"Genesis in The Tempest"

In the first chapter of Shakespeare and the Bible, Steven Marx analyzes the book of Genesis and Shakespeare's, The Tempest. In the introduction of the book, Marx says that each chapter would show similarities and differences between the two works being studied, but in this chapter, he seemed to have only made similarities:

• In the title, the word "tempest" literally means a violent windstorm, especially one with rain, hail, or snow; a violent commotion, disturbance, or tumult.* He points out how Genesis started out "formless and empty" with "darkness…over the surface of the earth."** He notes the obvious correlation between Shakespeare's title and the beginning of the first book.
• At the beginning of The Tempest, the protagonist, Prospero, waits for his daughter to awake from periodic deep sleeps, similar to how Adam was put to sleep while God made Eve.
• In both stories, the setting eventually expands. In Genesis, the population of people expands from Eden (when Adam and Eve were expelled) to Egypt (when the Hebrew slaves were in captivity in the next book, Exodus). In The Tempest, Prospero is released from his cell and the story expands to Mediterranean Europe.
• A reoccurring theme in each story is prosperity. In Genesis 1:28, God tells Adam and Eve to "be fruitful and increase in number." Also, "Prospero's" root word is "prosperity."
• God and Prospero both bless their descendants. Like the Creator God, Prospero has a "chosen family"*** to carry out his plans set in the beginning of the play. God establishes the lineage of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob through which His son, Jesus, will carry out the master plan of salvation.
• Both God and Prospero are protagonist and author of their works. (The idea that Prospero is the "author" of The Tempest is simply a theory, but is hinted through his "role as author of plays within the play"***, his addresses to the audience, etc.)
• God and Prospero undo a creation act. God sends the great flood of Noah's time in Genesis chapter 6 because He "regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled." Likewise, Prospero banishes Caliban, the previous ruler Sycorax's son, for trying to take the throne. This act in The Tempest actually has several correlations to Genesis:

"Prospero re-establishes his dominance... by throwing Caliban out of his home, forcing him to live by the sweat of his brow [expulsion from the garden], and reducing his language that he taught him into profitless cursing [the Tower of Babel - Genesis 11]... and by tormenting his countrymen with the prolonged ordeal of death by drowning [the flood]." -The Tempest, pg. 25

Well Marx makes about nine more similarities worth noting, but I think this is enough for now...

*- from dictionary.com

**- from Genesis 1:2

***- from chapter one of Shakespeare and the Bible, Steven Marx