The Tempest

by William Shakespeare, J.F. Bernard (Editor), Paul Yachnin (Editor)

Overview

The world that William Shakespeare creates in The Tempest has many features that make it recognizably like the world we live in. There are bad, self-seeking people; brothers fall out with brothers; people who have power are reluctant to give it up; people fall in love; children love their fathers but want to break free. But there are elements in The Tempest’s world that are very unlike the world we live in. There is a fairy-spirit; there is music in the very air of the island; and there is a powerful magician who can command the elements and even, he tells us, bring the dead back to life. Combining reality and magic, Shakespeare creates an uncanny but morally coherent world through the play's genre, design, themes, and characters.

This edition features a variety of interleaved materials that expand upon allusions in the play and explore elements of its stagecraft. Appendices offer excerpts from Shakespeare’s key sources and inspirations, along with historical materials on exploration and colonialism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781554814954
Publisher:	Broadview Press
Publication date:	03/08/2021
Pages:	228
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.43(d)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Paul Yachnin is Tomlinson Professor of Shakespeare Studies and Director, TRaCE McGill Project at McGill University. J.F. Bernard is Assistant Professor of English at Champlain College.

Date of Death:

2018

Place of Birth:

Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom

Place of Death:

Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom

Read an Excerpt

Chapter 1
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "The Tempest"
by .
Copyright © 2016 William Shakespeare.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

APPENDICES

Appendix A: From John Dryden and William Davenant’s The Tempest, or, The Enchanted Island (1670)

Appendix B: Medea’s speech from Ovid’s Metamorphoses (Bk 7, pp. 89-90). Trans. Arthur Golding (At London : Imprinted by Robert Walde-graue, 1587)

Appendix C: From Bartholomew de las Cases’ The Spanish colonie (London : [By Thomas Dawson] for William Brome, 1583)

Appendix D: The Strachey Letter, from Purchas his pilgrimes (London : Printed by William Stansby for Henrie Fetherstone, and are to be sold at his shop in Pauls Church-yard at the signe of the Rose, 1625)

Appendix E: From Aristotle’s discussion of “Natural Slaves” (The Politics, Book 1)

Appendix F: From Michel de Montaigne’s “Of the Cannibals.” In The Essays of Montaigne. Trans. John Florio, (New York: Modern Library, 1933)

Appendix G: From Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda, from The Second Democrate; Or, The Just Causes of the War against the Indians (c. 1548)

Editorial Reviews

Review of the first edition: 'If you are looking for a model edition - by which I mean one that is concerned to honour the text and to explain the processes involved in editing - this is it. If I were ever again to undertake the editing of a Shakespeare play, I would keep Lindley's edition of The Tempest open beside me.' Peter Thompson

Review of the first edition: 'David Lindley's [The] Tempest is the best edition on the market and the paperback is a snip.' Studies in Theatre and Performance

Review of the first edition: 'Lindley aims both to represent and to explain the range of readings given the play in its theatrical and critical afterlives. His edition meets the high standards of the series in an exemplary manner, offering an especially fine introduction that focuses on the elusiveness of The Tempest, a feature that has made it central to late-twentieth-century criticism.' Barbara Hodgdon, Studies in English Literature

Review of the first edition: 'David Lindley's edition of The Tempest is easily the most outstanding version of this ostensibly straightforward yet hugely teasing play produced over the last thirty years. Its precise and scrupulous commentary notes are careful to the variety of ways the text can be spoken on stage. Its notes on the music and songs are admirably evocative, and its economical account of the huge range of critical views will send thousands of readers out in fruitful chases after the play's own multitudinous interests.' Andrew Gurr, editor, New Variorum Tempest

From the Publisher

On an uncharted, storm-swept island, the magician Prospero uses his powers and those of the flighty spirit Ariel to wreck the ship of his wicked brother, Antonio, stranding its crew and passengers. Meanwhile, through more magic, Prospero’s daughter, Miranda, has fallen in love with Ferdinand, son of the of king of Naples. This 2001 BBC Radio 3 production starring the late Philip Madoc (Prospero) and Nina Wadia (Ariel) sounds timeless in its traditional use of stage rhythms and diction. This is not an audiobook one mows the lawn to. For American ears it may take a little concentration to pick up all the words, and it may be worthwhile to read along (as this reviewer did) to maximize the pleasure of listening to one of Shakespeare’s most romantic and fanciful works. B.P. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine

JUNE 2013 - AudioFile