Early Intimations of Colonialism in the 17th century: William Shakespeare’s Othello and The Tempest, John Fletcher’s The Island Princess, Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko

Abstract

Early Intimations of Colonialism in the 17th century:

William Shakespeare's Othello and The Tempest, John Fletcher's The Island Princess,

Aphra Behn's Oroonoko

Hilal Kaya

Middle East Technical University

ABSTRACT

"Early Intimations of Colonialism in the 17th century: Shakespeare's Othello and The Tempest, Fletcher's The Island Princess, and Behn's Oroonoko" analyses the issues of colonialism and their reflections on the literary works of the period. Literary texts displaying travels' and colonialism's influences on literature will be highlighted. Therefore, the importance and purpose of colonialism will be studied through Shakespeare's Othello, The Tempest, Fletcher's The Island Princess, and Behn's Oroonoko. Moreover, the relationships between knowing ‘others' and gaining ‘knowledge'/‘power' will be studied. Moreover, the study will attempt to prove that these above-mentioned seventeenth-century literary texts reflected upon contemporary English political issues and controversies in terms of attaining power.