The Tempest vs Tempest - Research Paper Example

A Tempest v. The Tempest In the play A Tempest by Aime Cesaire is based upon the character of Caliban in Shakespeare's The Tempest.Caliban is a deformed slave, and this is shown through many different passages in the original play. Caliban is the son of a “blue eyed hag was hither brought with child, and here was left by the sailors. Thou, my slave, and thou report'st thyself, was then her servant; and, for thou wast a spirit too delicate to act her earthy and abhorred commands, refusing her grand hests...” (Shakespeare, I, ii, 270-276). Caliban is her son – he was referred to as a freckled whelp hag born, not honoured with a human shape” (Shakespeare, I, ii, 284-288). Further, Caliban was known as a “dull thing” (Shakespeare, I, ii, 287). Then, there was some indication that Caliban felt that his island was taken from him – he protested that “this island's mine, by Sycorax my mother, which thou takest from me....” (Shakespeare, I, ii, 335-340). Caliban was addressing Prospero, who he accused of taking the island from him after Caliban was kind and showed Prospero how to live off the land – he showed him fresh springs and lands that were fertile, and he cursed Prospero for taking the land from him after he was kind enough to do all of this. Other passage refer to the fact that Miranda had taught Caliban language, but now abhors him - “Abhorred slave, which any print of goodness wilt not take, being capable of all ill! I pitied thee, took pains to make thee speak, taught thee each hour one thing or another...” (Shakespeare, I, ii, 355-365). This was as if Miranda, and Prospero for that matter, felt that, because they somehow civilized Caliban by teaching him language to express himself, it justified the fact that they took his land and resigned him to a cave. Another parallel to Caliban and the overall system of colonialism is that Prospero threatened Caliban with dark magic if he did not obey, and Caliban, in fear, states that he would have to obey, because “his Art is of such power, it would control my dam's god, Setebos, and make a vassal of him” (Shakespeare, I, ii, 375-379). These first passages introduce Caliban as a symbol of colonialism. The people who were colonized basically had their lands stolen, after they introduced the men who arrived on the land to the ways of surviving on the land. The fact that Caliban was seen as being deformed and rather hideous – plus the fact that there were allusions to fact that Caliban was born of both a demon and a witch – was symbolic of the way that the colonizing people, the white people, saw the natives in the lands that they stole. They didn't feel that these individuals were even human – they felt that the men who were already there on these islands were somehow other (Nixon, 558). Moreover, the way that Caliban feared Prospero, who had dark magic, and this threat of magic kept Caliban in line, showed that Prospero had power of Caliban, just as the white man had power over the natives in conquered lands. As Nixon (1987) notes, the post colonial movement, where colonization increasingly became discredited, as the intellectuals who have studied the matter seized upon The Tempest as a way of protest and to frame the argument regarding colonization. The dominant culture in this case was Prospero, who was white and took the land of Caliban. There was a newfound interest in The Tempest during the period that was known as the period of decolonization, which was considered to be concentrated and sudden (Nixon, 561). As one historian who was interested in appropriating The Tempest notes, Caliban was symbolic of the struggles of black people all over the world who were oppressed by the colonizers – that Caliban represents “the whole case of the aboriginal against aggressive civilisation dramatised before us” (Nixon, 561). In addition to the information about Caliban that was delineated above, there was another issue about Caliban that also lent his character, especially, to a protestx play regarding colonialization, and that was the fact that his character wasn't quite human. He was variously described as being part witch and part devil, half monkey, half coconut and being like a fish – his arms apparently were fins, but his legs were like a man (Shakespeare, II, ii, 25-35). This would be in keeping with the overall prevailing view during Shakespeare's time that the natives in these lands were not human. They were not only other, but they were representative of the missing link. They were not evolved the way that the white men were. Caliban was represenative of all of this. Sarwoto (11) states that the characterization of Caliban in this way was based upon the travel books of the period which described the New World inhabitants, and portrayed them as sub-human, with customs and dress modes that were not in keeping with what the white men during this time understood as being human. It was during the period of time, during decolonization, that Aime Cesaire created his play that was meant to be a commentary about colonialism (Sarwoto, 12). The play has the same plotlines as the original – both plays featured a major storm, a Duke who was usurped by his brother, and natives. However, in Cesaire's play, while Shakespeare focused upon the happenings of the Prospero, his magic, and his attempts to return the land to the rightful heirs – his daughter Miranda, who is the rightful heir of the remote island – the play written by Cesaire focuses more on the plight of Caliban and another slave named Ariel, who is a mulatto slave. Cesaire gave Caliban the qualities that Shakespeare did not. Namely, Caliban in Cesaire's play was much more insolent to power. When we first see Caliban, he is obviously speaking English, yet Prospero puts him down stating that Caliban is “mumbling your native language again! I've already told you, I don't like it. You could be polite, at least; a simple hello wouldn't kill you” (Cesaire, 11). To this, Caliban smarts off with “Oh, I forgot...but make that as froggy, waspish, pustular and dung-filled hello as possible. May today hasten by a decade the day when all the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth will feast upon your corpse!” (Cesaire, 11). Caliban gives Prospero as good as he gets, as he accuses Prospero of being “ugly, with a big hooked nose, you look just like some old vulture. An old vulture with a scrawny neck!” (Cesaire, 11). Unlike Caliban in The Tempest, who begrudgingly admits that Miranda had taught him language, Caliban in A Tempest tells Prospero that Prospero “didn't teach me a thing! Except to jabber in your own language so that I could understand your orders...and as for learning, did you ever impart any of that to me? No, you took care not to. All your science you keep for yourself alone, shut up in those big books” (Cesaire, 12). In short, Caliban voices the concern of the oppressed against the oppressor, and since this is a play that was a protestation against colonialism, Caliban openly gives speeches that are designed to bring light into how the colonizers treated the natives of these lands. Caliban accuses Prospero of polluting the land, and not respecting it, as well as “tread[ing] upon it with the steps of a conqueror” (Cesaire, 12). Caliban also implies that the earth itself, the land itself, was his mother – he says that he sees her everywhere; in the serpent, in the rain and in the lightning. What's more, the implication in this play was that Caliban had the magic, as Prospero warns him that “if you keep on like that, even your magic won't save you from punishment!” (Cesaire, 13). And the cave that Cesaire was forced to live in in Shakespeare's play turned into a ghetto, which is what the cave really was (Cesaire, 13). Ariel was another change from one play to another, for the character of Ariel was not in the original play. Ariel represents a certain type of slave or native that was considered to be more of an “Uncle Tom” (Cesaire, 21). In other words, Ariel was the natives who allowed the white man to take the land, and was grateful for the knowledge and the education that the white man could impart. Ariel is the native who worked with the white man and did not rebel. This could be because Ariel and the natives like him felt intimidated by power, which was the case with the Caliban in Shakespeare's play. But this Caliban is very dismissive of Ariel, as he asks him “what good has your obedience done you, your Uncle Tom patience and sucking up to him. The man's just getting more demanding and despotic by the day” (Cesaire, 21). Ariel is a pacifist who does not advocate violence, therefore there can be no rebellion from him. Caliban does not have much patience for this, though, stating that Ariel is willing to give up, and mocks Ariel's belief that Prospero has a conscience and would eliminate the injustice just on his own good will (Cesaire, 22). Therefore, the entire reason why Cesaire wrote the play A Tempest is to bring Shakespeare's play into the modern era and to make it a protest against the colonialization that Shakespeare obviously approved of. Caliban was treated like the other, as something that was less than human, as something that was the missing link. Caliban literally was considered to be not human. It was this dehumanization that Cesaire managed to stand on its head. Caliban in Shakespeare's play obviously had the same thoughts as Cesaire's Caliban – both Calibans were indignant that Prospero had forced them off their land. Both Calibans were mocking when Miranda brought up how much she had done to civilize them. That said, only Cesaire's Caliban had the bravery to face up to Prospero and put Prospero in his place. This was because the Caliban in Shakespeare's play was afraid of Prospero – Prospero had the power and dominance that natives had for whites, and this took the form of magic. Prospero had magic, and this made Caliban fear him. This is analogous to the native people fearing the power of the whites. The Caliban in Cesaire's play, however, was the one with the magic, and this is an important point. This one piece of information tells the audience that Caliban has the power in the relationship between himself and Prospero. Perhaps this was a fantasy on behalf of Cesaire – that the native people would have the strength to fight against their oppressors, and rise up against them and take their islands and lands back. Cesaire's play was also a counterpoint to some of the prevailing views that colonization was a good thing. This was because the colonizers took the land and made these lands prosperous. Prospero's name would denote that this was how Shakespeare looked upon the role of the colonizer – that they made the lands prosperous. Yet, the colonizers also enslaved the people, polluted and defiled the land and put the people into ghettoes. These are facts that cannot be denied. This is why the character of Ariel is so odious – Ariel, and people like Ariel, are the ones who let the enslavement happen, who let the white man take the land, who act grateful for what the white man can do for them. Ariel is the problem, like Uncle Tom, and Caliban has no use for him. Conclusion When the world came to know the facts about colonization, there was an inevitable backlash and a protest. This was the purpose of the writing of A Tempest. Why The Tempest was chosen by Cesaire upon which to base his play was obvious – Shakespeare treated the native people as less than human in his play, so this was the perfect counterpoint to Cesaire's protest. This was effective, as it took a well known play and turned it around to mean something that was completely different than what was intended. Shakespeare had only intended the play to be somewhat along the usual lines of a Shakespeare play – there was magic, mystery, adventure and romance. There was a deposed Duke who wanted to reclaim land for his daughter, who was the rightful heir to the land. Caliban was a minor character, and Caliban was treated like something that was other and less than human. Which is how the natives were looked at during Shakespeare's time. However, Caliban as a character was somebody who was ripe for reinterpretation, which is exactly what was afforded by Cesaire in his play, A Tempest. The reinterpretation of Caliban made Caliban still symbolic for the oppressed, but also was symbolic of overcoming this oppression. In this way, Cesaire effected an excellent allegory, while taking a Shakespeare play and creating a meaning that was never intended by Shakespeare but was very effective nonetheless. References Arnold, A. James. "Cesaire and Shakespeare: Two Tempests." Comparative Literature 30.3 (1978): 236-248. Cesaire, Aime. A Tempest. Available online. Nixon, Rob. "Caribbean and African Appropriations of" The Tempest"." Critical inquiry 13.3 (1987): 557-578. Sarwoto, Paulus. The Figuration of Caliban in the Constellation of Postcolonial Theory. Diss. Louisiana State University, 2004. Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. Read More