Shakespeare's late romances
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The late romances, often simply called, the romances are a grouping of William Shakespeare's later plays, including Pericles, Prince of Tyre, Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale, and The Tempest. The last two are generally considered superior. The Two Noble Kinsmen is sometimes included in this grouping. The term is a modern one, and was not used in Shakespeare's own lifetime.
The romances are so called because they bear similarities with medieval romance literature. Shakespeare's romances share the following features:
- A redemptive plotline with a happy ending involving the reuniting of long-separated family members.
- Magic and other fantastical elements
- A deus ex machina, often manifesting as a Greek god (such as Zeus in Cymbeline or Diana in Pericles).
- A mixture of "civilized" and "pastoral" scenes (such as the gentry and the island residents in The Tempest). This mixture can be anachronistic (such as prehistoric Britain mixing with imperial Rome in Cymbeline).
The 'lateness' of the romances can be questioned, since some of Shakespeare's earlier plays, including The Comedy of Errors and Twelfth Night, are closely related to the late romances.