SO WHAT MAKES THE TEMPEST SO SIGNIFICANT?
Although it’s not, as once thought to be, the last play written by Shakespeare, The Tempest is often viewed as his comic masterpiece. It’s far from a straightforward comedy. It showcases Shakespeare’s strength in the comedic genre and also reflects current trends in popular taste for entertainment at the time. It is, in fact a tragicomedy – a far more complex comedy altogether.
What makes it a TRAGICOMEDEY are the revenge plots that run throughout the play. Towards the end the audience is held in suspense as we wonder whether Prospero will indeed forgive (as a comedy decrees) or whether he will execute the revenge he seems so capable of.
REVENGE
Revenge is diametrically opposed to reconciliation and even the presence of such a motive is ominous for a really happy ending. But The Tempest is an exception to this rule. He makes these weighty topics the matter which holds the comedy together.
Revenge always demands intricate plotting and scheming, confusions and delays and this, at its very core, is comic. Revenge is often just a quest for order, not a brutal and unnecessary act. The revenge is to right past wrongs. Revenge requires premeditation and in a comic setting needs accomplices. Oberon has Puck, Prospero has Ariel.
Revenge is evident in all of the early comedies, it is present primarily as a device, rather than as a theme. However these early comedies don’t generally demonstrate any evil characters.
Supernatural characters are often associated with revenge as it was frequently thought that supernatural beings were vengeful. There’s no knowing what puts you out of their favour.
Shakespearean Tragedy:
Typical themes relate to passion (R&J), revenge (Hamlet), ambition (Macbeth), and jealousy (Othello). They always involve the downfall of an heroic figure.
Elements of tragedy include:
- Contrast: One idea/character is thrown into opposition with another.
- Fate: Intervention of some force over which humans have no control.
- The Supernatural: Ghosts, witches, prophecies etc are appealing for his audience and connected to the dark arts.
- Pathetic Fallacy: The hero’s actions are represented through uncharacteristic weather.
- Catharsis: a term to describe the emotional release we feel once all has been revealed (even if it ends in collective death).
- Suspense: Uncertainty that keeps the audience anxious and eager to discover the outcome.
- Soliloquy: A speech made alone by a character on stage.
- Asides: Intended only for the audience.
- Dramatic Irony: Where the audience is aware of the truth but the characters are not.
- The spectacular: Unusual sights such as elaborate costume, furious action, fight scenes and banquets.
In what ways does The Tempest represent the tragic style?
COMEDY
Many times the question is asked: what makes a play a comedy instead of a tragedy? Comedies treat subjects lightly, meaning that they don't treat seriously such things as love. Shakespeare's comedies often use puns, metaphors and insults to provoke 'thoughtful laughter'. The action is often strained by artificiality, especially elaborate and contrived endings. Disguises and mistaken identities are often very common.
The plot is very important in Shakespeare's comedies. It is often very convoluted, twisted and confusing, and extremely hard to follow. Other characteristics of Shakespearean comedy are the themes of love and friendship, played within a courtly society. Songs, often sung by a jester or a fool, parallel the events of the plot. Foil and stock characters are often inserted into the storyline.
Love provides the main ingredient. If the lovers are unmarried when the play opens, they either have not met or there is some obstacle to their relationship. Examples of these obstacles are familiar to every reader of Shakespeare: the slanderous tongues which nearly wreck love in 'Much Ado About Nothing'; the father insistent upon his daughter marrying his choice, as in 'A Midsummer Nights Dream'; or the expulsion of the rightful Duke's daughter in 'As You Like It'.
TO WHAT DEGREE DO THESE ELEMENTS OF COMEDY REFLECT ‘THE TEMPEST’?