Shakespeare, the tempest

Discuss how Shakespeare treats the theme of colonisation throughout The Tempest. The story of an expedition to colonise part of America may have inspired Shakespeare to write 'The Tempest'. The stories of colonisation are strongly echoed in the play. For example when Trinculo first sees Caliban he wonders how much money he could make from exhibiting Caliban at an English fair. The European greed was a driving force of so-called 'civilisation'. They did not stop …

…him. Shakespeare tells us that from the start of the play to the end the civilised characters could not change their opinion of Caliban but we could. They have their own opinion and are fixed on it. Just like our views of Caliban change throughout the play so do Shakespeare's views on colonisation and by the end of the play he is against it. His feelings are no longer ambiguous. <Tab/>