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Shakespeare’s later works are tragi-comedies, combining elements of comedy and tragedy. Four plays, Pericles, Cymbeline, The Winter’s Tale, and The Tempest, are classified as romances. These plays feature supernatural occurrences and happy endings, with conflicts resolved and flawed characters redeemed. Scholars speculate that Shakespeare may have been following a trend or planning for retirement.
Towards the end of his career, William Shakespeare, the English playwright, moved away from comedies that could easily be described as comic or tragic. His latest works combine elements of both genres and are commonly referred to as “tragi-comedies” or romantic comedies. Four dramas are usually classified by pundits under the heading of romance: Pericles, Cymbeline, The Winter’s Tale and The Tempest.
These dramas have several characteristics in common, and in all four a long-standing conflict or injustice is resolved. Unlike tragedies, potentially tragic endings are avoided by the redemption or penance of a flawed character. Romantic comedies often feature supernatural occurrences, such as the use of magic, and extraordinary occurrences, such as shipwrecks, the reunion of long-lost families, and improbable cross-dressing. Unlike comedies, where the endings begin as happy compromises between extremes, romantic endings often seem staged or concocted to make each character as happy as possible.
The earliest of Shakespeare’s plays included in this group is Pericles, believed to have been written around 1608. In the play, Pericles is a prince who sails around the world in hiding from a permanent and evil enemy. He marries a foreign princess, but is led to believe she dies in childbirth. Pericles is then told by a traitorous friend that his daughter Marina is also dead. Through an unlikely series of events, including a visit from the goddess Diana, he learns that his wife and daughter are in fact still alive, and the family is finally reunited.
Cymbaline has been changed from its original tragedy designation. The story involves Imogen, the daughter of King Cymbeline, who goes into hiding after being falsely accused of adultery. She meets up with her older brothers, who had been kidnapped 20 years earlier by a man named Belarius in retaliation for her unjust banishment by the king. At the game’s conclusion, nearly every character comes forward with information leading to the discovery of Imogen and Belario’s innocence and, furthermore, uncovering a plot by Cymbeline’s second wife to kill Imogen and place her son on the throne. As a result, Imogen and her husband are reunited, peace is declared, and the twin sons are reunited with their family.
The Winter’s Tale is a story of redemption set over two decades. King Leontes of Sicily discovers too late the innocence of his wife Hermione, accused of adultery with his friend King Polissene of Bohemia. Sixteen years pass and Leontes continues to mourn his wife and son, whom he ordered to kill. When Polyxenes, King of Bohemia, opposes the marriage of his son Florizel to a shepherdess named Perdita, the young couple flee to Sicily. Strange events conspire to reveal Perdita as Leontes’ lost daughter, reunite Leontes with the magically resurrected Hermione, and unite the kingdoms of Sicily and Bohemia through the marriage of Perdita and Florizel.
In The Tempest, Shakespeare’s last play, Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan returns to power when a provident shipwreck deposits his traitorous brother Antonio on his magical island. The game is considered to be the most magically oriented of the novels, as its setting is a magic-filled island populated by goblins, fairies, and a half-fish, half-human monster named Caliban. When Prospero’s daughter Miranda falls in love with one of the castaways, Prospero decides to give up his magic and return to Milan. The brother repents of his crimes and the whole company leaves for Italy, leaving Caliban in charge of the island.
Romantic comedies are not to be taken as realistic, but rather enjoyed for their lush settings and surprise twists. The poetry of the plays is considered by some to be Shakespeare’s most mature and beautiful. Experts are divided as to why Shakespeare left his popular tragedies behind to work in this field, and some scholars suggest he was simply following the fad, but that theory isn’t universal. Many scholars believe that Shakespeare was planning his retirement from the busy world of London and, through these plays, sought a happy ending for his life.
