The Tempest - William Shakespeare Essay Essay Example for Free

The Tempest William Shakespeare Essay Essay Although William Shakespeare’s The Tempest is often categorized as his late romance, its plots reflect the major social movement of that time—the Europeans settling in the New World. As the Europeans eagerly set out to find the New World, they left behind hopeful citizens pondering over what they would find. In The Tempest, through the characters, we can infer that the Europeans’ intentions ranged from creating the perfect government to interacting with the inhabitants. They discovered that their idea of the perfect government in which everyone is equal failed to exist. Nonetheless, they were correct in their anticipation that the New World would already be settled—by savage ‘Native Americans’. They eventually integrated the Native Americans into their society as slaves. In their journey to the New World, the Europeans failed to establish an ideal government, yet succeeded in incorporating the natives into their own society. One of the Europeans’ expectations of the New World was a perfect government in which everyone would be equal. In The Tempest, Shakespeare’s character Gonzalo describes it as a government where there would be â€Å"no occupation; all men idle, all;/And women too, but innocent and pure;/No sovereignty. † (II. 1, ll. 154-156) Even as his comrades ridiculed him, he is steadfast in his belief, and simply labels them as â€Å"gentlemen of brave mettle. † (II. 1, l. 181). This would seem like the ideal government, and would work in theory. In European society in the early seventeenth century, much emphasis was placed on class. The lower class faced many restrictions, and many citizens were infuriated with the class system. To the lower class, the hope of a perfect government in which everyone was equal was ideal. Another one of their hopes was that the natives, although barbaric, would be of great use to them when they first settled. They hoped to incorporate the Native Americans into their own society. In The Tempest, Caliban, the original native of the island, originally greeted Prospero with respect: â€Å"When thou cam’st first,/Thou strok’st me and made much of me†¦then I loved thee/And showed thee all the qualities o’ th’ isle,/The fresh springs, brine pits, barren place and fertile. † (I. 2, ll. 333-338) When Prospero first came to the island, Caliban went through the trouble of finding him the best food and water sources. Because of Caliban’s kindness, this shows that the Europeans believed that the Native Americans would be easy to manipulate, and thus, easy to control. They hoped to be in command of the Native Americans so that the task of controlling North America would be easier. To gradually incorporate the natives into their own society as slaves was one of the hopes of the Europeans. However, their hopes and predetermined ideas were found to be inaccurate. The reality was that the utopian government that the Europeans dreamed about did not exist. In fact, Gonzalo’s government was impractical. There would always be conflict, and if everyone was equal, they would feel equally poor. This would call for a sovereign, which would defeat the purpose of everyone being equal. Hierarchy will always exist simply because it is human nature to strive for the best. For example, in The New World, this was reflected in the colony of Jamestown. There was always a captain in charge. A chain of order was important in order to prevent chaos in times of distress. Conversely, one of their expectations became a reality. They believed that the natives would be savages. The Europeans looked down upon the Native Americans because they appeared in many ways to be subhuman. This was due to non-Christianity, a primitive dress style, and a sense of filth: â€Å"Their hair is usually black, but few have any beards. The men wear half their heads shaven, the other half long†¦some are of disposition fearful, some bold, most wary. All Savage†¦For their apparel, they are some time covered with the skins of wild [beasts]†¦There is yet in Virginia no place discovered to be so Savage in which Savages have not a religion†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The Europeans viewed the Native Americans as inferior beings. At first, the Native Americans were inclined to incorporate the Europeans as an intermediary: â€Å"Americans sought to incorporate the newcomers into their universe. † (Kupperman 175) They also concluded that the Europeans would be of great use to trade with. As time progressed, both the Native Americans and the Europeans strived to merge the other into their own hierarchy. (Kupperman 174) However, this attempt at incorporating the other soon proved to be futile. In The Tempest, Caliban is always plotting to overthrow Prospero (conversation with Trinculo and Stephano). This is paralleled in the Europeans’ constant, underlying worry that the natives would revolt against them: â€Å"Both the Roanoke and Jamestown  colonists reported that conspiracies against them were planned. † (Kupperman 175) The Native Americans knew their territory, and gradually developed tactics to fend off attackers. The Native Americans were highly skilled warriors, yet lacked the technology that the Europeans had. (Barbour) In addition, the Europeans had resistance to disease that overwhelmed the Native Americans. Eventually, the Europeans managed to seize power in their settlements, and incorporated the Native Americans into their civilization as slaves. Although the Europeans failed to establish a utopian government, their efforts to merge the Native Americans into their society were successful. Their ideal failed to exist simply because of human nature. Nonetheless, they integrated the Native Americans into their society as slaves. Albeit unconventional, the expectations of the Europeans were portrayed to some degree. Through The Tempest, the Europeans’ hope of establishing an model government did not become a reality, yet they managed to incorporate the natives.

The Rape of Women in Draupadi, by Mahasweta Devi, and Open It,”by Saad

The Rape of Women in â€Å"Draupadi,† by Mahasweta Devi, and â€Å"Open It,† by Saadat Hasan Manto Where there is war, there is the rape and abuse of women. From the Trojan War to the Middle East conflict, rape has been a tactic of war. Rape is commonly viewed by society as a symbol of female degradation, female submission, and the stripping of honor and humanity. In the stories â€Å"Draupadi,† by Mahasweta Devi, and â€Å"Open It,† by Saadat Hasan Manto, the rape of women is a common theme. In Manto’s â€Å"Open It,† a young girl, Sakina, is raped by young men of her community, while in Devi’s â€Å"Draupadi,† a tribal rebel is raped by authorities of the state. While the storylines of these pieces are rather similar, the portrayal of the rape and the reactions of the young women are exceedingly different. Both authors use the disrobing of garments to create a dramatic climax. However, the respective climaxes convey contrasting ideas about the rape and degradation of women. In â€Å"Draupadi,† the unveiling of garments reveals im mense female power. In â€Å"Open It,† the disrobing of garments reveals helpless female submission. Despite these differences, however, both acts of disrobing result in a striking male reaction and symbolize the remarkable survival of these battered and abused women. The circumstances of the rape and the personalities of the rape victims are very different in â€Å"Open It† and â€Å"Draupadi.† In Manto’s story, a father is desperately looking for his daughter, Sakina, in the midst of the chaos and disorder of Partition. He asks self appointed social workers of the community to help him find Sakina. When Sakina is approached by these men, her initial reaction is one of fright: â€Å"The moment she heard the truck, she began to run† (Manto 360). ... ...r remarkable survival. Although society will always have preconceptions of rape and how a woman should and will react to being raped, it is apparent through â€Å"Draupadi† and â€Å"Open It† that being raped is a very personal experience. It is an experience unique to women that can yield very different reactions. Rape can make a woman, like it did Dopdi, or it can break a woman like it did Sakina. Because being raped is such a personal experience, a woman’s reaction to such a trauma should not and can not be judged. Whether a woman is strengthened or weakened through rape, it does not matter. What matters is that she survives. Works Cited Devi, Mahasweta. â€Å"Draupadi.† In Other Worlds. Ed. Chakravorty Spriak. New York and London: Routledge, 1987. Manto Hasan, Saadat. â€Å"Open It.† Stories about the Partition of India. Ed. Alok Bhalla. New Delhi: Harper Collins, 1999.

Classical Civilizations of Ancient Greece, Rome, and China

Throughout history, there have been many civilizations, empires, colonies, and tribes that have impacted the world. The civilizations of Greece, Rome, and China have done this, but what sets them apart from the others is their lasting significance and lasting impact they had on the world. For this reason, they are considered classical civilizations. To describe how Greece, Rome, and Han China are classical, there are three systems that are used; these are Economic, Social, and Political. Out of these three classical civilizations, Greece came first in history.An important invention of Greece was its plumbing systems. Greece was the first to create plumbing and now it is almost unheard of for a house anywhere on earth to not have a plumbing system. This innovation falls under the economic category. The most important social feature from ancient Greeks would be philosophy. After the Peloponnesian Wars, many people began questioning themselves and their beliefs. During this time, many p hilosophers were living in Greece. One of the most important was Socrates. He encouraged people to examine their beliefs.When he was 70, he was taken to trial for â€Å"corrupting the youth of Athens† and â€Å"neglecting the city’s gods. † He was put to death by poison. Some historians say that the fall of Athens started with his death. Plato, one of Socrates’ students, wrote a book about Plato’s vision of a perfectly governed society. Plato’s writings dominated philosophic thought in Europe for almost 1,500 years. Then there was Aristotle, a student of Plato’s. Aristotle invented a method of logic which is the foundation for the scientific method of today.Even Greece’s philosophy was very influential on future civilizations, democracy is considered Greece’s most important contribution to modern society. Democracy, under the political system, is a government controlled by its citizens, either directly or through represe ntatives. Greece was the first to have this type of government. America, along with many other countries, borrowed this idea from Greece when creating their governments. Next on the timeline is Rome. Ancient Rome, like America, borrowed many ideas from the Greeks to create and advance structural ideas.In this way, they adapted their plumbing systems, but improved it by inventing public latrines. We might think of this as an advancement, but Rome had areas where pots were placed in a circle to go to the bathroom, and the waste would drop down into a river or stream (the plumbing system). This was a huge improvement in their sanitary conditions. The Romans acquired other ideas from places other than Greece. In the political division, there was the Roman law where its standards were extremely influenced by the teachings of Stoic philosophers.The principles were based on common sense and practical ideas. Much of modern laws, including the legal systems of many European countries along w ith the United States, have been influenced by the long lasting Roman law. Again with importance, Rome’s agriculture and trade played a big role in Roman life. Agriculture was the most important industry in the empire and everything else depended on it. Most Romans relied on the food grown in their local area and all other food and luxuries were only for the rich and they got them through trade.Rome, being along the Mediterranean Sea, had a enormous trading system and also had roads connecting it to far off places such as Persia and southern Russia. And connecting this huge empire was its sole language, the Latin language. Latin, in the social system, had a major influence on some major languages of the world, including French, Italian, Spanish, and English. Along with Rome’s unified currency know as the Denarius, the Latin language helped unify the civilization by linking diverse people and far away areas.Ancient China’s occurrence overlapped Rome’s, but started afterward, so last would fall China. In comparison with Rome, China had a large trading network. They both built roads to build their networks too. China’s commerce was very important to the Han Empire. When the Empire realized valuable their silk was as an item of trade, they kept their production technique a secret. The demand for silk from China increased. This increase of demand expanded Chinese commerce reaching all the way through Asia and India, all the way to Rome.As trade would fall in the Economic category, China’s bureaucracy and civil service would fall in the Social category. A bureaucracy is a system of departments and agencies that formed o carry out the work of government and a civil service is when people are paid to work within a civilization/country’s government. The bureaucracy of China included eighteen different ranks of civil service jobs that civilians could obtain by taking examinations. But if someone wanted to take one of thes e tests, they would have much more of a chance if they went to the school that Wudi set up.In this school, people studied Confucius’s works. These schools were expensive so only sons of wealthy land owners ever had a chance at a government career. Evidently, you did not have to believe in the Confucianism religion, but those who did were rewarded. Confucianism falls under the social division. These three civilizations were considered classical civilizations because of the impact that Greece, Rome and China had on the modern world’s economic, social and political systems.

Childrens Books About Good Manners and Etiquette