The Tempest
play by William Shakespeare
The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1610–1611, and thought to be one of the last plays he wrote alone. After the first scene, which takes place on a ship at sea during a storm, the rest of the play is set on a remote island, where Prospero, a magician, lives with his daughter Miranda and his two servants: Caliban, a savage monster figure, and Ariel, an airy spirit. The play contains music and songs that evoke the spirit of enchantment on the island. It explores many themes, including magic, betrayal, revenge, forgiveness, and family. In Act IV, a wedding masque serves as a play-within-a-play and contributes spectacle, allegory, and elevated language.
Although The Tempest is listed in the First Folio as the first of Shakespeare's comedies, it deals with both tragic and comic themes. Modern criticism has created the category of late romance for this and other later plays by Shakespeare. The Tempest has been widely interpreted in later centuries. Its central character, Prospero, has been identified with Shakespeare, with Prospero's renunciation of magic signaling Shakespeare's farewell to the stage. The play has also been seen as an allegory of Europeans colonising foreign lands.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “The Tempest” as play by William Shakespeare. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as play by William Shakespeare. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q86440. The first chronological checks are 1610 and 1611.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “The Tempest”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow The Tempest primary sources, The Tempest archive and Tempest research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “The Tempest” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.