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The Tempest Research Paper

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In modern times an individual that watches a T.V. show series will most likely be able to point out many popular-culture references hidden into the show. The director often incorporates these subtle references to allow the viewer to engage more intently, as well as contextualize the plot for its time. Led by example through Shakespeare’s work, there are subtle undertones of historical references that genuinely allow the reader to contextualize the influence of play. The early 1600s marks the notorious embarking of westward expansion, Europe’s attempt to colonize what is now known as America. Shakespeare’s The Tempest contrasts Prospero and Caliban's relationship to the abuse of power seen through the colonization by European power. Colonization …show more content…

In 1492 Christopher Columbus set a voyage out west to discover the new lands. Eventually discovering what is now known as America, Columbus and his entourage infringed on a culture-rich people that were happily living under their own control. To his ignorance these people were established as ‘Indians’, believing to have traveled to India. Once European powers reached these lands, they took it as their duty to colonize and reestablish these people, what was recognized at the time as “the white man’s burden”. Colonization essentially seems to be a sugarcoated scheme for the Europeans to conquer new land and impose the their culture on the natives, stripping them of their own. To a culture-rich society such as Native Americans, this was a monumental shift in history as it paved for a new world that they did not anticipate. William Shakespeare’s The Tempest was notable as a social commentary criticizing the British colonial imperialism, seen through Prospero’s blatant abuse of power (the colonizer) as well as the victimization of Caliban (the …show more content…

This again depicts Prospero as a representative of the Europeans, usurping Native American land. Assuming a tyrannical rule over everything on the island, Caliban worked as his servant. The Europeans viewed the people of the new land as untamed animals that were in search of a higher system, as if they needed the institutions of the Europeans. As Prospero mentioned of the others, ‘‘is thing of darkness I acknowledge mine” (The Tempest 5.1.267–276), displaying the colonizer's condescending opinion about the colonized people. Similar to the way the natural spark of racism originated, simply the differences between white people gave them their own justification: Some are winners and some are born to

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The outcome of a discovery does not always have a positive outcome for all parties involved, whether it is a rediscovery of past knowledge or the uncovering of new information, both may serve to affirm or challenge beliefs, resulting in different ramifications for individuals and their worlds. The author and illustrator of allegorical picture book ‘The Rabbits’ Shaun Tan and John Marsden employs ideas of historical context relating to colonialism and the loss of culture and freedom that took place throughout the process, similarly to Shakespeare’s tragicomedy play ‘The Tempest’, where the exploitation of the character Caliban is repeatedly highlighted revealing the dystopic turn of events the native people would have experienced after the

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In 1492 a man named Christopher Columbus was given the opportunity to find a new way to the kingdom of spice, India. He was given three boats by the Spanish king to sail west instead of east to get to India. Once he arrived although he thought he was in India he had actually arrived in the Caribbean. After this discovery of a new world to the west, many European countries set out to conquer this new land. This new world was inhabited by natives, and once the natives met the Europeans it was downhill.

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“Myth is an arrangement of the past” (Wright 2009) our entire idea of North America’s history is based on stories. Stories of travel, war, treasure hunts, death and appropriation of land. In Ronald Wrights book Stolen Continents, Wright argues that the stories we know are one sided, He in fact calls them myths. These myths reflect one half of the people involved in our history. He argues that the Europeans took the new world in the name of their countries from the indigenous peoples who had discovered it long before them.

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“Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress”, chapter one of “A People’s History of the United States”, written by professor and historian Howard Zinn, concentrates on a different perspective of major events in American history. It begins with the native Bahamian tribe of Arawaks welcoming the Spanish to their shores with gifts and kindness, only then for the reader to be disturbed by a log from Columbus himself – “They willingly traded everything they owned… They would make fine servants… With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.” (Zinn pg.1) In the work, Zinn continues explaining the unnecessary evils Columbus and his men committed unto the unsuspecting natives.

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This week we discussed ‘“The Tempest” in the Wilderness: A Tale of Two Frontiers’ by Ronald Takaki. In this article, the author discusses the differences between savagery and civilization. The main argument in this argument is shown in the form of examples of how the Indians and Irish were simply harmless at first when discovering the New World, but quickly made into monsters by the English men. I’m sure we’ve all learned in history of John Smith’s description of how the Powhatans cared for the sick and dying English men.

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987 Words | 4 Pages

In addition to Caliban, Prospero's yearning for vengeance also creates internal issues for himself. After Ferdinand and Miranda announce their marriage, Prospero claims his "rejoicing / At nothing can be more," because he must "perform / Much business appertaining," (Shakespeare, 95-99). Usually, a father focuses more on his daughter getting married, however Prospero can only focus on his plans for vengeance. Some believe that the characters internal struggles were caused by the wrongdoers, and not a lack of forgiveness; however, at the end of the play, after Prospero becomes a more virtuous character, his conflicts with his brother and Caliban are resolved, clearly showing that their focus on vengeance is what caused the internal struggles.

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1444 Words | 6 Pages

Prospero’s Magic, the Age of Death and the 1610 Anthropocene When Prospero -- the hero in William Shakespeare’s last play The Tempest -- buries his magical books near a cliff of an uninhabited island, he sings out the first song of the “Anthropocene” at the edge of the great globe. As the Duke of Milan, he and his daughter are exiled to the isolated island for 12 years, during which process he uses his magic to enslave the natives on the island, including “ a savage and deformed slave” -- Caliban (Shakespeare 3). One may argue that the master-slave relationship shows Shakespeare’s postcolonial reflection while others may think that this viewpoint takes too far from Shakespeare’s original intention. Steve Mentz, in his essay “Enter Anthropocene, c.1610,” interprets The Tempest through lenses of the 1610

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1180 Words | 5 Pages

(1.2.191-193) reinforces Cesaire’s post-colonial perspective and his endorsement of negritude. Caliban finds himself continuously ill-treated; he has it the worst of all of Prospero’s slaves. The conditions of hard-labour that were subjected to black people by white supercilious people during colonization are mentioned by Cesaire were Prospero “forgives” Ferdinand and excuses him from his afore imposed state of slavery on the basis that they are of the same race and rank and the manual labour that was intended for Ferdinand is passed on to Caliban. Caliban is naïve and gullible, he trusts Stephano and Trinculo upon meeting them for the first time in spite of the ordeal he undergoes with Prospero. Caliban’s woes are echoed throughout the play and draws sympathy from the reader, whereas in “The Tempest” Shakespeare makes it difficult for the audience to consider Caliban as anything further then the perpetrator

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1220 Words | 5 Pages

Both characters are considered as rebellious savages that are controlled, Caliban by Prospero and John by the World State. The Tempest can be interpreted as a play about colonialism because when Prospero arrived at the island, he imposed his own rules and put Caliban under slavery, just as Europeans when they took possession of the lands of Americans and enslaved them. From this point of view, Prospero and the World State are very similar because they both use their power to control over people and to preserve their own stability (Prospero using his magic and the World State using soma).

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881 Words | 4 Pages

Prospero brands him "a born devil, on whose name/Nurture can never stick.” As Mannoni says, “Caliban does not complain of being exploited; he complains rather of being betrayed”. Even though Prospero understands that Caliban’s bad behaviour is like that of a child, he does not offer mercy and forgiveness as freely and earnestly as one should. Thus, it is through Prospero’s treatment of Caliban that Prospero’s desire for revenge is

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2448 Words | 10 Pages

Unlike Shakespeare’s other main characters, he is much more enigmatic. In they play Prospero is portrayed as the rogue who seeks revenge on his brother Antonio for his treachery. In this Shakespearean comedy it becomes clear that Prospero is the heart of power on the island. Evidently Prospero has been wronged by his brother’s usurping which he could not control and now uses his magic as a tool for controlling the events that occur on island throughout the play. The theme of power in this play is hugely significant as it clear that the violence interrogated in this play is in relation to power and the abuse of that power by the protagonist.

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1470 Words | 6 Pages

As the play begins, it seems as if the massive tempest is simply a random occurrence, catching the mariners and nobility by chance. However, as the act continues, Shakespeare reveals that the tempest was actually the work of Prospero and his ghostly servant Ariel, who stirred up the seas and set fire to the masts (1.2, 193-194). This establishes Prospero as the executor of a mess of ‘coincidences’ ranging from Ferdinand stumbling upon his daughter Miranda to King Alonso and his party walking directly into the former duke’s cell. Though Prospero may have the same control over the English language as the other characters, Caliban points to his specific source of power. He says, “… for without [his books] /

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1555 Words | 7 Pages

The Tempest can often be seen as a play about colonialism primarily because Prospero came to the island that belonged to Sycorax, Caliban's mother. Prospero subdued her, ruled the land and placed himself as its new ruler. He had full control over everything on the island. Caliban actually loved Prospero at first and was fine with an autonomy but not slavery as he lamented: This island’s mine by Sycorax my mother, Which thou tak’st from me.

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1624 Words | 7 Pages

The various ways Shakespeare dramatizes and explores power, allows us to obtain a richer impression of the theme of power in The Tempest. Government and authority both carry out important functions in the play. It is the subject of government that initiates the events in the play and it is also the foundation of the progression throughout the play. Prospero is the fundamental piece in the play concerning governance because he used to be the Duke of Milan, but loses his title to his brother Antonio when he devotes too much of his time learning magic rather than ruling his people and seeing his obligations through: “The government I cast upon my brother, [a]nd to my state grew stranger, being transported [a]nd rapt in secret studies,” (p.10). This is also the cause of Prospero and his infant

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1123 Words | 5 Pages

In comparison, the inconsistency between diction depicts the power dynamics observed in the play. Shakespeare often uses Prospero’s servant, Ariel and slave, Caliban to portray the differences in the hierarchy of the play. As observed by the audience Prospero often uses threats and insults to communicate and assign task to Caliban, hence “...tonight thou shalt have cramps, side stitches that shall pen thy breath up. ”(I.ii.325-326) Prospero threatens Caliban with pain after his refusal to do work, because he feels as if the isle belongs to him due to the fact that it was inhabited by his mother first.

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