Um, okay. So it's unlikely that anyone paid the Bard in fish. So perhaps he'd be thanking them for all the ducats? Anywho...

Although The Tempest stands on its own merit as one of the best works in Western literature, the play is often taught as Shakespeare's fond farewell to the stage. It's likely the last play Shakespeare penned (entirely by himself, that is) before retiring to Stratford, and it contains some of the Bard's most self-conscious references to the workings of the theater.