Shakespeare’s The
Tempest Is an amazing play about a man who has been banished by his
own brother to a far away island. This play is very unique, in comparison to
Shakespeare’s other plays, for many reasons. As Professor McMillen talked about
in her lecture, this is one of Shakespeare’s latest plays and was written
shortly before Shakespeare “retired” and left London to go back to Stratford
Upon Avon. This play is truly unique because it is a play about forgiveness and
acceptance. However, another difference about this play is that it fits into a
genre on its own almost entirely. Scholars have argued over what genre this
play falls into. Comedy? Romance?
The important
marker of comedy is that there is confusion. When the ship carrying Prospero’s
brother, Sebastian, crashes on the island. The survivors of the shipwreck are
confused because they are unsure of where they are and if they will ever get
back to their homeland. This chaotic period is in fact being controlled by
Prospero, the protagonist of the play. He knows who is on the boat and even
saved his enemies. In Act I, scene ii we know that he is aware of who is on the
boat when he tells his daughter Miranda, “‘Tis time/I should
inform thee farther.” He then tells Miranda about why they had to go
into exile. It is then the audience learns that Prospero was betrayed by his
own brother and that he is here on the island. Another marker of comedy is a
period of courtship. In Act I, scene ii Prospero points out another human for
Miranda to look at Ferdinand. Not surprisingly, she falls in love with him
immediately. “I might call him/A thing divine, for nothing
natural/I ever saw so noble.” When Prospero finds out that he is the Prince of
Naples, he pretends that Ferdinand is lying as to keep the two lovers from
falling in love with each other too soon. He says in Act I, scene ii to express
his excitement for this arrangement, “And his more braver
daughter could control thee,/If now ’twere fit to do’t. At the first sight/They
have changed eyes.” Destabilizing normal structures of class and society also
occurs in The Tempest. Ferdinand is a Prince but becomes the “prisoner” of
Prospero. The King is at the mercy of Prospero as well because he is trapped on
an island.
