'The Tempest' Transformed: John Fletcher and Philip Massinger's 'The Sea Voyage'

Abstract

This article examines John Fletcher and Philip Massinger's 1622 comedy, The Sea Voyage, as an offshoot of Shakespeare's Tempest. It traces Fletcher and Massinger's reimagination of Shakespeare's plot and characters in ways that reflect the differences between England's aspirations for the Virginia Colony in 1610 and the realities on the ground in 1621-2. Key transformations include the Fletcher-Massinger emphasis on the role of women in plantation economies as well as the hardships endured in the early days of the colony.