Suggestions
Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.Please wait while we process your payment
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
Please wait while we process your payment
By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy.
Don’t have an account? Subscribe now
Create Your Account
Sign up for your FREE 7-day trial
Already have an account? Log in
Your Email
Choose Your Plan
Individual
Group Discount
Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan!
Purchasing SparkNotes PLUS for a group?
Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more!
Price
$24.99 $18.74 /subscription + tax
Subtotal $37.48 + tax
Save 25% on 2-49 accounts
Save 30% on 50-99 accounts
Want 100 or more? Contact us for a customized plan.
Your Plan
Payment Details
Payment Summary
SparkNotes Plus
You'll be billed after your free trial ends.
7-Day Free Trial
Not Applicable
Renews September 30, 2023 September 23, 2023
Discounts (applied to next billing)
DUE NOW
US $0.00
SNPLUSROCKS20 | 20% Discount
This is not a valid promo code.
Discount Code (one code per order)
SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan - Group Discount
Qty: 00
SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Free trial is available to new customers only.
Choose Your Plan
For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more!
You’ve successfully purchased a group discount. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. You'll also receive an email with the link.
Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership.
Thanks for creating a SparkNotes account! Continue to start your free trial.
Please wait while we process your payment
Your PLUS subscription has expired
Please wait while we process your payment
Please wait while we process your payment
When the First Folio edition of Shakespeare’s plays was published in 1623, The Tempest appeared under the genre category “comedy.” Like all of Shakespeare’s other comedies, the play resolves happily, with the promise of a wedding between Miranda and Ferdinand. Also as in other comedies, the plot of The Tempest revolves around a series of misunderstandings that are resolved over the course of the play. The tempest, or storm, that gives the play its title causes a shipwreck, stranding many characters on an island. Several of the characters mistakenly believe their shipmates are dead. However, none of the characters actually die in the storm, and everyone is happily reunited at the play’s end. The Tempest also features not one but two attempted assassinations: Alonso and Antonio’s attempted assassination of Prospero, which lead to Prospero fleeing to the island, and Antonio and Sebastian’s plot to murder Alonso. But, again, neither attempt is successful, and no one dies. The play ends with Alonso repenting of his schemes against Prospero, and Prospero reclaiming his title of Duke of Milan. The fact that no one dies in the play, discord is repaired, misunderstandings are resolved, and lovers and united in marriage all contribute to the play’s classification as a comedy.
Although The Tempest contains many elements of comedy, it also deviates significantly from Shakespeare’s other comedies, which is why scholars now classify it as a romance. Romance is a genre scholars began assigning to a group of plays Shakespeare wrote at the end of his career. These plays, while categorized in the First Folio as either comedies or tragedies, don’t neatly fit the conventions of either genre. Along with Shakespeare’s other late plays Pericles, Cymbeline, and The Winter’s Tale, The Tempest contains elements of both tragedy and comedy, with the overall structure of the play moving from “tragic” beginning to “comedic” ending. These four plays also all contain elements of magic and the supernatural. For example, the massive storm that opens Tempest is the result of Prospero’s conjuring. Throughout the play, Prospero (and his magical spirit Ariel) use magic to manipulate and dazzle the other characters. Finally, The Tempest differs from the comedic genre in that while the play ends in marriage, the story of the lovers doesn’t drive the plot. In fact, Miranda and Ferdinand don’t meet until well into the action of the play, and the essential conflict—Prospero’s desire to regain his title—has nothing to do with their separation or reunion. All of Shakespeare’s romances also feature marriage as an element of their plots, but not the driving force of the action.
Read more about Shakespeare’s later romance plays, such as The Winter’s Tale.
Please wait while we process your payment