Though this island seem to be desert –
…Uninhabitable and almost inaccessible –
…It must needs be of subtle, tender and delicate temperance.
– William Shakespeare
The Tempest, Act 2, Scene 1. One of the things that makes The Tempest such a funny play is Shakespeare’s many and clever uses of dramatic irony. Here shipwreck survivor Adrian comments that the island is uninhabited, when the audience knows otherwise and that Prospero and Miranda live there.