Imperialism The Tempest

Shakespeare wrote The Tempest to intrigue his audience and to draw them into a story about a magician who controlled a fairy who could wreak havoc upon unsuspecting humans. This story grabbed the audience’s attention right from the start. He pulled them into the land of the magician, he had them watch how the magician treated the inhabitants of the island to which he was banished and, in doing so, made his audience more aware of imperialism and colonialism. He forced them to struggle with the idea as to which was more fair to the people already living in places that the British colonized. His goal was not to decide for people which was right or wrong. He used this play as a means to make people consider the issue and decide how they thought about the matter themselves. …show more content…
Each actor was portrayed as a black puppet against a white background. The producers may have been using this technique to stress the one dimensionality of the characters in the play. Prospero had landed upon the island twelve years ago and had enslaved the two living creatures he met there. In the play’s dialogue, Prospero never battled with himself over how to treat Ariel and Caliban. Thus, Shakespeare made him out to be an imperialist. He controlled these two beings completely and they both lamented the fact that he had taken their freedom. The lack of extra background on the set and lack of detail in the costumes gave the audience more of a chance to pay close attention to the words of Shakespeare, the dialogue between the characters. The character of Prospero was portrayed very strongly and most definitely in charge. His voice was deep and domineering. The actor and puppet playing Ariel seemed very easily swayed by his words. His daughter’s character was one dimensional, as well. She listened to her father and took his word as the last word on all