Custom essay on The political and social influence behind the characters in Shakespeare’s “The tempest”

Shakespeare’s work have absorbed all the major characteristics of his epoch: aesthetic (synthesizing tradition and based on the popular romance genre, Renaissance poetry and prose, folklore, folk drama and humanist) and ideological (showing the whole ideological complex in time: the traditional concepts of world order, the views of the defenders of the feudal-patriarchal and political centralization, the motives of Christian ethics, Renaissance Neo-Platonism and Stoicism, the idea of sensationalism and the Machiavellianism, etc.). This synthetic character in conjunction with comprehensive coverage of vital events and characters led to life-complete work of Shakespeare.
Socio-economic processes that have caused a cultural revolution, called the Renaissance in England began later and went faster than on the continent. The contradictions and contrasts of the era were identified sharper and brighter, and the milestones in the development of humanistic thought (belief in the near triumph of humanist ideals – and the rejection of her, a season of hope – and disappointments) were in England in the minds of a generation. Shakespeare was able to capture and expose contradictions of his time in very bright and strict way- in the dynamics and drama of his work, the saturation of the struggle, clashes, conflicts. Deep comprehension of trends and dynamics of time led to his relationship to reality, that along with increasing skill determines the evolution of his work.
In “The Tempest” Shakespeare reflected in the direct and extensive form one of the biggest historical events of his era: the policy of colonial expansion. This topic was very important for the development of the society of the time, so it was important and all the associated social and moral issues.custom essay
Older contemporary of Shakespeare, the French humanist Montaigne in his work “Experience” (1588) tuned negatively to rising around the feudal reaction, to a new order of time picture of the life of American savages. He idealized the fantasy about the blessed life of primitive people with no violence, ranks and grades, selfish impulses that afflict society of cultural Europeans. Even earlier, Thomas More in his work “Utopia” (1551) turned to describing the life of savages, where he created a picture of an ideal unit of human society, where there was no state authority, no private property, no grave need, no oppression of man by man.
A somewhat different response to all this showed Shakespeare in his “The Tempest”. He seemed to agree, even justified the methods of colonial policy of natives. The author portrays Caliban as inherently stupid and spiteful person, mentally and morally inferior, that could only carry wood, and to take punishment. But Prospero is described as a “natural” ruler, the conqueror of the true culture of other countries. (Ernest B. Gilman, 1980)
It’s main topic is introduced by two initial episode, which perform a kind of prologue. This is a scene of storm and wreck of ship, which sailed the king and courtiers, and the story of Prospero, the former ruler of Milan, about his exile, wanderings and the accession to the island. Dramatic mood of the first scene creates a disturbing atmosphere, but the story of Prospero sets the tone for the even course of the narrative – the play has a lot of stories, thoughts, memories and various digressions. But the play also has another point of view, the opposite one. It is a curious primarily fantasy of Gonzalo – very reasonable and “positive” character in the play, after the Prospero. Gonzalo wants to create on this island state, where there will be no money, no trade, no grades, no inheritance, no “ring-fencing”, nor even the government… People took his words with laugh, but their remarks were stupid, as they themselves, and the sympathy of the author and the reader is completely on the side of Gonzalo.



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