Line #14 Literature/AMidsummerTempest


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a_midsummer_tempest.png]]
2	''A Midsummer Tempest'' is a fantasy novel by Creator/PoulAnderson.
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4	In ''Theatre/JuliusCaesar'', a clock chimes. Chiming clocks were a medieval invention -- at least in our world. Anderson deduced that in the world where Creator/WilliamShakespeare is the Great Historian, technology advanced more quickly than in ours, and so tells a story where the UsefulNotes/IndustrialRevolution and the UsefulNotes/EnglishCivilWar are occuring at the same time, and UsefulNotes/PrinceRupertOfTheRhine is off to recover [[Theatre/TheTempest Prospero's books]] from where he drowned them, with the help of [[Theatre/AMidsummerNightsDream Oberon and Titania]].
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6	!!Tropes found in this work
7	%%* AlternateHistory
8	* AnswersToTheNameOfGod: When Jennifer exclaims "Dear God," Will says another Person holds that post.
9	* BabiesEverAfter: In the {{denouement}}, Jennifer is looking forward to this.
10	* TheCavalierYears: And, indeed, the lead character is a quintessential cavalier.
11	* TheChase: Chasing the escaped Rupert is half the book.
12	* TheDandy: Rupert angrily rejects apologies for giving him commoner's clothing while he's prisoner; he's not a popinjay.
13	* DistressedDude: Prince Rupert is captured in the opening scene.
14	* EmpathicEnvironment: Jennifer complains of the lack of this: when Prince Rupert observed that Parliament might order him executed, it was in a raging storm, but the next morning is a bright sunshiny day, although he is still in mortal danger.
15	* FeelingOppressedByTheirExistence: One Puritan sympathesizes with those poor oppressed souls in France who want to purify the Church.
16	* ForgetsToEat: Rupert, after he makes his ring fail.
17	* FriendOrFoe: Trying to reach the royalist forces brings up great fears of this being a problem; Rupert thinks he should not try to cut his hair so he can prove who he is, quickly.
18	* FunetikAksent: The comic-relief sidekick, following Shakespearean tradition, has a thick [[UsefulNotes/BritishAccents regional accent]] represented phonetically.
19	* GratuitousIambicPentameter: Because this is a world where Shakespeare's plays are word-for-word true, much of the dialog is in iambic pentameter blank verse.
20	* ImprobableAge: Prince Rupert's (historically-accurate) extreme youth for his military accomplishments is commented on by his captor.
21	* InnBetweenTheWorlds: The Old Phoenix Tavern, wherein Rupert meets three travellers from other timelines, one of whom deduces the basis of Rupert's universe and exposits it for the benefit of the audience.
22	* {{Knighting}}: When Prince Rupert returns to King Charles, the king immediately knights the soldier who accompanied him. (He first asks him to swear loyalty to the throne -- and then explains it's just part of the ceremony and not a doubt of his loyalty.)
23	* LastStand: Rupert goes to join his king in hopes of helping him, and if it fails, for this trope.
24	* LovePotion: TheVamp uses a potion to lure Prince Rupert into her bed. Unfortunately for him and the heroine, the magical rings they owned were driven by ThePowerOfLove, and this broke them.
25	* ModernMayincatecEmpire: One of the crosstime travellers in the Old Phoenix Tavern mentions having visited one.
26	* OfferedTheCrown: Prince Rupert recounts how his father was offered the crown of Bohemia -- and held it briefly, until military defeat drove him off. Although this is an alternate history, that was taken from Real Life.
27	* ThePowerOfLove: Drives the magical rings that Oberon and Titania give Prince Rupert and Jennifer.
28	* RoyalBlood: Prince Rupert is the main character, and he's work in defence of King Charles, the rightful ruler. Although the magic they work to save him carefully explains that it cares about the land and the king only in as much as the king helps the land, once it has done so, it brings down the Roundheads.
29	* ShoutOut:
30	** Too many to count to Creator/WilliamShakespeare, obviously.
31	** At one point, the protagonist randomly meets D'Artagnan. (''Literature/TwentyYearsAfter'', the first sequel to ''Literature/TheThreeMusketeers'', is set in around the same time and also involves an attempt to help out Charles's side.)
32	** The last scene in the Inn Between Worlds is a crowd scene of fictional character cameos.
33	* SpellBook: Prince Rupert uses magical books to win the English Civil War for the Royalists. However, since they are Prospero's books, he must first find where Prospero drowned them and then bring them up from the seabottom.
34	* SweetPollyOliver: Jennifer dresses as a boy to escape her captors.
35	* TearsOfJoy: Jennifer cries for joy on being reunited with Rupert.
36	* TheyHaveTheScent: They get the dogs on Rupert and Will's trail.
37	* VirginPower: Prince Rupert is forced to bring Jennifer with him to a battlefield because he is traveling by magic, and the presence of a virgin is the only thing allowing the spell to be strong enough to travel that way.

Context Literature / AMidsummerTempest