Postcolonialism and The Tempest

In Acts 2 and 3 of The Tempest each person on the island had their idea of what was taking on place on this island, they each had a different perspective. For example, "many post-modernists posit that all reality is a social construct...no single or primary objective reality exists; instead, many realities exist" (Ashcroft 234). When the boat was shipwrecked and everybody made it to the island, each group of people had their perspective on what reality was, but in fact the only person that understood the situation was Prospero. Once again Prospero manipulates and controls what happens on this island with his magical powers. Moreover, Stephano is convinced that he is going to be the king of this, "Monster, I'll kill this man. His daughter and I will be the king and queen..and you and Trinculo will be our governors" (Shakespeare 129). Stepahno believes that he is going to be in control of this island with Caliban and Trinculo as his subjects. Their reality is different from Prospero's because Prospero knows that Caliban has planned a plot against in order to gain his freedom from Prospero. They each have their own reality that is true to both of them, but they are completely different so they act in a way that they both serve the social construct of reality. Both of the foreign intruders want to colonize and rule over the island. They want to enslave Caliban which is represented as the native in the The Tempest. Caliban is referred to a monster and they treat him as if he is a savage when in reality is the native of the island. This correlates with Hollywood's portrayal of the Native Americans because they were shown in a negative light so people would support colonization. They look down on the Native Americans and Caliban because they have a different culture. The invading imperialists come into their land and force their own beliefs onto these people because they feel their customs are the right way. The colonialists are very similar to Prospero and the other people that became shipwrecked on the island. They march into Caliban's land, or the Native Americans', and take control of the natives and push their hegemony on the native people.