After reading a few of Shakespeare’s plays, The Tempest turned out to be very different from the previous plays I have read this semester. After reading seven other plays this semester it was easy to categorize them as either a tragedy or a comedy. The Tempest however, does not fit into either category.
If I had to choose I would say that it fits into the comedy category simply because it ends in marriage. This being said there were not a lot of funny lines or funny characters in this play. I never found myself laughing out loud like I did in his other comedies. The majority of this play was neither funny nor tragic. No one died and no one was severely punished in the end. It was almost difficult to stay with this play simply because after I read a few of his plays, I got into the rhythm of either a tragedy or a comedy. Throughout the play I was trying to determine whether or not different aspects told me if this play was funny or tragic. Without being able to determine this play, certain scenes made me nervous. For example, when Prospero gives Ferdinand his permission to take Miranda, I didn’t believe that Prospero was simply looking to regain his position as Duke of Milan and to further Miranda’s standing. I thought that his bigger motive was to get revenge and hurt his evil brother and the King of Naples. I don’t know why I had such doubt in Prospero but I was nervous the entire time. Perhaps after reading Othello, I was used to a villain like Iago, and was expecting Prospero to be him.
Since The Tempest does not fit into the tragedy category or the comedy category, it made it difficult to follow for me. I kept expecting funnier events or awful tragic events. Looking back at the play now, it is very interesting but during I was super confused and uneasy.
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