Discuss How Shakespeare Uses the Tempest to Symbolise the Genre of Drama.

Discuss How Shakespeare Uses the Tempest to Symbolise the Genre of Drama. There can be no doubt that The Tempest contains numerous references to the theatre, and while many of Shakespeare's plays make reference to the dramatic arts and their parallel with real life (e.g., 'All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players.' from As You Like It.) it is in this, his last play, that the playwright …

…the need to keep his plans on schedule, uses the word "now" more than forty times, notably at the start of Act V, when he proclaims to Ariel and his audience, "Now does my project gather to a head,". Like an Elizabethan stage manager, Prospero controls the pace and flow of events, making sure that the proceedings occurs within the allotted time period, in proper order, and at the exact moment in the story's progression.