On The Power And Colonial Themes Of The Tempest

Shakespeare's construction of the pastoral island adventure in The Tempest is by no means mere a romance that has little to do with the political and economic conditions of the society in which the text was conceived. The author posits that, though traditionally grouped into Shakespeare's last dramatic category of romance genre, The Tempest stands uniquely and conspicuously for its consistent power and colonial thematic concerns, which have nonetheless slid away from the critical attention of focus for a long period of time in Shakespearian study. This paper proposes to make an attempt at a reinterpretation of Shakespeare's The Tempest by focusing upon its colonial and power concerns from the perspectives of the variegated schools of contemporary literary theories, and from those having theoretical relevance under the umbrella term of post-colonialism and New Historicism in particular.This paper consisting of 7 chapters explores the power and colonial thematic concerns in Shakespeare's The Tempest from its respective perspective of contemporary literary theories.In the introductory chapter, the author ushers Shakespeare's sonnet 32 for the illumination of the motivation for the reinterpretation of The Tempest from contemporary literary perspective and initiates the long-neglected power and colonial themes that had escaped from the horizons of critic's attention.In chapter 2, according to the tenet "the historicity of text and textuality of history " of New Historicism, this part is focused upon making an investigation upon the historical context in which the text is produced, and special attention is devoted to the early capitalists' venture and exploration overseas and colonial experience in the new world during Shakespeare's time. It analyses and reveals how the real historical events commit foray into Shakespeare's imagination of his creation of The Tempest and its plot making in particular with the particular genre of romance, i.e. how Shakespeare textualizes the early colonial history in The Tempest. Also, to further substantiate the assumption of colonial theme explored by Shakespeare in The Tempest the author makes an analogue between the play and its subtexts in terms of their common concern with power and colonial subject matter. Special reference is made to the two relevant historical documents recording the early overseas exploration on the part of English adventures. Particularly, William Strachey's Letter which registered the wreck incident in Bermudas inspired to a considerable degree Shakespeare's dramatization of the colonial experience in his The Tempest. Last, the author further points out that the genre of masque is deployed by Shakespeare in giving expression of royal power thematic concern. The colonial and power themes are thus introduced for the text's engagement with colonial history and power politics.In chapter 3, the author postulates that the ideal architectural metaphor for the power image of Prospero's control over everything in the plot can be construed by Bentham's panoptical prison. The author makes an endeavor to shed a new light upon the Prospero's power mechanism of his disciplining towards the subject under hiscontrol. Thereupon, the author initiated the theoretical concept of Michel Foucault's Panopticism to exemplify Prospero's power mechanism. The author proposes that the island under the charm of Prospero is similar to the panoptical prison invented by Bentham. Specifically, the mechanism of such power is best displayed through the apprehension of the principle on which such a structure is based: at the periphery, an annular building; at the center, a tower; The central scene of the play -the desolate island in a sense assumes the role of such a structure. At the center of the structure, metaphorically, stands Prospero, who through the assistance of his power agent, Ariel, achieves the surveillance of the overall happening and the controlling the direction of the unfolding of the plots. Based upon the concrete textual evidence, the author reveals how Pro...