The Tempest is estimated to have been written in 1610-11.

The play's protagonist, Prospero, has been usurped by his brother Antonio and the King of Naples Alonso. Prospero, the rightful Duke of Milan, and his daughter Miranda have been put into a tiny boat and sent away to an island far away from humanity. Before the exile, food, clean water and Prospero's books were all put on the boat by the King's counsellor, Gonzalo. When he comes ashore at the island, Prospero finds three inhabitants there: Ariel (a spirit), Caliban (presumed to be Ariel's brother), and their mother, Sycorax.

When Prospero reached the island Sycorax was already dead and he frees Ariel from being trapped in a pine tree. Throughout the play, Prospero uses this act of liberty as blackmail against Ariel.

For the next twelve years, Prospero practices his Dark Arts while controlling the island, ultimately raising a tempest that drives his usurpers ashore.

While listed as a comedy when it was initially published in the First Folio of 1623, many modern editors have since re-labelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances.