Miranda - The
Tempest
John William Waterhouse
In Shakespeare's play The
Tempest, Propsero, the Duke of Milan, was usurped by his
brother Antonio and cast adrift on the sea with his child,
Miranda. Their barely sea-worthy vessel was washed ashore on
an island previously populated by Sycorax, a witch, and now
inhabited by her son, Caliban, a deformed savage whom
Prospero teaches and uses as a slave. Prospero's learning
and magic arts release Ariel from his imprisonment in a tree
and the spirit agrees to serve the magician out of
gratitude. After twelve years on the island, a ship bearing
his brother Antonio, together with the King of Naples and
his son Ferdinand, is caught in a tempestuous storm whipped
up by Prospero and wrecked on the island. Although the passengers are
unharmed, they are separated and believe one another to be
drowned. Ferdinand and Miranda are magickally drawn together
by the enchantments of Ariel, fall in love and are married.
Ariel, obeying Prospero's orders, torments Antonio and the
King of Naples until they repent of their cruelty. The
families are reunited and the ship is magickally restored
in order to carry Prospero and the others back to Italy. The
magician's final acts on the island are to renounce his arts
and drown his books and to set Ariel free. Caliban is left,
as before, the island's sole inhabitant.
Sir Frank Dicksee
