Prospero And Columbus Similarities

It is possible for one to examine the numerous similarities present between William Shakespeare’s character, Prospero, from his play, The Tempest, and Christopher Columbus, the Genoese explorer. In Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest, Prospero is the ousted Duke of Milan who finds himself stranded on an unfamiliar island inhabited by unfamiliar people, some of which he considers to be nonhuman. Christopher Columbus and Prospero can be viewed as extremely similar men, because both Prospero and Columbus leave the comfort of their own country and eventually find themselves on a new, peculiar island in which they encounter unfamiliar people who seem to have inhabited the land before they arrived. Prospero and Columbus both treat the native inhabitants

as slaves whom are inferior to their western race. The extraordinary parallels present between the two character’s inhumane treatments of unfamiliar, non-western races pose the idea that from the perspective of a white person, the concepts of white superiority and European cultures being superior to other cultures are timeless.

One extremely apparent similarity between Shakespeare’s Prospero and Christopher Columbus is their treatment of the natives, or current inhabitants, of the lands they arrive on. Columbus is famously known throughout history for his cruel treatment of the Native Americans who inhabited the islands he claimed to discover during his voyage to the “New World” long before his arrival, and when Columbus arrived in the “New World”, he completely took over all aspects of life on the land, ruthlessly exiling the natives from their homes without any negotiations. Columbus and his crew of European colonists rationalized with their intrusion of previously inhabited land by depicting themselves as much more intelligent and knowledgeable than the natives, although that idea is not historically proven true at all. In The Tempest, Prospero is forcefully shipped out of his home country and stranded on an unfamiliar island where he receives help from Caliban, a previous inhabitant and the rightful owner of the island. Both Columbus and Prospero were aware of the venerability of the natives because they were not exposed to the advanced weapons/tool and knowledge the Europeans were, and they both used that venerability to

their advantage. Throughout the play, Prospero is constantly aware that Caliban is very much inferior to him, due to his lack of knowledge, and after Caliban attempts to rape Prospero’s daughter, Prospero uses magic to enslave Caliban in his own island and forces him to obey his every command. Prospero then proclaims himself ruler of Caliban’s island, justifying his self-declaration by stating that he alone possessed the correct qualities for the role of a ruler. Prospero, who is ultimately an intruder of Caliban’s island, much like Columbus was to the natives, becomes extremely cruel towards Caliban, treating him as a slave. Prospero constantly outsteps his boundaries, seeing as he is an immigrant to the land, but he continuously treats Caliban as inferior to him and his European ideal and uses violence and threats as his tool to remain in control, such as when he threatens Caliban, stating, “tonight thou shalt have cramps…that shall pen thy breath up…[and] thou shalt be pinched as thick as honeycomb, each pinch more stinging than bees that made ‘em (Shakespeare 327-332).”
Looking at history from a broad perspective, Christopher Columbus, whether consciously or not, started a chain reaction that mirrors many events present in Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest.

Acclaimed as the founder of the amazing New World, Columbus’s for lack of better words, discovery, led to a greedy European land conquest of numerous other undiscovered lands expanding from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. The outbreak of colonization of Europe often included lands that already been populated but native inhabitant, and much like Columbus, European settlers would commonly outstep their boundaries and force themselves on the native people. The unfair take over of native’s land by the Europeans was commonly justified by the ideas of Western civilization being superior to all other cultures and all other, “uncivilized” cultures need for westernization in order to become civilized. The events being depicted through The Tempest can be seen as a kind of metaphor for this outbreak of colonization of new lands throughout European cultures. Christopher Columbus and the European colonizers unashamedly took over lands that were currently occupied by natives who had previously occupied the land for numerous generations’ prior and claimed cultural superiority over the inhabitants. The metaphor for this historical event in The Tempest is extremely apparent through Prospero’s decision to proclaim himself ruler of the island and treat Caliban and Ariel, the only known natives to

the land, as slaves. Prospero sees himself as extremely intelligent and literate, and because Caliban is depicted as unintelligent and illiterate, Prospero is also claiming himself and his race as superior to the native race of the island; therefore he is justifying his self-proclamation of ruler. Prospero’s chain of events, starting with his realization that his intelligence declares him superior to the natives, to his self proclamation as ruler, to his cruel treatment of Caliban all match up with the historical timeline of European colonization domination. Caliban can be seen as a symbol for the victims of European colonization because much like Caliban, colonized people were exploited and treated unimaginably. In The Tempest, Caliban states, “You taught me language, and my profit on’t is I know how to curse. The red plague rid you for learning me your language!” (Shakespeare 366–368). He is acknowledging that he was forced to learn the language of Prospero, which was something that was extremely common during European expansion, for the colonized natives to learn the European language because white colonists believed they were so much more civilized than these foreign cultures that they were doing them a favor by forcing their language and culture on them.
The idea of supernatural powers also creates a parallel between Prospero and Columbus because although Columbus did not have control of actual supernatural powers like Prospero did in The Tempest, his advanced European culture, in contrast to the native’s culture, was valued as almost identical to magic, from European perspective. Shakespeare, the European author of The Tempest created Prospero as the intelligent, European character in the story who is extremely knowledgeable due to his interest in books. The European perspective of white superiority is apparent throughout Shakespeare’s play because of the way he portrays white Europeans in the story as civilized and educated and other races as unintelligent and barbaric. In Columbus’s log book of his voyages, he recalls an instance in which he describes, stating, “One old man got into the boat, and all others, men and women alike, shouted, ‘Come and see the men who have come from the skies’” (Columbus). Columbus’s recollection of the amazement of the natives over the European explorers depicts the natives as viewing the westerners as almost superhuman like, having “descended from the skies”. This perspective being presented could absolutely be a result of the bias from narrator of the story, Columbus, a European explorer, who also views his culture as amazing and almost magic to those who are inferior.
For numerous generations of history, white people and people of European decent have viewed themselves are more civilized and advanced compared to other cultures around the world. The idea of white superiority throughout world history is present through multiple historical documents, as well as fictional works of literature. Christopher Columbus, the explorer known for documenting his voyage to the “New World”, provides a real life example of white superiority through his documentation of his experiences with the native inhabitants of the lands he colonizes. Columbus recounts numerous instances in his voyage log where he encounters the native people and his white superiority attitude is present throughout his entire narrative. There is culture bias present throughout his narration as he depicts the native people as being uncivilized, inferior to his European way of life, and in need of westernization to improve their lives. Much like Columbus, European authors incorporate their racial viewpoints within their characters and the plots of their fictional stories, one example being Shakespeare’s character, Prospero. Prospero is an example of a character in literature created by a European author who viewed himself and his culture as superior to others and as a result he created an educated, dominant white character, much like he viewed himself. Prospero and Columbus both share many similarities within their attitudes and viewpoints in regard to foreign cultures and races and are depicted as being extremely similar men. The parallels present between Columbus and Prospero create the idea that white superiority is a major aspect present throughout world history.