The Presence of Capitalism in The Tempest

            William Shakespeare’s The Tempest is the tale of a storm that reconnects a father and magician, Prospero, with his past as a Duke of Milan. The whole play is surrounded by, and possibly inspired by, the historical context during Shakespeare’s later days. One of the most interesting and dominant historical contexts is the presence of economics—particularly, capitalism—in the play. The early-17th century time frame in which The Tempest was written is filled with ideas and tales from the Age of Exploration. In context, The Tempest is a Westernizes interpretation of the adventures in the New World.

            In the 17th-century, Europe saw the emergence of a new middle-upper class. With the decline of feudalism and the boom of mercantilism, working class citizens could raise their status not through marriage into royalty, but rather through the monetary result of ingenuity and innovation. Previously, one had to raise his status through the harsh ways of the feudal structure. However, with the rise of the usefulness and prevalence of money, capitalism allowed the working class to raise its status. This caused the emergence of a new class and an upset in the social structure of Western Europe.

            In The Tempest, Caliban is a direct representation of the indigenous people of the New World. His name is even an anagrammatic derivative of the word cannibal, which suggests that the colonizing powers had rude, animalistic misconceptions of the indigenous. In Act I, Scene II, Prospero treats Caliban much like European explorers treated the indigenous. He says, “But, as ‘tis, We cannot miss him. He does make our fire, Fetch in our wood, and serves in offices That profit us. What ho! Slave! Caliban! Thou earth, thou! Speak!...Come, forth, I say!...Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil himself Upon thy wicked dam, come forth!” (Act I, Scene II, Lines 310-320). Prospero is clearly talking down to Caliban, as he calls him dirt, insults his parents, and shouts orders at him, all within a few sentences. Prospero’s immediately harsh treatment of Caliban reflects the European supremacist views of the Age of Exploration—or, the Age of Exploitation. This theme is continued through Shakespeare’s use of Stephano and Trinculo. In their initial meeting of Caliban, Trinculo is mesmerized by Caliban. He asks himself,

What have we here? A man or a fish? Dead or alive? A fish: he smells like a fish; a very ancient and fishlike smell; a kind of not-of-the-newest poor-John. A strange fish. Were I in England now (as once I was) and had but this fish painted, not a holiday fool there but would give a piece of silver. There would this monster make a man; and strange beast there makes a man. When they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar, they will lay out ten to see a dead Indian. (Act II, Scene II, Lines 24-32)

     Trinculo is clearly amazed by Caliban. As soon as he set eyes on Caliban, Trinculo immediately thinks of how much money he could make by putting Caliban on display. As London was a large port, many ships would dock and the sailors would tell tales of the “monsters” of the new world. Trinculo is a prime example of one of these sailors, and his immediate jump to money leads the audience to believe that Shakespeare included this section due to the growth of capitalism and the tall tales found in London ports. When Stephano comes across Caliban, he thinks of what a great gift he would make for royalty. Upon their first meeting, Stephano tells himself, “This is some monster of the isle with four legs, who hath got, as I take it, an ague. Where the devil should he learn our language? I will give him some relief if it be but for that. If I can recover him and keep him tame, and get to Naples with him, he’s a present for any emperor that ever trod on neat’s leather” (Act II, Scene II, Lines 62-66). Stephano, like Trinculo, immediately thinks of how his discovery of Caliban will increase his status back in Europe. In the mid-17th century, Europe was going a rapid economic change from the birth of modern capitalism. Sheakespeare uses Trinculo and Stephano to represent the drunken greed and opportunism of capitalism.

     Gonzalo, much unlike Stephano and Trinculo, represents the anti-capitalist economic views of 17th-century Europe. Gonzalo, the optimistic light of the storm and an old friend of Prospero, contributes a different interpretation of economics in The Tempest. In his description of Utopia, he says that he would have an entirely different economic system:

“I’ th’ commonwealth I would by contraries Execute all things. For no kind of traffic Would I admit; no name of magistrate; Letters should not be known; riches, poverty, And use of service, none; contract, succession, Courn, cound of land, tilth, vineyard, none; No use of metal, corn, or wine, or oil; No occupation, all men idle; And women too, but innocent and pure; No sovereignty” (Act II, Scene II, Lines 143-152).

Gonzalo, the voice of reason throughout the play, explains the reality of economics by criticizing the newborn capitalism. In his Utopia, everything is equal. There is no one power—such as a monarch—that is of greater power than the commoners. Shakespeare likely ‘borrowed’ this idea from French Renaissance philosopher Michel de Montaigne and his work Of the Caniballes, published in 1580. Montaigne writes of the people of Brazil:

It is a nation, I would answer Plato, that has no kind of traffic, no knowledge of letters, no intelligence of numbers, no name of magistrate, nor of political superiority, no use of service, of riches or of poverty, no contracts, no successions, no partitions, no occupation but idle, no respect of kindred, but common, no apparel but natural, no manuring of lands, no use of wine, corn, or metal. The very words that import lying, falsehood, treason, dissimulations, covetousness, envy, detraction, and pardon were never heard of amongst them. How dissonant would he find his imaginary commonwealth from this perfection! (Of the Canniballes by Montaigne, found in The Tempest: A Norton Critical Edition).

     Montaigne writes about the different way of thinking in the New World. The Age of Discovery brought back a new idea for a political system, which can also be seen as a shadow of the Renaissance. It brought back a system in which there is no class structure, but rather, society is made up of completely autonomous individuals who comprise the commonwealth. Just like Gonzalo, Montaigne describes Utopian economics as so. It would be ludicrous to suggest that Shakespeare’s The Tempest was not influenced by Montaigne’s Of the Canniballes[1]. Montaigne, and Gonzalo, by transitivity, view the indigenous way of life as Utopia, and suggests that European colonizers are the savages. Shakespeare adheres to the European arrogance and casts Caliban as the savage and Prospero as the protagonist. Although it is unclear if Shakespeare himself agrees with Montaigne’s alternative philosophy, but it is obvious that he uses Gonzalo to offer a different perspective of European colonization.

     Shakespeare’s The Tempest reflects the economic changes in post-Renaissance Europe. With the growth of capitalism and the decline of feudalism, Shakespeare’s The Tempest engages and reflects the economics of 17th-century England.