Dramatizing the Indian

Contributing to the growing critical conversation on colonization and imperialism in the New World, this study examines how sixteenth and seventeenth century Spanish and English theater addressed, promoted, and at times challenged contemporary ideologies of colonization and notions of "civility" and "civilization." This study seeks to understand how Spanish and English society defined "civilization" during the colonization of the New World. An examination of the contemporary colonial discourse as well as the role of the theater in both Spain and England provides a background with which to analyze Lope de Vega's El Nuevo Mundo descubierto por Cristóbal Colón and Shakespeare's The Tempest. In addition to exploring how these individual playwrights addressed their nation's colonial discourse on the stage, this study analyzes Lope de Vega and Shakespeare's representations of New World Indians in order to understand how Spain and England interpreted "civility" and "civilization" during the colonization of the New World. By dramatizing New World Indians on the stage, Lope de Vega and Shakespeare exposed their audiences to the "Other" and attempted to inform and educate theater patrons about cultural difference. While each representation of the "Other" differs, the variances are reflective of the differences in Spanish and English culture and their definitions of "civility" and "civilization." This study examines how sixteenth and seventeenth century Spanish and English theater participated in the larger national debates of the colonial discourses that questioned how to assimilate and absorb cultural differences.