Racial Stereotypes In The Tempest By William Shakespeare

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It is often nice to encounter a piece of prose that challenges our minds to search for deeper underlying truths then finish the text with a sense of accomplishment at having been able to detect these truths with little effort. However, when the creator of the work is under pressure to cater to their society's standards, it becomes more difficult to determine which of the ideas presented are truly accurate and are still currently relevant in our own society. A very common example is when we analyze works by William Shakespeare in high school or in college, or sometimes even just in one's leisure time. In Shakespeare's time, society valued colonialist ideas, which comes through in his work The Tempest when we analyze the roles he assigns for …show more content…

This is evident in the way he potential for Caliban, the son of a witch, to have acquired knowledge magical abilities is not explored in The Tempest. The idea that a savage, one without even the slightest knowledge of the English language, could have magical abilities is not an idea that Shakespeare’s audience would have appreciated in his work. These racial prejudices also become evident when we examine the way Sycorax is mentioned very little in the play and happens to be the one African with magical ability. Of course, neither Sycorax nor her god can compare to the Italian man’s magic, knowledge, and power. Shakespeare portrays Sycorax’s arrival to the island as an abhorrent and negative change in the island’s environment and she seems to have only arrived with malicious intent for the island and to torment Ariel. On the other hand, Prospero’s freeing of Ariel is presented as a work of art stemming from Prospero’s compassionate qualities highlighted in Act 1 Scene 2 during his initial conversation with Ariel. In the quote "It was mine art … that made gape the pine, and let thee out" we see Prospero's magic portrayed to be a work of art, rather than an evil curse (1.2.291-293). Even though only a few lines later Prospero is again threatening Ariel, an argument can be made that Prospero is a "good" character while no such case can be made for Sycorax. Because we hear so little of her, and only negative things, she serves a foil to Prospero and a character to make Prospero look better by

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