PARADOX AND

POTENTIAL
TRAGIC
ELEMENTS
IN THE TEMPEST
”I will set out the plot of this tragedy. What? Did you pull a face,
because I said it was going to be a tragedy? I am a God, so I’ll
change it, if you want. I shall make a comedy out of this tragedy,
with all the same verses. (…) I’ll make it mixed: a tragicomedy!
I don’t think it would be appropriate to make it a consistent
comedy, when there are kings and gods in it (…).”
- (Plautus 51-63) - the God Mercury addresses the audience in Amphitryon

Thirst for attaining power + drive for becoming god-like creatures –

controlling destinies, elements

conflict due to exceeding the limits set for mortals

vs. Prospero’s case
”(…) the movement out of loss to triumph
by means of a reversal. This reversal
occurs as a rising move ment away from
tragedy's insistence on the irrevocable
nature of past action. In tragedy one
cannot have a second chance and succeed;
tragicomedy reverses this impossibility
by revoking the irrevocable.” (Samuels 1)
”Reconciliation of
enemies (…) dominates
the endings of these plays.
”(Samuels 1)
 ”(…) hybrid, deliberately
indeterminate form which
gives us both things at the same
time” (Mukherji and Lyne 8)

 ”not light enough to be called a

comedy and it does not death or
any other awful event to be
called a tragedy” (Bhat 316)
 Potential tragic / lamentable
elements
Ý Prospero – ”And my ending is despair,
Unless I be relieved by prayer” or
”And thence retire me to my Milan, where
Every third thought shall be my grave.”

• he has implemented the „revenge” + pardon for

the sinners it was him who inhibited a tragic
outcome and the epilogue is still dismal
• He might be aware of what is wrong with the
appropriation of other-worldly powers but still
in agony and tormented by the uncertainty of
the situation
• Giving up everything and then depending on
the mercy of the audience
”You do look, my son, in a moved sort,
As if you were dismay'd: be cheerful, sir.
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Ye all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep. ”(4.1) Prospero to Miranda
and Ferdinand

Š Is it meant to comfort? – contradictory

Š does not only refer to the end of the masque but
end of Prospero’s magic and the dull,
disillusioning; nothing after it –dream-like life
with magic – will vanish
¶ Miranda – ” O wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O, brave new world
That has such people in ’t!”

¶ Credit is alloted to such people who are not worthy +

her benevolence and naivity distort the harsh truth and
renders a sense of incompleteness- sinners do not recieve punishment

¶ upsetted balance of the world  out of joint but when it is restored

it is not satisfactory – e.g.: they were freed from insanity
Practice of magic - How come it did not result downright
in a tragedy?

Š no sign of unappeasable drives – no malicious intentions –merely desire for

shrewd vengeance isted of cold-blooded murder

Š Prospero= stands for the other possibility – perhaps his magic ensured this
 could be a gift to

Š ”normally” reaching beyond the mortal capabilities= eternal damnation

BUT! he surrenders it when it is no longer ”needed” (justifiable)

Š perhaps he can be pardoned due to his forgiving nature / kind-heartedness

Š ! though he does control destinies- Caliban -lost trust , Ariel –is freed
eventually
•”(…) a sense of
renounced vengeance,
a turn toward
gentleness, solace, and
calm.” (Samuels 1)
The play’s paradoxical nature
Ý Prospero= to succeed, flourishing ? gives up his magical power
”Now my charms are all o’erthrown,
And what strength I have ’s mine own,
Which is most faint.”

Ý Epilougue – asking for liberation from the audience usually seen as a figure of authority
Ariel waiting for the desired freedom / Caliban – servant (constant threats + ultimation if they won’t oblige)
”Let me not,
(…) ,dwell
In this bare island by your spell.” /
”As you from crimes would pardoned be,
Let your indulgence set me free.”
 The questions

§ Which elements render the play

tragic?

§ Is the epilogue imply the retribution

for Prospero (practicing magic) or it
just an old men / actor’s cue?
 Works cited
Mukherji, Subha, and Lyne, Raphael. Early Modern Tragicomedy. D. S. Brewer, 2007.

Samuels, Peggy. “Fire Not Light: Milton's Simulacrum of Tragicomedy.” Milton

Quarterly, vol. 30, no. 1, 1996, pp. 1–15.

Bhat, Ishfaq H. ”Shakespeare’s The Tempest as a Tragicomedy”. International Journal of

Trend in Scientific Research and Development, vol. 2, no. 1, 2017, p. 316.