Methods Used to Introduce the Exposition and Hold the Audience's Attention in Shakespeare's The Tempest

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In Act 1 Scene 1, Shakespeare introduces setting, characters, themes and plot to explain what is happening and to grab the audience’s attention, as well as laying the ground for the rest of play. He also uses literary techniques to make his play more interesting. Shakespeare also does this through the language and style of his writings he gives to the individual characters, and also the very few stage directions. Shakespeare had very restricted assets to work with, and so needed his actors and speeches to work for him. His language gives us clues as to how the characters should act and how they should project their personalities to create a sense of realism. The first scene is important in catching and holding the attention of an audience in any play. The first word of the play tells the audience where it is set. The Master calls out ‘Boatswain’ and so the audience knows the play opens on board a ship. The Master then lets the audience know that the ship is in a storm. He orders ‘fall to it or we run ourselves aground’, so we know that the ship's crew are hard at work trying to sto...

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