The tensions between human aspirations are their perceptions of the wild and the reality of the forces of nature have been shaped in both complimentary and contracting ways in the play The Tempest by William Shakespeare, and Tim Flannery's The Explores, a collection of diary entries of explorers of Australia. In particular, the entries Coal Black and Stark Naked by Jan Carstensz 1623, Panic and Shake by Robyn Davidson 1977, and The Little Explorer's Diary by Emily Caroline Creaghe 1883, show the extent of the relationship between human perceptions of the wild and the reality in which they are confronted, both in The Tempest and in The Explorers.
             Through the exploration diaries of Jan Carstensz we are able to conclude that he initiated a large degree of conflict or tension between the civilised world and humanity. We join Carstensz on his journey of exploration with ten musketeers, portraying the assumption that in his view, the world and its inhabitants were hostile. Carstensz exhibits a negative attitude toward the wild, and this is evident through his comment regarding the foreign landscape. "This is the most barren and arid land I have ever seen". This quote shows that Carstensz is an individual that compares the merits of the Australian landscape to that of his own country. The Australian landscape is one he is unfamiliar with, and his insecurity is shown through this comment. Carstensz also appears to be insecure as he carries with him a small army of men, to perhaps protect him from what he could potentially be exposed to in the wild. Carstensz not only holds a negative view towards the landscape, but also the original inhabitants of the land, the Australian aboriginals. Carstensz tone is cynical and objective and this is demonstrated though his quote "The inhabitants, too, are the most wretched and poorest creatures that I have ever seen in my age or time." Carstensz regards the aboriginal inhabitants as poor as they do not h...