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The Influence of European History in William Shakespeares The Tempest

Around the year 1610 CE the most famous playwright in history, William Shakespeare, wrote one of his last works The Tempest. The story of The Tempest revolves around Prospero, a former duke of Milan who was banished along with his daughter Miranda by his brother Antonio, and Alonso the king of Naples. Prospero and Miranda come to live on an uncharted Mediterranean island where Prospero becomes a sorcerer of magic and uses his powers to take authority over the two inhabitants of the island: Ariel, the magical spirit, and Caliban, the monster-like man. Years later when a ship, that happens to be carrying Antonio, Alonso, and several other men, is seen off the coast of the island, Prospero summons up a storm that causes the ship to sink and the men to wash ashore on the island so that he can seek his revenge. Throughout the play, Shakespeare writes of dramatic and comedic characters, the mixing of magic and reality, and the troubles that the want of power can bestow. Like most of his works, Shakespeare drew inspiration from other sources to write this play, and several historical changes and events that began to take place in Europe shortly after the medieval period, can be seen as being a great influence in the writhing of The Tempest. The historical event that is most obvious in influence in not just The Tempest, but most of Shakespeares plays, was the Renaissance. During the renaissance, scholars who studied humanities turned away from the writings of medieval philosophers and theologians, and towards classical Greek and Roman works which they thought to be more persuasive. The studies of these humanists influenced Europeans as a whole to reconsider medieval ethical

Page 3 teachings. The translation and printing of these Green and Roman classics put forth a set of texts that intertwined their views with those of the formerly accepted Christian works. The Tempest is one of these works that mixes both classical and medieval views. Take the character of Caliban as an example of this. This character is described throughout the play as both man and monster, which can be related to the half-human creatures of Greek mythology, but he is also thought to be the spawn of the devil which can be connected to Christian beliefs. Together, these classical and medieval beliefs created the intellectual excitement that had supplied much of this timeperiods literature with energy and drama. Besides influencing the style that the play was written, the Renaissance can also be seen as an influence of one of the major themes of The Tempest. In the play there is a lot of controversy between the appearance of things, and the actual reality of them. This theme of appearance vs. reality shows up first with the perception of Caliban. Though he is thought to be a monster because of his appearance, he is also referred to as part human, which can lead us to believe that he may just be a man who is native to the island, and therefore physically different from the rest of the characters. Other instances of false perception occur usually due to Prosperos magic. In act three scene three Prospero summons a feast before his rivals and then has it replaced with Ariel in the form of a vengeful harpy. Later in act four he displays a similar use of magic when he makes several Greek goddesses appear for Miranda and Ferdinands wedding and then chases Caliban, Stephano, and Trinculo (servants of Alonso) off with spirits in the form of dogs. All of these magical apparitions greatly alter the characters conceptions of what is real and what is not. The historical connection to this type of magic can be seen again through the mixing of classical and medieval beliefs during the renaissance, but more

Page 4 specifically it can be tied to the major change in artwork during this time period. In an effort to create realistic depictions of the world during the Renaissance, artists studied their subjects and began to paint emotion along with perspective and dimension. Art of this type was easily believed to be realistic by viewers, just as Prosperos magic was thought to be real by his enemies or even by the audiences of Shakespeares plays. The appearance of magic at all in the play, along with the appearance of motives for revenge, can be related back to the transformation of Europe between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries. Spurred by the realization that the earth was not the center of the universe, scientists during the scientific revolution and the enlightenment looked to other ways to explain the how nature worked. Because of new inventions, such as Galileos telescope, discoveries, such as Newtons laws of gravity, and the establishment of other scientific studies such as physics, chemistry, and physiology, Europeans began to realize that other forces were at work in the world besides that of God. Forces such as these can be interpreted as the magical forces at work in The Tempest. During the same European transformation, several Europeans states made a shift in their governments and established a system of absolute monarchy where all of the power was bestowed in the king. In order to keep the authority centralized, these monarchies often crushed lower nobility, which is similar to what happened to Prospero and Miranda in the play. Prospero was cheated out of his noble authority, therefore giving him the same motives for revenge that a noble during the European transformation might have. Along with expanding their intellectual boundaries, Europeans around this time also began to expand their geographical boundaries. Starting in the fourteenth century, in an attempt

Page 5 to recover from the economic chaos caused by the bubonic plague a century earlier, people of the eastern hemisphere began a series of explorations into unknown areas of the world that could revive previous systems of trade and communication. From these explorations, many new lands were discovered that before had been unknown to Europe. Early on, Portuguese mariners discovered several chains of islands in the Atlantic which were all either scarcely inhabited by indigenous peoples, or not inhabited at all. In The Tempest, you can see the influence that these discoveries had on Shakespeare when he was writing the play. The story takes place upon an uncharted island in which Prospero and his daughter came to live on after they were exiled from Italy and the rest of the cast come to when their ship is sunk. The islands only inhabitants are Caliban and Ariel who are both significantly different from all the other characters of the play. When Prospero and the rest of the characters find and establish themselves upon the island it soon proves to be trouble for the natives and their home. The trouble that is encountered by Caliban and Ariel with Prospero and the rest of the cast can easily be related to the major European trend of colonization that was occurring during Shakespeares time. With the discovery of the Americas by Christopher Columbus in 1492, the entire western hemisphere was opened up to the exploration of hundreds of mariners who represented and sought opportunity for European nations such as Spain, England, and France. When discovered, these new lands were colonized and exploited for their resources and labor; much like Caliban and Ariel were exploited in The Tempest. When Prospero and Miranda take refuge on the island, Prospero uses his advantage of power to make Caliban his slave, and Ariel becomes his magical aide. Like Prospero used his advantage of magic, Europeans used their advantage of technology to subject natives of newly discovered lands to their authority.

Page 6 The influence that Europeans had on the native cultures of newly colonized lands is also represented in The Tempest. One goal of several European nations attempt at colonization was to spread their religious beliefs all over the world. Because of this and the establishment of trade, many native inhabitants of colonized lands were greatly influenced by European culture. Sometimes natives learned European languages, and some even intermarried with their colonizers. In The Tempest, European cultural influence on native people is demonstrated through Calibans knowledge of Prosperos and Mirandas language. In the act one, scene two Miranda claims that it is because of her that Caliban is able to speak. She says that she, Took pains to make thee speak, taught thee each hour. One thing or other. When thou didst not, savage, know thine own meaning, but wouldst gabble like a thing most brutish, I endowed thy purposes with words that made them known (I, ii 425-30). In an effort to communicate, Caliban learned the language of Prospero and Miranda, instead of Prospero and Miranda learning Calibans language, therefore subjecting him even further to Prosperos rule, much like victims of colonization who were forced into labor or servitude did. As we can see, during the time period that Shakespeare wrote The Tempest, Europeans witnessed many significant changes and events that altered the way they interacted with and viewed the world around them. With the Renaissance, European literature drew inspiration from changing styles of artwork, and began to reflect themes more typical of classical Greek and Roman works. Intellectual expansion that took place during the transformation of Europe, along with the geographical expansions brought on by European exploration and colonization, spurred a series of discoveries that were significant to the way of European life. All of these events which were very momentous in European history, had great influence on the literature and other

Page 7 works of the time period. It is no wonder then that when writing his final play, William Shakespeare took these events and from them drew the inspiration that is clearly visible throughout The Tempest.

Works Cited:
Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. New York: Washington Square Press, 1994. Bentley, Ziegler, and Streets. Traditions and Encounters a Brief Global History. New York: McGraw Hill, 2008.

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The Influence of European History in William Shakespeares The Tempest Micah Coate February 24, 2009 HI-104-11 Word Count: 1,615 Help Received: Works Cited . .