The Political and Psychological Impact of Travel in Shakespeares The Tempest - Essay Example

This essay shall seek to understand the impact of geography and travel upon a literary character vis-a-vis the figure of Prospero in William Shakespeare’s play The Tempest. The play begins with a shipwreck which is brought about by Duke Prospero, a magician, as he attempts to set right the wrong done to him by his conniving brother Antonio. The setting of the play is decidedly non-Western with critical speculations interpreting it to be an island in Bermuda or Lampedusa (Bushnell 686). Prospero’s journey to the anonymous island with his infant daughter Miranda several years before the play begins marks the beginning of his role as the ruler of the island.

The shift in location is thus ironic for while Prospero plans to avenge the injustice done to him whereby he was dispossessed of his position within the Milanese kingdom, his act of overthrowing Sycorax, the original ruler of island renders his moral standing within the narrative dubious. The aforementioned transition from victim to perpetrator is reminiscent of the numerous exploratory voyages undertakes by European explorers which often acquired an imperial overtone. The chief point of reference here is perhaps to the travels of Richard Hakluyt, a sixteenth century English explorer who through his various travels is believed to have laid the foundations for the colonization of North America (Kositsky and Stritmatter 30).

Prospero’s journey to the island, presumably to escape the consequences of being a kingdom where he was ousted through trickery, thus becomes an exercise in establishing male, Western control over an island which was earlier under the control of a woman, presumably of non-Western racial origin. This dimension of the play makes us consider the politicized nature of physical space whereby certain culturally different geographies were configured as ones that could be “tamed” and thus conquered by the West.

The symbols of the “untamed” island- Sycorax and her son, Caliban are thus brought under Prospero’s control through magic. Significantly, while Prospero’s magic is said to be healing and restorative, Sycorax’s, in keeping with Eurocentric racial and cultural biases, is characterized as harmful and destructive. It is significant here to analyse the following lines spoken by Prospero to Caliban- Thou most lying slave, Whom stripes may move, not kindness! I have used thee, Filth as thou art, with human care (1.2.46) The psychological impact of the power gained through his voyage and his act of establishing his supremacy on the island leads him to create a neat dichotomy, not merely civilizational, but also biological, between himself and the natives.

Thus, the words “human care” presents a fundamental contradiction between humanity and the indigenous inhabitants characterizing them instead not only as those of inferior morals but also inferior beings. This misplaced sense of racial superiority is yet again the bedrock of European imperialism. Though it might be anachronistic to read Shakespeare’s play in the light of literary naturalism, this might held shed light on the play’s specific treatment of location and its influence on characters.

Naturalism is a philosophical or literary school which believes that an individual’s character is shaped by his/her heredity and environment. The Tempest both adheres to and departs from the tenets of naturalism. While Prospero’s travel the island transforms with morally from a righteous victim of treason, he continues to be shaped by Eurocentric values and beliefs and assumes the role of a de facto colonizer. In fact, he continues to have access to “rich garments, linens, stuffs and necessaries”