pero's dukedom and send him into exile. Prospero wrecks the boat full of his old enemies as it passes the island where he and his daughter have made their home. Ferdinand and Miranda immediately fall in love.
Miranda declares on first seeing Ferdinand: "I might call him/ A thing divine, for nothing natural/ I ever saw so noble" (Shakespeare 43). And Ferdinand is just as thoroughly taken by Miranda on first sight: "Most sure, the goddess/ On whom these airs attend! . . . My prime request,/ Which I do last pronounce, is---O, you wonder!---/ If you be maid [unmarried] or no" (Shakespeare 43).
The couple in love provides the main element of Frye's theory of comedy to the play. Next comes the paternal obstacle. He sets great physical tasks for Ferdinand to achieve, believing that something too quickly won is not worth much: "They are both in either's power. But this swift business/ I must uneasy make, lest too light winning/ Make the prize light" (Shakespeare 45).
As befits a comedy and not a tragedy, the young man is able to overcome the obstacles, and he and his beloved prepare to marry, symbolizing not only their love for one another, but the dawning of a new society marked by harmony rather than conflict.
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