The Tempest (Audio)

"The Tempest" tells the story of Prospero, the exiled duke of Milan, and his beautiful daughter, Miranda, who have been stranded for twelve years on a desert island with two servants.

Upon learning that his usurping brother Antonio is sailing near the island with the Neopolitan King Alonso's party, he uses his magic powers to conjure a sea storm that not only leaves the ship and its passengers wrecked on the island, but which also sparks a courtship between his daughter and the king's son, Ferdinand.

The survivors of the wreck are separated into several groups, believing one another dead. Three subplots then alternate through the play.

Prospero works to establish the romantic relationship between Ferdinand and Miranda. In another subplot, Ariel thwarts a murder plot at Prospero's command.

The shipwrecked passengers are eventually reunited by island spirits to discover the marriage of Miranda and Ferdinand.

In the end, as its title suggests, THE TEMPEST is as much about the opening scene's violent storm, as the journey that brought Prospero to the island and the psychological storm--"the sea change"--leading him to leave the remote island to return to Milan.

The Tempest presents some of Shakespeare's most insightful meditations on the cycle of life—ending and beginning, death and regeneration, bondage and freedom.