The Tempest is the island play of dispossession and grace, power and wonder. It has incited and inspired generations of artists and critics and although many of its mysteries will be readily clarified in performance, nevertheless many and very profound difficulties must remain. We attempt here yet another navigation through The Tempest in our earnest hope a new philosophical approach might yield new footholds. Yet we cannot be certain our efforts will yield success; perhaps we will only uncover a few "twangling instruments" (III.2) rightly discarded. We begin with some broad observations and clarify the interpretative framework.