Talk:Prospero

Currently (2005)on stage at Shakespeare´s Globe Theatre in London with Mark Rylance as Prospero and Edward Hogg as Miranda.

Wikisource
A link to his famous speech would be an excellent addition to this article (via Wikisource). →  P . Mac Uidhir  (t)  (c)  11:25, 4 January 2006 (UTC)

Spoiler?
Should there be a spoiler warning?
 * As the play is four hundred years old, taught in schools, and widely referenced in other media, the idea of a "spoiler" notice seems as irrelevant as it would in an account of the ocean liner, Titanic, which related that the boat sank. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Caliban93 (talk • contribs) 04:15, 4 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Oh man! I was going to watch Titanic! Thanks a lot for ruining the ending!219.88.68.195 (talk) 20:36, 15 January 2014 (UTC)

Unsourced statements
The Tempest is quite controversial in many areas of its scholarship, and I urge that whoever wrote the article use specific citations rather that "some people think" or "many scholars agree" type statements which are not very useful. Tewinton 22:38, 14 June 2007 (UTC)


 * The problem is that there is no single author of the article. Best thing to do is to put cn tags next to statements that need a source, and/or to add the sources yourself.  That's the way wikipedia works. Wrad 22:47, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

This article needs to be cleaned. Most of the interpretations have no sources, nor are these points valid or good. Please mark this for a cleanup —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.183.197.29 (talk) 07:45, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

Unsourced statements, three years on
I have removed the analysis paragraph as it remains without any good sources. The only one suggested (for the link with Cardano) is Angelo Paratico, whose writing consists of a Da Vinci Code-type thriller in which Jesus travels to Tibet.

We could do with some analysis, and the possible link to Cardano is interesting. But it is not fit for Wikipedia if it cannot be sourced. Grafen (talk) 09:09, 20 June 2010 (UTC)

Good morning. I am Angelo Paratico. By the way, I have published another book in Italy, in Italian, the title is BEN, a bondesque book about british SOE agents being behind the killing of Benito Mussolini and his lover Claretta Petacci. Part history part novel. I collect original books by Gerolamo Cardano and I have plans to write something scholarly about him in the coming years, health and luck permitting. The fact that Shakespeare knew Cardano is beyond doubt, the To be or not to be of Hamlet is taken from Cardano's Comforte. We could discuss further points of contacts if people here are interested. Thanks. A.P. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 220.246.61.57 (talk) 02:20, 5 August 2010 (UTC)

Hi, Angelo Paratico again. Many years ago I did contribute an article to a small publisher (he was using an old Stanhope printing press!). I am attaching it here, sorry for my english and you can erase it after seeing it. Hope it helps. Kind regards. A. Paratico

Gerolamo Cardano and William Shakespeare

Gerolamo Cardano (Pavia, 1501 – Rome, 1576?) also known as Hieronymus Cardanus was a typical man of the Italian Renaissance: a genius, a polymath and a strange man who had a difficult childhood, during which he pursued desperate studies struggling against insurmountable odds. His father was Fazio Cardano, a friend of Leonardo Da Vinci and author of a book of commentaries on the Perspectiva Communis by John Peckam (1230 – 1292). Cardano was born unwanted and out of wedlock, but thanks to his strong will he was able to reach the highest level of the scientific and philosophical world of his times. He became a physician in 1526, practicing at Saccolongo and Gallarate. While in Milano he was excluded from the profession due to his illegitimate birth. Later he studied mathematics and mechanics. He wrote several books, which were read with great interest throughout Europe. To mention just a few: Liber de Ludo Aleae in which we find the first law of statistics, the Ars Magna the first advancement in the field of algebra from the times of the Greeks, where we can find the solution to equations of the third and fourth power. Then the De subtilitate the first prototype of pocket encyclopedia. A the end of his life he wrote the De propria vita a sort of autobiography which is still in print in most countries of the world, even in China, really a classic of this genre, often cited along those of Benvenuto Cellini and Michel de Montaigne. We could proceed with the list of his works for several pages, which were mostly dealing with medicine, astrology, history and philosophy. His Opera Omnia in ten thick volumes (but not really containing all his works) was printed in Lyon in the year 1663 and a reprint of this monumental work was carried out in Chicago, in the year 1972. Cardano was a warm admirer of Paracelsus and Agrippa and a strong critic of Aristotle. Among his many merits we can also put the fact that he did not believe in witchcraft and detested war. In another of his famous books, the De Rerum Varietate he tells us the story of a woman at the time of his father who was convinced she was possessed by the devil and because of this she came close to being burnt at the stake, but Cardano’s father had a magic cure. He suggested bread and eggs to be fed to that wretched lady and after a few days she regained her wits! Gerolamo Cardano was an open-minded man and was in correspondence even with Protestants, but because of it and his professional success he had his share of envy to bear. He was accused of heresy and arrested on October 6th, 1570. The books on which the inquisitors set their sharp eyes were first the De Rerum Varietate and then the Duodecim Geniturarum in which he had cast the horoscope of Jesus Christ, among other famous persons. Finally he agreed to recant his opinions, burned his unpublished manuscripts and was treated with leniency. He had been lucky because he had powerful friends ready to help him; one of these was John Hamilton (1511 – 1571), the archbishop of Edinburgh. Here is how they met. It was the year 1552 and Cardano was living in Milan, his hometown, very busy with his studies, when one day he received a letter. It was from Hamilton asking him to come and meet him at Lyon in France. The Scotsman was very sick with chronic asthma and had heard that Cardano had a cure. After some hesitation, Cardano traveled to France and waited in Lyon for several days for the arrival of the archbishop. Then another letter reached him, asking him to carry on with his trip and go to Scotland. Hamilton could not leave because he had important business to which he needed to attend. Cardano travelled to Paris and then to London, where he arrived on June 29th, 1552 and from there he went to Scotland. John Hamilton was the Archbishop of St. Andrews and Lord Treasurer, the illegitimate son of James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Arran. Cardano’s cure for asthma worked wonders on the Prelate, but Cardano had to stay with him for 76 days. When he left, Hamilton had fully recovered his health and survived until 1571 when, after having taken the side of Mary Queen of Scots and baptized the infant James, later King James VI, ended up being hanged at Stirling Castle. On the way back to Italy Cardano stopped again in London and was welcomed at the Court of King Edward VI. He was asked to forecast the future of the fifteen-year-old king of England. It was a dangerous question from which he managed to free himself with a generic good forecast. The sickly king died just a few months later. This clearly shows that Cardano’s fame, as an astrologer was greater than his fame as a physician. The impression that he made on the English Court was deep and long lasting and for this reason he has been the subject of several English books since then. We can find several biographies written during the last century by English authors. The latest is by Allan Wykes written just a few years ago. In Italy Cardano is not as well known, as he deserves to be. Only his autobiography is reprinted from time to time. Recently his bizarre Apology of Nero was translated and published by Valdonega, in Verona, following a suggestion by the author of these notes and printed with a splendid introduction by Giovanni Arpino. I say bizarre because for the first time the maligned roman emperor is seen as victim of events greater than himself not as a sort of Hollywood monster. The behavior of Cardano, at times, could look strange too. He openly admitted that a ghost, inherited from his father, was always at his side and that he heard demons stirring and speaking behind his back, with a strong smell of sulphur in the air. Having shown that Cardano’s influence was indeed great in England and Scotland, we can now add a few notes about William Shakespeare. We believe that the author of the comedies and poems is really that Shakespeare who was born and buried in Stratford-upon-Avon. He likely met people who knew Cardano. The Bard of Stratford was born in 1564 and moved to London in 1592, forty years after Cardano’s meteoric passage through the city, but Cardano’s popularity was still great. Shakespeare may well have known about the misery of that great man, prisoner of the Inquisition in Rome and of his obscure death during the plague of 1576. I have always been struck by the similarities between Cardano and the figure of Prospero in the The Tempest of Shakespeare, unnoticed by all Shakespearean critics. In fact Cardano and Prospero have many things in common. Both of them have a ghost at their command; both are from Milan; both are magicians; both are book-loving scholars who later denounce their magic, burning their books and both fell because of the ill will of people they had trusted. The character of Prospero is very much alive, not fantastic and for this reason some critics have been led to think that was an alter ego of Shakespeare himself. Shakespeare sees this wonderful play today as a sort of farewell to the stage and to his books before retiring in 1613. One last note: One of Shakespeare’s plays has been lost. Its title was Cardenio. All the critics seem to agree that this name may be connected with a story from the Don Quixote of Cervantes, but the similarity with Cardano is fascinating.

Printed in September 1987 on The Golden Argosy, Stayton, Oregon, USA —Preceding unsigned comment added by 220.246.61.57 (talk) 02:30, 5 August 2010 (UTC)

Prospero and historic figures
I think more should be added to this article in regards to possible historical inspiration for the character of Prospero. Certainly, as per the above conversation, people have already been discussing Cardano. I am surprised that no one has mentioned John Dee. In fact there are a lot of academic sources that argue for parallels between Dee and Prospero. Certainly, information like this could help the article?207.237.208.153 (talk) 05:53, 17 December 2011 (UTC)