NOTE: This is what scholars have decided makes a Shakespearean "comedy." We have no way of knowing what Shakespeare was actually thinking.
Where does Tempest differ from or take liberties with these conventions? Why could that be?
What does that tell you?
*there is no "right" answer to these questions!*
Plays identified with fun, irony, and "dazzling wordplay"
Shakespeare's comedies follow a superficial outline
love and marriage
mistaken identity
Idyllic setting
disguise and gender
music and dance
fools
fate and fantasy
happy ending
In the publication of the First Folio, The Tempest appears under the category of 'comedy.' This is due to the fact that the play resolves happily with the promise of a marriage and Prospero forgiving his brother and the king, releasing Ariel, relinquishing his magic, and planning to return to Milan.
Additionally, Tempest carries many of the other "requirements" of a comedy. The play revolves around misunderstandings and fantastical elements of magic and wonder. There is music and dance, fools (Stephano and Trinculo, and it is all set on a beautiful island.
While Tempest carries many of these comedic elements, it doesn't fit perfectly into the definition of what a Shakespearean comedy is. Another category (that doesn't appear in the First Folio) that scholars now have place Tempest in is Romance. There are both tragic and comedic elements within the play, and there is a movement from a tragic begging to a more comedic or happy ending.
Another important distinction is that the love story within Tempest (Miranda and Ferdinand) does not drive the plot.