Google Book Search dedicates a page to the works of Shakespeare. You can browse through or search through his comedies, tragedies, romances, and histories.

Those four categories are Google-assigned. It seems that the “Romance” category is really for those that don’t quite fit into one of the other three (so-called “problem plays”). For example, The Tempest is classified as a Romance. It does end with a wedding, but that could easily place it in the Comedy category. Shakespeare uses the fantastic to explore ides of romance, nature, politics and power, etc. The play certainly is more serious than Shakespeare’s comedies, and maybe, instead of just calling it a romance, we should think less about how it fits within the categories of Shakespearian plays and more about with what the play concerns itself. It is important to note that the play was composed later in his life, along with those other “problem plays”.

Note that the word “problem” does not denote a problem in Shakespeare’s life or with the bard himself, but rather a problem with the attempts critics and scholars make to classify his works. Perhaps we should simply categorize it, if we must, as a “later” or “mature” play. You could also call it a “mid-life crisis play’, though whether or not it was written in a mid-life period of Shakespeare’s life is also debatable, of course.

Here’s a good idea: why don’t you read The Tempest yourself? You can, thanks to Google, if you go here and click on the link for the work that you’ll find under the Romance tab.