525 de 547 PublicacionesDidacticas.com | Nº 95 Junio 2018 First literary picture of Native-Americans: colonial approach to Shakespeare’s The Tempest Autor: Adrián Hernández, Jairo (Graduado en Estudios Ingleses/Máster en Literatura Inglesa, Investigador en Filología Inglsa). Público: Alumnado/Profesorado Filología Inglesa. Materia: Literatura Británica. Idioma: Inglés. Title: First literary picture of Native-Americans: colonial approach to Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Abstract This article aims to analyse Shakespeare’s The Tempest from a colonial perspective. There is an exceptional interest in three key figures I do consider to be fundamental for the coming analysis. On the one hand, Prospero, the settler, and, on the other, Ariel and Caliban as colonised subjects. Along with imperialistic dynamics, language, representations or power will also be briefly discussed. This paper is moreover rather innovative considering the very few literature written on Shakespeare and colonialism. To that end, I have consulted not only postcolonial theorists but reviews on the subject at hand. Keywords: British Theatre, Colonialism, Imperialism, Shakespeare, The Tempest Título: Primera Representación Literaria de los Nativo Americanos: un Acercamiento colonial a La Tempestad de Shakespeare. Resumen Este artículo busca analizar La Tempestad de Shakespeare bajo una perspectiva colonial. Hay un particular interés en tres figuras que considero clave para el consiguiente análisis. Por un lado, Prospero el colono y, por otro lado, los sujetos coloniales, Ariel y Calibán. Junto con dinámicas imperialistas, términos como lenguaje, representaciones o poder serán también brevemente discutidos. Esta investigación es de carácter innovador teniendo en cuenta la poca literatura que puede encontrarse en referencia a Shakespeare y estudios coloniales. Para esa finalidad, no solo he acudido a teoristas poscoloniales, sino que me he referido a reseñas anteriormente escritas sobre el tema. Palabras clave: Colonialismo, Imperialismo, La Tempestad, Shakespeare, Teatro Británico. Recibido 2018-04-23; Aceptado 2018-05-03; Publicado 2018-05-25; Código PD: 095124 By the time Shakespeare, one of the most well-known playwrights in history, was performing and beautifully composing sonnets, Europe was parallelly involved in a period of discoveries and colonisation. Exploration thus became part of the European dream, the need to expand, to name and map. The aim of this article is therefore to briefly explore the relationship between colonial studies and Shakespeare’s The Tempest, with a special interest in the characters of Caliban and Ariel as the ‘’unfamiliar to a dominant subjectivity.’’ (Boehmer, 2005: 21) The first section of this paper will examine the role of Prospero as the ‘’colonial hero’’ and the interaction between the dominant and enslaved subjects. Prospero needs to underline the differences between categories, needs to limit these bases between power and the external world. In this fashion, Shakespeare pictures the image of a settler whose intentions go beyond personal knowledge. Prospero, to the contrary, utters imperialistic monologues to justify his civilising actions. He, from his vantage authoritative position, conquers the land and ‘’raises savage peoples from superstitions, taboos and witchcraft to a more enlightened existence.’’ (Kaya, 2010: 87) This aggressive cultural intrusion works as a tool for the creation of a hierarchical relation between the monopoliser and the oppressed. Nevertheless, as stated by Loomba (1988), the bilateral negotiations for the settlers to incorporate native ideas into their agendas jeopardise colonial affiliations (61). In this play, Prospero saves Ariel’s life and, as a consequence of this moral debt, the spirit swears loyalty to Prospero to ultimately become his ‘comrade.’ Much debated has been this controversial master-slave relation although, as stated by Chand and Chaudhary in the following quote, postcolonial scholars have timidly discussed enslavement and colonial oppression in this play: This in turn brings to surface what is not being presented by the postcolonial critics and the hidden intentions and strategies behind it. We could also say that Postcolonial critics are silent about Ariel since he is a good servant which implies enslavement is not always resented by the postcolonial critics. (Chand & Chaudhary, 2013 :37) brought to you by CORE View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk provided by PublicacionesDidácticas (E-Journal)