By Shannon Strack:
For most of Shakespeare’s plays, there seems to be previous work that inspired him, however not much is known about the origins of The Tempest. Be that as it may, scholars are fairly certain that the story is not wholly original, and while there is no one play that serves as a model, there are a few previous works that may have contributed to Shakespeare’s ideas.
One of these play’s, Comedia von der schönen Sidea (Comedy of the Beautiful Sidea), by German playwright Jakob Ayrer, while it was published posthumously in 1618, is believed to have served as the base model for The Tempest. In his play, a prince that possess’ magic is exiled with his daughter who later marries the son of his enemy. There is also a supernatural servant in Ayrer’s play, however that devil differs much from the characterization of Ariel, the only common ground being the supernatural aspect. Since this play wasn’t published until much after The Tempest was written and performed, Shakespeare could have only known about this play by word of mouth
Another play that may have leant a few details to The Tempest is a story in a collection of works by Antonio de Eslava called Winter Nights, published in 1609. In Eslava’s story, the magical King of Bulgaria is driven from his kingdom by the Emperor of Greece and he and his daughter sail to the middle of the Adriatic, where he touches the sea with the end of his wand and creates a gorgeous palace at the bottom of the sea.t Later on, when his daughter decides she wants a mate, the king brings down the disinherited son of his enemy and they marry. While the marriage is being celebrated, the King’s usurper is sailing home from the wedding of his youngest son and is caught in a storm, or “tempest”, right above the sea-palace.
Of course, while these plays may have had a hand in the creation of The Tempest, we cannot discount worldly influence at the time; Shakespeare may have also been influenced by documentation of travels and settlements in The New World. In 1609, Sir George Somers sailed with Sir Thomas Gates and Captain Christopher Newport on a ship called the Sea Venture, in a fleet with nine other vessels, carrying supplies and settlers across the Atlantic to Virginia. At the end of July a tempest rocked the fleet and the Sea Venture made it to the shore of Bermuda where the passengers lived for nine to ten months. In May of 1610 they had finished two small vessels in which they finished the journey to their destination. Two of the passengers on the Sea Venture wrote about the experience. In October of 1610, Silvester Jourdan wrote a pamphlet titled, A Discovery of the Bermudas, otherwise called the Isle of Divels. In July of 1610, William Strachey wrote a pamphlet titled, The True Reportory of the Wracke and Redemption of Sir Thomas Gates, and this is the work believed to have inspired Shakespeare in writing The Tempest. While Strachey’s work was not published until 1625, Shakespeare may have read a manuscript. While there is some controversy to this theory, in an essay by Alden Vaughn titled, “William Strachey’s ‘True Reportory’ and Shakespeare: A Closer Look At the Evidence”, Vaughn states, “Events in the play and narrative vary at many points of course [. . .] Most close readers of The Tempest have found its congruities with the close-at-hand ‘True Reportory’ too numerous and too vivid to be coincidental” (Vaughn 272).
Sources:
Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. Ed. William Allan Neilson. New York: Scott, Foresman and company, 1914. Shakespeare Online. < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sources/tempestsources.html >.
Vaughan, Alden T.. “William Strachey’s “true Reportory” and Shakespeare: A Closer Look at the Evidence”. Shakespeare Quarterly 59.3 (2008): 245–273. Web.
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