The Hidden Meaning in the Tempest

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Recommended: Discuss the theme of colonization in the play tempest

Shakespeare’s The Tempest is similar to the colonization of the Americas because they both involve foreigners coming to natives land and enslave them: but they differed in that The Tempest, they enslave a native for a crime, whereas they just enslave the natives for work in the Americas, and Caliban was created as an allegory to the natives that Europeans were enslaving.

There are too many similarities in The Tempest to the colonization of the Americas to be coincidental. Shakespeare may have been trying to show a deeper meaning. In The Tempest, Prospero is sentenced to death by his own brother, Antonio. Gonzalo is to kill both him and Prospero’s daughter, but he decides to give them books, food and water. He then sends them into the ocean. Prospero and his daughter, Miranda, land on an island. This is where he finds the witch Sycorax and her son Caliban. Caliban helps Prospero and Miranda how to survive on the island. Sycorax dies and Prospero enslaves Caliban. This is what the Europeans did to the natives in the Americas. The Europeans came to the Americas to find a new route to Asia, but they stumble upon the Americas like Prospero stumbles upon the island. The Europeans are helped by the natives who teach the Europeans how to grow sugar, which becomes the most important crop during the Transition era. The Europeans then enslave the natives to help them grow sugar for Europe. The slaves are enslaved right after they help the Europeans, just how Prospero enslave Caliban right after he teaches them how to survive. Shakespeare could have showed these events in The Tempest to allegorize the events happening in the Americas, because this was happening at the time Shakespeare wrote his plays.

In The Tempest, Caliban was tormente...

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...ey came to the Americas. They were able to easily enslave the natives because they were more technologically advanced. Caliban was not just a random character added by Shakespeare, but he was an allegory that would last for hundreds of years later to this day.

The Tempest and the American colonization had many similarities and differences. Also, Caliban was not just a figure placed to fill an empty spot, but placed in as a symbol of the natives and the changing view of humans. Shakespeare help people find the deeper meaning in his readings. You could truly see the reason why Shakespeare was inspired to write the plays that he did. His plays could allegorize the real world and the reader can see it if they have the correct history background and know what to look for in the characters and events that Shakespeare makes. It could change the whole meaning of the play.

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