Slavery and Freedom in William Shakespeare’s The Tempest Essay

Slavery and liberty in William Shakespeares The Tempest The subtly comedic interactions and juxtapositions between master and slaves in William Shakespeares The Tempest generate a question which has been the source of a great deal controversy finished and throughout history are the hierarchical classifications slave and lax reflections of a persons fundamental nature, or are they social constructions based on bias and self-interest which wee nothing to do with absolute truth? This question is crucial because the way that we answer it has the electromotive force to either justify or condemn the widespread practice of enslaving reliable individuals. A close look at Shakespeares portrayal of get the hang and slaves in this play suggests that although those who enslave others would like to believe that slave and rationalise are natural categories, they seem to be socially constructed. In his testify The Ancient Comic Tradition, Bernard Knox states that Slave and dise ngage were not so much separate classes as separate worlds Aristotle could go so far as to claim that they were separate natures (131). While the concept that slave and free are separate worlds is defensible given the vast differences in life style between the two, the idea that they are separate natures is not a analytic extension of this fact, but rather a separate idea altogether. positive nature has nothing to do with ones political or social situation, but rather ones innate capabilities, motivations, and morality. Our task, then, is to coiffe the degree of similarity (or lack thereof) in the innate capabilities, motivations, and morality of the masters and slaves in this play. Through close examination of Prospero and Caliban, it becomes apparent that although Caliban ... ...hich those who have taste into the situation may affect change, one of the most powerful of which is through fiction. Skilled writers can convey the flaws in the system through their storey wi thout explicitly stating them, thus engaging the ratifier to think through the implications of the history on their own. This way, any conclusion arrived at feels like the readers own insight, making it more plausible than if the conclusion is thrust upon the reader by an overtly didactic text. In The Tempest, Shakespeare never explicitly states that enslavement is not logically justified, but instead subtly implies it through his narrative. I believe that it is in part because of writers such as Shakespeare who havewhether intentionally or notused the medium of fiction to discover the problems in their society that our world is gradually moving towards social justice.