ABSTRACT
The Tempest begins with a shipwreck and ends with an enigma. Neither are what they seem and both are “outside” the dramatic events exhibited during the play, upon the enchanted island. The fourth and last of the romances brings Shakespearean tragicomedy to its meridian. It is useful to remember that the German word for comedy is Lustspiel, or pleasure play, as Freud pointed out in Creative Writers and Daydreaming; for tragedy, Trauerspiel, or mourning play. The Tempest invites reflection upon the relation between Freud and Shakespeare at a number of points of convergence. Prospero was never a man ambitious for worldly power. Prospero’s progress throughout the play is a Herculean contest with himself, with ambivalence.
