Utopian Thought in William Shakespeare :: Biography Biographies Essays

Although Columbus had discovered the New World in 1492, it is interesting to tincture how relatively uninterested Shakespeare was in the Americas or the western travel that was move Europe. While some Eng killers focused their attention and dreams on the uncivilized land in the west, Shakespeare dreamed and wrote of the old world, of battles long ago, of an ancient story-land already vivid in its braveries and devotions (Thorndike 110). He has left no evidence that might advise any interest in the voyagers or the dangers faced on the chartless oceans of the west, but he knew of the colonization endeavors through leaders such as Southampton, his early patron (110). The disinterest changed, though, when he read of the Sea gage shipwreck. In the year 1609, a year before the estimated writing of The Tempest, golf-club ships set out from England to strengthen John Smiths Virginian colonies. En route, though, one of the ships was carried out-of-door from the other during a storm. The lost ship, the Sea-Adventure, had on board the operation commanders, and completely of the passengers were presumed to be lost at sea. However, a year later, tidings reached England that the clustering and passengers of the Sea-Adventure had been blown to the coast of a Bermudan island, but they survived and rejoined the party the next year. Stunned English journalists reported many accounts of the shipwreck, and it is from these stories that some historians attribute Shakespeares sign inspiration for the setting and foundation of The Tempest (Wain 202-203). After the shipwreck and news of the amazing survival, there were numerous