ABSTRACT

Shakespeare blends tragicomedy, romance, and magic with commedia dell'arte in The Tempest. Shakespeare incorporated plot points from at least four Italianate English literary sources to craft The Tempest. Italian literature may have impacted Shakespeare's Tempest. Late-sixteenth-century tragicomic pastorals such as Guarini's Il Pastore Fido and Tasso's Aminta featured shepherds in intricate romances that probably informed Shakespeare's mid-to-late tragicomedies. Prospero gives up magic to sail with his brother Antonio, the King of Naples, Prince Ferdinand and company back to Milan at the end of The Tempest. Ariel faithfully serves Prospero with the acrobatic dexterity of Arlecchino on pain of imprisonment. King Alonso appears as Pantalone who mourns the loss of his son in the tempest. Nobly as he was born, Antonio lost his moral vigor as he rose in political power. Shakespeare infused The Tempest with commedia dell'arte through the antics of the wild man and low cunning of the pair of zanni at the comic heart of The Tempest.