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 most plainly acknowledges that the audience is viewing a show. Therefore, in the play's final scene, Prospero tells Ferdinand that the festivities at hand are almost at an end, th…