Jump To:

• Tempest, The
  Tempest, The

  noun

  a comedy (1611) by Shakespeare.
• The Tempest
  The Tempest

  A play by William Shakespeare, sometimes called a comedy but also called a romance — that is, a work involving mysterious happenings in an exotic place. The central character is Prospero, a duke who has been overthrown and banished to an island. As a sage and magician, he rules the spirits who inhabit the island. When the men who overthrew Prospero pass near the island on an ocean voyage, he raises a tempest, wrecks their ship, and causes them to be washed ashore. In the end, they give back to Prospero his former authority, and he gives up his magic.

Tempest, The

American  

noun

1. a comedy (1611) by Shakespeare.

---

The Tempest Cultural  

1. A play by William Shakespeare, sometimes called a comedy but also called a romance — that is, a work involving mysterious happenings in an exotic place. The central character is Prospero, a duke who has been overthrown and banished to an island. As a sage and magician, he rules the spirits who inhabit the island. When the men who overthrew Prospero pass near the island on an ocean voyage, he raises a tempest, wrecks their ship, and causes them to be washed ashore. In the end, they give back to Prospero his former authority, and he gives up his magic.

---

Discover More

Prospero's daughter, on first seeing a handsome young man, says, “O brave new world!” a phrase that is often quoted.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Tempest, The The Tempest

The new theatre will seat about 320 and will mean plays such as The Tempest, The Winter's Tale, Pericles and Cymbeline can be performed in the type of space they were written for.

From The Guardian ● Jan. 20, 2011

Mars Tempest: The red planet passed its best visibility only a month ago and still offers great views for backyard telescope users.

From National Geographic

This volume contains The Tempest, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Two Gentlemen of Verona, and The Twelfth Night, with introductions by the Editor, written with his usual acuteness, and more than his usual modesty.

From Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 3, No. 15, August, 1851 by Various

Tempest, The, Shakespeare, i, 317; Dore's illustrations of, iv, 338.

From Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great - Volume 14 Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Musicians by Hubbard, Elbert

Even King Arthur, The Tempest, The Fairy Queen and Dioclesian pieces are too fragmentary, disconnected, to be performed with any effect without scenery, costume, and some explanation in the way of dialogue.

From Purcell by Runciman, John F.

He told the BBC that The Tempest "resonates for me because it's a play about freedom and power as well as colonialism and art".

From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2025

Prior to the 20th century, the oceans were central to human popular culture, as evident from Homer's "The Odyssey" to Shakespeare's "The Tempest" to Herman Melville's "Moby-Dick."

From Salon ● Jan. 2, 2023

The Tempest fighter jet plans were announced in 2018.

From BBC ● Dec. 19, 2022

Demoted from useful to usurped, I flashed to "The Tempest" and aging magician Prospero who felt betrayed when his powers and position were stolen.

From Salon ● Jul. 3, 2021

He chose us to star in the school play at Easter, The Tempest.

From "The London Eye Mystery" by Siobhan Dowd