How is The Tempest a tragic comedy? |

The Tempest, along with the three other plays written towards the end of Shakespeare's career (including The Winter's Tale, Cymbeline and Pericles), is difficult to categorize as either a tragedy or a comedy. The published versions of Shakespeare's work also make it difficult to determine what he intended. The First Folio considered The Tempest and The Winter's Tale comedies, but Cymbeline was classified as a tragedy. Later published collections classify these four...

The Tempest, along with the three other plays written towards the end of Shakespeare's career (including The Winter's Tale, Cymbeline and Pericles), is difficult to categorize as either a tragedy or a comedy. The published versions of Shakespeare's work also make it difficult to determine what he intended. The First Folio considered The Tempest and The Winter's Tale comedies, but Cymbeline was classified as a tragedy. Later published collections classify these four plays as "Romances" but this is not a really accurate category to use, either. The Tempest contains no major love story in its plot, so the term "Romance" does not feel particularly suitable.

The play does have certain comic elements: the characters of Caliban and Ariel are often played for comic relief. However, it is also possible for both of these characters to be played with a more tragic context: both are bound by servitude, and beg for their freedom, which makes them somewhat tragic. Caliban is ostracized for being ugly; this can also be comic or tragic, depending on the portrayal in performance. Prospero's age and occasional befuddlement can also be played for either comic or tragic effect (Shakespeare was nearing the end of his life and this is considered the final play he wrote). The same goes for Miranda's lack of exposure to the male sex, brought to a climax when she sees men for the first time and exclaims "O brave new world, that has such people in it!"

Because the play contains elements of both genres, it has been referred to by some critics as a "tragicomedy." This seems to be the best working term to refer to this play that defines placement in either genre. Modern productions for stage and screen (for example, the London production starring Helen Mirren as a female Prospera) tend to offer creative interpretations of this play, with the possibilities for comedy or tragedy being fairly fluid, depending on artistic choices made for the productions.