Performed variously as escapist fantasy, celebratory fiction and political allegory, The Tempest is one of the plays in which William Shakespeare’s genius as a poetic dramatist found its fullest expression. Critics see The Tempest as explicitly concerned with its own nature as a play, frequently drawing links between Prospero’s art and theatrical illusion and early critics saw Prospero as a representation of Shakespeare and his renunciation of magic as signaling Shakespeare’s farewell to the stage.