Camryn Dias Ms. Birenberg English 12 15 October 2014 Entertaining story or critique of Colonialism? A story filled with magic and unrealistic events are mostly written to entertain people, but perhaps some have a deeper meaning. Although The Tempest is filled with ghosts, and sorcerers and murder it is not just an entertaining story. Beneath the surface Shakespeare is criticizing a much larger issue. When The Tempest was written it was a time in which British colonization was at large. Although some viewed colonization as a great thing for Britain which brought national pride others were very critical. Colonialism had obvious pros but in reality most viewed the treatment of the indigenous populations deplorable. Shakespeare uses Prospero’s …show more content…
Prospero promises things to Ariel that he has no intention of coming through with. This situation mimics the treaties that colonizers would make with natives and then go back on their word. In Act I, scene ii, lines 244301 Ariel begs Prospero for his freedom back. He recalls how Prospero promised him his freedom in a year which had passed, Prospero then promises to release him in two days if he follows his orders. As Ariel gets on Prospero’s final nerve in this selection he threatens to lock Ariel up in a tree for eternity. Prospero had not been true to the terms of the promise he had made with Ariel which directly mirrors the treatment of colonizers to natives. British colonizers during the seventeenth century would make treaties with the natives they had come across and would never fully come through.The British colonizers would create treaties with the natives to establish peace and give them the right to hunt on their own land and continue to live there although the colonizers would typically end up manipulating the terms anyways. The way Prospero treats Caliban in The Tempest is the same as the way the colonizers treated the natives during colonialism. Prospero manipulates Caliban, makes him his slave, takes away …show more content…
In the first scene we see with Prospero, Caliban, and Miranda we see Prospero threatening Caliban to keep him in line and make him work. Prospero barks orders at Caliban who refuses to do the work, Prospero then says “For this, be sure, tonight thou shalt have cramps, Sidestitches that shall pen thy breath up.” (Act I, scene ii, lines 327328). Prospero threatens Caliban with a powerful spell to keep a stronghold in the situation and maintain the upper hand. Early colonizers used the same kind of tactics, they would instill fear in the natives to get what they wanted. It is debateable however considering that Prospero contains positive attributes as well that The Tempest was not a critique of the behavior of early colonizers. Although Prospero contains positive qualities, I am sure early colonizers had good qualities as well. Although some colonizers potentially were good people in some aspects of their lives they still treated the natives horribly. Prospero is the same in that sense, he has good qualities when dealing with some parts of his life but he will always be abusive, manipulative, and arrogant nonetheless. Shakespeare’s The Tempest is not only an exciting story of magic, wizards, love, and