The Tempest; or, The Enchanted Island

Dryden, John, William D’Avenant, and William Shakespeare. The Tempest; or, The Enchanted Island. London: 1670.

Image Source: The Huntington Library

The English Civil War and related Puritan reforms closed all public theaters from 1642-1660. Though plays were frequently published during this period, Shakespeare’s were not in demand. Once the theaters reopened, theater companies altered Shakespeare’s work to appeal to new audiences. In 1667, John Dryden and William Davenant, highly regarded poets and dramatists, jointly revised The Tempest. As would be common in Shakespearean revisions, Dryden and Davenant added additional characters and romantic plots and revised Shakespeare’s language to make it current with the spoken language of the day. In particular, they added a second daughter for Prospero and a sister for Caliban, as well as a young man raised by Prospero on the island. These new characters allowed them to add female actors, to multiply romantic plots and rivalry, and to amplify Shakespeare’s interest in the play in children raised away from society. In 1674, Thomas Shadwell adapted their play into an opera, which became the most frequently performed version of The Tempest until Shakespeare’s original text was revived in 1838.

In Dryden’s Prologue, praise of Shakespeare vies with a sense that his “honour’d dust” must be brought up to date. Dryden suggests that his own inclusion of a female actor playing a man will be an exciting new addition.

In Dryden's Prologue, we see conflicting attitudes toward Shakespeare in play in 1670. Shakespeare is described as a writer whose “pow'r is sacred as a King's” (near bottom) and as influencing all other contemporary writers. At the same time, Shakespeare seems not just dead, but dated: the original text of The Tempest is described unflatteringly as “old Shakespear's honour'd dust” (near top). Dryden praises Shakespeare but also describes his and Davenant's innovations as even more compelling – particularly their use of a female actor playing a male role, a device “exceeding all the Magick in the Play.”

Click on images below to read the entrance of Dorinda, Prospero’s new daughter, and some of the comic and titillating uses to which she was put.

In Dryden and Davenant’s adaptation, charged struggles between Caliban and Prospero (top of page) are upstaged by focus on Prospero’s daughters’ introductions to men. Here Prospero’s added daughter, Dorinda, enters for the first time (bottom).

Miranda and Dorinda reveal their ignorance of and fascination with men.

The play focuses on the comic and exciting possibilities of the many new young characters and their love affairs and rivalry. Shakespeare's emphasis on revenge and/or forgiveness is, as a result, muted. Here Dryden and Davenant's villains express unprompted guilt over their actions against Prospero. Their repentance likewise lightens the tone of the play.

Over the next two pages, the play’s villains – unlike Shakespeare’s – are wracked by guilt and vow lifelong “penitence.”

Dryden and Davenant dwell on the comedy in the love between two innocents, Dorinda and Hippolito. Dryden’s Prospero remains manipulative, but the play is lighter and more focused on romantic confusion and discovery.

Dorinda and Hippolyto (played by a female actor) titillate and amuse the audience by their confusion as they discover sexual feeling, without knowing what it is, having been raised on the island, isolated from society .

Similarly, Miranda is confused about her feelings for Ferdinand and questions why her father Prospero lied to her about men’s fearfulness, when he now says men are meant to guide women.

The Tempest; or, The Enchanted Island

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