ABSTRACT

Shakespeare’s Tempest was first performed before King James I at Whitehall in November of 1611. It was presented a second time at the court of King James early in 1613, as part of the marriage festivities of James’s daughter Elizabeth, who, at the age of sixteen, was being married to Frederick the Elector Palatine. The marriage masque within The Tempest may have been added for this occasion. In any case, the Goddess Ceres’ promise of a life untouched by winter (“Spring come to you at the farthest / In the very end of harvest’” IV. i. 114–15) 1 and all the riches the earth can provide (“Earth’s increase, foison plenty”) was offered to the living royal couple as well as to Ferdinand and Miranda.