Shakespeare is one of the most creative, imaginative and competent authors the world has come to know and benefit from his extemporary work. In The Tempest, he depicts Calibans characteristics to support his actual character as a colonized individual (Shakespeare, 2009). In the play, Caliban is one of the native individuals of the island, and his characteristics portray his gullibility and innocence that is similar to other colonized individuals in Africa and other parts of the world where the Western powers sort to establish their beliefs, culture, and civilization. In this essay I will analytically examine thematic as well as character representation of Caliban in Shakespeare’s The Tempest. This methodology will conceivably assists to examine
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What we have here? A man or a fish? dead or alive a / fish: he smells like a fish; a very ancient and fish-like smell; a kind” (Shakespeare II.ii.31) since he is an offspring of the witch Sycorax and the devil, he is naive judged from a civilized perspective (Shakespeare, 2009). This is similar to the analysis on the Cannibals who rely on nature for their necessities. Prospero throughout most of the play makes Caliban his slave but Caliban being rebellious and plots to murder Prospero. Even though Caliban presented as exploited and inhumane in the play, he was able to resist his master in a violent manner “This island’s mine, by Sycorax my mother/ Which thou takest from me. When thou camest first, (Shakespeare I.ii.16). Many see the plot as evil and barbaric, but this is not the case since Caliban is innocent, emotional, thus he reacts to the emotional and physical needs deprived from him by Prospero (Shakespeare, 2009). This is similar to other colonized characters for instance blacks in Africa and the indigenous who were regarded as barbaric due to their superstition and the Cannibals action to eat their acquaintances, but the act was to ensure the enemies feared and submitted to them. The actions being regarded as barbaric is sarcastic since the Portuguese allies executed the Cannibals prisoners by shooting arrows to the prisoners but since they were associated with the Portuguese, their actions are not barbaric …show more content…
These changes benefited the metropolitan countries since they pillaged raw materials and products. To ensure they gained the upper hand and oppress the natives, they instill fear and teach the natives on their inferiority making them lack the courage to fight for their rights (Césaire, 32). This is similar to the method used by Prospero to enslave Caliban as he used magic to enslave him and control him. “I must obey. His art is of such power, / It would control my dam’s god, Setebos,” (Shakespeare I.ii.15), Caliban was submissive to Prospero hoping that one day the island would be returned to him, as he believed the island was his (Kelley, 29). In other words, like Aime Cesaire explains in Discosure to Colonialism, “between colonizer and colonized there is room only for forced labor, intimidation, pressure…no human contact, but relations of domination and submission…indigenous man into an instrument of production”(Cesaire 52). This proves that between any colonizers and the colonized, force, intimidation, pressure, taxation, and degradation helps to prove that the colonizers are superior to the
What we have here? A man or a fish? dead or alive a / fish: he smells like a fish; a very ancient and fish-like smell; a kind” (Shakespeare II.ii.31) since he is an offspring of the witch Sycorax and the devil, he is naive judged from a civilized perspective (Shakespeare, 2009). This is similar to the analysis on the Cannibals who rely on nature for their necessities. Prospero throughout most of the play makes Caliban his slave but Caliban being rebellious and plots to murder Prospero. Even though Caliban presented as exploited and inhumane in the play, he was able to resist his master in a violent manner “This island’s mine, by Sycorax my mother/ Which thou takest from me. When thou camest first, (Shakespeare I.ii.16). Many see the plot as evil and barbaric, but this is not the case since Caliban is innocent, emotional, thus he reacts to the emotional and physical needs deprived from him by Prospero (Shakespeare, 2009). This is similar to other colonized characters for instance blacks in Africa and the indigenous who were regarded as barbaric due to their superstition and the Cannibals action to eat their acquaintances, but the act was to ensure the enemies feared and submitted to them. The actions being regarded as barbaric is sarcastic since the Portuguese allies executed the Cannibals prisoners by shooting arrows to the prisoners but since they were associated with the Portuguese, their actions are not barbaric …show more content…
These changes benefited the metropolitan countries since they pillaged raw materials and products. To ensure they gained the upper hand and oppress the natives, they instill fear and teach the natives on their inferiority making them lack the courage to fight for their rights (Césaire, 32). This is similar to the method used by Prospero to enslave Caliban as he used magic to enslave him and control him. “I must obey. His art is of such power, / It would control my dam’s god, Setebos,” (Shakespeare I.ii.15), Caliban was submissive to Prospero hoping that one day the island would be returned to him, as he believed the island was his (Kelley, 29). In other words, like Aime Cesaire explains in Discosure to Colonialism, “between colonizer and colonized there is room only for forced labor, intimidation, pressure…no human contact, but relations of domination and submission…indigenous man into an instrument of production”(Cesaire 52). This proves that between any colonizers and the colonized, force, intimidation, pressure, taxation, and degradation helps to prove that the colonizers are superior to the