cultural differences in the tempest

I Know I Am But What Are You? Cultural Differences in The Tempest, Montaigne’s Essays, and In Defense of the Indians Paper #2 The Tempest, In Defense of the Indians, and Montaigne’s essays each illustrate what happens when two very different worlds collide. As Europe begins to saturate New World soil, the three authors offer their accounts of the dynamic between the European invader and native other. Though each work is unique in its details, they all share a common bond: Shakespeare, de Las Casas, and Montaigne show the reader how European colonialists use differences in appearance and language to justify theft and slavery. The Tempest’s Caliban serves as an instrument to highlight the colonialist notion of the other. Caliban is the original inhabitant of the island; it is his native land. But Caliban is ugly. Prospero claims that he is "not honored with human shape" (p. 17), and so the new European inhabitants never think of him as a potential equal- they see him as their infer...