Intersections of Race, Class, and Gender in the Tempest

Explain how Ariel and Caliban serve as character foils for each other. Be sure to consider their physical appearance and their roles as servants to Prospero.

Last but not least, Caliban had an unstable relationship with Prospero. Miranda wasn’t the only one that treated Caliban as a slave, Prospero did as well. “..What,ho! Slave! Caliban!”(1.2.375). Caliban would be called names, and numerous times he is treated as a slave, but Prospero felt no guilt to how he treats him. As mentioned before, Caliban is a villain as well, which means he is also evil to Prospero. “All the infections that the sun sucks up/ From bogs, fens, flats, on Prosper fall and make him/By inchmeal a disease!”(2.2.5). Caliban hoped that all the diseases that are in swamps and marches infect Prospero, in every inch of his body so he could become a walking disease. Not only did he wish for him to be infected, but he also wanted to severely hurt him. “I’ll yield him thee asleep, where thou mayst knock a nail into his head”(2.3.67-8) He tells Stephano that he will take him to where Prospero sleeps, so he could pound a nail into his head. After they were to put a nail into his head, he wanted to continue to do evil things to him. “Beat him enough. After a little time, I’ll beat him too”(3.2.92-3) As it shows in this quotation, Caliban wanted to beat Prospero.

Prospero enslaves Caliban and Ariel, seizing the island for him and Miranda, just like Alonso and Antonio had done to him. The rightful ruler of the island is Caliban, and although Caliban at one time tried to rape Miranda, Prospero repeatedly punishes him for this one event that occurred much before this play takes place. Prospero initially “helps” Caliban by educating him and in exchange, Caliban taught Prospero and Miranda how to survive on the island. Prospero uses the act of attempted-rape to justify his seizure of the island. This take-over should have been enough punishment but Prospero enslaves Caliban, threatening to hurt him if he does not do his bidding. By endlessly punishing Caliban, Prospero inadvertently shows his malicious side. Although Prospero freed Ariel from the tree he was bound inside, Prospero blackmails Ariel and essentially enslaves him too. Prospero repeatedly tells Ariel that he will set him free but, it seems as if that is an empty

Originally, he was a fair duke that showed love to everyone he met; however, his love of magic gets him exiled by his own brother. Once on the island of his banishment, Prospero develops monstrous characteristics of greed and domination. He imposes his beliefs upon initial inhabitants by teaching them his own language so that they could communicate with him (Tempest. I.ii.352-364). Prosper felt he had the superior form of communication and higher level of intellect, so the previous occupants should have to learn his language. He also forced his self-proclaimed authority on this creature who was the birth-right land-owner. This creature, Caliban, is upset and claims, “This island’s mine by Sycorax my mother, / Which thou tak’st from me” (Tempest. I.ii.331-332). Just as Prospero’s kingdom was taken from himself, he retaliated by taking Caliban’s kingdom from him. To do this, Prospero enslaved Caliban as well as another he finds on the island through use of his magic and forces them to do his menial tasks. It is through his exploiting and dominating actions that Prospero is seen as a monster. He cultivated his supremacy over everyone to a malicious extent that he was a malevolent monster disguised as a

Prospero uses his language to minimize and blame Caliban. Prospero not only refers to Caliban as “filth,” but also accuses him of “lying” and “seek[ing] to violate / [t]he honour of my child” (i.ii. 348- 351). Prospero blames his treatment of Caliban to the actions of Caliban; the quote: “with human care, and lodged thee / [i]n my own cell, till thou didst seek to violate / [t]he honour of my child” illustrates how Prospero blames Caliban for how Prospero treats him (i.ii. 349-351). This is violent because it shifts the blame from Prospero to Caliban essentially blaming the

  The Tempest is generally considered to be Shakespeare's last sole-authored play. The play draws a number of oppositions, some of which it dramatises, and some of which it only implies. Prospero, a figure exhibiting many resemblances to the Elizabethan idea of the 'Mage', (of whom the best known is probably Dr. John Dee), is opposed to both his corrupt brother, usurper of his role as Duke of Milan, and to Sycorax, an evil witch and mother of the 'deformed slave' Caliban. Sycorax does not enter the action of the play, having died before it opens, but enough is made of her evil disposition and behaviour to show Prospero as a model of human virtue in comparison. This despite Prospero's own use of magic to

Prospero, the self-appointed king of the island upon which everyone eventually becomes shipwrecked, immediately oppresses Caliban and claims him as his slave, even though Caliban was the original inhabitant of the island. Prospero and his daughter are technically guests in Caliban's home. Caliban is the son of the devil and Sycorax, a witch. Prospero uses Caliban's unsavory origin as an excuse to enslave him. He claims that he is a bad seed, and he deserves a life of servitude. He never actually justifies the situation with a logical explanation, so he must use whatever information he can think of as a poor excuse to exploit Caliban for his own self-propagation. Prospero is even bold enough to suggest that by enslaving Caliban, he is actually extending charity towards him. He feels that

Feminist theory aims to understand the nature of inequality and focuses on gender politics, power relations and sexuality. To do Feminist Research is to put the social construction of gender at the center of one 's inquiry. Feminist theory is about seeing gender as a basic organizing principle which profoundly shapes/mediates the concrete conditions of our lives. In the play The Tempest, by William Shakespeare Miranda is a perfect example of a woman 's role in literature from a feminist theorist perspective. In The Tempest, Miranda 's prescribed gender role and physical stature account for her naturally being subordinate to males.

       The Tempest is a classic example of Shakespeare’s dichotomized notions of right and wrong within the context of racial inherencies, a social commentary of the colonialism of the New World. An important theme in the play is the racial differentiation between Caliban and the other antagonists, primarily, Prospero, who comes to the island and enslaves Caliban to enforce his own rule. This relationship, as portrayed through the play, is a reflection of the historical social and racial tensions that existed between the colonizers of New Europe and the Native Americans and is illustrated through the language employed by Shakespeare and the interactions that take place between the characters. The Tempest

Prospero's relationship with Caliban differs from that of Prospero and Ariel's. Prospero does not view Caliban as a being who could be his equal. He is blinded by his prejudice against Caliban's appearance and manners. Caliban is portrayed in a negative light. He can be seen as the depiction of the victims of colonial expansion. Although Prospero seeks this righteousness, he both mistreats and insults Caliban, who ultimately attempts to kill Prospero.  In comparison to Ariel who acts only when commanded by Prospero, Caliban is wild. He refuses to be colonized and tamed. This can be taken as a reference by Shakespeare towards those who were

            Caliban is the son a witch-hag, and the only native on the island.  In Caliban's first speech, he suggests that Prospero stole the island from him. (Act 1, Scene 1, line 331-342)

Although the audience know by know that Caliban tried to rape Miranda, Prospero treats him very harshly which reflects the poor treatment of servants in Prospero’s time. For example, when Prospero tells Caliban to come and chop wood, he replies, ‘There’s wood enough within.’ This shows a sense of bitterness on Caliban’s part, showing that he resents being Prospero’s servant, when he was once master of his own island. In this scene

His mother, Sycorax, was banished there by sailors for no known reason; “This blue-eyed hag was hither brought with child / And here was left by th’ sailors” (I.II.322-323). Sycorax is an African with blue eyes which is unusual and so people thought she was magic because of it, hence the name she was referred to in the quote, ‘blue-eyed hag’. Trapping Ariel in the oak tree also emphasized the magic people thought she had. They assumed she used magic to do it; “By help of her more potent ministers / And in her most unmitigable rage, / Into a cloven pine, within which rift / Imprisoned thou didst painfully remain”(I.II.328-331). I chose this quote because it expressed how she trapped Ariel. Sycorax died soon after and her son was left alone on the island until Prospero found him. Since sycorax might have had power, then theoretically Caliban was also suspected to possess the same power. This could have threatened Prospero, so he belittled Caliban and turned him into a slave. Prospero would tell Ariel stories of how Caliban was not human, but a monster; “Then was this island / (Save for the son that she did litter here, / A freckled whelp, hag-born) not honored with / A human shape” (I.II.334-337). In this quote, Prospero is belittling Caliban in order to gain more control over him and Ariel. Caliban is mentally weak so he succumbs to Prospero, but he is physically strong and still poses a

As stated by Deborah Willis in her article Shakespeare's Tempest and the Discourse of Colonialism, “Prospero dominates this play in a way few Shakespearean characters do in others” (279), though with that being said the play does not favor him nor does it endorse his treatment and abuse of the Islands natives, but simply accepts it as is. Prospero does this through his overall power seen continually throughout the play, and it is this idea of power that divides the colonizer from the colonized or in this case Prospero from Caliban and Ariel. Furthermore, an example of this abused use of power can be seen in act 1 scene 2, when Prospero reminds Ariel of the kindness he has shown, “Dost thou forget/From what a torment I did free thee?” (1.2.299-300) in saying this Prospero reminds Ariel that he owes his freedom to Prospero and therefore his servitude. Furthermore, the relationship struggle for dominance between Prospero and Caliban is highly apparent in Act 3 Scene 2, when Caliban the original ruler of the island, explains that Prospero is an intruder and has betrayed his trust and initial welcome by enslaving him, in order to rule the Island himself, “I say by sorcery he got this isle;/From me he got it. If thy greatness will, /Revenge it on him, for I know thou dar'st,/But this thing dare not.” (3.2.59-62).

Caliban is treated as a slave of Prospero’s who is constantly tortured with Prospero’s magic. He contends that, “This island’s mine by Sycorax, my mother, which thou tak’st from me,” (1.2.396-397) implying that Prospero had no rightful claim to the island. This was an oft used point against colonialism of the time, however it is swiftfully countered by Caliban’s own words of the good that Prospero brought to Caliban. Caliban claims Prospero, “Strok’st me and made much of me, wouldst give me water with berries in’t, and teach me how to name the bigger light and how the less, that burn by day and night. And then I loved thee, and showed thee all the qualities o’ th’ isle,” (1.2.398-403). What Shakespeare is conveying here is the classic reasoning of Europeans as the saviors of native people. With Prospero bringing comfort to Caliban in the beginning and saving him from the witch Sycorax, Caliban should feel lucky Prospero came to this island. Any punishment brought upon Caliban is deserved in the eyes of Prospero, Shakespeare, and the audience Shakespeare is writing