The Genre of The Tempest Essay -- Papers

The Genre of The Tempest The Tempest is customarily identified as the William Shakespeares last piece. These marginal issues aside, The Tempest is the forth, final and finest of Shakespeares great and/or late romances. on with Pericles, Cymbeline and The Winters Tale, The Tempest belongs t the genre of Elizabethan romance plays. It combines elements of Tragedy (Prosperos revenge/Loss of a royal son) with those of romantic comedy (the young lover Ferdinand and Miranda) and, resembling one of Shakespeares problem plays, Measure for measure, it poses deeper questions that are not completely resolved at the end. The romantic gesture is distinguished by the inclusion (and synthesis) of these tragical, comic, and problematic ingredients, and raise marked by a happy ending(usually concluding in a masque or dance) in which all, or most, of the characters are brought into harmony. The term romance is minded(p) to the comedies written at the end of Shakespea res career. Pericles, Cymbeline, The Winters Tale and the Tempest. They were written between 1608 and 1612 and are different in style to his earlier comedies. Whilst love and marriage are they happen upon themes in these plays, they focus primarily on the separations and reunions of families and culminate in homecomings, reconciliations, rebirth and redemption. The romances are, characteristically, set in mythical worlds, and include elements from myths and fairy tales. For example Long journey, ocean journeys, shipwrecks, storms, magic, lost or stolen children, a wicked/evil family member. The romances were heavily influenced by court masques, lavish entertainment consisting of song , dance,... ...so be seen to embody regeneration and uncanny development, for through his magic he brings about the repentance of Antonio and Alonso, and the marriage which is to achieve the regeneration. Through Prospero also, the disparate styles are united. He is the symbolic figure in which the tragic events are rooted, for he is both victim of revenge tragedy and the hero who suffered from a fatal flaw. So too is he the instigator of the plays romance. With his magic wand we find he has caused the shipwreck of the first act, which initially seemed to be rooted in realism. The mixture of styles in both plays are, then, successfully combined. They work together to draw a unified whole separately and collectively combing to exert an energy which enhances and balances the moral message of Shakespeares last plays.