William Shakespeare 's The Tempest

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

In Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Prospero and Miranda became stranded on a remote island that has no person except for Caliban on it. Prosperon using the magic he has created, he gradually gains control of the island and turns Caliban into his slave. A group of sailors is shipwrecked on the island, one of whom falls in love with Miranda, the lovely daughter of Prospero. Throughout the story, Caliban and other servants plot to overthrow Prospero, but are caught and taken back to the custody of Prospero.

Caliban, in Shakespeare’s The Tempest, is a pitiful and plaintive vassal, one whose native island was stolen from him following the usurpation of Prospero by his brother, Antonio. Prospero sought refuge on the sequestered, unnamed Caribbean island that serves as the play’s setting, whereupon he exploited Caliban’s generosity, subjugated the “poisonous slave” (I.II. 383), and tethered him to an eternity of service. In the early play, before the main players’ concealed motivations¬– obfuscated by layers of rhetoric and trickery– are revealed, Shakespeare’s characterization of Caliban exemplifies his abject misery, and more potently, his sympathetic nature. Through Caliban’s interactions with Trinculo and Stephano in Act II, Scene II, the audience simultaneously reads his character as foolish and formerly benign.

Through Negritude in which Césaire’s Caliban is able to identify the injustice that is brought upon him by Prospero’s tyrannical rule, “without you? I’d be king, that’s what I’d be”. Caliban’s awareness of Prospero’s unnatural rule is supported by Caliban’s words of resistance, “I’ve had just about enough” (A Tempest. 1. 2). However, in comparison to Shakespeare’s Caliban, Caliban comments in an ‘aside’ of Prospero’s power, “I must obey. His art is of such power” (The Tempest. 1. 2), emphasising his actions to submit to Prospero rather than challenge him. Caliban’s powerlessness is further emphasised in his encounter with Stephano and Trinculo in which his first sentence was out of exasperation and plea, “Do not torment me! O!” (The Tempest. 2.

Throughout the play many of his actions can be compared as to some monsters would do. Throughout the play the character Sycorax, the mother of Caliban and a witch, is mentioned. She died before the events in the play but it can be inferred that Prospero killed Sycorax to take over the Island. This can be inferred by the fact that Prospero took over the Island and was able to free Ariel from a tree, who is his other slave. This act of killing and taking over the Island from the true heir Caliban is more monstrous than just the relative appearance of Caliban. As mentioned before, Prospero also enslaved to creatures Ariel and Caliban, and commands them to do things against their will. For example, Prospero forces Ariel to scare the castaways to the point where one of them tries to commit suicide. (Shakespeare, III.iii.70-130) Additionally, Prospero arranges his daughter’s marriage for personal gain. He arranges for Ferdinand, the king’s son and heir, to be the only man his daughter is able to see. This causes her to fall in love with Ferdinand because she has no other man to compare him to. Prospero’s reason for arranging this marriage is to have a direct route to the kingship once his daughter is wed. All of these actions that Prospero performed throughout the play caused other people suffering, showing that all these actions are

Caliban’s original love for Prospero and Miranda, and his later misdemeanour and subsequent hatred for them, illustrate his fundamental reliance on his senses. Caliban loved Prospero and Miranda because they “made much of me”; and his response to this was purely sensual in his recollections: “Thou strok’st me,…wouldst give me/Water with berries in’t.” What Caliban responded to, more than anything else, was the sensation of pleasure that being loved and petted gave him. The action that caused Caliban to be removed from this position and punished was his attempt to rape Miranda, another example of how he seeks pleasure. Prospero’s position on sexual relations is quite opposite – he tells Ferdinand repeatedly not to take advantage of his daughter, for the obvious reason that rape and taking advantage of someone sexually is considered wrong. This is something Caliban doesn’t seem to understand and further distances himself from the human figures. During The Tempest itself, Prospero and Caliban have two very different purposes. Prospero intends to resolve the injury that was done to Miranda and himself, bloodlessly, by the use of his Art. Caliban’s dearest wish is to depose Prospero by killing him and, rather than resuming rule of the island himself, submit to the rule of Stephano. Caliban’s purpose for attaching himself to Stephano and

He says “Thou most lying slave, Whom stripes may move, not kindness! I have used thee, Filth as thou art, with human care; and lodged thee In mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate The honour of my child.” Here is saying that Caliban is lying and that he cared for Caliban until Caliban raped his daughter. For that reason, he was then taken for a slave. This too also shows Caliban drunken behavior of performing such malicious acts due to his lack of being sober. In the end we watch Prospero make peace with all enemies and at last he flees from the island. Although he may have seemed manipulative or deceiving throughout the play, in the end he does right and never harmed anybody or anything, even though he had full power to do so. Lastly, we see the extensive amount of protection Prospero has over his daughter and the island. I think he is very protective over them both because they do truly belong to him and he does not want anybody or anything to stripe him of the few things that are solely his. I do see Prospero as the “the usurping European colonizer" who founded the island and therefore has ownership of

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

While King Lear was more of a focus on a Jacob-like character and the consequences of his actions, The Tempest is more of a focus on what an Esau-like character would do when confronted with the power they have over their brother. Prospero knows that part of the reason he is on this island is his fault because

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

The Tempest is one of Shakespeare’s most well-known plays, and as such, has been examined in many different ways by many different people. In the world of literature, there are a few different distinct styles of review that are used to examine works of literature, these are called schools of critique or critical lenses. All of these schools serve a purpose in examining different themes in a work depending on the work, and the tempest is no exception. The Tempest has many sub themes in the story to make up the whole, as does any good story. For example, the overarching story about the protagonist Prospero is about getting revenge on those who tried to kill him twelve years ago. So one could argue that Morality is and doing the right thing is the right critical lens to put the work under. I would put forth that this is not the correct critical lens, and that it is not even the way that people are supposed to read it. In this essay, I will be arguing that the post-colonial critical lens is the best way to look William Shakespeare’s The Tempest by proving that it is the way that Shakespeare intended his work to be read.

When they met, Caliban was uneducated, and did not know how to communicate with Miranda and Prospero. Under the tutelage of both people, Caliban learned to differentiate between day and night. The "greater light" in the passage referring to the sun itself. On another level, however, Prospero taught Caliban the difference between what was good, and what was evil. The fact that Caliban turned out the way that he did, points to a possible reason why Prospero treats Caliban in such a strict fashion. Because Caliban was given the freedom to choose good over evil, Prospero blames himself for Caliban?s desire to rape his daughter. Because he did not teach Caliban well enough, the responsibility of taking care of Caliban fall directly on the person who initiated him into the civilized world--Prospero. At the end of the play, Prospero recognizes his responsibility for Caliban when he says,"...this thing of darkness I/ Acknowledge mine." (V. I. 275-6) Though he tells Ferdinand that Caliban is under his control (just as Stephano and Trinculo are under Alonso), Prospero claims more than leadership of Caliban. In this instance Caliban belongs to Prospero

He whips Caliban “Whom stripes may move, not kindness!” (1.2.346). Prospero’s relationship with Caliban is not nearly as collaborative as his relationship with Ariel. Caliban has no choice but to obey Prospero who has the power to control even a god. As Prospero commands Caliban to fetch more wood, Caliban tells the audience in an aside, “I must obey. His art is of such power, It would control my dam’s god, Setebos, / And make a vassal of him” (1.2.371-372). Setebos, a god of Sycorax, was subordinated by Prospero. This framework of authority depends on Prospero’s power to punish Caliban, not a contract or debt owed. There is no standard to which Prospero is responsible when establishing relationships with the others on the island, rather Prospero can do as he pleases as he has the most power. The island where the play takes place is small enough to accommodate this individualization between the ruler and the ruled, but Prospero could not possibly sustain rule in a typical state. Prospero 's varying treatment of his subjects is a symptom of larger problems of authority.

Prospero puts forth reasons as to why his in the entitled ruler of the island. Prospero main reasons for his alleged leadership is that he has and teaches knowledge, and Caliban tried to rape his daughter. To begin with, Prospero is the former Duke of Milan; and the reason he and his daughter his on the island is because Prospero was overthrown by his brother while he kept to his books. This establishes that Prospero is smart and throughout the story Prospero is seen as sort of a teacher to some of the characters, one of which being Caliban. Because Prospero teaches Caliban, Prospero feels that he is more deserving and capable to be the ruler of the island. Prospero bestowed Caliban with the “gift of language” but he uses this action to show that he is

Shakespeare’s plays are divided into two categories; tragedy and comedy. Though most of Shakespearian plays are tragedies, Shakespeare was also a magician in writing comedies. The Tempest is one of the most popular Shakespearian comedies. Both tragedies and comedies of Shakespeare deal with the struggle and the conflict of the protagonist and other characters with the external environment. The characters of the tragedies have to be overwhelmed while the characters of comedies achieve triumph and succeed in the end. The Tempest has all the attribute of a typical Shakespearian comedy. The paper aims to analyze the attributes of Shakespearian comedies found in “The Tempest”