Shakespeare's The Tempest as a Tragicomedy

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is beyond doubt the greatest dramatist of all time. He occupies a position unique in world literature. Other poets, such as Homer and Dante, and novelists, such as, Leo Tolstoy and Charles Dickens, have transcended national barriers; but no writer's living reputation can compare to that of Shakespeare.1 His plays, sonnets and two long narrative poems earned him an international acclaim and acceptance as the best writer in the history of English literature. His play, The Tempest, is thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. In this play Shakespeare artistically blends aspects of both tragic and comic forms2: a sorrowful scene is immediately followed by an amusing scene and vice versa. On one hand, the play has enough comic elements to lighten the tragic elements and on the other hand it has enough tragic elements to intensify the comic elements. The paper aims to study The Tempest as a tragicomedy by highlighting Shakespeare's artistic technique of blending tragic and comic elements in the play. Ishfaq Hussain Bhat"Shakespeare's The Tempest as a Tragicomedy" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-2 | Issue-1 , December 2017, URL: http://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd5955.pdf http://www.ijtsrd.com/humanities-and-the-arts/english/5955/shakespeare's-the-tempest-as-a-tragicomedy/ishfaq-hussain-bhat