In Shakespeare's The Tempest, the relations between servants and masters are a significant contribution to the plot of the play. The Tempest embraces a variety of master and servant relationships and symbolizes colonialism. Shakespeare uses this approach in The Tempest to portray his central theme: command. Almost every scene in the play represents an association between a powerful and an oppressed character. To mention a few of them: Caliban and Ariel serve Prospero. Alonso, the king, is served on by his fidelity, consisting of counselors, noblemen, a butler, and a jester.
This motif first appears in the initial scene of act one when a storm throws the crew into trouble. The Boatswain, a man whose passengers are all nobility, orders his passengers below decks. Because the men are used to being on the giving end of the orders, and not the receiving end, they don't take kindly to the rules. Amidst the chaos, the Boatswain disobeys the system by speaking impolitely to the nobles. The Boatswain has a nasty dispute with Gonzalo. As a result, the nobles seem to be more disrupted by the Boatswain tone than by the fact that they could all perish.
BOATSWAIN: What cares these roarers for the / name of king? To cabin, silence! Trouble us not.
GONZALO: Good, yet remember whom thou hast aboard.
BOATSWAIN: None that I love more than myself. You are a counselor. If you can command these elements to silence and work the peace of the / present, we will not hand a rope more. Cheerly, good hearts! - Out of our / way, I say. (1.1)
In the beginning, it is essential to acknowledge the figures not addressing each other by their names, but by their social status, "ANTONIO: Where is the Master, Boatswain?" (Shakespeare 1.1). The scene mentioned above shows the importance of social status, indeed, in life-threatening circumstances. It also exposes the motif in the whole play, which is of a master and servant relationship. The most notable case of the serva...