Shakespeare, W: Tempest: Collins Classics

William Shakespeare is widely regarded as the greatest playwright the world has seen. He produced an astonishing amount of work; 37 plays, 154 sonnets, and 5 poems. He died on 23rd April 1616, aged 52, and was buried in the Holy Trinity Church, Stratford.

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. `We are such stuffAs dreams are made on; and our little lifeIs rounded with a sleep.'Magical and dreamlike in its tone, Shakespeare's The Tempest begins with a storm of epic proportions and a shipwreck. Banished from Italy, Prospero lives on a remote island with his daughter.

Using his magic, he vows to seek revenge on the injustice dealt to him by his brother, but in doing so, Shakespeare questions the difficulty of distinguishing `men' from `monsters', and the realities of justice.