Claribel, the King's Daughter

           

In William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, there are three women characters, two of which, Sycorax and Claribel, are mentioned but never seen. Claribel is the daughter of Alonso, King of Naples, who had recently been married to the King of Tunis. In act 2, scene i, we learn that the king and his men had been making their return journey from this wedding when they landed on Prospero’s island, seemingly shipwrecked.


During the Elizabethan era, women were treated subserviently; during their childhood, they were considered property of their father, and after marriage they were considered property of their husband. Women had little to no choice in determining who she would make her husband. Marriages were arranged as if they were business contracts; the marriage serves to both families in the form of wealth or acclaim.

Since the marriage between Claribel and the King of Tunis would generally be viewed as undesirable, King Alonso must have been benefitting from the union through political means. Furthermore, it is likely that the king planned to take over the land of Tunis; Elizabethan doctrine stated that land not ruled by a Christian leader was deemed a land of heathens and barbarians, and ripe for possessing. Thus, Claribel was used by her father as a tool to achieve his political goals; her feelings about the situation were unlikely taken in to consideration, even though this move likely ruined her life.