The Tempest Subjugation

Have you ever focused on the idea of whether or not The Tempest could be or was Shakespeare’s last and final play?Give Shakespeare a standing ovation, The Tempest is his swan song. It's hard to think of Shakespeare as being "over" when he’s considered to be the best playwright in English. This guy's plays still transcend fashion and style. It's as ridiculous to say that Shakespeare's plays are over as it is to say that, oh, picnics or roller coasters or stargazing or eating is over.

The Tempest is about an ousted Duke of Milan ,Prospero, who has been living in exile on a remote island for the past twelve years with his daughter Miranda. He is a powerful magician, who happens to be the master of Ariel and Caliban, and a guy who really likes his books. When Prospero's enemies wash up on shore, he uses his black magic to seek revenge and restore himself to power. The Tempest belongs to the genre of Elizabethan romance plays. It combines elements of tragedy with those of romantic comedy, and like one of Shakespeare's plays previously, it asks deeper questions that are not completely resolved at the end. The tone that seeps into the play is one of wonder, amazement, and admiration. Mystery is still present , but the magic performed is not black and scary. The version that seems to grasp my attention more, would have to be the Utah Valley University interpretation because it takes Shakespeare’s main purpose and tone but shows it in its own unique way. Furthermore, with its silly drunkards, the play has a certain lightness to it and even the so called killers of the King tell hilarious jokes and are lighthearted. But there is also the tone of revenge and reconciliation in the play. We feel a revenge burning in Prospero while, at the same time, a wish for forgiveness and reconciliation with those who have wronged him.

The Tempest was Shakespeare’s last play that was written shortly after England colonized Virginia in 1609. Throughout the play, there are many different references to imperialism and colonialism within the characters. The Tempest analyzes the imperialistic relationships between England and America but applies it to personal human interaction between the central characters. The island gives newcomers a sense of endless possibilities like claiming the land for themselves because of the belief in the Great Chain of Being and the seventeenth century being an age of exploration. The idea of ruling a colony lured many people into the idea that having that kind of power over a large group of people is attainable. Master-servant relationships are

Naturally, people want to have control over their life and be able to make decisions for themselves, but human greed and pettiness will get the best of people if having control over themselves isn’t enough. The Tempest by William Shakespeare exploits the bad of human nature, making it clear that all people ever want is more than what they have. Caliban, Stephano, Sebastian, and Antonio all are willing to make perilous decisions in order to receive more power. The Tempest argues that characters in the play make treacherous decisions, harmful to themselves and things they care about, because of their craving of power.

William Shakespeare's, "The Tempest," provides insight into the hierarchy of command and servitude by order of nature. This play uses the relationship between its characters to display the control of the conqueror over the conquered. It also shows how society usually places the undesirable members at the bottom of the chain of command, even though they may be entitled to a higher social status. For example, the beginning of the play opens with a scene on a boat in the midst of a terrible storm. The boatswain, who is under the command of the royal party, attempts to keep the boat from sinking.

Throughout history, mankind has experienced the detrimental effects of civilized societies imposing themselves on primitive societies. In William Shakespeare’s play The Tempest, Shakespeare makes a bold statement about colonialism in the 1600’s; a period during which the world was being swept by imperialism of great empires upon other lands, specifically Europe upon North America. The effects of imperialism highlighted in the play are the invasion of land, racism of peoples and the assimilation of a culture. The first effect of colonialism on the island in The Tempest is the invasion of land belonging rightfully to another group which we see through Caliban’s accusation. The acquisition of land is a form of control and power that is often

       The Tempest is a classic example of Shakespeare’s dichotomized notions of right and wrong within the context of racial inherencies, a social commentary of the colonialism of the New World. An important theme in the play is the racial differentiation between Caliban and the other antagonists, primarily, Prospero, who comes to the island and enslaves Caliban to enforce his own rule. This relationship, as portrayed through the play, is a reflection of the historical social and racial tensions that existed between the colonizers of New Europe and the Native Americans and is illustrated through the language employed by Shakespeare and the interactions that take place between the characters. The Tempest

The Tempest, often regarded as Shakespeare’s last play, displaces the theme of possession of control and command over other, commonly known as power. Ariel, Caliban and the courtiers from Milan, all demonstrate different levels of control. Prospero, the protagonist of the play, especially displays his ability to cast influence and affect others psychologically. The characters, their relationships and their use of power can be compared to the English government and society of the 17th Century.

Shakespeare uses Prospero as the “oppressor” which represents the British Empire that successfully colonized 25 percent of the world. Prospero was originally the Duke of Milan until he was betrayed and banished by his brother to a remote island. Being someone of high status, everything has been done for him back in Milan; now that he’s on his own, he heavily relies to Caliban to ensure his their survival by letting him do all the manual labour. Prospero exerts his power to dominate over Caliban to make him submit to Prospero. Prospero calls Caliban “[my] slave”(I.ii), claiming that he “cannot miss [Caliban]“(I.ii) because he “make(s) [their] fire, fetch(s) in [their] wood and serves in offices that profit [them].”(I.ii)

“The Tempest” is a Shakespearean play that takes play on a desert island somewhere between Tunis and Naples. A hazardous storm appears impacting a ship of European nobles and mariners; on board are Alonso, King of Naples, Gonzalo, Boatswain, Trinculo, Stefano, Antonio, Sebastian, and Ferdinand. The nobles are leaving Tunis, Africa after the wedding of Claribel, daughter of the King of Naples to the prince. Prospero, the former Duke of Milan uses his sorcery to conjure the very storm that bombards the nobles in order to bring them to the island. Frey interjects, “In 1808, Edmond Malone argued that Shakespeare derived the title and some of the play’s incidents from accounts of a storm and shipwreck experienced by Sir Thomas Gates and other Jamestown colonists on the Bermuda islands in 1609” (Frey 29).The play entails the romance of Ferdinand, Alonso’s son and Miranda, Prospero’s daughter; while also detailing a twelve year power struggle that is resurfacing itself in a treacherous plot for power. In comparison to the New World’s politics, “The Tempest” can be read as a play that deals with these same political issues: rebellion of constituted authorities, colonization of a new land, dehumanizing of the natives, marriages and romances of royalty, masters and servants, Christian virtues, and visions of a utopia.

The Tempest is widely considered to be one of Shakespeare’s greatest works and is seen by many to be the perfect finale to one of the greatest writing careers of all time. At time of writing in 1610 The world was changing and full of turbulation much like the travelers among the tempest in the first scene of the play. Old and New Worlds were colliding with the settlement of North and South America and many civilians of Europe had little time to adjust to their evolving setting. Conflicts arose with natives and some lay question to whether or not this exploring was ethical considering these people had occupied this new land first. The newfound resources from these adventures served as a focal point of discussion with the opportunities of national

William Shakespeare’s The Tempest blends elements of adventure and intellectual inquiry. The plot of Shakespeare’s last work contains comedy, romance, and action enough to sustain the interest of his common audience. However, there lies beneath the eloquent language and exciting plot an intelligent political commentary. Shakespeare uses the setting of a virtually uninhabited island as an experimental testing ground for the institution of slavery. Shakespeare shows through his island experiment that subjugation, once instituted, seems to perpetuate itself. While the most automatic explanation of this cyclical nature of slavery would be to say that this political rule is continued by the

     During the time of Shakespeare, society had a hierarchical structure. In Shakespeare's play, The Tempest, the characters of Prospero and Caliban, represent two different extremes on the social spectrum: the ruler, and the ruled. Their positions on the social hierarchy are largely due to the fact that Caliban responds almost wholly to passions, feelings of pleasure -- his senses, while Prospero is ruled more by his intellect and self-discipline -- his mind. However, the fight that Prospero has against his own natural tendency to ignore the discipline of his intellect, and give in to pleasures such as vanity and self-indulgence, cannot be ignored.

Shakespeare demonstrates that inequality exists in society, and that it is human nature to fight for one’s rights and freedoms. When Prospero conquers the island, he enslaves the native, Caliban, who is the son of the evil witch Sycorax

The Tempest is a play which by William Shakespeare thought by many critics to be the last play that he wrote by himself. The setting of the play is on a remote island where Prospero the sorcerer and also the legitimate Duke of Milan, plans to return his daughter Miranda to her rightful status, he uses magic and skillful manipulations to achieve this. He magically creates a storm that makes his rival brother Antonio and Alonso the King of Naples be shipwrecked and marooned on his island. On the island, Prospero uses his talents to reveal Antonio’s lowly character and vindicate the king. The main moral lessons from the poem are forgiveness and absolution but there are many other lessons we can learn from The Tempest. This paper explains how The Tempest leads us to a creative perspective of the modern world by tackling issues of colonialism, power, and forgiveness. Basically, is the humanity and society in the world today.