Theme of Colonization in Shakespeare’s 'The Tempest'

The Tempest reminds us of the two great Elizabethan movements, namely travel and colonization. The travels of the English People led to the establishment of colonies in different parts of the world. Companies, like the Virginian Adventure, were formed and expeditions were sent out to plant settlements in distant islands. The reports brought by these adventures must have influenced Shakespeare’s imagination and given him the theme of The Tempest. Many wild schemes of government for these settlements were conceived by contemporary thinkers. Prospero’s island may be conceived as a colony. In Gonzalo’s description of the plantation of the isle and the ideal ‘commonwealth’ he would set up there, we seem to hear the echoes of what men were saying then about these settlements.

The colonization gave rise to certain problems. The colonists brought reports of the new settlements, the forms of government and the social institutions prevailing there. The relation of the natives to the settlers is hinted at in the relationship that exists between Prospero and Caliban. The dangers of this relationship have been emphasized. A civilized colonist like Prospero would teach the savage native better ways of living and speaking according to his own ideals. But the efforts of the refined and civilized colonist would be fruitless as we see it in the case of Caliban who represents a savage race. Prospero makes much of Caliban in the beginning and teaches him his language, which he uses for cursing Prospero himself. Caliban always resents his dispossession by Prospero, and all the civilizing influences of Prospero fall flat upon him. He also seizes the first opportunity to plot against the life of the usurper and recover his inheritance.

The Tempest is thus a ‘veritable document of earlier Anglo-American history’. Shakespeare has expressed his own views on colonization in the scornful comments of Antonio and Sebastian. On the other hand, the worst type of colonists like Stephano and Trinculo, would debase the natives as Caliban is intoxicated with wine and urged to a treacherous action like murdering Prospero. Thus colonization had raised various problems in the minds of the Elizabethans and we find echoes of these problems in The Tempest.