The Tempest Hsc Notes

[Nikita Desjardins]

WORTHTHE PRICE: Because so little of it gets to America, I don't spend much time following Australian whisky-makers. But Helleyers Road, the oldest distillery in Australia, is a name I know by reputation. This is also the oldest Australian whisky I've ever encountered. And it's very, very good and very, very unique. Does all of that taken together justify a $1,000 price tag? Not to 99.9999% of people, but this is probably one for the collection for those lucky few with piles of money and a burning desire to one-up their yacht club pals.

OVERALL: First, the obvious clarification. This is not bourbon. It is single malt. We at Bourbon & Banter have been known to dabble in brown spirits, not of the bourbon persuasion. Since Matt Self enjoyed Rare Hare's inaugural release, a hyper-aged bourbon that dropped in 2022, we've been keeping track of whatever this Playboy-inspired brand can throw at us. And this bottle is quite the curveball.

The aroma is unique and expressive, kicking off with peach pound cake and cigar wrapper, old furniture and dried apricots. It's warm with a syrupy texture and gentle spun sugar sweetness. The palate presents initially with lots of oak - twenty long years worth - delivering herbal tea, ginger scones, and allspice. The same stone fruit on the nose forms a foundational element on the palate with notes of apricot tart, Haribo peach candies, and then darker cherry compote, all of which suggest a more generous sweetness than what you get. Instead, things build carefully and deliberately across the midpalate until a more saccharine flourish of toffee, nougat, and orange marmalade arrives on the long, warm finish.

It's a whisky as impressive for its variety of flavors as for how those flavors develop. Even if I had Bill Gates's bank account, I wouldn't want to drink something like this all the time or casually when I did. I want to think that's by design. A whisky this interesting and this expensive should be built to savor, appreciate, and show off.

While most Tasmanian whiskies are aged in small barrels to accelerate maturation, Hellyers Road Distillery aged this whisky for seventeen years in standard-size bourbon casks, and then aged it for another three years in port casks.

PALATE

With each sip, a velvety texture envelops the palate, revealing layers of ginger and stewed apricots. Vibrant orange citrus notes give way to luscious flavors of sultanas and grapes, creating a rich symphony of taste.

Although The Tempest is listed in the First Folio as the first of Shakespeare's comedies, it deals with both tragic and comic themes, and modern criticism has created a category of romance for this and others of Shakespeare's late plays. The Tempest has been put to varied interpretations, from those[citation needed] that see it as a fable of art and creation, with Prospero representing Shakespeare, and Prospero's renunciation of magic signaling Shakespeare's farewell to the stage, to interpretations[1] that consider it an allegory of Europeans colonizing foreign lands.

Twelve years before the action of the play, Prospero, formerly Duke of Milan and a gifted sorcerer, had been usurped by his treacherous brother Antonio with the aid of Alonso, King of Naples. Escaping by boat with his infant daughter Miranda, Prospero flees to a remote island where he has been living ever since, using his magic to force the island's only inhabitant, Caliban, to protect him and Miranda. He also frees the spirit Ariel and binds them into servitude.

When a ship carrying his brother Antonio passes nearby, Prospero conjures up a storm with help from Ariel and the ship is destroyed. Antonio is shipwrecked, along with Alonso, Ferdinand (Alonso's son and heir to the throne), Sebastian (Alonso's brother), Gonzalo (Prospero's trustworthy minister), Adrian, and other court members.

Prospero intends that Miranda, now aged 15, will marry Ferdinand, and he instructs Ariel to bring some other spirits and produce a masque. The masque will feature classical goddesses, Juno, Ceres, and Iris, and will bless and celebrate the betrothal. The masque will also instruct the young couple on marriage, and on the value of chastity until then.

The masque is suddenly interrupted when Prospero realises he had forgotten the plot against his life. Once Ferdinand and Miranda are gone, Prospero orders Ariel to deal with the nobles' plot. Caliban, Trinculo, and Stephano are then chased off into the swamps by goblins in the shape of hounds.

Ariel brings on Alonso, Antonio, and Sebastian. Prospero forgives all three. Prospero's former title, Duke of Milan, is restored. Ariel fetches the sailors from the ship, and then Caliban, Trinculo, and Stephano. Caliban, seemingly filled with regret, promises to be good. Stephano and Trinculo are ridiculed and sent away in shame by Prospero. Before the reunited group (all the noble characters plus Miranda and Prospero) leave the island, Ariel is instructed to provide good weather to guide the king's ship back to the royal fleet and then to Naples, where Ferdinand and Miranda will be married. After this, Ariel is set free.

The masque in The Tempest is not an actual masque; rather, it is an analogous scene intended to mimic and evoke a masque, while serving the narrative of the drama that contains it. The masque is a culmination of the primary action in The Tempest: Prospero's intention to not only seek revenge on his usurpers, but to regain his rightful position as Duke of Milan. Most important to his plot to regain his power and position is to marry Miranda to Ferdinand, heir to the King of Naples. This marriage will secure Prospero's position by securing his legacy. The chastity of the bride is considered essential and greatly valued in royal lineages. This is true not only in Prospero's plot, but also notably in the court of the virgin queen, Elizabeth. Sir Walter Raleigh had in fact named one of the new world colonies "Virginia" after his monarch's chastity. It was also understood by James, king when The Tempest was first produced, as he arranged political marriages for his grandchildren. What could possibly go wrong with Prospero's plans for his daughter is nature: the fact that Miranda is a young woman who has just arrived at a time in her life when natural attractions among young people become powerful. One threat is the 24-year-old Caliban, who has spoken of his desire to rape Miranda, and "people this isle with Calibans",[6] and who has also offered Miranda's body to a drunken Stephano.[7] Another threat is represented by the young couple themselves, who might succumb to each other prematurely. Prospero says:

It is not known for certain exactly when The Tempest was written, but evidence supports the idea that it was probably composed sometime between late 1610 to mid-1611. It is considered one of the last plays that Shakespeare wrote alone.[14][15] Evidence supports composition perhaps occurring before, after, or at the same time as The Winter's Tale.[14] Edward Blount entered The Tempest into the Stationers' Register on 8 November 1623. It was one of 16 Shakespeare plays that Blount registered on that date.[16]

There is no obvious single origin for the plot of The Tempest; it appears to have been created with several sources contributing, chiefly William Strachey's "Letter to an Excellent Lady".[17] Since source scholarship began in the eighteenth century, researchers have suggested passages from "Naufragium" ("The Shipwreck"), one of the colloquies in Erasmus's Colloquia Familiaria (1518),[a] and Richard Eden's 1555 translation of Peter Martyr's De orbo novo (1530).[19]

Shakespeare almost certainly read Strachey's account from the original source, according to Charles Mills Gayley. Gayley posits that Shakespeare had access to Strachey's original "Letter to an Excellent Lady", brought to England by Sir Thomas Gates the summer of 1610: "The letter was entrusted by this lady to certain members of the [Virginia Company] council, and one of them, probably Sir Edwin Sandys, incorporated from it such portions as were fitting for the True Declaration issued to the public....The letter was always in the keeping of those vitally concerned until Purchas got hold of it [and published it fifteen years later]. That Shakespeare was allowed to read it and to use certain of its materials for a play, as with just discrimination and due discretion as he did, is illustrative of the closeness of his intimacy with the patriot leaders of the Virginia enterprise."[23]

Michel de Montaigne's essay "Of the Caniballes" is considered a source for Gonzalo's utopian speculations in Act II, scene 1, and possibly for other lines that refer to differences between cultures.[20]

A poem entitled Pimlyco; or, Runne Red-Cap was published as a pamphlet in 1609. It was written in praise of a tavern in Hoxton. The poem includes extensive quotations of an earlier (1568) poem, The Tunning of Elynor Rymming, by John Skelton. The pamphlet contains a pastoral story of a voyage to an island. There is no evidence that Shakespeare read this pamphlet, was aware of it, or had used it. However, the poem may be useful as a source to researchers regarding how such themes and stories were being interpreted and told in London near to the time The Tempest was written.[26]

The Tempest may take its overall structure from traditional Italian commedia dell'arte, which sometimes featured a magus and his daughter, their supernatural attendants, and a number of rustics. The commedia often featured a clown known as Arlecchino (or his predecessor, Zanni) and his partner Brighella, who bear a striking resemblance to Stephano and Trinculo; a lecherous Neapolitan hunchback who corresponds to Caliban; and the clever and beautiful Isabella, whose wealthy and manipulative father, Pantalone, constantly seeks a suitor for her, thus mirroring the relationship between Miranda and Prospero.[27]

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