"The Tempest" is a Shakespear Comedy. A comedy according to BrainyQuote.com is "A dramatic composition, or representation of a bright and amusing character, based upon the foibles of individuals, the manners of society, or the ludicrous events or accidents of life; a play in which mirth predominates and the termination of the plot is happy; -- opposed to tragedy."
I see the play as a comedy because no one dies at the end. They all get on to the ship and head off to Italy as if nothing happened. The play also had lines like "I have great comfort from this fellow. Methinks he hath no drowning mark upon him; his complexion is perfect gallows. Stand fast, good Fate, to his hanging!" said by Gonzalo (pg 11-12)
To determine that a man is going to die by hanging and not somthing else is a little bit of Shakespear humor.
Steph,
ReplyDeleteYou definitely kept things short and simple, which I like. Shakespeare is wordy enough for me as it is. It was a really great idea to split up the summary and analysis into separate blog posts, it made it easy to read. I was a little disappointed with how you described the ending. Was that really how it ended? It seems like a play that did not really go anywhere. I kind of have to question your source a little bit as BrainyQuote.com does not sound very academic. However it is nice to see things from all sides of the spectrum. I made this mistake too, but I think we are thinking of comedy and tragedy too close-mindedly. Things can be sad and tragic without death right? You might very well be correct I just felt you could have validated your answer a little better.
I have never read The Tempest, so I really didn't know the ending. I agree with Alyssa, since the end seems to be a bit...boring? ...odd? ...distant? Either way, the hanging quote does creep me out a little bit; I never knew that a man's hanging could be...uh...funny?
ReplyDeleteIt is both comedy and tragedy. It is classified as a romance now.
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