The works listed will allow your students to further explore the themes—colonialism, political intrigue, and relationships—of The Tempest:


Fiction
Defoe, Daniel. The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1965. One of the first English novels, Robinson Crusoe, tells the story of a shipwrecked sailor and his servant Friday. (average)

Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York: Berkley Publishing Group, 1959. A popular tale about a group of English schoolboys who become stranded on a deserted island. (average)

Malouf, David. An Imaginary Life. New York: Vintage Books, 1996. In Malouf's highly imaginative novel, the Roman poet Ovid—who has been banished to a remote, uncivilized region—forms a bond with a wild child and tries to teach him language. (challenge)


Nonfiction
Bloom, Harold, ed. William Shakespeare's The Tempest. A collection of criticism about the play from leading scholars. (challenge)

Machiavelli, Niccalao. The Prince. Ed. Quentin Skinner and Russell Price. New York: Cambridge UP, 1988. A classic study of power and politics in Renaissance Italy. (challenge)

Montaigne, Michel de. "Of Cannibals." The Complete Essays of Montaigne. Trans. Donald M. Frame. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 1958. An essay that had an important influence on the The Tempest. (average)

Wells, Stanley W. Shakespeare: A Life in Drama. New York: Norton, 1997. An excellent overview of Shakespeare's career. (average)