![]() This belief of superiority was very usual in the European mind when the colonization was in vogue. As Europeans did with the Americans, Prospero takes the power away from Caliban and treats him as an evil, ugly and deformed being, a despicable entity, who, in his eyes, is not even a human. In the same note, Sycorax’s island could be seen as a representation of America, which suffered the same impositions than the island did. If we take a look at the plot, we might see a representation of the Europeans through Prospero’s actions: he arrives at Sycorax’s island, subdues it and imposes his own culture to its inhabitants. Colonialism is probably one of the most important themes in The Tempest. This play is considered a postcolonial play though, which we can find out mainly due to Caliban’s protest against Prospero and his resistance to colonial power using the language taught by the colonizer. Even though it had started way before these years with the discovery of America in 1492, the opening of new fronters and the domination of new lands was very much influencing Shakespeare’s mind. If we place ourselves in the year that The Tempest was written, 1611, we can easily deduce how much of an issue colonialism was during these times. ![]() The Renaissance movement was invading the different scopes in the sociopolitical outlook with their corresponding characteristics. ![]() ![]() While Shakespeare was writing The Tempest, a set of historical facts were taking place in the 17th century England. ![]()
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