On the Date, Sources and Design of Shakespeare's The Tempest

This book challenges a longstanding and deeply ingrained belief in Shakespearean studies that The Tempest --long supposed to be Shakespeare's last play--was not written until 1611. In the course of investigating this proposition, which has not received the critical inquiry it deserves, a number of subsidiary and closely related interpretative puzzles come sharply into focus. These include the play's sources of New World imagery; its festival symbolism and structure; its relationship to William S