'Overseas discoveries could be used to suggest fundamental questions Essay

'Overseas discoveries could be used to suggest fundamental questions about the values and standards of a civilisation' (H. E - Essay Example It will be argued that both writers represent a challenge to the burgeoning rise of cultural imperialism that was a force in their historical era. The historical context or background of Shakespeare's age and Montaignes, is important. Shakespeare and Montaigne both lived in an age when exploration and colonial expansion was in its early phase. At the forefront of the European expansion into the 'new world', was the early sixteenth century exploration and colonization of the West Indies, South and Central America1. What is important to note, is that colonization or colonialism brought with it an imperial set of attitudes and beliefs. The people of the new world were largely viewed as uncivilized, and the state of nature that they were living in was viewed as inferior to the European invaders. It is these attitudes, for example, that facilitated the enslavement of people. Likewise, what soon followed with colonial expansion, were missionaries or the missionary movement of the Catholic Church in Europe. Both slavery and the sentiment of missionaries, are premised on assumptions that the inferiority of a people legitimated their exploitation. That is, the missionaries goal was to civilize the people and take them away from what was perceived as barbaric practices. It is interesting to note that it took centuries before Europe was able to let go of its basically 'patriarchal' views of people in the under developed world2. Expansion and colonization, was an important source of fascination for Europeans in the time of Montaigne and Shakespeare3. While Europe had a geographical and therefore, cultural connection with South and East Asia, the 'new world' or the the Americas held a great deal of interest. Montaignes sources for his writing, were some of the written accounts of explorers who had encountered cultures in South America, and one of the elements that is significant, is the connection with nature4. Montaigne writes of the people of the new world, in a way that can be described as paternalistic or patronizing, but also reverent in that he sees them as living in harmony with nature: â€Å"and they are, moreover, happy in this, that they only covet so much as their natural necessities require†5. In Montaigne, there is the sentiment expressed as what later became known as the theory of the â€Å"noble savage†6. That is, the perspective that civilization is essentially a corrupting force, and that people who live closer to a state of nature are more noble. Individuals who live in a state of nature, are living in a sustainable relationship with their environment. They consume only what they need, and are not reaching beyond the basic needs. In Montaignes world, there would very obviously been a contrast of lifestyles insofar as he would be immediately familiar with the folly of consumption. Likewise, the wealth and behavior's of Prospero and his noble visitors are presented as a stark contrast to the state of nature that the chara cter of Caliban lives in as we shall see from the Tempest. It might be argued that Shakespeare's Tempest represents a very early form of a critique of colonialism. Central to this perspective, is the figure of Caliban. The background to the story is that a nobleman from Italy or Milan, named Prospero and his daughter Miranda are exiled on a faraway island. The only inhabitant on the island who Prospero and Miranda have contact with is a figure named Caliban. The name Caliban is believed to be