Essay Example on The Tempest And Colonialis

Background Information: In 1609 a fleet of nine ships set out from England. headed towards John Smith’s Virginia settlement. the first English colony in the New World. One of the nine ships was separated during a violent storm and ended up on Bermuda. These shipwrecked Europeans began colonising the island and enslaving the native population. Shakespeare’s Tempest is based on this incident. For over a century. a figure of critics have tried to construe the assorted elements of station colonialism nowadays in the Tempest.

In 1818. the English critic William Hazlitt was the first to indicate out that Prospero had usurped Caliban from his regulation of the island and therefore. was an agent of imperialism. This position provided the footing for modern readings of the Tempest as a station colonial work. Shakespeare’s Tempest is an amalgam of assorted pots colonial elements: Prospero is a European who has taken charge of a distant island. being able to make so because of his strong charming powers.

With these powers. he organizes a life for himself. gets the local dwellers ( Ariel and Caliban ) to work for him. and maintains his control by a combination of menaces. enchantments and captivations. and promises of freedom some twenty-four hours. By taking charge of a topographic point which is non his and by exercising his European authorization over the unusual non-European animals. Prospero can be seen as an obvious symbol for European colonial power. However. Caliban is possibly the strongest symbol of Post colonialism. Caliban. a indigen of the island.

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respects himself as the rightful proprietor of the topographic point.

He bluffly states: “This island’s mine. by Sycorax my female parent. which thou takest from me. ” He is forced against his will to function Prospero and Miranda. Initially. Prospero extends to Caliban his European cordial reception. teaches him linguistic communication. and. in return. is shown all the natural resources of the island by Caliban. But Caliban refuses to populate by Prospero’s regulations. attempts to ravish Miranda. and their relationship alterations to one of maestro and slave. Shakespeare represents every bit Caliban as an “ignoble barbarian. ” When Trinculo foremost encounters Caliban. he views him as some sort of monster.

After flinching in horror from Caliban. Trinculo considers conveying the monster back to England where he can be displayed in a freak show: “Were I in England now. as one time I was. and had but this fish painted. non holiday sap there but would give a piece of Ag: at that place would this monster make a adult male ; any unusual animal there makes a adult male: when they will non give a doit ( coin ) to alleviate a square mendicant. they will put out 10 to see a dead Indian. ” Trinculo is mentioning to the pattern of “exhibiting” Indians for money in late sixteenth century England.

Such “freak shows” were extremely profitable investings and were a regular characteristic of colonial policy under King James I. Caliban tries to assist Trinculo happen nutrient. who might emancipate him from Prospero. his current maestro and Godhead of the island. Caliban smarmily says: “I prithee. allow me convey thee where pediculosis pubis grow ; And I with my long nails will delve thee pig-nuts ; Show thee a jay’s nest. and how to trap the agile marmoset ; I’ll acquire thee To constellating cobnuts and sometimes I’ll acquire thee immature scamels from the stone. Wilt thou travel with me? ” Powhatan. the native head. had provided the same services to John Smith’s settlement.

After half of the settlers died in the first twelvemonth. Powhatan took commiseration and taught the settlers how to works maize. beans. Cucurbita pepos. and squash. However. once the hungering British settlers recovered their strength. they one time once more put about the undertaking of enslaving the native population. The drama ends with Prospero make up one’s minding to return to Europe and to decolonise his island and liberate his slaves. The colonizer sets himself free every bit good. Prospero non merely gives up his island. but relinquishes his charming powers that enabled him to command Caliban.