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Prospero
Prospero ( ) is a fictional character and the protagonist of William Shakespeare's ''The Tempest''. Character Twelve years before the play begins, Prospero is usurped from his position as the rightful Duke of Milan by his brother Antonio, who puts Prospero and his three-year-old daughter Miranda to sea on a "rotten carcass" of a boat to die. Prospero and Miranda survived and found exile on a small island inhabited mostly by spirits. Prospero learned sorcery from books, and uses it to protect Miranda. Before the play begins, Prospero freed the magical spirit Ariel from entrapment within "a cloven pine". Ariel is beholden to Prospero after he is freed from his imprisonment inside the pine tree. Prospero then takes Ariel as a slave. Prospero's sorcery is sufficiently powerful to control Ariel and other spirits, as well as to alter weather and even raise the dead: "Graves at my command have waked their sleepers, oped, and let 'em forth, by my so potent Art." - Act V, scene 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Tempest
''The Tempest'' is a Shakespeare's plays, play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1610–1611, and thought to be one of the last plays that he wrote alone. After the first scene, which takes place on a ship at sea during a tempest, the rest of the story is set on a remote island, where Prospero, a magician, lives with his daughter Miranda (The Tempest), Miranda, and his two servants: Caliban, a savage monster figure, and Ariel (The Tempest), Ariel, an airy spirit. The play contains music and songs that evoke the spirit of enchantment on the island. It explores many themes, including Magic (supernatural), magic, betrayal, revenge, forgiveness and family. In Act IV, a wedding masque serves as a play-within-a-play, and contributes spectacle, allegory, and elevated language. Although ''The Tempest'' is listed in the First Folio as the first of Shakespeare's comedies, it deals with both tragic and comic themes, and modern criticism has created a category of Shakespeare's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sycorax
Sycorax is an unseen character in William Shakespeare's play ''The Tempest'' (1611). She is a vicious and powerful witch and the mother of Caliban (character), Caliban, one of the few native inhabitants of the island on which Prospero, the hero of the play, is stranded. According to the history provided by the play, Sycorax, while pregnant with Caliban, was banished from her home in Algiers to the island on which the play takes place. Memories of Sycorax, who dies several years before the main action of the play begins, define several of the relationships in the play. Relying on his filial connection to Sycorax, Caliban claims ownership of the island. Prospero constantly reminds Ariel (Shakespeare), Ariel of Sycorax's cruel treatment to maintain the sprite (creature), sprite's service. Scholars generally agree that Sycorax, a foil (literature), foil for Prospero, is closely related to the Medea of Ovid's ''Metamorphoses''. Postcolonialist writers and critics see Sycorax as gi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ariel (The Tempest)
Ariel is a spirit who appears in William Shakespeare's play ''The Tempest''. Ariel is bound to serve the magician Prospero, who rescued him from the tree in which he was imprisoned by Sycorax, the witch who previously inhabited the island. Prospero greets disobedience with a reminder that he saved Ariel from Sycorax's spells, and with promises to grant Ariel his freedom. Ariel is Prospero's eyes and ears throughout the play, using his magical abilities to cause the tempest in Act One which gives the play its name, and to foil other characters' plots to bring down their master. Ariel means "Lion of God" in the Hebrew language. Ariel may also be a simple play on the word "aerial". Scholars have compared Ariel to spirits depicted in other Elizabethan plays, and have managed to find several similarities between them, but one thing which makes Ariel unique is the human edge and personality given to Ariel by Shakespeare. Because the stage directions in ''The Tempest'' are so preci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miranda (The Tempest)
Miranda is one of the principal characters of William Shakespeare's ''The Tempest''. She is the only female character to appear on stage. Miranda is the daughter of Prospero, another of the main characters of ''The Tempest''. She was banished to the Island along with her father at age three, and in the subsequent twelve years has lived with her father and their slave, Caliban, as her only company. She is openly compassionate and unaware of the evils of the world that surrounds her, learning of her father's fate only as the play begins. Origins There is some speculation that Miranda, along with her husband, Ferdinand, may be intended to represent Elizabeth Stuart and her new spouse, Elector Frederick V, as ''The Tempest'' was originally performed for the court of Elizabeth's father, King James, in celebration of the Wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Frederick V of the Palatinate. Role in the play ''The Tempest's'' second scene begins with Miranda, begging her father ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caliban (character)
Caliban ( ), the subhuman son of the sea witch Sycorax, is an important character in William Shakespeare's play ''The Tempest''. His character is one of the few Shakespearean figures to take on a life of its own "outside" Shakespeare's own work: as Russell Hoban put it, "Caliban is one of the hungry ideas, he's always looking for someone to word him into being . . . Caliban is a necessary idea". Character Caliban is half human, half monster. After his island becomes occupied by Prospero and his daughter Miranda, Caliban is forced into slavery. While he is referred to as a calvaluna or mooncalf, a freckled monster, he is the only human inhabitant of the island that is otherwise "not honour'd with a human shape" (Prospero, I.2.283). In some traditions, he is depicted as a wild man, or a deformed man, or a beast man, or sometimes a mix of fish and man, a dwarf or even a tortoise. Banished from Algiers, Sycorax was left on the isle, pregnant with Caliban, and died before ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud ( ; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the British stage for much of the 20th century. A member of the Terry family theatrical dynasty, he gained his first paid acting work as a junior member of his cousin Phyllis Neilson-Terry's company in 1922. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), he worked in repertory theatre and in the West End theatre, West End before establishing himself at the Old Vic as an exponent of Shakespeare in 1929–31. During the 1930s Gielgud was a stage star in the West End and on Broadway theatre, Broadway, appearing in new works and classics. He began a parallel career as a director, and set up his own company at the Sondheim Theatre, Queen's Theatre, London. He was regarded by many as the finest Prince Hamlet, Hamlet of his era, and was also k ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Maw Egley
William Maw Egley (1826 in London – 20 February 1916) was an English artist of the Victorian era. The son of the miniaturist William Egley, he studied under his father. His early works were illustrations of literary subjects typical of the period, such as ''Prospero and Miranda'' from ''The Tempest.'' These were similar to the work of The Clique. William Powell Frith, one of The Clique, hired Egley to add backgrounds to his own work. Egley soon developed a style influenced by Frith, including domestic and childhood subjects. Most of his paintings were humorous or "feelgood" genre scenes of urban and rural life, depicting such subjects as harvest festivals and contemporary fashions. His best-known painting, '' Omnibus Life in London'' (Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its mai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Dukes Of Milan
Milan was ruled by dukes from the 13th century to 1814, after which it was incorporated into the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia by the Congress of Vienna. List of dukes of Milan House of Visconti In 1395, Gian Galeazzo Visconti was titled Duke of Milan by Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia, King Wenceslaus, who sold the title under the payment of circa 100,000 florins. Since that moment, all the following rulers of Milan were styled as dukes. House of Sforza (1st rule) After the death of Filippo Maria in 1447, the main line of Visconti went extinct. Benefited by political chaos, a cabal of wealthy citizens, academics and clerics declared the Duchy dissolved and proclaimed the oligarchical Golden Ambrosian Republic. The republic was never recognized and the neighboring states of Republic of Venice, Venice and Duchy of Savoy, Savoy tried to expand their fiefdoms in Lombardy, as well as Kingdom of France, France. Taking advantage of the state's weakness and the resurgent Guelph-Ghibelline ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Hordern
Sir Michael Murray Hordern (3 October 19112 May 1995) was an English actor. He is best known for his Shakespearean roles, especially King Lear. He often appeared in film, rising from a bit part actor to leading roles; by the time of his death he had appeared in nearly 140 films. His later work was predominantly in television and radio. Born in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, into a family with no theatrical connections, Hordern was educated at Windlesham House School, then located in Portslade, East Sussex. He went on to Brighton College, where his interest in the theatre developed. After leaving the college he joined an amateur dramatics company, and came to the notice of several influential Shakespearean directors who cast him in minor roles in ''Othello'' and ''Macbeth''. During the Second World War he served on HMS ''Illustrious'', reaching the rank of lieutenant-commander. Upon demobilisation he resumed his acting career and made his television debut, becoming a bit-part ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Wood (English Actor)
John Lamin Wood (5 July 1930 – 6 August 2011) was an English actor known for his Shakespearean performances and his lasting association with Tom Stoppard. In 1976, he received a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performance in Stoppard's ''Travesties''. He was nominated for further Tony Awards for his roles in ''Sherlock Holmes (play), Sherlock Holmes'' (1975) and ''Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead'' (1968). His films included ''WarGames'' (1983), ''The Purple Rose of Cairo'' (1985), ''Ladyhawke (film), Ladyhawke'' (1985), ''Jumpin' Jack Flash (film), Jumpin' Jack Flash'' (1986), ''Orlando (film), Orlando'' (1992), ''Shadowlands (1993 film), Shadowlands'' (1993), ''The Madness of King George'' (1994), ''Richard III (1995 film), Richard III'' (1995), ''Sabrina (1995 film), Sabrina'' (1995), and ''Chocolat (2000 film), Chocolat'' (2000). In 2007, Wood was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's New Year Honours List. Early l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ralph Richardson
Sir Ralph David Richardson (19 December 1902 – 10 October 1983) was an English actor who, with John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier, was one of the trinity of male actors who dominated the British stage for much of the 20th century. He worked in films throughout most of his career, and played more than sixty cinema roles. From an artistic but not theatrical background, Richardson had no thought of a stage career until a production of ''Hamlet'' in Brighton inspired him to become an actor. He learned his craft in the 1920s with a touring company and later the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. In 1931 he joined the Old Vic, playing mostly Shakespearean roles. He led the company the following season, succeeding Gielgud, who had taught him much about stage technique. After he left the company, a series of leading roles took him to stardom in the West End and on Broadway. In the 1940s, together with Olivier and John Burrell, Richardson was the co-director of the Old Vic company. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antony Sher
Sir Antony Sher (14 June 1949 – 2 December 2021) was a British actor, writer and theatre director of South African origin. A two-time Laurence Olivier Award winner and a five-time nominee, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1982 and toured in many roles, as well as appearing on film and television. In 2001, he starred in his cousin Ronald Harwood's play ''Mahler's Conversion'', and said that the story of a composer sacrificing his faith for his career echoed his own identity struggles. During his 2017 "Commonwealth Tour", Prince Charles referred to Sher as his favourite actor. Sher and his partner and collaborator Gregory Doran became one of the first same-sex couples to enter into a civil partnership in the UK. Early life and education Sher was born on 14 June 1949 in Cape Town, South Africa, the son of Margery (Abramowitz) and Emmanuel Sher, who worked in business. He was a first cousin once removed of the playwright Sir Ronald Harwood. He grew up in the subu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
