Colonial Language in Shakespeare's The Tempest and Aime Cesaire's A Tempest
Language and literature are the most subtle and seductive tools of domination. They gradually shape thoughts and attitudes on an almost subconscious level. Perhaps Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak states this condition most succinctly in her essay "The Burden of English" when she writes, "Literature buys your assent in an almost clandestine way...for good or ill, as medicine or poison, perhaps always a bit of both"(137). By examining Shakespeare's "The Tempest" and Cesaire's "A Tempest", the diabolic and diagnostic functions of language and literature can be explored. Both plays place characters who are foreign to each other in equally unknown and foreign environments. Shakespeare allows Prospero the sorcerer to dominate his foreign environment and all who inhabit it, while Caliban in Cesaire's play uses the foreign language of his master, Prospero, to stage an open revolt. Placed within a post-colonial context, Cesaire ultimately expands upon the actions and characters created by Shakespeare in order to posit a plausible modern explanation for the role of language and literature in the progression from fictional to actual, all too real, colonies.
Slavery is a central issue in both plays, especially in defining the relationship between Prospero and Caliban. Prospero, a European of high social and intellectual stature, is placed within an unfamiliar and hostile environment. Caliban befriends Prospero and gives him the necessary skills to survive. In return, Prospero teaches Caliban an European language. Ironically, this knowledge of language provides the basis for both slavery and revolt. Though physically enslaved because of an attempt...
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...le it may be impossible to separate the poisonous properties of language and literature from the medicinal ones, Cesaire seems to attempt to identify the former and espouse the latter. Though the scope and influence of language and literature may be wider than that of colonialism, the same essential hurtful and hopeful paradox rests at the core of each concept.
Works Cited
Cesaire, Aime. A Tempest. Trans Richard Miller, New York: Ubu Repertory Theatre Publications, 1992.
Shakespeare, William. "The Tempest." Rpt in William Shakespeare: The Complete Works. Ed. Peter Alexander, London: Collins Clear Type Press, 1989.
Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. "The Burden of English." Orientalism and the Postcolonial Predicament: Perspectives on South Asia.
Carol A. Breckinridge and Peter van der Veer Eds. Philadelphia: U. of Pennsylvania Press, 1993. 134-57.
The Tempest by Shakespeare is his most fanciful of works. There are elaborate tricks and ideas that Shakespeare has put into play. That’s what many might see on the surface when reading The Tempest for the first time. But what some might be able to explore when digger deeper into the work, is the theme of colonization that Shakespeare bestows upon his characters.
Several aspects of Marxism can be seen over the course of the play The Tempest. There is a social and economic divide between characters, which creates tension between them throughout the play. Readers can see what is means to have power and how this power can be abused in order to mistreat others. In particular, Marxism ideologies can be applied specifically to the characters Prospero and Caliban. Prospero, a magician uses his power, to treat Caliban in an inhumane way. No matter what Caliban does, he will always be placed on the lower end of the economic ladder. Shakespeare’s powerful play, gives readers a new way to look at and appreciate reading and analyzing this piece, by looking at it through the perspective of a Marxist theorist.
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 2nd ed. Vol. C. Ed. Sarah Lawall. New York: Norton, 2005. Print.
"Negritude, originally a literary and ideological movement of French-speaking black intellectuals, reflects an important and comprehensive reaction to the colonial situation of European colonization" (Carlberg). This movement, which influenced Africans as well as blacks around the world, specifically rejects the political, social, and moral domination of the West. Leopold Senghor, Leon Damas, and Aime Cesaire are the three pioneers of the revolution. The founder who expresses his ideas more broadly, though, is Cesaire, who uses literary works to express his viewpoint on colonization. An excellent example of such a tactic is his play, A Tempest, which is a revision of William Shakespeare's The Tempest. Both Shakespeare and Cesaire accentuate the greed of Europeans in their plays. However, Cesaire is more obvious in his approach to exposing it. A comparison of the two plays demonstrates that Cesaire's version, written in the late 1960's, is written as a confrontation of Shakespeare's play. He is attempting to comment on the corruption of Colonialism and the European domination of the New World through such strategies as making seemingly minor changes, switching the main character role, and altering the storyline itself.
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...
In literature as in life, characters are multi-dimensional beings. They possess a wide variety of character traits that make them who they are. In the Tempest written by William Shakespeare, Prospero traits resemble those of the Europeans that came during the exploration of the Americas. Thus, Prospero’s treatment of Caliban is similar to the way Europeans treated the Native Americans.
Mowat, Barbara A. & Co. "Prospero, Agrippa, and Hocus Pocus," English Literary Renaissance. 11 (1981): 281-303. Shakespeare, William. The. The Tempest.
Is Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest, a drama of lost illusions, bitter wisdom and fragile hope? Before this question can be considered, one first has to interpret these terms. Perhaps "bitter wisdom" and "fragile hope" are fairly simple concepts to understand, "lost illusions" is somewhat less clear, particularly in the case of The Tempest.
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.
Anti-Semitism in "The Merchant of Venice" Throughout the play, "The Merchant of Venice" William Shakespeare portrays anti-Semitism through many of his characters. Audiences today may interpret the play to be offensive, where as people of Shakespeare’s time would have accepted the play as part of everyday life. The majority of London’s population at the time was anti-Semitic because there were very few Jews living there.
In conclusion, the Tempest and specifically the relationship between Prospero and Caliban is a careful exploration of the theme of Colonialism on Shakespeare's behalf that can only now, in a post-colonial era, be truly be appreciated, as public consensus on the subject has caught up with Shakespeare's advanced thinking.
William Shakespeare’s play The Tempest tells a story involving unjust acts, and Caliban trying to take over Prospero’s power of authority, Prospero’s mission to was to build righteousness and honesty by returning himself to rule. The idea of justice and injustice that the play works toward seems extremely independent meanwhile the impression of the play shows the view of one character who controls the purpose and fate of others.
The Tempest. Arden Shakespeare, 1997. Print. Third Series Smith, Hallet Darius. Twentieth Century Interpretations of The Tempest; A Collection of Critical Essays, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1969.
Postcolonial authors use their literature and poetry to solidify, through criticism and celebration, an emerging national identity, which they have taken on the responsibility of representing. Surely, the reevaluation of national identity is an eventual and essential result of a country gaining independence from a colonial power, or a country emerging from a fledgling settler colony. However, to claim to be representative of that entire identity is a huge undertaking for an author trying to convey a postcolonial message. Each nation, province, island, state, neighborhood and individual is its own unique amalgamation of history, culture, language and tradition. Only by understanding and embracing the idea of cultural hybridity when attempting to explore the concept of national identity can any one individual, or nation, truly hope to understand or communicate the lasting effects of the colonial process.
Shakespeare, William, and Robert Woodrow Langbaum. The Tempest: With New and Updated Critical Essays and A Revised Bibliography. New York, NY, USA: Signet Classic, 1998. Print.