GENRE
COMEDY
'SAFE' CONFLICT AND CONFUSION :
MAJOR CONFLICT : PROSPERO BANISHED FROM ITALY AND CAST TO SEA BY HIS USURPING
BROTHER, ANTONIO, AND ALONSO, THE KING OF NAPLES. AS THE PLAY BEGINS, ANTONIO
AND ALONSO COME UNDER PROSPERO’S MAGIC POWER AS THEY SAIL PAST HIS ISLAND.
PROSPERO SEEKS TO USE HIS MAGIC TO MAKE THESE LORDS REPENT AND RESTORE HIM
TO HIS RIGHTFUL PLACE.
CHANGING/ MISTAKEN IDENTITIES ( DISGUISE ) - ARIEL SHAPESHIFTING
DISRUPTION OF THE SOCIAL ORDER - PROSPERO IN CONTROL OF OFFICIALS & STRIPPING
OF HIS DUKEDOM
THREATS OF CHAOS OR VIOLENCE - PROSPERO THREATS TOWARDS CALIBAN [ + STEPHANO
& TRINCULO ] AND ARIEL
CALIBAN, STEPHANO, TRINCULO THREATS TOWARDS PROSPERO
ELEMENT OF SEPARATION & REUNIFICATION - PROSPERO REUNIFICATION WITH ALONSO &
ANTONIO AFTER BEING SEPARATED FOR 12 YEARS
FAMILY TENSIONS THAT ARE RESOLVED AT THE END - PROSPERO & ANTONIO
COMPLEX, INTERWOVEN PLOT-LINES - INTERWOVEN PLOTS OF PROSPERO, FERDINAND &
MIRANDA, ALONSO AND CALIBAN
= RESOLVED AND PEACE RESTORED AT THE END OF THE PLAY
USUALLY FACILITATED BY THE REVELATION OF MISTAKEN IDENTITIES
SECURED BY A WEDDING
A SERIES OF MISUNDERSTANDINGS RESOLVED OVER THE COURSE OF THE PLAY.
THE TEMPEST CAUSES A SHIPWRECK — SEVERAL OF THE CHARACTERS MISTAKENLY
BELIEVE THEIR SHIPMATES ARE DEAD — EVERYONE IS HAPPILY REUNITED AT THE PLAY’S
END
,TWO ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATIONS: ALONSO AND ANTONIO’S ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION
OF PROSPERO, WHICH LEAD TO PROSPERO FLEEING TO THE ISLAND, AND ANTONIO AND
SEBASTIAN’S PLOT TO MURDER ALONSO.
THE PLAY ENDS WITH ALONSO REPENTING OF HIS SCHEMES AGAINST PROSPERO, AND
PROSPERO RECLAIMING HIS TITLE OF DUKE OF MILAN.
THE FACT THAT NO ONE DIES IN THE PLAY, DISCORD IS REPAIRED, MISUNDERSTANDINGS
ARE RESOLVED, AND LOVERS AND UNITED IN MARRIAGE ALL CONTRIBUTE TO THE PLAY’S
CLASSIFICATION AS A COMEDY.
THE SHAKESPEAREAN ROMANCE
ELEMENTS OF TRAGIC COMEDY — 'LATE ROMANCES'
VARIOUS CONFLICTS RESOLVE IN A HAPPY ENDING
PROMISE OF A FUTURE MARRIAGE — FERDINAND AND MIRANDA
THE PLAY ENDS IN MARRIAGE, THE STORY OF THE LOVERS DOESN’T DRIVE THE PLOT. IN
FACT, MIRANDA AND FERDINAND DON’T MEET UNTIL WELL INTO THE ACTION OF THE
PLAY, AND THE ESSENTIAL CONFLICT—PROSPERO’S DESIRE TO REGAIN HIS TITLE—HAS
NOTHING TO DO WITH THEIR SEPARATION OR REUNION. ALL OF SHAKESPEARE’S
ROMANCES ALSO FEATURE MARRIAGE AS AN ELEMENT OF THEIR PLOTS, BUT NOT THE
DRIVING FORCE OF THE ACTION
TRAGIC ELEMENTS
THREAT OF DEATH
- THE CATASTROPHIC TEMPEST — SEVERAL OF THE CHARACTERS MISTAKENLY BELIEVE
THEIR SHIPMATES ARE DEAD
- TWO SUBPLOTS INVOLVING PLANS TO ASSASSINATE ALONSO AND PROSPERO, AND
THESE PLANS ECHO THE ORIGINAL PLOT AGAINST PROSPERO’S LIFE IN MILAN YEARS
BEFORE THE EVENTS AT HAND
ELEMENTS OF MAGIC AND MYSTICISM
IN THE LATE PLAYS HAS A DARKER TONE — PROSPERO USES HIS MAGIC TO ACT OUT A
SUSTAINED REVENGE PLOT
,THROUGHOUT THE PLAY, PROSPERO (AND HIS MAGICAL SPIRIT ARIEL) USE MAGIC TO
MANIPULATE AND DAZZLE THE OTHER CHARACTERS.
SHAKESPEARE’S CONJURING OF A KIND OF MYSTICISM IN WHICH HIGHLY UNREALISTIC
AND SOMETIMES OVERCROWDED PLOTS YIELD IMPROBABLY HAPPY ENDINGS — A
VARIETY OF PLOTS AND SUBPLOTS THAT ALL SEEM LIKE THEY WILL LEAD TO VIOLENCE
AND DISCORD, YET SOMEHOW RESOLVE WITH PEACE
FITS IN WITH CHANGE
PROSPERO'S 'ART
SPIRITS IE ARIEL
DIVINITY & GODDESSES
THE VOYAGE OR JOURNEY
THE STORIES SPAN MANY YEARS AND MANY MILES TRAVELLED
ALL THIS HAS OCCURRED IN THE PLAY'S 'PRE-HISTORY', WHICH IS EXPLAINED BY
PROSPERO IN THE SECOND SCENE
COMPARISON BETWEEN DIFFERENT WAYS OF LIFE - 'RUSTIC' OR RURAL VERSUS THE
URBAN OR COURTLY WORLD
CONTRAST BETWEEN THE ISLAND AND MILAN OR NAPLES.
CHARACTERS UNDERGO A SIGNIFICANT CHANGE :
GAIN KNOWLEDGE, INSIGHT AND WISDOM FROM THEIR JOURNEY AND HAVE WEALTH AND
TITLES RESTORED OR THEY BECOME RECONCILED WITH ESTRANGED FAMILY MEMBERS
THE WORDS IN ARIEL'S SONG DESCRIBING HOW ALONSO HAS UNDERGONE A 'SEA
CHANGE / INTO SOMETHING RICH AND STRANGE' (ACT 1, SCENE 2, LINES 401-402) TAKE ON
A NEW MEANING IN THIS INSTANCE, AND THE PHRASE 'SEA CHANGE' HAS BECOME
IDIOMATIC.
, OVERALL STRUCTURE OF THE PLAY MOVING FROM “TRAGIC” BEGINNING TO “COMEDIC”
ENDING — THE MASSIVE STORM THAT OPENS TEMPEST IS THE RESULT OF PROSPERO’S
CONJURING. FINALLY, THE TEMPEST DIFFERS FROM THE COMEDIC GENRE IN THAT WHILE
STYLE
DENSE, POETIC LANGUAGE + COMPLEXITY AND SOLEMNITY
REFLECTS THE NOBLE STATUS OF THE MAJORITY OF ITS CHARACTERS.
PROSPERO LONG, COMPOUND SENTENCES.
HE [ANTONIO] BEING THUS LORDED,
NOT ONLY WITH WHAT MY REVENUE YIELDED
BUT WHAT MY POWER MIGHT ELSE EXACT, LIKE ONE
WHO, HAVING INTO TRUTH BY TELLING OF IT,
MADE SUCH A SINNER OF HIS MEMORY
TO CREDIT HIS OWN LIE, HE DID BELIEVE
HE WAS INDEED THE DUKE, OUT O’ TH’ SUBSTITUTION
AND EXECUTING TH’ OUTWARD FACE OF ROYALTY,
WITH ALL PREROGATIVE. (1.2.)
A COMPLEX STRUCTURE THAT FEATURES DEPENDENT CLAUSES STUCK INSIDE OTHER
DEPENDENT CLAUSES. THE FACT THAT UNITS OF THOUGHT REPEATEDLY CROSS LINE
BREAKS MAKES IT EVEN MORE CHALLENGING TO FOLLOW PROSPERO’S MEANING. THE
DIFFICULTY OF THIS SENTENCE ALSO DERIVES FROM PROSPERO’S USE OF POETIC ELISION
(I.E., OMISSION). PROSPERO’S POETIC ELISION IS VISIBLE IN HIS FREQUENT OMISSION OF
UNSTRESSED SYLLABLES (E.G., “OUT O’ TH’ SUBSTITUTION”). THE OVERALL COMPLEXITY
OF PROSPERO’S LANGUAGE SERVES TO EMPHASIZE THE GREATNESS OF HIS LEARNING,
AND THE SOLEMNITY OF HIS POETRY CONVEYS THE SERIOUSNESS OF HIS CHARACTER.
THE LANGUAGE OF THE PLAY’S LESS WELL-BORN CHARACTERS OFTEN PROVES MORE
PLAYFUL.
TRINCULO AND STEPHANO — FREQUENTLY EXCHANGE JOKES AND WITTY ONE-LINERS.
JEST ABOUT WHETHER THE “MAN-MONSTER” CALIBAN WILL SERVE AS THEIR LIEUTENANT
OR THEIR STANDARD BEARER.
