The Tempest, a play in five acts, is believed to have been written in 1610-1611 and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. The play was first performed about 1611 and published in the First Folio of 1623 from an edited transcript, by Ralph Crane (scrivener of the King's Men), of the author's papers after they had been annotated for production. The play is set on a remote island, where the sorcerer Prospero, rightful Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place using illusion and skillful manipulation. He conjures up a storm, the eponymous tempest, to cause his usurping brother Antonio and the complicit King Alonso of Naples to believe they are shipwrecked and marooned on the island. There, his machinations bring about the revelation of Antonio's lowly nature, the redemption of the King, and the marriage of Miranda to Alonso's son, Ferdinand.

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