The Tempest Research Paper

The Tempest is about an ousted Duke of Milan ,Prospero, who has been living in exile on a remote island for the past twelve years with his daughter Miranda. He is a powerful magician, who happens to be the master of Ariel and Caliban, and a guy who really likes his books. When Prospero's enemies wash up on shore, he uses his black magic to seek revenge and restore himself to power. The Tempest belongs to the genre of Elizabethan romance plays. It combines elements of tragedy with those of romantic comedy, and like one of Shakespeare's plays previously, it asks deeper questions that are not completely resolved at the end. The tone that seeps into the play is one of wonder, amazement, and admiration. Mystery is still present , but the magic performed is not black and scary. The version that seems to grasp my attention more, would have to be the Utah Valley University interpretation because it takes Shakespeare’s main purpose and tone but shows it in its own unique way. Furthermore, with its silly drunkards, the play has a certain lightness to it and even the so called killers of the King tell hilarious jokes and are lighthearted. But there is also the tone of revenge and reconciliation in the play. We feel a revenge burning in Prospero while, at the same time, a wish for forgiveness and reconciliation with those who have wronged him.

Caliban, Prospero’s slave and the first inhabitant on the island professes that he used to be his own king (l.ii.344-345). Gonzalo also has a moment where he imagines his own utopian society on the island (11.i.148-156). Stephano has his own vision of what he wants too, “Monster, I will kill this man. His daughter and I will be King and Queen.. And Trinculo and thyself shall be my viceroys”(iii.ii.101-103).

Prospero represented the colonists while Caliban represented the “others” who had to be driven out in order to start the expansion of colonialism. In the end we understand in Shakespeare’s play Caliban wants to show the audience that it is in his nature rather than his potential to become civilized and his intellectual incapability and race inferiority is destiny rather than it could be improved. At this point, we can understand that “The Tempest” senses more meanings than a play as it provides reader to think and combine other issues in the world such as slavery, discrimination, savagery, alienation. And we can understand that it is not only about the physical appearance. As we read, besides Indians, Irish people were under pressure about their identity.

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 operated in the three facets of power relation, as did Columbus. He attacked the social, psychological and cultural facets of the natives as was able to thwart them to his good pleasure. In attacking the social facet, Prospero threatened the class system that was already in effect on the island. After fleeing from Italy, he no longer belonged to a specific class and sought to regain a regal position by taking control of those he encountered on the island. In attacking the psychological facet, Prospero used his power of influence to persuade others to change the way they think or redirect their morality. This influence on morality can be seen when Ariel returns from performing a task for

When one interacts with strangers, feelings of superiority and inferiority are bound to occur. In Shakespeare's time period, most of the Europeans' perspectives were disrespectful, arrogant, and full of ignorance. Like the Native Americans, for most of the European colonists who landed in the "New World," it was their first exposure to the people of a different race. And yet, their first intuition of the Native Americans was described as barbarians, savages, and cannibals. The Europeans thought themselves as superior compared to the "poor savages"(Takaki 148); likewise in The Tempest, Shakespeare portrayed Prospero as the rightful leader of Caliban's island, just as the Europeans thought of themselves as the rightful rulers of the

The Tempest, by Shakespeare, offers the reader a variety of themes. The one theme that stands out the most is that of colonialism. During the time of Shakespeare, many European countries such as Spain, France, and England, were expanding their borders by taking over less developed countries, referred to as colonies. During this time of exploitation, there was skepticism concerning the possible success of the colonies. While some scholars believe that the play is about the Americas, I argue that the play reflects on colonialism in general and how it is destined for failure which is shown through the character’s relationships throughout the play.

Colonialism is an appropriate modem for understanding the Tempest by William Shakespeare because there are many correspondences between the European-African relationship and the American-African relationship. Similar to the American-African relationship where the Europeans are the colonizers and the slaves are the colonized, the European-African relationship has Prospero as the colonizer and Caliban as the colonized.

     Through the years there has been much debate as to whether Shakespeare’s The Tempest is an Allegory to European colonization and colonial life, or if it is his “farewell to the stage” with a complete overview of the stage and a compilation of all of his characters into a few, in which the playwright himself being presented as Prospero. Is The Tempest an allegory to European colonization, or is it Shakespeare, presenting his formal farewell to the stage?

“The Tempest” is a Shakespearean play that takes play on a desert island somewhere between Tunis and Naples. A hazardous storm appears impacting a ship of European nobles and mariners; on board are Alonso, King of Naples, Gonzalo, Boatswain, Trinculo, Stefano, Antonio, Sebastian, and Ferdinand. The nobles are leaving Tunis, Africa after the wedding of Claribel, daughter of the King of Naples to the prince. Prospero, the former Duke of Milan uses his sorcery to conjure the very storm that bombards the nobles in order to bring them to the island. Frey interjects, “In 1808, Edmond Malone argued that Shakespeare derived the title and some of the play’s incidents from accounts of a storm and shipwreck experienced by Sir Thomas Gates and other Jamestown colonists on the Bermuda islands in 1609” (Frey 29).The play entails the romance of Ferdinand, Alonso’s son and Miranda, Prospero’s daughter; while also detailing a twelve year power struggle that is resurfacing itself in a treacherous plot for power. In comparison to the New World’s politics, “The Tempest” can be read as a play that deals with these same political issues: rebellion of constituted authorities, colonization of a new land, dehumanizing of the natives, marriages and romances of royalty, masters and servants, Christian virtues, and visions of a utopia.

The Tempest is believed to be the final play written by English playwright William Shakespeare (Arnold 2009: 1). This allegorical play takes place on an exotic island and describes the master-slave relationship between Prospero the virtuous ruler and Caliban the ugly evil. Approximately three and a half centuries later, French poet and author Aimé Césaire, who objected to colonialism and was concerned about post-colonial issues, published A Tempest (‘Une Tempête’), a post-colonial adaptation of Shakespeare’s work.

     During the time of Shakespeare, society had a hierarchical structure. In Shakespeare's play, The Tempest, the characters of Prospero and Caliban, represent two different extremes on the social spectrum: the ruler, and the ruled. Their positions on the social hierarchy are largely due to the fact that Caliban responds almost wholly to passions, feelings of pleasure -- his senses, while Prospero is ruled more by his intellect and self-discipline -- his mind. However, the fight that Prospero has against his own natural tendency to ignore the discipline of his intellect, and give in to pleasures such as vanity and self-indulgence, cannot be ignored.

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).

Shakespeare’s The Tempest has been viewed through many different lenses, and each translation brings with it a new and differing understanding of Shakespeare’s complex original work. Two specific translations, Coetzee’s novel Disgrace and Cesaire’s play A Tempest, do an exemplary job at translating The Tempest, because both translations looked at a different aspect of the colonizer-colonized relationship. Cesaire 's A Tempest translates the story with a greater emphasis on Caliban’s point of view and Caliban’s feelings. The author did so to provide a more relevant, relatable play for his time period. A Tempest Contrarily, in Coetzee’s novel Disgrace, the author tells the story placing a stronger weight on Literature, much like life itself, is based on perceptions. These translations assist in pointing that out. The way one person perceives a text could be vastly different from another’s. Does that mean one is right and one is wrong? Or are they both wrong? Neither of them are wrong, each translation is just another person’s perception of the story. These two translations ultimately prove that the colonial relationship is constantly evolving, never settling.

From their writings and from the real experience of the ‘New World’ they created their own paradigms. Many writers from the region challenge Shakespeare’s depiction of Caliban as bestial and brutal, and reclaim his image as an icon of Caribbean self-assertion although Shakespeare did not explicitly state that the setting of The Tempest is the Caribbean. The power relations between Prospero and Caliban are suggestive of the master-slave relationship found on the plantation. In this context, the Caliban-Prospero relationship leads to the larger issue of language. Caliban is Prospero’s slave. Prospero also claims that Caliban did not know the use of language until he was taught by his master. Thus, the only way Caliban can express himself is within the parameters of his master’s tongue. Miranda obviously believes it to be a great honour and reminds Caliban how she “took pains to make thee [him] speak” (The Tempest, Act 1, Scene 2, 16) and dismisses Caliban’s previous way of speaking as sheer ‘gabble’. However, Caliban himself obviously takes a very different view and in a memorable quote that is often cited by anti-colonialist critics he tells them: “You taught me language; and my profit on’t is I know how to curse” (The Tempest, Act 1, Scene 2, 16). He goes on further to wish “the red plague rid you for teaching me your language!” (The Tempest, Act 1, Scene 2, 16) clearly not sharing Miranda’s view that she has done him a great service. George Lamming, in his collection of essays The Pleasures of Exile (1960), argues for this reason that Caliban is imprisoned in Prospero’s language: “There is no escape from the prison of Prospero’s gift. This is the first important achievement of the colonizing process” (The Pleasures of Exile, 109). He