British Literature

Unfortunately, I can't think of very much to say about this particular play. I've never come across this problem with any other work of Shakespeare that I've read thus far, so I find this a little surprising. To be honest, I really didn't like the Tempest. To begin with, I thought it lacked the usual depth that all of the other pieces of Shakespeare's work have shown, in my opinion. All in all, it just seemed like an ultimately shallow piece, with each character only really skimming the surface of what he or she could be. I found that really unusual.

Also, I thought it was extremely odd that most people tend to refer to the Tempest as Shakespeare's ultimate redemption piece. I can't help but laugh about that, mostly because I just don't see it. As I said before, I thought the play was very shallow, and redemption is such a big theme when it's in a play, that I don't even think it could fit in this one. I definitely see traces of forgiveness, particularly when Prospero forgives Antonio, but even that felt vaguely pathetic to me. And aside from that, I don't really think forgiveness of another human being has anything to do with redemption. In my opinion, redemption is much more broad on the grander scale of things than forgiveness. Forgiveness is something you give to another person, as Prospero gave to the undeserving Antonio. Redemption is something no one can actually give you, though they can offer you a chance at it, or push you to grab it for yourself. I think redemption is something each of us must find for ourselves, and that isn't something I see any evidence of in this play.