boats that are not steer’d.

On his third attempt at writing a romance, Shakespeare created the tragicomic masterpiece, The Winter’s Tale. The irrational jealousy of King Leontes of Silicia ruins his family life and causes the deaths of people near and dear to him. The death of his son Mamillius is hastened by the loss of his mother’s attention and compassion. Leontes accuses his wife, Hermione, of infidelity and treason and puts her in jail, where she gives birth to an infant daughter. The king orders the abandonment of the newborn baby in the wilderness, since he believes it is the child of Polixenes, King of Bohemia, who had been his guest for more than nine months. In his anger and madness he suggests to his advisor, Camillo, that he should poison Polixenes. The advisor has the good sense to get himself and the Bohemian king on a ship for Bohemia as fast as he can.

Shakespeare does not spend time analyzing why Leontes becomes so jealous so quickly over a series of seemingly trivial observations. His courtiers, Camillo, Antigonus and his wife Paulina, are all sure the King is wrong in his accusations against Hermione. Leontes, however, is convinced of her guilt when he learns of the flight of Camillo and Polixenes. He dispatches two courtiers to Delphos, where he expects Apollo’s oracle to sanction his suspicions. Shakespeare devotes his genius to letting us know how the King’s madness affects his family, his court, his legal system and succession in the realm.

The king bullies Antigonus under pain of death to carry out the abandonment of Hermione’s newborn daughter despite the feisty defense of the babe offered by Paulina. When the courtiers arrive back with the sealed verdict from the oracle, a court is convened and the Queen’s trial begins. Hermione eloquently pleads her innocence but states that she will accept the decision of the oracle.

When that verdict is read, it proclaims Hermione and Camillo to be innocent, Leones to be a tyrant and the Kingdom to be without an heir unless the abandoned babe is found. Leontes is unwilling to accept the ruling and orders the court hearing to continue. Suddenly a servant enters with the terrible news that Mamillius, the heir to the kingdom, has passed away. the Queen faints and is carried out. Leontes is shocked and realizes that Apollo is punishing him for his rejection of the oracle’s decision. To make matters worse, Paulina returns from attending to the Queen and she blisters the King with a summary of the harm his irrationality has caused. She then drops the bombshell that the Queen could not be resuscitated despite all their best efforts. The storm of jealousy that arose so fast in the King is just as quickly dissipated. All he can think of now is repentance for the harm his lapse has caused. His remorseful demeanor touches Paulina and she apologizes for her stern words to him.

Tragedy pervades the first two acts of the play. In Act III the first two scenes are about Antigonus’ ordeal in disposing of the infant girl. Aboard ship the Queen appears to him as an apparition and commands that the baby girl be called Perdita and be abandoned on the shores of Bohemia and says that because of what he is doing he will never see his wife, Paulina, again. Antigonus is thus convinced that the Queen is dead and that Polixenes was in fact the father of this babe and hence it is appropriate to return her to Bohemia.

A huge storm is threatening as Antigonus alone, scared, and likely with mixed feelings of guilt and remorse, leaves the infant in the brush near the shore, together with a bundle containing some identifying items, gold, and a letter indicating to anyone who might find her that her name is Perdita. As he is about to return to the ship a great bear shows up and pursues him.

A shepherd who is looking for his lost sheep in the brush near the shore finds the abandoned child with the bundle by her side and he rescues her. Within a matter of minutes his son, Clown, joins up with him and he has an amazing story to relate. He was some distance away when he saw a ship founder in the heavy seas near the shore and a bear running after a man who was screaming for help and saying his name was Antigonus. The bear caught him and began to devour him. The shepherd takes the baby home to his wife and Clown goes back to bury the remains of the nobleman.

The scene with the famous stage direction Exit pursued by a bear denotes the disappearance in the play of jealousy and tragedy because in Act IV we are in a sunnier Bohemia, land of flowers, shepherds, festivals and young love, and a con man, Autolycus, who is one of Shakespeare’s masterful creations. The Chorus tells us that sixteen years have passed and the shepherd now has a beautiful daughter, Perdita, who is in love with a young man, Doricles, who is in reality Florizel, the son of Polixenes. Since he came to Bohemia, Camillo has rendered sterling advice and service to the King and now he frequently thinks of returning to Silica. He knows he will be warmly greeted by the repentant Leontes. Polixenes is loath to return to Sicilia because of his experience there the last time, and at this particular point he is worried about all the time his son is spending at a certain shepherd’s cottage. When Camillo lets him know that the shepherd has a beautiful daughter, the King decides they should pay a visit to that cottage.

It is the time of the year when the shepherd holds his annual sheep-shearing contest and festival and his son Clown is on his way to purchase food supplies for the contestants. Along the his path he meets up with Autolycus, a singer of songs and trinket salesman who is not above appropriating for himself the bed-sheets which some unsuspecting housewife has left on a hedge to dry. Autolycus recognizes on the spot that Clown is a bird, ripe for plucking, and before they part he has lightened the rube of much of his money. He learns of the festival and he plans to be there where he hopes to apply his skills to further enrich himself.

Soon we are at the pastoral event where Polixenes and Camillo, disguised as countrymen, are both in attendance. Enter Perdita, dressed as the Queen of the festival, together with her swain, Doricles, in country garb. Perdita is a little self-conscious that their respective attires are misleading and her father lets her know how his late wife was always a great hostess at these affairs. His words cause her to distribute flowers and greet the guests. She has an interesting chat with the disguised king on the topic of bastard gillyvor flowers. She has none of these most colorful of flowers since she believes they are developed artificially. Polixenes explains that the art of hybridization, whereby a true type crossed with a wild variety frequently results in a new, more attractive flower. We find out a moment or two later that Polixenes does not believe this concept carries over to human procreation. Perdita’s grace and charm puzzles him and he cannot understand how she belongs here. He questions the shepherd about Doricles only to be told that little is known about him except, that his son will be a very lucky man if he gets Perdita.

Autolycus arrives singing ballads about his wares and he manages to convince the shepherds and shepherdesses to buy all his knick-knacks. Having proved himself a successful vendor he is about to practice his pickpocketing skills when the shepherd has an announcement to make about the engagement of Perdita and Doricles. Polixenes then interrupts the festivities by revealing who he is and declaring that his son, as heir to the realm, cannot marry a shepherd’s daughter, whom he refers to as an knack.

In an instant he becomes the classic blocking father of comedy, and to solve the problem Shakespeare does a quick reversal by getting all the major players back to the old established society of Sicilia as fast as possible. Perdita, Florizel, Polixenes, and Camillo, the native Bohemians Autolycus, the shepherd and Clown find themselves in the realm of the penitent Leontes, largely through the good offices of Camillo. Based on the testimony of the shepherd and Clown and because of the striking resemblance of Perdita to her mother as a young girl, Leontes is united with his daughter, and he becomes friends again with Polixenes. Autolycus finds himself beholden to Clown, and the young lovers are to be married with the blessings of their fathers.

Paulina is happy that the lost heir to the Kingdom has been found and sad to learn of the unfortunate end of her husband. Hermione was in fact revived and for sixteen years was sustained and nurtured by Paulina in a house near her home. She has a plan to reunite Hermione and Leontes by supposedly having the famous artist, Julio Romano, sculpt and paint a statue of the Queen. She gathers Leontes, Polixenes, Camillo and the young lovers in the studio and, in a very dramatic scene in which Hermione has to remain absolutely motionless while more than one hundred lines are spoken, she commands the living queen to descend and join her husband and daughter. Since Leontes has his wife again, he acts as match-maker to get Paulina and Camillo together, and surely they have much to talk about. Hermione reveals herself and all is well. The Winter’s Tale is one of Shakespeare’s most endearing masterpieces wherein he showed himself to be equally familiar with the language and mores of both the court and the pastoral world of shepherds.

After all the magic he had put on display at the Globe, Blackfriars, the Inns of court and elsewhere, Shakespeare, now a wealthy man and getting on in years, decided to hang up his wand of control at the Globe and Blackfriars and retire to Stratford. The King’s Men were looking for a younger replacement and one in particular, John Fletcher, had caught their attention. There scarcely could have been a more fitting time for Shakespeare to write his fourth father-daughter romance The Tempest, his final masterpiece. It puzzles me that there are critics who have said that The Island would have been a better name. Storms and tempests were a big part of his stock-in-trade to illustrate the human condition when love goes out the window. Shakespeare wrote possibly three more plays while collaborating to some degree with John Fletcher. Retirees seldom cut themselves off completely from their forte.

Shakespeare was stimulated by accounts of the voyage of the Sea Venture towards the New World and her scuttling near the still-vex’d Bermoothes and this time he decided to make up his own plot, something he seldom did previously. He was also influenced to some degree by two other publications, the first of which was John Florio’s 1603 translation of Montaigne’s Of Cannibals. Gonzalo’s vision of a utopian commonwealth is close to something outlined in one of Montaigne’s essays. The second source was Arthur Golding’s translation of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, where a witch, Medea, relates an incantation bearing some resemblance to Prospero’ power speech in which he abjures his art.

Prospero, Duke of Milan, was a keen student of white magic, so much so that he virtually handed over power to his brother, Antonio. The taste of the uses of power was all that brother needed to turn him into a villain. He plotted with King Alonso of Naples to get rid of Prospero by putting him and his young daughter, Miranda, in a leaky boat so that they would both be lost at sea. A decent, kindly natured counselor, Gonzalo, probably had food, clothing and some of the Duke’s magic books sneaked aboard the old tub before they were set adrift. The sight of Prospero’s helpless young daughter made him work his heart out to keep the boat afloat until they reached an uncharted island somewhere in the Mediterranean. It turned out that there were at least two beings with some human qualities on the island when they arrived.

Some years prior to this, a witch, Sycorax, from Algiers, who was thought to have been impregnated either by a devil or a monster, was abandoned on the island by sailors. She possessed enough black magic to control a sprite, a being of a class who have abilities far beyond humans and who could render itself invisible to the human eye or metamorphose itself into whatever shape. One sprite, Ariel, disobeyed the wicked Sycorax and she had power enough to confine him in a cloven pine tree. In due time, Sycorax gave birth to a sub-human progeny, Caliban, and later died.

The island had a plentiful supply of timber and berries, and fish were available in inland streams while shellfish abounded in shore waters. Prospero and his daughter survived and found shelter in a cave, where for twelve years he raised Miranda and taught her language skills and other arts, as well as training her how to behave as a proper young woman. He got to know Caliban and both he and Miranda tutored the sub-human in English and other customs. They ceased their efforts when Caliban tried to molest Miranda and he was condemned to work as a slave and to live beneath a rock. When the slave became obstreperous, Prospero could bring him to heel by causing him to suffer severe cramps. Prospero released Ariel from his confinement and the sprite and his temporary master had a good relationship. Ariel was promised complete freedom if and when he successfully performed certain tasks for the magician.

On a certain day when Miranda was about fifteen and in the full flower of her beauty, when Caliban was hewing and carrying wood and resenting every minute of it, and complaining how his slave-driving master Prospero had robbed him of the island which his mother had given him, a flotilla of ships, one of which had aboard as passengers, Alonso of Naples, his son Ferdinand, his brother Sebastian, his counselor Gonzalo, his lords Adrian and Francisco, his jester Trinculo, his drunken butler Stephano and the usurping Duke of Milan, Prospero’s brother Antonio, passed near Prospero’s island. They were returning from Tunis where Alonso’s daughter, Claribel, married the King of Tunis, a marriage which Sebastian disapproves. Strangely and suddenly the king’s ship is in danger of foundering and the situation becomes so dire that the royal coterie decides to take their chances in the stormy sea and swim to the island. Sailors aboard the other vessels saw, or thought they saw, their king’s vessel being wrecked and they headed homeward to Naples, certain that Alonso and Ferdinand had perished.

Miranda saw the foundering ship and sensed that her father’s magic had something to do with it, so she begged him to save the people who were aboard her. Prospero decided that now was the time to explain to Miranda about how and why they were isolated on this island. Now fortune has brought all the people involved in their abandonment within his power and he assures his daughter that not one of the people aboard that ship would be lost.

After giving his explanations to his daughter, Prospero meets with Ariel. The sprite had stretched his powers to the limit to create the illusory storm around Alonso’s ship. Once the royals had abandoned the vessel he brought the ship safely to one of the island’s natural harbors, with the crew sleeping soundly beneath the hatches. Ariel thinks he has done a great job and he is looking for his freedom for his efforts, but Prospero has another series of tasks for him before granting him what he desires. First he has to rescue Ferdinand and lure him to Prospero’s cave. He must also save the royal elders and then create dissension among them as he leads them to the same destination. Lastly he must see to the safety of Trinculo and Stephano and play similar tricks on them. While he is performing these tasks, he will be invisible to humans but they may hear him speak or enjoy his singing or playing on the fife or tabor. Each person or group that he rescues must be kept unaware of the fate of the others.

Ferdinand is the first to be saved and he follows Ariel’s music until he arrives at Prospero’s cave, where he sees Miranda and it is a case of love at first sight for both of them. Prospero pretends a certain grumpiness and orders Ferdinand to commence carrying wood and he forbids his daughter to speak to the newcomer. Next the sprite sees to the safety of the royal elders. The optimistic Gonzalo is pleased that the island has good vegetation and berries and streams containing both fresh water and possibly fish. He is also surprised to notice that their garments are as clean and fresh as they were on the day of the wedding. Ariel creates trouble among the group by having Antonio and Sebastian plot to kill Alonso, but with split-second timing he has Gonzalo save the King. All the while he is leading them towards the cave and they believe Ferdinand and the others are lost.

Trinculo and Stephano are rescued separately and the jester is wandering around lost and fearful as rain begins to fall. He is near where Caliban is supposed to be toiling. Upon seeing the stranger approach, Caliban takes him to be one of Prospero’s sprites who punishes him for his slack performance, so he throws himself on the ground and pretends to be dead. Trinculo does not know what to make of the creature on the ground, but the rain starts falling so hard that he takes shelter under Caliban’s gabardine. Stephano, while being propelled to safety by Ariel, manages to salvage a butt of wine. When he makes it ashore, he fashions some bottles from tree bark to contain some of the wine. He too wanders near Caliban’s workplace and, being several degrees in the wind, he finds it difficult to sort out the Caliban/Trinculo combination. However, he is not afraid and shortly pulls Trinculo from his shelter and gets Caliban tipsy. The upshot is that the inebriated slave regards Stephano as a god and licks his boots.

Ferdinand is not unhappy with his menial chore of hauling wood since it gives him a chance to see Miranda. One day she disobeys her father and speaks to the young man. They talk of their love for one another and their desire to marry. Prospero, observing from afar, is quite pleased. Later he agrees to their marriage, but he warns them to keep their hands and other bodily parts to themselves until their marriage is solemnized.

Ariel is doing a great job of spreading dissension between Stephano, Trinculo, and Caliban. The drunken butler wants to hear what Caliban has to say and the slave wants them to batter in Prospero’s head and cut his throat. The best time for them to do that is the afternoon and they must be careful to destroy his books beforehand since they are the source of his power. To urge them on, he says that when they get rid of Prospero they will have the beautiful Miranda in their control. Ariel lets them hear some of his music, which scares the two humans but causes Caliban to speak eloquently of childish dreams he had on first hearing some of the sounds on the island. There is a great contrast between this speech and the malicious violence he was planning a moment before. Perhaps it is Shakespeare’s way of indicating the fact that there is good in the

worst of us.

The royal elders are tired of wandering and searching for Ferdinand. An invisible Prospero orders Shapes to place a banquet before them, but just as they are about to take some of the food Ariel, in the form of a harpy, causes the food to vanish. The sprite berates Alonso, Antonio, and Sebastian on their misdeeds of twelve years ago. They draw their swords in anger, but that only causes him to describe how helpless they really are. The harpy vanishes and Prospero is pleased that he now has his former enemies in his power. As they remain seemingly transfixed, he heads back to Ferdinand and Miranda where he has Ariel and other sprites put on a masque to entertain the two young lovers.

Sprites play the parts of Iris, goddess of the rainbow, Ceres, goddess of agriculture, and Juno, queen of the sky. They sing merrily and nymphs and reapers put on a lively dance. As the masque is about to end, Prospero suddenly remembers the three miscreants who are plotting his murder. His attitudinal change worries Ferdinand somewhat, but Prospero makes a great speech where he describes all they have observed as phantasy, perhaps indeed that life itself is a dream: We are such stuff as dreams are made on; our little life is rounded with a sleep. Then he sharply questions Ariel about location of three varlets. Ariel has led them through prickly gorse and thorny briers and finally into a stinking pool where they lost their wine bottles.

The sprite is then told by his master to fetch his Duke of Milan regalia, as he has a mind to plague and punish his former enemies even to roaring. The three varlets have emerged from the smelly pool all wet and stinking, only to see a line bedecked with attractive clothing. Before they can take what they need, they are chased by wild hounds. This is all the work of Ariel and slowly and carefully they are nearing Prospero’s cave. Caliban is forever warning them what the magician will do to them if he