Shakespeare's Use Of American Imperialism In The Tempest
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Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest, is meant to criticize the use of colonialism against the native peoples of North America. Throughout the play shakespeare uses many forms of criticism in order to ridicule the practices of colonialism. He uses his play as a guise to indirectly frown upon the practices of his people, and how they take over people through use of language to subjugate the native people of indigenous places. Although Shakespeare’s opinion was not widely held, many people in our current society would agree that what Eastern countries were doing to manipulate natives was wrong and unjust. All in all, I think it’s safe to say that Shakespeare wrote the Tempest to criticize the actions of his peers.
In the story, The Tempest, when shakespeare tells the reader how Prospero teaches Caliban language in order to gain control over him, he shows the characteristics of linguistic imperialism, a technique used by Europeans to gain control of natives in North America. So because shakespeare saw the obvious use of linguistic imperialism, he chose to make it the main focus of his story. He did so by showing Prospero teach Caliban his language, only to enslave him in the near future. Shakespeare used…show more content… When Prospero and his daughter miranda arrive on the island, Prospero kills Sycorax, a woman indigenous to the island, and he does so to gain even more power over Caliban, her son. When Prospero kills Sycorax, Shakespeare symbolizes how many foreign colonialists forced their culture onto others, with little regard for their lives or lifestyle. This use of colonialism is further displayed when Prospero figuratively takes Caliban, “under his wing,” in order to gain control over him so he doesn’t cause any trouble. Shakespeare speaks out against the wrongdoings of the European cultures the the use of his characters in the