The Play “The Tempest” by William Shakespeare
I intend to focus on the master-slave relationship in the history of drama and colonialism in The Tempest. The reason for selecting this area is that it is extensive and explanatory because, unlike other genres, it was written to be understood and appreciated without the opportunity to re-read it. My idea is if drama is regarded as a language, the postcolonial drama in the enslaver and the enslaved people should be discussed by individuals. This drama arose in nations previously colonized by Western imperial powers, with a strong desire to recover native histories and traditions. The voices I will be in dialogue with are Caliban and Prospero’s and their reflection on people in authority and society in the current world.
The Tempest can easily be seen as a text complicit with colonial power. I will express the thesis using the statement that the play depicts the notion of imperialism and drama in the postcolonial era by portraying the enslaver and enslaved person characters. This thesis improves society’s understanding of advances in science and technology by developing new ideas about how to represent man and his position in the world. The essay is interesting as, through dramatic vocabulary, it demonstrates to society how the relationship between colonialists and conquered appears to be equally helpful. It is worth the reader’s interest since Caliban and Prospero’s voices explain how this slave-master relationship evolved into animosity and disloyalty. It is analyzed to study the colonized people’s psychology.
I plan to make this argument by analyzing Prospero as an emblem of European colonization and Caliban as the most potent symbol of post colonialism. The articles; “Postcolonial Perspective in The Tempest”, “The master-slave dialectic”, “Caliban by Postcolonial Critics: A Postcolonial Scrutiny” and The Tempest play are the materials to focus on while writing this paper. The anticipated pitfalls include a lack of proper lines such as a dispute statement, a lack of appropriate research, incorrectly indicating the sources, poor paper formation, and plagiarism checking.
How Dramatic Language Demonstrates Relationship Between Colonialists and the Conquered
Hashemipour, Saman. “Postcolonial Perspective in “The Tempest”: Shakespeare’s Relevance in Today’s Very Different World”. 2019, Web.
This article presents the dramatic vocabulary in the postcolonial era that demonstrates the aesthetic of a literary genre when it is concise, concrete, and oral. Furthermore, it is vast and explanatory because, unlike other art forms, it was written to be understood and accepted without the possibility of re-reading it. It is a shallow art form, lasting only the length of an achievement, though it has been created to remain solid. It is composed to be read aloud. If drama is regarded as a language, the language of postcolonial drama deserves to be discussed. Postcolonial drama poses challenges that distinguish it. The play depicts the notion of imperialism and drama in the postcolonial era by portraying the enslaver and enslaved person characters.
Many analysts assert that drama was the longest surviving literary genre when civilization began telling stories. This paper will demonstrate that The Tempest can be interpreted as a play about colonial rule and subjugation by addressing the recurring motif of the master-servant relationship. Following an in-depth discussion of the theme, it will go over the characteristics of The Tempest’s main characters, which alludes to the individuals of the colonial times.
Colonialism, the discovery of new regions and spaces, the influence of those lands by explorers, and the opening establishment of new frontiers and new land started earlier with the European exploration. Postcolonial drama is a brief artistic expression, lasting only the span of an achievement, though it has been created to sustain and is composed to be read aloud. In The Tempest, Prospero’s confiscation of Sycorax’s land, suppressing her, treatment of the island’s natives and enacting his way of life on the land’s inhabitants are interpreted as colonial drama (Shakespeare). Prospero is viewed as a ruler who, like the Europeans who overthrown Native American land and enslaved them, is usurping Caliban’s Island, enslaving him, and subverting him like a monster.
From a postcolonial perspective, in which literature serves as a different voice for traditionally marginalized groups, drama represents the best form of cultural heritage recovery. The conveyance of figurative areas on the scene is always symbolic of gaining social representation. Postcolonial literature, an idealized elaboration of life during the twentieth century, changed dramatically. Decades of educational training and societal conditioning in colonial discourse have imbued us with mental models that allow us to easily comprehend gender identity, male dominance, whiteness, and Western address. Today, emphasis has shifted to emphasize dialectal, philosophical, and verbal issues and areas of categorization in the literature where cultures could be absent in the chosen language. Postcolonial prose is a muddled term that encompasses a variety of cultures that produce it. Colonialism literature’s shared purpose is the search for bettering local histories and customs. Furthermore, imperialism controversy tends to break down barriers to become extensive to the viewing public in their sense of individuality.
This article will help examine The Tempest, a piece written from a cultural perspective, using a variety of literary theories. Among them is a colonial and postcolonial interpretation of the play, mainly when the emphasis is on Caliban’s character. The need to communicate for humans is a critical component of social development. As a result, language is the first element passed down from the colonizer to the colonized. Prospero and Miranda teach Caliban English in The Tempest, and he begins to speak it fluently. On the other hand, Caliban recognized the value of education, citing Prospero’s books as the origin of all his magical power. Caliban mocks those who fail to see the relevance of the publications and are more engaged in the pretty clothes they find.
“The Tempest (Shakespeare): The Master-Slave Dialectic”. 2019, Web.
This article explains several master-servant connections in The Tempest that show a relation between a figure with authority and a character subject to that control, either explicitly or indirectly. The enslaver-servant dynamic is studied utmost harshly in cases where the association’s harmony is confronted or disrupted, like by a servant’s rebellion or a ruler’s ineptitude. For example, at the beginning of the story, the servant is skeptical and angry with his masters, whose incompetence jeopardizes guiding him to a shipwreck in the hurricane. The play examines the psychosocial complexities of authority affairs from various views, comprising Prospero’s generally positive relationship with Ariel, Prospero’s usual negative association with Caliban, and the deviousness of Alonso’s rapport with his peers.
The phrase “enslaved person” appears numerous times in the text to ascribe to Caliban, elaborating on European mentalities toward the people they subjugated via imperialism. Similarly, Prospero refers to Caliban as a beast, the devil, and other offensive words to describe his brutality and uncivilized behavior. Although Prospero asserts to have punished Caliban for betraying his daughter’s honor, one must wonder whether Caliban truly deserves all of the punishments he met. Though it may appear strange, these enslaved people occasionally have a goal or anticipation that they wish to see fulfilled. Although its participants are rarely aware of it, the Master-Slave relationship is a combination of presumption and fear on the part of the slaves toward the master and a perceived sense of power the instructor has over the slaves.
When there is a master-slave relationship, there are many conflicts of authority. This writing depicts an enslaver/slave connection between Prospero and Caliban in which responsibility and influence are fought over. These stances are not by chance but rather as a consequence of force. Prospero kidnaps Caliban’s island and asserts it as his own. He then takes away his liberty and pushes him to continue serving him. His justification is that Caliban tries to assault his daughter sexually and must pay repentance for it; moreover, his conviction is not credible because it is motivated by selfishness rather than justice. In addition, Prospero’s supernatural powers, which he abuses, are the only reason he has any authority over Caliban.
The enslaver and enslaved person in The Tempest are essential to the English language and people’s thoughts and actions. The master and the slave is an intriguing area because the identities of Prospero and Caliban shape society in a variety of ways. These characters are frequently re-read in colonial contexts to reframe the colonial and colonized perspectives. Postcolonial dramas provide the common problems of the old colonies through depictions of rituals and festivals, body governance such as gender and ethnicity, and various types of Neo-Imperialisms. Many postcolonial scholars and literary critics have focused on Caliban, who has become synonymous with the West’s picture of the native: peculiar in looks, objectified, and dehumanized. This article will help understand and analyze the motif of the enslaver and the enslaved person.
Chand, Prof Piar, and Shivani Chaudhary. “Critical Discourse Analysis of the Character of Caliban by Postcolonial Critics: A Postcolonial Scrutiny”. Web.
This article analyses the role of Caliban as a slave in The Tempest. Caliban represents all natives who choose not to be colonial prisoners. Caliban chastises himself for believing Prospero and disclosing all of the land’s secrets to him. Prospero frees Caliban and mistreats him after enslaving him with the knowledge he gained while in the company of Caliban. Thus, by depicting the utilization of the conquered by the colonizer, the play seeks to highlight and criticize the existing colonial ideologies. Caliban represents the supernatural, as he results from the alliance of a wizard and the deity. The first and spiritual world character, Caliban, exists to serve as a foil to Ariel, the heavenly spirit. Ariel is primarily made of air, whereas Prospero addresses Caliban as thou earth from the start.
Caliban’s physical appearance is hazy; all efforts to outline this peculiar being have failed. Despite his ability to grind pignuts, pluck berries, and trap the nimble monkeys, Prospero refers to him as a tortoise. Caliban represents a particular type of atrocity and lack of doubts when he attempts to assault Miranda sexually. Caliban is expelled from Prospero’s cell and constrained to a rock, and when he conspires against his instructor Prospero with the drugged-up butler Stephano and the trickster Trinculo. Caliban’s heredity and physical deformity and the imprecations he continuously heaps on Prospero despite recognizing that he will be heavily punished for this endow him with supernatural qualities. This journal will help understand how post colonialism and slavery are depicted in today’s world.
Conner, Marc C. “Prospero and Caliban in ‘The Tempest’”. 2020, Web.
This article studies Prospero and Caliban association as seen in Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Caliban symbolizes oppression on the island that Prospero has taken over. Caliban is correct to be angry about this because the island ought to be his after the death of Sycorax, his mother. Instead, he is chained to an enslaved person. Caliban, as a slave, despises Prospero, the harsh tactician; in fact, he hates all service. As a result, he symbolizes slavery and the rebellion against enslavement in all of its manifestations. Prospero may have petted Caliban and handled him with deep fondness at one time. Still, in the end, Caliban is his slave, and Prospero himself refuses to apologize for declaring him his slave without fear of ridicule. Caliban tells Stephano that Prospero is a dictator who inflicts all manner of punishment on him. Caliban and Prospero have a relationship of a slave and a servitude. Caliban’s reluctance to obey Prospero’s commands demonstrates a slave fighting back against authority.
Prospero is the expropriating invader, concerned about the validity of his rule. His language lessons are interpreted as an effort to exterminate or bring his own culture under imperialist control. Slavery has taken many forms in many countries since the beginning of time. It has since taken on severe proportions, causing several historical and geographical issues. In America, black people are still regarded as second-class citizens. Caliban thus signifies the oppressed and oppressed category of enslaved people in an unjust society.
Caliban is simple, untainted by civilization’s influence. Caliban is shaped after being trained to use language in the picture of the colonizer, but the invaded and conquered cannot be the equivalent of the colonizer. He represents the darkness in marked contradiction to Prospero, who reflects the illumination of civilization. On the other side, Caliban represents the force that opposes the colonizer. After learning how to use language, he claims that the benefit is that he now knows how to insult the colonizer. He rebukes and curses him with the weapon given to him by Prospero for whatever he has done towards him and his mother.
On the other hand, Caliban is innocent and childlike in some ways—almost to somebody who does not understand any better. He does not know how to talk since he is the island’s only initial inhabitant until Prospero and Miranda show up. He is solely motivated by his physical and emotional needs, and he is oblivious to the individuals around him or the activities happening. Caliban does not fully contemplate the repercussions of his actions, possibly due to his absence of ability. Caliban is commonly denoted as a monster by other characters. Individuals’ reaction to him as an audience is less definitive. His monstrous look and rash choices may induce us to empathize with the other protagonists. After all, Caliban creates some bad choices. For example, he trusts Stephano while fooling himself with alcohol. He is quite ruthless in his plot to assassinate Prospero.
Prospero and Caliban’s relationship appears to be ironic in the play. Controlled by the brutal and wicked witch Sycorax, Caliban was freed from Sycorax’s spell by Prospero. Prospero later assumes presiding control of the island, enslaving Caliban and forcing him to carry wood. This case depicts indigenous natives who were unable to flee the cruel viciousness of their colonial rulers. As a play about imperialism, The Tempest addresses the relationship between the colonizers and colonized. If Prospero symbolizes the civilized world’s colonizer, Caliban is viewed as a savage beast needing civilization. He has been subjected to colonial rule and enslavement. At the same time, he represents the power for retaliation against the colonizer. Prospero landed on the island where Caliban and his mom Sycorax lived and took it from them. He is the embodiment of the world’s civilization. According to the civilizing mission, the colonists were not there to dominate the natives but to elevate them through enlightenment.
As seen in this article, The Tempest contracts with ideas of dominance and influence within Prospero and Caliban’s master-slave relationship. Caliban persists in serving a variety of masters, from Sycorax, the genuine colonial empire, to Stephano, whom he embraces as his own master to challenge Prospero. A multitude of characters in the play compete for colonization of the island, and each has precise colonial aspirations for the island. Despite the fact that Prospero is able to dominate the mainland amidst all conspiracy theories, his policy and how he deals with Caliban, the island’s legitimate owner, raises issues of fairness, morality, and human rights. As a result, the play demonstrates all of the requisite conflicts, ambiguity, and master-slave connections that describe western imperialism, and Prospero as well as Caliban deliver as analogies for the broader imperial world order. This article will help compare the different individuals through their character.
Works Cited
“The Tempest (Shakespeare): The Master-Slave Dialectic”. 2019, Web.
Chand, Prof Piar, and Shivani Chaudhary. “Critical Discourse Analysis of the Character of Caliban by Postcolonial Critics: A Postcolonial Scrutiny”.
Conner, Marc C. “Prospero and Caliban in ‘The Tempest’”. 2020.
Hashemipour, Saman. “Postcolonial Perspective in “The Tempest”: Shakespeare’s Relevance in Today’s Very Different World”. 2019, Web.
Shakespeare, William. The Tempest.1611.