How Does The Colonize In The Tempest

Colonization is interpreted as conquering new lands and imposing one’s culture on the native people. Like the Europeans who seized the land of the Native Americans and enslaved many, Prospero is the invader of a magical land that he plans to rule. Using his superior knowledge he plans to enslave the original inhabitants and force them to do his bidding. Although there is no direct address to the New Word in Shakespeare’s The Tempest. The play can be interpreted in context to the New World because it brings about ideas of European colonization, hyperbolizes the acts of conquest and displays the effects of colonialism on both the colonizer and the colonized. “Dull thing, I say so. He, that Caliban Whom now I keep in service. Thou best …show more content…
Prospero tells him he should be thankful instead of complaining. Just from analyzing this passage you can see that Prospero represent the colonizer in the play. The first thing he does when arriving to the island is displace Caliban’s mother, Sycorax and enslave the inhabitants of the island, Caliban and Ariel. Ariel represents the Native Americans who were more cooperative and in turn is treated more human and eventually rewarded his freedom while Caliban represents the more resistant Indians because of this he is dehumanized and treated like half a man. Like the Europeans who thought of the Indigenous people as wild things, Prospero describes Caliban as deformed, violent, savage, not human but instead born devil. Caliban is seen as a despicable entity and just like the whites looked down at people of another color and felt they were better than them, Prospero feels a feeling of superiority over Caliban and Ariel. They are forced to be at his service in fear of his magical powers. Ariel does not dare disobey him in fear that his powerful magic will trap him again just like Sycorax had. After being chastised by Prospero, he replies with a simple, “I thank thee, master