Shakespeare has a reputation for mixing elements of tragedy into his comedies and elements of comedies into his tragedies. So as a result, it only makes sense that the bard would set one of my favorite of his comedies in the middle of a violent windstorm. The Tempest is an excellent comedy that takes place on an island following - as the name suggests - a tempest which shipwrecks all of its characters on a mysterious island. This is a comedy for the simple explanation that it obviously meets all the criteria of a comedy as it ends with a happy marriage and the protagonist getting everything he wants, however, thinking of the actual comedy of it all, there is something to be asked about why it is that such a violent storm can actually be funny? This seems odd to say but any of my fellow Floridians and surely those from other places hurricanes hit have experienced the very real effect of the humor that comes with a hurricane. The internet runs wild with all kinds of jokes about it while locals make plans for hurricane parties. Shakespeare did not just pick the tempest at random but rather he recognized a very real truth that there is something comical happening here.
The first simple answer is that the isolation that comes with a major storm simply provides opportunity for abnormal comedic environments. In the play this is shown particularly by the characters Caliban, Trinculo, and Stephano. Caliban is a native inhabitant of the island that is a servant to the protagonist Prospero. He is routinely described as fish like and referred to as “monster,” this level of unfamiliarity of a fellow man could only make sense after being washed away to a distant unknown island. He then abandons Prospero to serve these new masters for two simple reasons: he felt abused by Prospero and - more importantly - these new men had wine. These new men are a butler and servant of the king and the majority of their plot line is a drunken plot to become kings of the island. The servant class would not have been able to be persistently drunk and plotting to take over the kingship back in the mainland, but it makes perfect sense in this isolated setting. This correlates to real life where hurricane parties that never could have existed with work tomorrow are opened up when everything is closed down
and people are forced to hang out without power. As a result comedy takes over in real world in the face of these abnormal surroundings.
However, there is a deeper level than that. This is in the concept of memento mori an old Catholic concept that we must remember we will die. Hurricanes put us in exactly this position in which we are forced to come face to face with out own mortality. In real life, there comes a point where there is nothing we can do. We have put up our shutters and hunkered down, now it is just time to sit and wait and face possible death head on. This, of course, does not sound particularly funny when phrased like this. However, this fear of death comes with a natural desire to heal the fear with the joy of comedy. In fact, Plato wrote on the interconnectedness of pain and pleasure in a way that connects similarly to this in his dialogue Phaedo:
And when she was gone, Socrates, sitting up on the couch, began to bend and rub his leg, saying, as he rubbed: How singular is the thing called pleasure, and how curiously related to pain, which might be thought to be the opposite of it; for they never come to a man together, and yet he who pursues either of them is generally compelled to take the other. They are two, and yet they grow together out of one head or stem; and I cannot help thinking that if Aesop had noticed them, he would have made a fable about God trying to reconcile their strife, and when he could not, he fastened their heads together; and this is the reason why when one comes the other follows, as I find in my own case pleasure comes following after the pain in my leg, which was caused by the chain.
Just as the pain in Socrates leg inspired him to massage it away, thus achieving pleasure. There is an interconnectedness of fear and joy in the face of death. The comedy that pursues a hurricane is the massaging of the leg that comes from the pain. There is an interconnection between the two. And we can see that Shakespeare intended this memento mori element when we read one of Prospero’s most famous speeches in the play:
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air;
And like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
Here, Shakespeare drills the theme of memento mori into our heads forging this connection in his play. It could very well be said that this is his way of intertwining serious more tragic themes into his comedies - and it would be accurate to make that claim - however there is
also still something very true to be said that this was fitting for a comedy because there is a sincere connection here.
The connection, however, does not end at what has been said thus far. It is not true that the humor is merely a reaction to the fear. It is a deeper truth that memento mori is joyous and funny in and of itself. As mortal beings we think of reminders of our death as things that are fitting to tragedy. However, when we remember the immortal nature of God and the souls he has given us and we genuinely meditate on the last things (death, judgment, Heaven, and Hell), we should properly be reminded that the war is already won and as such we should be able to smile and laugh at death. This is best explained by an old story in the Dominican tradition in which the novices were praying their night prayers and were not taking it as seriously as they should have. Some of the novices burst out in laughter and were then scolded, however, someone else stepped in to correct them telling the one scolding them, let them laugh for sin has been defeated. This is what is so ultimately comical about the face of these terrifying storms. It is in the recognition that ultimately there is nothing they can truly do in the long run, so why not laugh in the face of death?
Caleb here, this is a poem Connor wrote Hope you enjoy it.
To The Beggar’s Cry
O how I’ve robbed the poor of what they seek,
O how I’ve kept the hungry waiting long,
O how I’ve grieved the soul who’s lost and weak,
O how I’ve stirred the anger of the strong.
How many times have I increased their pain,
How often have I turned my face away?
How many times have I refused the slain,
And failed to give when beggars humbly pray?
O God, help me to see the poor in need,
And never let my hand withhold from them.
Lord, keep me from the curse my greed may breed,
For if I do, I’ll face Your righteous hem.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God
Have mercy on me, a sinner