The Tempest Group

Question:

akter
akter
Student
High School - 12th Grade

What elements of tragedy and comedy are there in "The Tempest? How does the play work as an argument that justice/vengeance should be tempered by mercy/grace?

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Posted by akter on Saturday November 1, 2008 at 12:04 AM and tagged with antonio, comedy, forgiveness, justice, mercy, prospero, revenge, the tempest, tragedy.

Answers:


  1. robertwilliam

    Lots of questions here. Though it does, just about, observe the Aristotelian unities of time and place (that is, the play takes place - nearly, at least - within one day and in one location), I don't think you can classify "The Tempest" as a tragedy. Nobody dies, and it ends in a marriage: which is, of course, usually seen as the definition of comedy.

    But there are elements of tragedy in "The Tempest": the whole slavery question (Caliban, Ariel, and potentially even Miranda as slaves to Prospero - the argument that Prospero, usurped from Naples, usurps Caliban of his island, and so on), and - of course - the implication that Prospero will take his revenge on his brother for the way he has been treated.

    That Prospero eventually forgives his brother - and tempers his desire for justice and vengeance with mercy and grace - is usually described as an entirely positive move, and, for the resolution of the play, it is. But have a look at Prospero's final epilogue: not the words of a man blessed and enlightened by his own forgiveness, but a worried, ambiguous speech that foresees an ending in despair.

    Justice or forgiveness? Shakespeare leaves it very, very ambiguous.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/tempest-text/epilogue
    http://www.enotes.com/tempest/character-analysis

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    Posted by robertwilliam on Saturday November 1, 2008 at 4:41 AM