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Compare tragedy and comedy
The theme of music in the tempest
The theme of music in the tempest
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Recommended: Compare tragedy and comedy
The Tempest Genrefication
For years, it’s been up for debate exactly which category The Tempest fits best. The Tempest was Shakespeare’s last play before his death and has caused confusion behind the inspiration for the characters and most important, the genre. The reason no one knows what category to put The Tempest in because of the many different components in the play. The Tempest has marriage like a comedy, a character of nobility who has a downfall like a tragedy, and has a muted tone of happiness as in romance. The Tempest should be labeled as a romance because of its acknowledgement of evil fits perfectly in the category of romance. . The Tempest should be labeled as a romance because of its acknowledgement of evil and use of marriage toward the end. For it to be a tragedy, it wouldn’t be able to have a happy ending. For example, in the
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Shakespeare has a plethora of plays ranging from Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Julius Caesar etc. These are all references for figuring out the genre of The Tempest because they are more practical when it comes to placing them into a certain category. Both Much Ado About Nothing and A Midsummer Night’s Dream are considered comedies because of the marriages that take place and the lighthearted and playful vibes that the plays give off to the reader. While quite similar to The Tempest, The Tempest is a much more moody and darker play that recognizes the negative and evil within the world. In Julius Caesar, an emperor goes from being feared and in control to being assassinated by his advisors and closest friends which makes it a tragedy. Considering that Prospero was once a duke and was then shipped off to an island might make one quick to classify The Tempest as a tragedy. But its many different components say
With the semester coming to an end, many students are excited. This especially includes those who will be graduating soon. However, graduation can be seen as a bittersweet moment. On one hand, the graduates enter into a new chapter in their lives. On the other hand, they may lose communication with some of their friends. Unfortunately, this is a natural aspect of each person’s life. Everyone will experience some kind of loss in their life, whether it is person or an object. In The Tempest, Shakespeare discusses the topic of loss. While this theme is not talked about much compared to other themes in the play, it is very important since it is a theme that is included in the 1956 movie adaptation Forbidden Planet. While both works illustrate the ways people deals a loss, the later work demonstrates how the advancement in the world have affected the way modern society
Aristotle defines a tragedy as “an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude”. However, it is his claim that a story must contain six parts in order to be a tragedy that causes much controversy. Many critics argue that William Shakespeare does not follow the guidelines for a tragic story in his famous piece Romeo and Juliet. Their main argument is with the way he presents his tragic elements. But as Lois Kerschen says, “Shakespeare may have altered the classic form of the Greek tragedy, but that does not mean he totally ignored the Greek formula”(261). It is his strong emphasis on certain elements that prove his case. Shakespeare’s contribution of harmatia, catharsis, and anagnorisis to Romeo and Juliet prove the story to be a true Aristotelean tragedy.
Tragedy is a broad genre that may take many forms. Sophocles' Oedipus the King and Shakespeare's Hamlet both contain the basic elements of tragedy, but Hamlet is a tragic hero, while Oedipus is a tragic villain. From the opening moments of Hamlet, the audience knows that Hamlet must avenge his father's death. Oedipus, on the other hand, kills his own father and unwittingly marries his mother, thus sealing his own fate and fulfilling the prophecy that stated he would do just that.
“The Tempest” is a play written by William Shakespeare in early 1600s that has been previewed in different kinds of movies, such as the one made in 2010, directed by Julie Taymor. It is a play containing themes such as; revenge, allusion, retribution, forgiveness, power, love and hatred. When it is compared to the play, there are specific differences seen in the movie, such as; Prospero is reflected as a woman in the movie. The time differences between the play and the movie and how the spirit Ariel is shown as a white man in the movie. The play starts with the story of Prospero, the Duke of Milan. He gets banished from Italy and was cast to sea by his brother Antonio. He has perfected his skills during twelve years of exile on a lonely island. Prospero creates the tempest to make his enemies’ ship to wreck and lead them to the island. Meanwhile, Antonio takes Prospero’s place and starts to make everyone believe he is the duke and makes an agreement with the King of Naples, Alonso. Besides the drama happening in the island, Prospero forgives Alonso and the others.
The play itself is a masque-like comedy; it far surpasses the majority of those traditional pieces with similar themes which were continuously being updated by other writers of Shakespeare's day. It is a tale of magic and wonderworking, of retribution and forgiveness, of shipwreck and enchanted isles. The Tempest is also the last of Shakespeare's completed plays.
The play Othello is Shakespeare's own version of a classic Greek tragedy. A classical dramatic tragedy derives its essence from the ancient Greek plays that were often popular in Athens. These plays would typically consist of the downfall of a famous Greek character in history/legend, or the breakdown of a hero. Typically the hero is forced to struggle against overwhelming odds, and fate only that this characters downfall would be so imposing that regardless of these forces of nature and fate that destroy him, that he would rise and regain glory due to his moral victory. These tragedies would invoke terror and pity on the audience, in a sense a tragedy could be considered a form of a catharsis, literally cleansing the soul as it is performed, even though the horror typically disturbed audiences, at the same time it cleansed their soul and purified the spirit.
The Tempest by William Shakespeare, among other themes, is a play very centered around rivalries, an important one being the one between Prospero and Caliban. As one would naturally expect, the triumphs and failures of the ongoing conflict yield different reactions for the two different characters. The conflict illustrates a dichotomous view of the way in which people respond to failure or defeat. Whereas Caliban responds to defeat instinctively with furious acts of retaliation, Prospero reasons that when those kinds of acts are examined under the scope of logic, they appear to be unlike that of a noble and therefore, should not be undertaken.
The Tempest is a comedy. The play may not seem to fit into the category of comedy as it exists today; but in the 17th century comedy was very different. Certainly, The Tempest would never be confused with a modern television comedy - the art of comedy has evolved too far. The main plot of the play - the plot involving Prospero regaining his rightful position as the Duke of Milan - seem to be overly serious for a comedy. The scenes containing Trinculo and Stephano, however are the exceptions here - their scenes are much closer to the modern interpretation of comedy than the majority of the rest of the play.
It makes sense to me to see in this Shakespeare's sense of his own art--both what it can achieve and what it cannot. The theatre--that magical world of poetry, song, illusion, pleasing and threatening apparitions--can, like Prospero's magic, educate us into a better sense of ourselves, into a final acceptance of the world, a state in which we forgive and forget in the interests of the greater human community. The theatre, that is, can reconcile us to the joys of the human community so that we do not destroy our families in a search for righting past evils in a spirit of personal revenge or as crude assertions of our own egos. It can, in a very real sense, help us fully to understand the central Christian commitment to charity, to loving our neighbour as ourselves. The magic here brings about a total reconciliation of all levels of society from sophisticated rulers to semi-human brutes, momentarily holding off Machiavellian deceit, drunken foolishness, and animalistic rebellion--each person, no matter how he has lived, has a place in the magic circle at the end. And no one is asking any awkward questions.
Shakespeare's "The Tempest" forms a world within itself. Within this world, many topics regarding government, power and colonization are addressed. Shakespeare tackles the discovery of new places and races, the relationship between the colonized and the colonist, old world ideologies on new soil, as well as theories on civilization and government. These aspects at the core reveal a very clear struggle for political power. Prospero's first major monologue creates the foundation of such a theme. In 1.2 lines 30-175 Prospero tell his story recounting the usurpation of the power he had as Duke of Milan, then quickly renews his power on the island. Prospero beings his story with an authoritative tone stating: "Obey and be attentive" (1.2 48). Desiring political power and authority becomes the core from which other themes derive.
The Tempest, like any text, is a product of its context. It is constructed in relation to moral or ethical concerns of 17th century European Jacobean society. The resolution of conflict appears 'natural' or an inevitable consequence if regarded in relation to the concerns of its context. The resolution of conflict in this play incorporates Prospero being returned to his 'rightful' or natural position as Duke of Milan, his daughter Miranda getting married to Ferdinand, and the party returning to Milan leaving the island to the 'monster', Caliban. The resolution is a consequence of the concerns of the time, including the idea of the divine right of kings, courtly love, and colonisation.
Throughout history, the struggle for power has led mankind to commit unspeakable acts of violence in order to obtain or maintain dominion over others. Imprisonment, torture and murder are all tools tyrants such as Caligula of Rome, Ivan IV of Russia and Pol Pot of Cambodia used to subject their will on others. At the most basic level these are all stories of men obsessed with power. The Tempest, by William Shakespeare is another such story that shows just how far a person will go to gain control and power over others. The character relationship between Prospero and his slaves, Ariel and Caliban, provides insight into the overall theme of the story which is the struggle between those who have power and those that are envious of that power and will stop at nothing to take it from themselves.
What is tragedy? Aristotle defines tragedy: "A tragedy must not be the spectacles of a perfect good man brought to adversity. For this merely stock us" (1). Not in every play where a hero dies is considered a tragedy. Also, "Nor, of course, must it be that of a bad man passing from adversity to prosperity: for that is not tragedy at all, but the perversion of tragedy, and revolts moral sense". Further "Nor, again, should it exhibit the downfall of an utter villain pity is aroused by undeserved misfortunes, terror by misfortunes befalling a man like ourselves". "There remains, then, as the only proper subject for tragedy, the spectacle of a man not absolutely or eminently good or wise, who is brought to disaster not by sheer depravity but by some error or frailty". "Lastly, this man must be highly renowned and prosperous-and Oedipus, a Thyestes, or some other illustrious person" (Quiller-Couch 1). "A tragedy, he tells us, is a play in which the chief characters experience a change from good fortune to bad, and in a comedy, alternately, the change is from bad to good" (Fallon, Themes 210). The tragedy in Macbeth is between friends, but the tragedy in Hamlet occurs within the family.
A tragedy has many definitions, but the Merriam-Webster version defines it as: “a serious drama typically describing a conflict between the protagonist and a superior force (as destiny) and having a sorrowful or disastrous conclusion that excites pity or terror.” The latter part, about disastrous conclusion is true for Shakespeare’s tragedies, and Othello is no exception.
In 350 B.C.E., a great philosopher wrote out what he thought was the definition of a tragedy. As translated by S.H. Butcher, Aristotle wrote; “Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish its catharsis of such emotions. . . . Every Tragedy, therefore, must have six parts, which parts determine its quality—namely, Plot, Characters, Thought, Diction, Spectacle, Melody. (http://www.cnr.edu/home/bmcmanus/poetics.html)” Later in history, William Shakespeare wrote tragedies that epitomized Aristotle’s outline of a tragedy. Shakespeare’s Hamlet is one such tragedy.