Book: The Tempest
Author: Shakespeare
Reviewer: Rudrakshee Bhattacharya; Class IV; Loreto House School, Kolkata
Review: “The Tempest” is a tragic-comedy, narrating the journey of a man’s revenge on his brother who betrayed him and stole his dukedom. Prospero, the rightful duke of Milan raged a storm to teach his brother a lesson. The fierce storm was to teach his brother a lesson. He was angry as his brother had abandoned him and his daughter, leaving them almost in the hands of death. In due course, Prospero’s anger lessens and he forgives everyone, including his evil brother, Antonio and Calibian who had planned to kill him.
This quote is said by the character Ariel who is Prospero’s servant. This quote is always very meaningful to me and I think people should understand the meaning. In my point of view, it means that bad and evil humans will only get a place in hell. I would also like to say that we all must take note that nowadays even this has changed – sometimes, the bad human beings who often give sorrow to the world live happily in this world instead of hell where they deserve to live. So like Prospero, we also have to stand up and teach dishonest people like Antonio a lesson.
“Hell is empty and all the devils are here!”
Prospero is my favourite character in the story. He is the rightful Duke of Milan and is very intelligent indeed. He spends most of his time reading books in his library. However due to this action Prospero does not give enough attention towards his kingdom and thus gives his brother, Antonio a chance to steal his dukedom. So Prospero’s hunger for knowledge becomes the reason of his sorrow. But on the other hand a good quality of Prospero is that he can forgive everyone, no matter what crime that person would do. I really want to be a good human being like Prospero and save the world from devils.
“The Tempest” has always been one of my favourite stories. My favourite part of this story is when Prospero forgave everyone and introduced Alonso the new couple-Miranda and Ferdinand. This is my favourite part because all the time Ferdinand worried about his father and his father too is worried about him. So when the father and son, both see each-other, they are happy and are also surprised as they didn’t expect to see each other alive. I can relate to this so much as I also love my parents a lot! The story has a happy and magical ending.
At the end, Prospero apologises to the sea for disturbing nature. The breeze applauds him for bringing peace to the chaotic world and the waves splash towards the island as if the sea wants to convey the message that “It’s okay!” This story expresses the magical mind of William Shakespeare. He will always live and remain in not only mine, but in everyone’s heart for ever.
