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columbus voyage essays
columbus voyage essays
essay about native american literature
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In Journal of the First Voyage to America, Christopher Columbus described his first journey to the New World: "Everything looked as green as in April in Andalusia. The melody of the birds was so exquisite that one was never willing to part from the sound, and the flocks of parrots obscured the heavens... A thousand different sorts of trees, with their fruit were to be met with, and of a wonderfully delicious odor." Europeans were intrigued by descriptions like these, detailing a land completely unlike anything they had ever heard of or seen before. Even the name "New World" implied a mysterious and fantastical place. The centuries following the “discovery” of the Americas were a time of great excitement. William Shakespeare, living in 17th …show more content…
If this was true, however, Shakespeare would have portrayed Caliban, a symbol of the repressed native, as a much more innocent and sympathetic character. While Caliban does have a special connection to the island, evident by the poetic and heartfelt language he uses when describing it, he is not simply a helpless native being oppressed by an unreasonable colonizer. Prospero treats Caliban with kindness and respect at first, until Caliban attempted to “violate the honour of” Miranda, Prospero 's daughter and the symbol of purity in the play, by trying to have sexual intercourse with her. Caliban is also unapologetic about the incident, as shown in act I scene ii, in which he laughs at the matter and wishes Prospero had not stopped him so he could have “peopled else This isle with Calibans.” This paints Caliban as an immoral character that is undeserving of the audience’s sympathy. When people today look at the colonial period through a postcolonial lens, they find many things wrong morally with the treatment of natives. However, this was not the message Shakespeare was trying to convey in 1611 when he wrote the
In the play, The Tempest by William Shakespeare, Prospero took control of Caliban and made him his servant. Prospero was able to do this because he viewed Caliban as an uncivilized being; Caliban was portrayed as a beast. Thus, Prospero was able to assume power over Caliban. It can be seen from Prospero’s speech that he thinks that Caliban is inferior to him when Prosper says, “I have used thee, Filth as thou art, with human care […]” (1.2.348-349). Prospero tries to justify enslaving Caliban, but all he really does is place Caliban into a category of bestial and uncivilized and as a result enslaves him.
In summary, Shakespeare’s The Tempest play explores the theme of opposition to the colonial-style authority of Prospero based on various characters’ covert and overt reactions to the master’s antics. For instance, Ariel opposes Prospero’s continuous detention of the former regardless of an earlier agreement to the contrary. Moreover, Caliban expresses his dissatisfaction with the forced labor that her does for Prospero. To prove his opposition to Prospero’s authority, Caliban plans the master’s death. Miranda also makes a statement that indicates her displeasure with the way Prospero executes his authority especially with regard to Ferdinand. The imprisoned Ferdinand also indicates his opposition to Prospero’s power through a disproving statement made before Miranda.
Caliban is, of course, the "salvage and deformed slave" of Shakespeare's dramatis personae in The Tempest, son of the deceased witch Sycorax, servant of the mage Prospero, consort of and bootlicker for Stephano and Trinculo, failed plotters and drunken buffoons. "As disproportion'd in his manners / As in his shape" (V.i.290-1), he has tried to ravish Prospero's daughter Miranda before being exiled to his cave, and in the course of the play attempts to overthrow Prospero himself and install Stephano on the throne of the island. At last, though, Duke Prospero comes to pardon even Caliban -- "This thing of darkness I / acknowledge mine" (V.i.275-6), and his drudge promises to "be wise hereafter, / and seek for grace" (V.i.294-5) or favor with his master.
William Shakespeare's, "The Tempest," provides insight into the hierarchy of command and servitude by order of nature. This play uses the relationship between its characters to display the control of the conqueror over the conquered. It also shows how society usually places the undesirable members at the bottom of the chain of command, even though they may be entitled to a higher social status. For example, the beginning of the play opens with a scene on a boat in the midst of a terrible storm. The boatswain, who is under the command of the royal party, attempts to keep the boat from sinking.
His mother being a witch does him no favours, but her treatment of Ariel (who we believe to be a “fine apparition” with his beautifully energetic language) certainly reflects badly on Caliban as a blood link, since she imprisoned Ariel in a “cloven pine...(for)...a dozen years”. Then there is Caliban’s attempt to “violate the honour of” Miranda; and at present not to be filled with guilt at this event but to say “would’t had been done!...I had peopled else this island with Calibans”. This certainly portrays Caliban as cold, evil and relentless that he would have repeated the rape.
Caliban is treated in a highly demeaning manner since Prospero is a man of magic and has infinite power to control Caliban in every aspect. It is seen early on in the play the amount of control that has been placed over Caliban, to the extent that memories make him cringe and satisfy all of Prospero’s needs. Prospero is obviously the Duke of that island similar to how he was Duke of Milan before being usurped and banished to the island, which is Caliban’s home. In general, the relationship of Prospero and Caliban is a model of early colonization into the New World considering Caliban is it’s only inhabitant. In reality, colonization is the chief reason slavery was implemented which was to maintain laborers in order to prosper in the New World.
This means that from a modern perspective, Prospero’s treatment of Caliban makes him a monster, due to the cruelty of his actions. The human want of justice, however, can justify the poor treatment of Caliban by Prospero, given that his status as slave is a punishment for the attempted rape of Prospero’s daughter. In this way, Prospero is not a monster, only a man seeking justice for a perceived wrong. Stephano and Trinculo are ignorant to the evils that make Caliban a monster independent of his appearance, making their actions towards Caliban inexcusable. Upon seeing Caliban, Trinculo states, “Were I in England now… and had but [Caliban] painted, not a holiday-fool there but would give a piece of silver.” (Act 2, Scene 2). Trinculo jests about the worth of Caliban, as if he were no more than a strange creature to take and sell. Stephano is no different in his first appraisal of Caliban, “If I can recover him, and keep him tame, and get to Naples with him, he’s a present for any emperor…” (Act 2, Scene 2). Stephano, like Trinculo, plans to take Caliban away from his native Isle and sell him for a profit. This assessment of his worth comes from little more than a first glance at his person, selling a person for material gain is an act of evil, and considering it as seriously as both Trinculo and Stephano did, makes them not so much men as monsters. This assessment, however, is a product of modern perspective, and it puts into question the intentions of Shakespeare as to the portrayal of these three characters. In an earlier Shakespearean text, Macbeth, the character that exemplifies man, Macduff, says to Macbeth, “We’ll have thee, as our rarer monsters are, painted on a pole, and underwrit, ‘Here may you see the tyrant.’” (Act 5, Scene 8) This shows that the displaying of monsters as exhibits is not rare, and nor is it frowned upon by the general public. This would mean that perspectives of
Another way that the treatment of Caliban by Prospero is similar to the treatment of Native Americans by the Europeans is the adaptation of the language. When the Europeans came to the New World they forced the Native Americans to learn their languages and live according to the European culture. People who had spoken one language all their lives, now had to learn another. They had to live by customs they have never heard of even before. In the Tempest, Prospero does this also. When Prospero came to the island he forced Caliban to learn the language that he spoke. Caliban had to adapt to a style of living that he had never experienced before. Caliban had to change completely to adapt to the life forced upon him.
The relationship between Prospero and Caliban is a perfect demonstration of the dependence relationship between a coloniser and the native of whichever colony he set his eye upon. Colonialism was a subject easily related to by Shakespeare's contemporary audience; with James on the throne the British Empire was beginning to thrive and would soon become the largest in not only the 17th Century world, but one of the largest in history. At the time 'The Tempest' was first preformed, 1611, Britain had begun to lay claim to North America and the smaller Caribbean isles, a fact the King was no doubt proud of and, similarly to his addition of the supernatural (a subject that fascinated James), aiming to impress Shakespeare chose to make colonialism a central theme in 'The Tempest'.
The Tempest reflects Shakespeare's society through the relationship between characters, especially between Prospero and Caliban. Caliban, who was the previous king of the island, is taught how to be "civilized" by Prospero and his daughter Miranda. Then he is forced to be their servant. Caliban explains "Thou strok'st me and make much of me; wo...
Caliban, a once free person who for the most part owned the entire island, was surprised by the sudden betrayal of Prospero after he had, out of generosity, showed Prospero the island. In the play, Caliban is the only human subject of Prospero, but he is treated merely as a slave and servant (I.ii.337-341). People who have power often have subjects to rule or territory to rule on, and the people who don’t have power are the ones suppressed under the rule. Caliban saw Prospero as someone who is trustworthy enough that he will exploit many of the island’s secrets to him. Prospero, gaining full command over Caliban after the island’s features were shown to him, subjugates Caliban, differentiates him from other people, dehumanizes him and makes him worthless except for fetching wood. The desire for power is often sought after by many individuals, but the consequences of having it can lead to betrayal, treachery, and conditions much
In this whimsical play, Prospero, the former Duke of Milan, after being supplanted of his dukedom by his brother, arrives on an island. He frees a spirit named Ariel from a spell and in turn makes the spirit his slave. He also enslaves a native monster named Caliban. These two slaves, Caliban and Ariel, symbolize the theme of nature versus nurture. Caliban is regarded as the representation of the wild; the side that is usually looked down upon. Although from his repulsive behavior, Caliban can be viewed as a detestable beast of nature, it can be reasonably inferred that Shakespeare’s intent was to make Caliban a sympathetic character.
Caliban is rude, crude, ugly and lazy. Speaking in a psychoanalytic manner, Caliban is going to be remembered as bitter and obsessed with sex. This sexual desire is going to be coincided first with thoughts of his mutation-- a feeling of inadequacy-- and then more significantly with the absence of his mother. That he had no parents on which to form an Oedipal complex and knows only who his mother was (nothing is mentioned of his father) makes for interesting observations on how he deals with sexuality. We learn that he does not deny that Prospero is the only barrier between him and the rape of Miranda. It is clear that he has developed only so far as Freud’s theory of id, with small touches of the superego. Caliban’s development of the superego is evident only when he does not wish to receive Prospero’s pinches and cramps. He is otherwise all for anything that will bring him pleasure. Being free of Prospero, fulfilling his sexual desires with Miranda and drinking liquor are all on his menu.
Caliban is evil is the fact that he tried to rape Miranda, Prospero’s daughter as states by Barbara Fuchs in her article Conquering Islands: Contextualizing the Tempest where it says, “Caliban’s attack on Prospero’s daughter once more genders the colonizing impulses” (61). This suggests rape and it is not inhuman and it shows that Miranda is not the first woman who this has happen to. It not right, it’s evil. Caliban’s character in this book is horrible in the things that he does, he starting off has an evil monster that was born from an evil parents and he goes around causing trouble wherever he goes. As a servant, he does evil deed and by himself he is evil.
Prospero’s trust is broken with Caliban because he tried to rape Miranda. There is no evidence of rape, however Miranda was the only female on the island practically supports the idea. Caliban being a natural creature he would not know the different in societies rule against sexual engagement. Prospero learns from his second betrayal, apparently tyrannical state is revealed in verbal abuse ...