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freedom and slavery in the tempest
essay on freedom in the tempest
freedom and slavery in the tempest
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Freedom and Servitude in Shakespeare's The Tempest
What is slavery? Is it an institution? A mental state? A physical state? Is it human nature? Or is, “…slavery is…an inherent, natural and eternal inheritance of a large portion of the human race” (Ruskin 307). Whether or not any one of these options is true, the fact remains that each says something about humanity. Therefore, when a play like The Tempest comes along, centering on the themes of freedom and servitude, one must look for the commentary that is thereby produced, keeping in mind that Shakespeare rarely lacked commentary. Of course, in Shakespeare’s way, there are several characters introduced within this theme. Hence, I pose the question: Who is the slave? Granted, all may embody different aspects of slavery, making “each character” the answer; but individually, each character still gives its own consideration to the topic. Following are the different possibilities of characters posing as the slave, leading to a discussion of freedom and servitude that is implied as a result. I will be relating the climate of slavery depicted in the play with other cultures, purely to give a frame of reference based on the general knowledge we have, given society’s history of slavery.
ARIEL
(since the character is gender non-specific, I will refer to him/her as “it” or “the spirit”)
One of the spirits that Prospero has control over, Ariel, would be an assumed representative of servitude. The spirit’s role throughout the play is centered on the obeying of the orders that Prospero puts forth to be carried out. Ariel does have an apparent loyalty and respect for Prospero, though, which makes it easy for him to manipulate the spirit. He was, of course, the...
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Gervinus, G.G. "The Tempest." The Shakespeare Criticism Volume 8. Gale Research Inc., Detroit. 1989: 304-307.
Greenblatt, Stephen. Introduction to the Tempest. The Norton Shakespeare. New York: W.W. Norton and Co. 1997: 3047-3053
James, D.G. (Excerpt from a series of lectures delivered in 1965 at University College, London.) The Shakespeare Criticism Volume 8. Gale Research Inc., Detroit. 1989: 429-434.
Knight, G. Wilson. "The Crown of Life." The Shakespeare Criticism Volume 8. Gale Research Inc. Detroit. 1989: 364.
Ruskin, John. The Shakespeare Criticism Volume 8. Gale Research Inc., Detroit. 1989: 307.
Shakespeare, William. "The Tempest." The Norton Shakespeare. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1997: 3055-3106.
Takaki, Ronald. A Different Mirror. Little Brown and Company, Boston. 1993: 191.
He attempted this primarily through his portrayal of Montezuma’s system of governance as brutal and is people as disloyal to him. He described the apparent willingness of the peoples he encountered to abandon the Aztecs and swear allegiance to the King of Spain, “Although they were subjects of Montezuma … they had been reduced to that condition by force …and when they had obtained through me some knowledge of your Highness … they declared their desire to become vassals of your Majesty, and to form an alliance with me”(Second Letter, 38–39). Cortés justified his conquest further through his proclamation to the his king that he was acting in defense of these newly acquired vassals. Cortés wrote that Montezuma subjected the local people to violent and tyrannical repression and, “took from them their sons to be slain and offered as sacrifices to his idols”(Second Letter,
One of the most interesting aspects of Diaz’s narrative is towards the end when Cortés broaches the subject of Christianity with Montezuma. Conversion and missionary work was one of the most important and lasting goals of the conquistadors and other contemporary explorers, they were charged with this duty by the rulers who sent t...
Malintzin, also known as La Malinche, played an important and vital role in the European conquest of the Aztec Empire. During her participation in the conquest, Indians and Spaniards alike respected her. Yet in the 19th and 20th century, historians and critics labeled her as a traitor or a victim of Spanish cruelty. In this essay, I will discuss the historical legacy of La Malintzin. I argue that she was not a traitor or a victim, but one of the great “deciders” of history. Without the help of Malintzin, the conquistadors would have never gotten as far as they did. They were in awe of her as evidenced by their annals and even the survivors portrayed her as a powerful figure. In the end, we have made her what we want her to be even though the historical evidence is strong in supporting the idea of her importance in Latin American history.
Schwartz, Stuart B. Victors and Vanquished: Spanish and Nahua Views of the Conquest of Mexico. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2000.
Mason, T. (February 8, 2013). "Shakespeare's Presentation of Colonialism and Colonisation / Colonization in ‘The Tempest' - Theme Analysis." Retrieved April 1, 2014, from http://trish-m.hubpages.com/hub/Shakespeare-Presentation-Theme-Colonisation-The-Tempest.
To understand how complicated the ethnic conflict in Burma is, it is important to take a look at the back round of this conflict. Burma is located in Southeast Asia. Its boarders Bangladesh, India, China, Laos and Thailand. It populates sixty million people, and has one of the largest populations in one country. Because there are so many people, there also are many religions. The country is made up of Buddhist, Muslims and Shiats. However, the route of the problem, is that fact that each religion lives in a certain area, and these areas do not get along with each other. This cau...
Looking back into the history of certain events affords the modern researcher the ability to examine a variety of documents and artifacts. It is important, however, to take into account biases, inaccuracies, errors in translation, and overall misinformation when examining primary sources, particularly historical documents. Examining the history of the conquest of the Aztec empire is no different, and in a scenario as tense as it was it is extremely important to consider the authorship of the text. Bernal Diaz’ The Conquest of New Spain and Miguel Leon-Portilla’s The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico offer two distinct looks into the same event in history. Both documents offer differing takes of the same events, so when
Before the 15th century, the Indians in the Americas were not connected with the world and would remain that way until Columbus's exploration. In the beginning of 15th century, the Aztecs were the dominant group in Mesoamerica leaded by Montezuma, the last leader, before the Spanish conquest. In 1519, Hernan Cortez led the Spanish mission to explore and conquer the New World. This paper will compare three primary sources about this event. First, an informing letter sent from Cortez to King Charles V, the king of Spain. Second, the Broken Spears which is an Indian recollection about the conquest of Mexico. Lastly, Bernal Diaz’s (one of Cortez’s men) account was written by him to share his experience with Aztec civilization. Moreover, this paper will show the credibility of Diaz’s account compared to the other sources because the objectivity of his tone, written after a while of the event, and the author’s great experience and his independent purpose of the source.
Since the 1960s, several critics have found a critique of colonialism in their respective readings of Shakespeare's The Tempest. The most radical of these analyses takes Prospero to be a European invader of the magical but primitive land that he comes to rule, using his superior knowledge to enslave its original inhabitants, most notably Caliban, and forcing them to do his bidding. While the textual clues concerning the geographic location of Prospero's island are ambiguous and vague, there is a prominent references to the "Bermoothes." We know that shortly before he wrote his final play, Shakespeare read a contemporary travel account of the Virginia Company's 1609 expedition to the New World and its experience after being run aground on the island of Bermuda. Enslavement does surface in Prospero's realm. The grand magician/scholar inflicts "pinches" and "cramps" upon Caliban to keep him in line and he manacles the young prince Ferdinand's neck and feet together. The servile state in which he keeps Caliban is plainly and understandably a cause of the "ridiculous monster's" deep resentment toward his overlord, and it is with some justification that the spawn of Sycorax invokes nature's wrath upon his tormentor, as in his curse, "all the infections that the sun sucks up/From bogs, fens, flats on Prospero fall..." (II, ii., ll.1-2).
Cohen, Walter, J.E. Howard, K. Eisaman Maus. The Norton Shakespeare. Vol. 2 Stephen Greenblatt, General Editor. New York, London. 2008. ISBN 978-0-393-92991-1
Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. The Norton Shakespeare. Ed. Greenblatt, Stephen. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. Inc., 1997.
In Shakespeare’s The Tempest, the background characters hold great importance in the overall plot of the play. Characters such Sycorax establishes the setting of the play, providing the readers with background knowledge leading up to the play. Sycorax, in many ways, serves as a mirror image to Prospero. However, as Frey and Skura suggests in their literatures, The Tempest reflects much about the events happening in the real world (Frey, Skura). The life of Sycorax is a representation of what’s happening in the Old World as well as the New World.
However, Aung San Suu Kyi is, just as her father was, a national hero and a symbol of democracy and peace. Her many impressive achievements have lead to her people holding her in a high-esteem. She represents the breaking away from oppression. The people of Myanmar were oppressed under British rule and under the horrible government that formed after the British left. In the eyes of the people, she can do no wrong. For this reason, if she states that the attacks on the Rohingya people are a way of stopping terrorist attacks and Muslim militants, which according to the BBC, she has, the people will believe it. Also, even if Western countries were to speak out against the killings, to the people of Myanmar, it could very much seem as though they were trying to bully Aung San Suu Kyi out of her position. The mistrust between the West and Myanmar that was created during British occupation has created a gap in communication, leaving the people in Myanmar with distorted visions of the world around them and preventing them from being able to look critically at the actions of their government. This made me wonder whether or not any people native to Myanmar were speaking out against Aung San Suu Kyi and her defense of the genocide and whether or not any of the racist views of the people in Myanmar today came from their British
Y. Qian and L. M. G. Feijs. Exploring the potentials of combining photo annotating tasks with instant messaging fun. In MUM ’04: Proceedings of the 3rd international conference on Mobile and ubiquitous multimedia, pages 11–17, New York, NY, USA, 2004. ACM Press.
Parnini, S.N, Othman, M.R, Ghazali, A.S. (2013) 'The Rohingya Refugee Crisis and Bangladesh-Myanmar Relations. ', Asian and Pacific Migration Journal, vol. 22, p. 134.