Lisa's Reviews > The Tempest

"Your tale, Sir, would cure deafness!"

These words, spoken by the lovely character Miranda, listening to her father Prospero telling her of the political misfortunes of their previous life, apply to almost anything Shakespeare put on stage!

Whenever I try to review a favourite play by the Bard, I inevitably have to reread, to ponder, to think. What does this mean to me, at this moment in time? Why to I revisit this play - again? And why do I have to add to the countless words spoken on the words spoken by the master? Not to give a scholarly analysis, for sure. There are more than enough already. To summarise the plot, complete with love story, intrigues, magic, early colonialism, happy end? No, it is widely known or to be cherished firsthand without me meddling. Nothing I say can make any difference.

Why DOES it matter to me? That is the question I try to answer. In the ocean of thoughts on Shakespeare, there must be a drop of water that is meant for me, me alone, spoken with the aim to make the tempest of my life more bearable!

When life plays unfairly, I am thankful that Shakespeare gave me the quote:

"Hell is empty, and all the devils are here."

When I feel trapped in a situation I cannot change, I feel with the puppy-headed monster Caliban, and am pleased that Shakespeare gave the underdogs of world history speech:

"You taught me language, and my profit on't is I know how to curse. The red plague rid you for learning me your language!"

The independent soul of Caliban is revealed over and over again, even though his physical dependence on different masters is not changing. He dares to speak his mind:

"His spirits hear me and yet I needs must curse!"

The Tempest is a place with characters of universal type, and I see my own world illustrated in Trinculo's comical summary of the inhabitants:

"The folly of this island! They say there's but five upon this isle. We are three of them; if th'other two be brained like us, the state totters!"

Whoever can speak such truth, in such humorous words, must love mankind despite its flaws, must himself believe in Prospero's winged words, that we are "such stuff as dreams are made on", although we more often than not create nightmares. Prospero's daughter Miranda delivers the quote that became a book of its own right, showing where dream and nightmare meet, utopia and dystopia merge and create a "brave new world, that has such people in't!"

Where spirits like Ariel sing songs of incredible beauty, starting with the suggestive lines of "Full Fathom Five Thy Father Lies", I will always feel at home, and I feel the spirit's yearning almost physically when she laconically states the only thing she desires for herself:

"My liberty!"

I will close my love song for Shakespeare with Prospero:

"My library was dukedom large enough!"

And of course it has to be filled with Shakespeare!

"Thought is free!"