The “Tempest” In The Wilderness
Savagery, Colonization, and Religion The English colonization of places such as the Americas and Ireland led Shakespeare to write his final play The Tempest. In the essay The “Tempest” In The Wilderness, written by Ronald Takaki, it is seen that the English colonizers had a very specific lifestyle that they thought the people around the world should also follow and they were not very compromising in their views. These colonizers believed that every person should believe in Christianity and if a person did not they considered them to be a savage. All of the good a person may have done would be ignored by the English if that person engaged in certain actions or rituals the English thought were uncivil or improper. …show more content…
They thought these lands were being wasted and destroyed by faithless savages. The native people of these lands, the Native Americans and the Irish, were seen and portrayed in a very negative manner by the English colonizers. In The “Tempest” In The Wilderness ,the Irish were described as, “…lazy, ‘naturally’ given to ‘idleness’ and unwilling to work for ‘their own bread’. Dominated by ‘innate sloth,’ ‘loose, barbarous, and most wicked,’ and ‘living like beasts,’ they were also thought to be criminals, a underclass inclined to steal from the English” (Takaki 27). A very similar statement in the essay was also made regarding the Native Americans because the Puritans and William Wood viewed the Native Americans to be “…lazy. ‘Fettered in the chains of idleness,’ they would rather starve than work, William Wood of Boston complained in 1634. Indians were squandering America’s resources. Under their irresponsible guardianship, the land had become ‘all spoil, rots,’ and was ‘marred for want of manuring, gathering, ordering, etc.’ Like the ‘foxes and wild beasts,’ Indians did nothing ‘but run over the grass.’ (39). The Irish and Native Americans were viewed by the English to be lazy, simple savages, and undeserving of having any land to call their own. In the English’s eyes, both races needed to be “taught” to be civilized and to be unworthy of living in the same world …show more content…
Due to the importance of Christianity for the English in the essay it is stated that they thought of it as their “God-given responsibility to ‘inhabit ' and reform so a barbarous nation” (28). The English’s view of the Native Americans as such uncivilized people was, in large part, because of the Native American’s supposed faithlessness and difference of religion and rituals. The English believed the conversion of the Native Americans would allow the Native Americans to receive a better education and in due time become civilized. As stated in the essay, “A Virginia promotional tract stated that it was ‘not the nature of men, but the education of men’ that made them ‘barbarous and uncivil’” (33). The purpose of the English in introducing the Native Americans to Christianity, as explained by the quote, was because they believed that with a Christian education the natives would become more like the
Savagery, Colonization, and Religion The English colonization of places such as the Americas and Ireland led Shakespeare to write his final play The Tempest. In the essay The “Tempest” In The Wilderness, written by Ronald Takaki, it is seen that the English colonizers had a very specific lifestyle that they thought the people around the world should also follow and they were not very compromising in their views. These colonizers believed that every person should believe in Christianity and if a person did not they considered them to be a savage. All of the good a person may have done would be ignored by the English if that person engaged in certain actions or rituals the English thought were uncivil or improper. …show more content…
They thought these lands were being wasted and destroyed by faithless savages. The native people of these lands, the Native Americans and the Irish, were seen and portrayed in a very negative manner by the English colonizers. In The “Tempest” In The Wilderness ,the Irish were described as, “…lazy, ‘naturally’ given to ‘idleness’ and unwilling to work for ‘their own bread’. Dominated by ‘innate sloth,’ ‘loose, barbarous, and most wicked,’ and ‘living like beasts,’ they were also thought to be criminals, a underclass inclined to steal from the English” (Takaki 27). A very similar statement in the essay was also made regarding the Native Americans because the Puritans and William Wood viewed the Native Americans to be “…lazy. ‘Fettered in the chains of idleness,’ they would rather starve than work, William Wood of Boston complained in 1634. Indians were squandering America’s resources. Under their irresponsible guardianship, the land had become ‘all spoil, rots,’ and was ‘marred for want of manuring, gathering, ordering, etc.’ Like the ‘foxes and wild beasts,’ Indians did nothing ‘but run over the grass.’ (39). The Irish and Native Americans were viewed by the English to be lazy, simple savages, and undeserving of having any land to call their own. In the English’s eyes, both races needed to be “taught” to be civilized and to be unworthy of living in the same world …show more content…
Due to the importance of Christianity for the English in the essay it is stated that they thought of it as their “God-given responsibility to ‘inhabit ' and reform so a barbarous nation” (28). The English’s view of the Native Americans as such uncivilized people was, in large part, because of the Native American’s supposed faithlessness and difference of religion and rituals. The English believed the conversion of the Native Americans would allow the Native Americans to receive a better education and in due time become civilized. As stated in the essay, “A Virginia promotional tract stated that it was ‘not the nature of men, but the education of men’ that made them ‘barbarous and uncivil’” (33). The purpose of the English in introducing the Native Americans to Christianity, as explained by the quote, was because they believed that with a Christian education the natives would become more like the