Why do Ferdinand and Miranda have to fall in love? It simply could not have been love at first sight. Yes, perhaps there is such a thing as love at first sight, but for Ferdinand and Miranda, there is much more to the story. Ferdinand and Miranda’s love for each other was born out of necessity; there are no other simple reasons for them falling in love. There is much reason to stipulate their love was born out of necessity. One such argument is since Prospero wants them to fall in love; they have to because he is in complete control of the island and controls the entire plot of the play. Another such reason for their marriage is that they are ideal characters for each other, all the other primary characters are corrupt, yet Ferdinand and Miranda being young and innocent are the ideal candidates for each other. As well I shall explore one commonality between two of Shakespeare’s plays. One final reason to support these views is of the very nature of this play, which is the nature of Shakespearian Comedy. All Shakespearian Comedies must end in a marriage, and this is no exception. Drawing on my first two arguments to support my third it is quite evident why Ferdinand and Miranda simply have to be.

On the island Prospero wields complete power, over the forces of nature and even to some extent over the wills of others. What Prospero wants, Prospero gets. He accomplishes this through his magical powers and sorcery, and to a certain extent- his cunning. So how does all of this tie into Ferdinand and Miranda having to fall in love? Although it is not quite evident at first, Prospero wants them to be. He most likely wants this in order to make peace with Alonso, King of Naples by having his daughter marry Alonso’s son. So really the marriage is orchestrated by Prospero due to politico-economic reasons. Using his magic and cunning he orchestrated a very feasible plan to make the marriage happen, without directly implicating himself. What Prospero does is conjure up a plot to present the most ideal circumstances for Ferdinand and Miranda to “hit it off” so to say. Firstly he waits for the king of Naples to be at sea with his entourage, including his son Ferdinand. Then using Ariel, he conjures up a storm to wreck the ship off his island. Yet Prospero makes sure all of makes sure all of the crew and passengers make it to shore alive and makes sure they are kept separate to have them speculate on each other’s fate. In doing this Prospero makes it easy to manipulate the group to his own needs, in this case finding a suitable husband for Miranda. So when Ferdinand and Miranda finally meet up with each other as Prospero probably had planned for, Prospero played the role of “concerned father” and instantly denounced Ferdinand as a traitor. What he was doing here was really clever, Prospero knew that Miranda would but more attracted to Ferdinand if her father portrayed him in a negative light. The character of Prospero was really a genius if you read between the lines and actually see the other tactics besides magic he was employing. However this is by no means the only reason that Ferdinand and Miranda have to fall in love.

Ferdinand and Miranda are two individuals still in their youth and uncorrupted by the rest of the world. When we look at the other characters such as Alonso, Prospero, Sebastian, Trinculo, Stephano, and so on they are all unlikely candidates for Miranda. They are unlikely for a variety of reasons for one some of them are just simply too old, and well Stephano is just a drunk. However this is not the prime reason why Ferdinand is the only suitor ideal for Miranda. All of the other characters in the play have massive flaws and no one is not near as pure or perfect for each other as Ferdinand and Miranda. I also have another theory on why Ferdinand and Miranda have to fall in love. It seems to be that love between two individuals of sworn groups of enemies may be a typical Shakespearian theme. For another example of this we not look further than the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. In that particular play we are told of two lovers, of innocence and youth that are constantly surrounded by conflict and conspiracy. In the tempest we see similar motifs and theme, Ferdinand and Miranada both come from two families that are enemies since Prospero was over thrown by Alonso. As well while on the island we bear witness to conspiracy to kill both Prospero and Alonso. But Ferdinand and Miranda seem to take very little interest in all of this plotting and are only interested in one another. We can see how both plays are very similar in nature through these characteristics. As well because we have this example of innocence and youth in another one of Shakespeare’s plays, we can see how it need again apply here. Due to both of these facts we can see how Ferdinand and Miranda are ideal for each other and have no choice but to fall in love with one another.

However, the strongest point to why Ferdinand and Miranda have to fall in love is due to the very nature of Shakespearian Comedy. According to Dr. Richard Marchand,”…All Shakespearian Comedies end in a marriage.” In addition, if we look at other Shakespearian Comedies such as The Merchant of Venice and A Midsummer Night’s Dream this becomes quite evident. As well Courtship is the staple activity in the comic drama of Shakespeare and his Elizabethan contemporaries, driving the main plot or, less often, a subplot. While these plays pursue love wholeheartedly, they are equally energetic in negating death. Like their carnivalesque antecedents marked by burlesque funerals and resurrections, they invoke the end of life only to avoid it, undo it, distance it, laugh it off. According to this scholar, Shakespearean comedies also end in marriage and love, and are overall lighthearted in nature. To understand why all of Shakespeare’s comedies end like this we need to look at the Elizabethan times. This was during the Renaissance and there was a reemergence of the Roman and Greek arts. Many of Shakespeare’s contemporaries and even Shakespeare himself based their comedies off the works of Titus Maccius Plautus and Publius Terentius. These Roman Comedies typically had happy conclusions and contained all sorts of racy jokes. If we look into Shakespeare’s comedic works, we can find evidence of this. Based on all of this information, and on the origins of comedy itself we can see why The Tempest has no other conclusion, other than Ferdinand and Miranda falling in love and getting married and having no tragic element.

It should be quite evident now that Ferdinand and Miranda have no other option other than falling in love. There are many other reasons to why they had to, but these three are the strongest and the most easily explained. They fell in love due to Prospero wanting them to fall in love. Owing to the fact that Prospero wielded complete control over the island and its occupants, it was really no contest here. Since Prospero wanted them to fall in love, it had to happen. In addition, we can quite easily see that Ferdinand and Miranda are the only suitable suitors for each other. They are the only pure and youthful characters on this island of plotting and conspiracy. As well, love and youth was a common element of Shakespearian drama. To see another example of this we need look no further than Romeo and Juliet and see its similarities to The Tempest. Then we come to the elements of Shakespearian Comedy, all of which must end in marriage and have an overall light-hearted atmosphere. The Tempest is no exception to the rule, and it must end in a marriage. So we can see owning to all three of these facts the lovers in The Tempest have to fall in love.

Works Cited

Snyder, S. (1995). The Genres of Shakespeare's Plays. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.