The tempest: or, the enchanted island. A comedy. By Mr. Dryden.

by John Dryden

The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration and rapidly growing technology and expanding record-keeping made possible by advances in the printing press. In its determination to preserve the century of revolution, Gale initiated a revolution of its digitization of epic proportions to preserve these invaluable works in the largest archive of its kind. Now for the first time these high-quality digital copies of original 18th century manuscripts are available in print, making them highly accessible to libraries, undergraduate students, and independent scholars.Western literary study flows out of eighteenth-century works by Alexander Pope, Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding, Frances Burney, Denis Diderot, Johann Gottfried Herder, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and others. Experience the birth of the modern novel, or compare the development of language using dictionaries and grammar discourses. ++++The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition ++++British LibraryT049924Adapted from the play by Shakespeare by Sir William Davenant and John Dryden, and arranged as an opera by Thomas Shadwell. Titlepage in red and black. Apparently a reimpression of part of vol.2 of the 1762-63 edition of 'The dramatick works of John printed for J. and R. Tonson, 1762. Pp.[11],180-262, [2]: ill.; 12

Genres: Plays

108 pages, Paperback

First published May 28, 2010

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

John Dryden was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who was made Poet Laureate in 1668. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden. Walter Scott called him "Glorious John."

Reviews

[Anisha Inkspill · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was intrigued when I read that John Dryden had written a retelling of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. This is around the time when William Shakespeare’s work is rediscovered again.

The epilogue of this play says it was written in 1667, but the introduction to this play by Walter Scott doubts this. Accepting 1667 as a date, I find this interesting, barely a decade has passed before Charles II is back on the throne. The intro tells me that Dryden wrote this play with Sir William Davenant, during the Civil War Davenant was a Royalist; having read Shakespeare’s The Tempest, and knowing the story is about a Duke who gets his chance to get his vengeance on his brother who usurped him, I couldn’t help noticing a coincidence.

In Davenant / Dryden’s version, the plot is roughly the same accept both Miranda and Caliban are given a sibling. The other big change is the central drive of vengeance is toned down with Prospero manging both his daughters’ love lives, changing it into a romance.

I read this in a volume I got from Gutenberg, some of the formatting is a touch messed up otherwise it’s easy to read. Almost to the end, I could see this on the stage today as an OTT comical piece, especially with how Dorinda, Miranda’s sister, and Hippolito, first meet each other and discover love. To me these moments were comical in an absurd sense; their sheltered lives have kept them away from the opposite sex and the notions of love where their naivete made it comical (though I’m not sure if this is intentional). So, almost to the end I could see this play being entertaining if performed as kind of a farce, or with some really exaggerated acting, but then it started to fall apart where the silliness gave no room to make this possible.

In how Davenant / Dryden’s Prospero has a soft heart compared to Shakespeare’s Prospero makes this a completely different play. Their Prospero is ready to call it a truce, where I found it hard to take his anger seriously, even when he felt let down by Aerial. And the betrayal he felt from his brother Alonzo came across as half-hearted. Regardless, remembering that this was written in the decades that lead to The Enlightenment, I couldn’t help feeling this play was trying to contribute its bit. In the play, Miranda’s love for Ferdinand, and Dorinda’s for Hippolito, at times felt more like a philosophical discussion than a drama, especially when they were trying to understand the workings of love and gender roles; this philosophising didn’t stop here as there were also discussions of the idea of death and a person’s soul. Maybe I’m stretching at straws, but it didn’t always feel like I was reading a drama, more like an interesting insight of what could have been the mood in those times.

[Isabelle Verdino · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this play for my LIT 337 Course (Sex, Money, and Idiots in Power). I've read the original Tempest before and this one was very comparatively bizarre. With all the new characters added to account for changing times in the 17th Century AND the new inclusion of women on the English stage. It's very strange. Plus they added a lot of singing (including that DeViL chorus that had me quaking). Overall an interesting read but not a favorite.

[Cesco · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read the whole thing. And let me tell you, if I didn’t have to read it for class, then I would have gladly never picked it up past page 9.
What even was this? The original is way better, this adaptation is such an insult to Shakespeare. I’ve never been so annoyed with something.

[Audiobook Heaven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, I listened to the audiobook version on YouTube. I will drop the link below so that everyone can enjoy it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smvXf...

[Tac Anderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

A musical version of Shakespeare's The Tempest. It's hard to believe this was the more popular version for hundreds of years. It loses a lot of what makes The Tempest so good for a more common humor.

[Michael Norwitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rendition of the Tempest written 50 years after Shakespeare's, with clear references to the original. The language is less complex but also more ribald and comedic; additional female characters only improve the narrative, including a promiscuous sister to Caliban. There are also some ridiculous songs! I think a lover of Shakespeare or the Tempest, who is not overly reverent towards the original, would find this an amusing diversion.