The Tempest Research Paper

Shakespeare wrote The Tempest to criticize colonialism, not just to entertain people. During the time that Shakespeare The Tempest many people were expressing through the arts ideas they did not support. While Shakespeare didn’t come right out and say “colonialism sucks”, he did give clues in The Tempest to show what he felt was wrong. The abuse, both mentally and physically, alongside the trickery and power struggles that show up in The Tempest coincide with the most controversial parts of the colonialism era. Shakespeare wrote The Tempest to get people to start thinking and questioning what happened during colonialism. Some people might say that Shakespeare wrote The Tempest simply to entertain people because he was a writer and that is what

In The Tempest both Caliban and Prospero talk about how the two were friends in the beginning. Prospero taught Caliban his language and customs. In return Caliban showed Prospero all the good resources of the island. After gaining Caliban’s love and trust Prospero tricks Caliban by enslaving him. In Act I Scene II Caliban reminds Prospero what Caliban did for him saying “show’d thee all the qualities o’ the isle, the fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place and fertile: cursed be I that did so”. Prospero tricked Caliban into thinking they were friends to use him for his knowledge of the land. The colonizers of the Colonialism era played the same trick onto the unsuspecting natives around the world. For example the first colonizers of The Americas tricked the Native Americans into teaching them how to grow new foods, like corn and then murdered or enslaved most of the natives. What happened in The Tempest is almost exactly the same as what happened during

In The Tempest everyone is struggling for their own power. Prospero, the colonizer of Caliban’s and Ariel’s island held the most power just like the colonizers of the Americas and Africa. Like the real life colonizers, Prospero thought he was better than the natives because he had a language and custom the natives did not. So through abuse and trickery Prospero became basically the king of the island. Miranda, Prospero’s daughter struggled to have freedom from her father just like everyone else. Miranda’s struggles represent the struggles of the colonizers who did not believe violence or trickery was needed in a new land. Ariel wanted freedom from his supposive one year enslavement and to no longer have to be under Prospero’s power. Ariel represents the natives who were tricked into slavery through lies. Caliban wants to be free from Prospero’s power because he is being abused and mistreated. Caliban represents the natives who were not tricked but forced to work through physical abuse from the colonizers. Caliban curses at Prospero’s power the same way the Aztecs did. In Act I Scene II Caliban tells Prospero “you taught me language; and my profit on’t is, I know how to curse”. The Aztecs also spoke out against Hernan Cortez, a Spanish colonizer, by starting a rebellion and driving him out of their