The Tempest for me evokes the theme of environmentalism and its interaction with exploration. Man, especially Europeans, have always sought to manipulate nature and to control it, using it as a tool for their own needs and wants. Caliban, Ariel, and the island all represent this need to control nature. Caliban for me represents the feral, aggressive side of nature, and man’s need to overcome it with force. He is, as we discussed in class, an “other,” not quite a man, but not quite animal either. In this way, he is the mysterious nature of new creatures, and man’s need to tame what he fears he may not be able to best physically. Ariel is much less aggressive, and to me represents the domestication of animals for man’s own use, whether that be dogs as companions, oxen for physical labor, or pigs for food. Ariel is Prospero’s servant, and willingly does what he does what he is bid, partly through the idea that Prospero “saved” him from his imprisonment in the tree. Man uses a similar argument to support domestication – without domestication, most of the animals that we keep as pets or livestock would have been near the bottom of the food chain anyway, and so we are providing them with a preferable life. Lastly, the island itself serves as a battleground over which the noblemen argue – each wants to control and dominate the physical land, as well as the things on it. The island represents the flora and physical land in nature. Through all of these things, The Tempest shows interesting themes between environmentalism and man.