Shakespeare’s The Tempest is a play that follows the stories of Prospero, Calbin, Ariel, and others while they are on an island that Prospero has taken control of for the time being in the story. This story is said to parallel the British colonizing the new world. I think this theory is correct because it has characters like Prospero who would represent the British colonizers and Calbin, who would represent the natives of the island. The story contains to many parallels to not be a critique.
The first reason I believe that Shakespeare’s The Tempest is a parallel to British colonialization is because Prospero and Calbin are perfect example of the colonizers and the natives. Prospero’s character is described as manipulative and crude. Cabin’s character is described as naïve to the situation occurring around him. In the beginning of the story Calbin and Prospero get along well. Calbin shows Prospero how the island works and Prospero teaches Calbin how to speak. …show more content…
This is a perfect example of the relationship of the British and the natives, when they first arrive on an island that is inhabited they show they natives’ kindness until they get what they want. Then they would turn on them, by basically shipping them off to the mainland to be enslaved, or they just enslaving them right there on the island. Calbin, like the natives, does eventually start to fight back. He does this by cursing and trying to escape. He even says at one point, “This Island’s mine, by Sycorax my mother, which thou tak'st from me. When thou cam'st first, Thou strok'st me and mad'st much of me, wouldst give me Water with berries in 't, and teach me how To name the bigger light and how the less, That burn by day and night. And then I loved thee, and show'd thee all the qualities o' th' isle, the fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place
The first reason I believe that Shakespeare’s The Tempest is a parallel to British colonialization is because Prospero and Calbin are perfect example of the colonizers and the natives. Prospero’s character is described as manipulative and crude. Cabin’s character is described as naïve to the situation occurring around him. In the beginning of the story Calbin and Prospero get along well. Calbin shows Prospero how the island works and Prospero teaches Calbin how to speak. …show more content…
This is a perfect example of the relationship of the British and the natives, when they first arrive on an island that is inhabited they show they natives’ kindness until they get what they want. Then they would turn on them, by basically shipping them off to the mainland to be enslaved, or they just enslaving them right there on the island. Calbin, like the natives, does eventually start to fight back. He does this by cursing and trying to escape. He even says at one point, “This Island’s mine, by Sycorax my mother, which thou tak'st from me. When thou cam'st first, Thou strok'st me and mad'st much of me, wouldst give me Water with berries in 't, and teach me how To name the bigger light and how the less, That burn by day and night. And then I loved thee, and show'd thee all the qualities o' th' isle, the fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place