GCSE · English Literature · AQA · Spec 8702

The Tempest (Shakespeare)

The most powerful man on the island ends with no magic left, asking the audience to set him free. How does a story that opens with a shipwreck get there?

The Tempest in story order

Tap each event to see the problem it opens and how the ending settles it. One warning: this runs in STORY order. The play itself opens with the storm, and you only hear about the stolen dukedom afterwards, in Act 1 Scene 2.

So what kind of play is this?

Why is The Tempest a comedy?

The Tempest has a shipwreck, two murder plots and a man kept as a slave on the island where he was born. Yet the First Folio of 1623 lists it among Shakespeare's comedies.

Which is closest to what you think makes it a comedy?

It has funny characters and scenes, like the jester and the drunken butler.It ends with a wedding, and any play that ends with a wedding is a comedy.Nobody in it is ever really in danger, so it stays light-hearted.Everything that goes wrong is sorted out by the end, and order is restored.

How sure are you?

I'm sureI think soI'm guessing

It has funny characters and scenes, like the jester and the drunken butler.

This is a common misconception

This is the big one to unlearn. A Shakespearean comedy is not defined by being funny. What defines it is the ending: everything is resolved, and there is a return to the social order, usually with a marriage. Jokes alone don't make a play a comedy.

It ends with a wedding, and any play that ends with a wedding is a comedy.

This is a common misconception

Close, but you've grabbed the sign instead of the rule. A comedy's ending usually includes a marriage — the word 'usually' matters. The defining feature is that everything is resolved and social order is restored. In The Tempest, Miranda and Ferdinand's marriage is one part of a much bigger tidy-up.

Nobody in it is ever really in danger, so it stays light-hearted.

This is a common misconception

Look at the plot again: Antonio and Sebastian plan to kill the King, and Caliban, Stephano and Trinculo plan to kill Prospero. The danger is real. What makes it a comedy is that the danger is stopped and everything is settled at the end.

Everything that goes wrong is sorted out by the end, and order is restored.

This matches the evidence

Yes. That is the defining feature of a Shakespearean comedy: everything is resolved at the end, with a return to the social order, usually with a marriage. The Tempest fits exactly — Prospero is returned to his rightful place as Duke of Milan, and Miranda and Ferdinand are to marry.

Comedy means resolution, not jokes: by the end everything is settled, order is back, and there's usually a marriage.

Prospero's two servants

ArielvsCaliban

Ariel and Caliban both serve Prospero, and they are easy to mix up. Start with the top row: it's the difference people confuse most.

Focus

Before Prospero arrived

Ariel

A spirit imprisoned in a tree by the witch Sycorax.

Caliban

The son of Sycorax, a witch banished to the island. The only character known for certain to have been born there: “This island’s mine, by Sycorax my mother,”

The insight

Sycorax is in both stories, in opposite roles: Ariel was her prisoner; Caliban is her son.

How it began with Prospero

Ariel

Prospero used his magic to free Ariel from the tree.

Caliban

Caliban showed Prospero how to live on the island — what to eat and where to find shelter — and Miranda taught Caliban their language: “You taught me language; and my profit on’t”

How Prospero keeps them working

Ariel

He threatens to shut Ariel back inside a tree (“I will rend an oak”). Ariel performs magical tasks, such as creating the storm.

Caliban

He enslaves Caliban through threats of physical violence and forces him to do physical work. Their relationship is master and slave.

How they feel about it

Ariel

Ariel wants to be free — “My liberty.” — but Prospero denies it until the very end, so at times Ariel feels wronged.

Caliban

Caliban feels wronged by Prospero: the man he once helped now keeps him as a slave.

At the end

Ariel

Set free.

Caliban

Forgiven, along with Stephano and Trinculo. Prospero acknowledges him in a line beginning “this thing of darkness I…”.

How a reader might feel about Prospero

This is one reading, not the only one: a reader's feelings about a character can change as the plot moves. Tap each point to see why the line rises or falls.

Tap a point on the arc to see what changed.

The King in the audience

Reason it through

Why would you expect anyone who defies the social order or the crown in The Tempest to be dealt with severely?

Link 1 of 4

First link · your turn

Start with who backed Shakespeare's company.

Locked — reveal the link above first

Your turn

Argue it in your own words

Explain how the ending of The Tempest makes it a comedy. [4 marks]

Your answer

0 words · your answer stays on this page and is not sent anywhere.

The mark scheme

Says a comedy is defined by everything being resolved at the end (not by being funny). (1 mark)
Order is restored: Prospero is returned to his rightful place as Duke of Milan. (1 mark)
There is a marriage: Miranda and Ferdinand, with Prospero's blessing. (1 mark)
Shows another thread being closed, with a detail — e.g. the plotters forgiven (“I do forgive thee,”), or Ariel set free. (1 mark)

Model answer

What makes a Shakespearean comedy is not jokes but a resolved ending, and The Tempest's final scene resolves everything. The stolen dukedom is put right, because Prospero is returned to his rightful place as Duke of Milan. There is a marriage, as Prospero gives Miranda and Ferdinand his blessing. The threads of betrayal are closed too: Prospero tells the men who wronged him “I do forgive thee,” and Ariel is finally set free.

When you argue about genre, start from the definition — resolution — and then prove it with specific things the ending settles.

WHAT YOU'VE LEARNED

A quick recap of today's lesson.

A stolen dukedom, a shipwreck, two murder plots — and an ending that settles every one of them.

What you need to know

Story order: Antonio usurps Prospero twelve years before the play; the play opens with Prospero's storm; you only hear the backstory in Act 1 Scene 2.
The threads on the island: Miranda and Ferdinand fall in love; Antonio and Sebastian plot to kill Alonso; Caliban, Stephano and Trinculo plot to kill Prospero.
The ending: Prospero gives up his magic, forgives his enemies, blesses the marriage, frees Ariel and plans to return to Milan as Duke.
A Shakespearean comedy is defined by a resolved ending — a return to social order, usually with a marriage — not by being funny.
Ariel was imprisoned in a tree by Sycorax and freed by Prospero; Caliban is Sycorax's son, born on the island, and is enslaved by Prospero.
Context: the King's Men were under King James I's patronage from 1603, and The Tempest was first performed before him in 1611.

The big picture

The Tempest (1611) is one of Shakespeare's last plays. Twelve years before it begins, Prospero was usurped as Duke of Milan by his brother Antonio. Now, on his island, he has Ariel wreck the ship carrying Antonio and the King of Naples. Miranda and Ferdinand fall in love, two murder plots fail, and in Act 5 Prospero gives up his magic, forgives his enemies and is restored as Duke. Because everything is resolved and order is restored, with a marriage, it is a comedy.

Key points

1The Tempest was written in 1611, one of Shakespeare's last plays, and the First Folio (1623) lists it as a comedy.

2Prospero lost Milan because he left the government to his brother while he studied magic in his library.

3Every disorder the plot opens — the stolen dukedom, the shipwreck, the two plots, the lovers' story — is settled in Act 5.

4Comedy is about resolution and restored order, usually with a marriage; being funny is not the defining feature.

5Prospero, Ariel and Caliban are the key characters; their interactions build the themes of power and magic.

6A reader's sympathy for Prospero can rise and fall: betrayed, then enslaving, then forgiving — though he never apologises to Caliban.

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Worked example

Problem

Model analysis: what does Prospero's line “I’ll drown my book.” (Act 5 Scene 1) show about the ending?

⚠ Watch out

Telling the story in the order you watch it and muddling the timeline. Antonio usurped Prospero twelve years BEFORE the storm — you only hear about it afterwards, in Act 1 Scene 2, when Prospero tells Miranda for the first time.

🧠

Memory hook

Comedy = closure, not chuckles. Stolen dukedom → returned. Shipwreck → ship safe. Two plots → stopped. Two wronged servants → freed and forgiven. Two lovers → to be married.

✓

Check yourself

Cover the page. Can you name four problems the plot opens, and say how each one is settled in Act 5?

Flashcards

(13)

When was The Tempest written, and how does the First Folio (1623) classify it?

In 1611, making it one of Shakespeare's last plays. The First Folio lists it as a comedy.

What is the defining feature of a Shakespearean comedy?

Everything is resolved at the end: a return to the social order, usually with a marriage. Being funny is NOT the defining feature.

How did Antonio manage to usurp Prospero?

Prospero spent too much time in his library learning magic and left the government to Antonio: “The government I cast upon my brother”.

Who helped Prospero escape Milan, and what did he take with him?

The old courtier Gonzalo helped. Prospero escaped in a small boat with his baby daughter Miranda and his books of magic.

When does the audience hear about the usurpation?

In Act 1 Scene 2, after the storm, when Prospero tells Miranda for the first time: “Twelve year since, Miranda, twelve year since”.

Who creates the storm, and who is on the wrecked ship?

Ariel, on Prospero's orders. On board: Alonso (King of Naples), his son Ferdinand, his brother Sebastian, Antonio and Gonzalo — all washed ashore unharmed.

What was Ariel's situation before Prospero arrived, and what does Ariel want?

Imprisoned in a tree by the witch Sycorax until Prospero's magic freed the spirit. Ariel wants freedom: “My liberty.”

Why does Caliban see the island as his?

He was born there, the son of the witch Sycorax: “This island’s mine, by Sycorax my mother,”

Who plots to kill Alonso, and how is it stopped?

Antonio and Sebastian, so that Sebastian can be King of Naples. Ariel wakes Gonzalo and the plot is stopped.

How does the plot by Caliban, Stephano and Trinculo fail?

Ariel reports it to Prospero, and the three are distracted by clothes hung out for them and chased away by spirits in the form of dogs.

Who says “They have changed eyes.”, and about whom?

Prospero, about Miranda and Ferdinand falling in love at first sight.

Why did Shakespeare's company become the King's Men?

In 1603 the Lord Chamberlain's Men came under the patronage of King James I. Patronage = financial and social support.

What does Prospero ask the audience in the Epilogue?

To release him: “Let your indulgence set me free.”

Tap any card to flip it, or use Study as deck to go through them one at a time. In the full lesson these run as a spaced-repetition deck — you rate each card Hard, Good or Easy and the tricky ones keep coming back until they stick.

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Why is The Tempest a comedy?

Argue it in your own words

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