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Heidi Yousry

Professor Loubna Youssef

Bibliography

28th May 2009

Shakespeare's The Tempest: a post-colonial reading

This paper is an effort to apply post-colonial ideas to The

Tempest, one of Shakespeare's major plays. In the introduction, the

reasons for choosing this play in particular are given, and the main

argument of the paper is set. In the first part of the paper, the fundamental

knowledge about post-colonial theory is briefly delineated in the method

of approach. At the same time a background of Shakespeare's

Elizabethan age and colonial activities is also briefly introduced to justify

using the post-colonial approach in particular. In the second part, the

review of literature will discuss different points of view of scholars who

studied and analyzed Shakespeare's The Tempest.

Introduction:

The tempest was Shakespeare's last play, written during 1611.

While studying The Tempest, as undergraduates, we analyzed, as usual,

themes, technique, characters and other several dramatic points. And one

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of the most important characters that drew attention was Caliban the

native of Prospero's island. Shakespeare portrayed him as the most

hateful and deceitful character of the play and may be of Shakespeare's

other plays. He is portrayed even to be hateful than Antonio Prospero's

usurping brother. So, a question was naturally imposed, why would

Shakespeare portray a character like this as the epitome and source of

evil? And who is really the evil and the good here? Who decides that

Prospero is the good and Caliban is the bad? And why do not we consider

Prospero a usurper just like Antonio because Antonio usurped Prospero's

position and Prospero usurped Caliban's land. Furthermore we can say

according to this that Prospero is more evil even than his brother because

usurping one's land and enslaving him is even more dangerous than

stealing power. Another question was raised what if Caliban was not like

a beast, according to Shakespeare's portrayal and was a normal human

would Prospero has enslaved him and treated him the way he did in the

play? Questions like the previous and more were the motivation behind

my attempt to find a method to answer them.

In attempting to answer the previous questions, I found two

major methods analyzing the play. The first attempt, is to analyze The

Tempest as an exploration of the Nature of Art, love, loyalty, and other

common known themes, in other words, it is the conventional method

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which previously mentioned as the method of analyzing the play while

undergraduate. So this method has not helped in answering such

questions because Caliban would be interpreted as the villain of the play,

and Shakespeare's portrayal for him as savage remains a puzzle. Thus, the

second method of interpretation appears to be more appropriate, which is,

trying to see Caliban, Prospero, and the island as symbols and

representational for ideas more sophisticated than the ordinary themes. In

other words, this method tries to analyze The Tempest as a Study of

Colonialism. My purpose, henceforward, will be to apply the post-

colonial reading in order to decode the different power relations in the

play an understand Shakespeare's real purpose and intention in the play.

Method of approach:

Shakespeare is the voice of his age (1564-1616). He is the

representative of the Elizabethan age, an age of British colonial

expansion with the discovery of the Americas and the British colonization

of India and establishing the Virginia Company and East India Company,

both are representatives of colonies. Shakespeare was aware of his role as

a dramatist in propagating for the empire's colonial purposes. And since ,

post-colonial analysis makes clear the nature and impact of inherited

power relations and their continuing effect on the global culture, thus a

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proper definition of Post-colonialism is needed. Such a definition has

been a problematic issue since the beginning of this field because of the

wide, varied, and complicated area of research of this field. It

encompasses a study of most of the power relations exist in our life not

only between countries but also between people.

Post-colonialism or postcolonial theory is a specifically post-

modern intellectual discourse that holds together a set of theories found

among the texts and sub-texts of philosophy, film, political science and

literature. These theories are reactions to the cultural legacy of

colonialism. According to Bill Ashcroft in his book The Post-Colonial

Studies Reader, as a literary theory (or critical approach), Post-

colonialism deals with "literature produced in countries that once were

colonies of other countries, especially of the European colonial powers

Britain, France, and Spain; in some contexts, it includes countries still in

colonial arrangements" (20). It also deals with literature written in

colonial countries and by their citizens that has colonized people as its

subject matter. Thomas J. Schoenberg and Lawrence J. Trudeau in their

book Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism give another definition of

Post-colonialism;

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Post-colonialism is a period of time after colonialism, and

postcolonial literature is typically characterized by its

opposition to the colonial. However, some critics have

argued that any literature that expresses an opposition to

colonialism, even if it is produced during a colonial period,

may be defined as postcolonial, primarily due to its

oppositional nature (vi).

In Post-Colonial Drama: theory, practice, politics, Helen Gilbert and

Joanne Tompkins write:

the term postcolonialism – according to a too-rigid

etymology – is frequently misunderstood as a temporal

concept, meaning the time after colonialism has ceased, or

the time following the politically determined Independence

Day on which a country breaks away from its governance by

another state, Not a naïve teleological sequence which

supersedes colonialism, postcolonialism is, rather, an

engagement with and contestation of colonialism's

discourses, power structures, and social hierarchies. (121)

The previous definition focuses on the broader meaning of Post-

colonialism.

In order to limit the paper's focus, we should know the subject

matter of post-colonialism. Ashcroft thinks that, Post-colonialism deals

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with cultural identity in colonized societies: the dilemmas of developing

a national identity after colonial rule; the ways in which writers articulate

and celebrate that identity (often reclaiming it from and maintaining

strong connections with the colonizer); and the ways in which the

knowledge of the colonized (subordinated) people has been generated

and used to serve the colonizer's interests. But most importantly, and

actually this is the focus of the paper, it examines the ways in which the

colonizer's literature has justified colonialism via images of the colonized

as a perpetually inferior people, society and culture. This last point is an

illustration on Edward Said's idea of Orientalism which is going to be the

central idea of the paper.Works of literature that are defined as

postcolonial often record racism or a history of genocide, including

slavery, or apartheid.

In this paper, I will examine the ways in which the colonizer's

literature, Shakespeare's The Tempest, has justified colonialism via

images of the colonized, in this respect Caliban, as a perpetually inferior

people, society and culture. Besides, I will analyze some other subsidiary

elements which also contribute to this image.

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Review of literature:

In her book The Tempest Virginia Mason Vaughan argues that

Caliban is portrayed as a savage and a beast not because he shows that

through his actions but because prospero calls him so, so this is

Prospero's image not the real image. She continues her argument that

Caliban's guilt is that he is the son of Sycorax the Algerian witch

something which is out of his hands and not to be blamed of.

Furthermore she refutes this accusation and says that it is not necessarily

true; "Surely in Prospero's and Miranda's eyes, Caliban is a savage…

Prospero accuses Caliban of being the son of a witch and the devil….

The magus's words are not necessarily true" (32).

She, then argues that, there is a temptation to see Caliban as an

American native, and this temptation stems from the fact that the

geography of the island is unknown thus it could be any place in the

world including the new world or the Americas henceforward Caliban is

the native American. In my opinion, if this assumption is valid to the

Americas thus it is valid and applicable to any colony that the white man

decides to occupy. She said that beginning from the 1950s and 1960s;

Latin American appropriators of The Tempest recast Caliban as the

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emblem of South and Central American peoples, and substituted

Prospero as the imperialist, arrogant United States.

In his article, "Revolution Calling: A Look at the Role of

Caliban Within Shakespeare's The Tempest", Steven Thor Gunnin

highlights the importance of Caliban as a primary character not a

secondary one" Yet, based on the style and depth of the oration that the

character has been gifted with, as well as the pivotal role that he plays

within the play, it is hard to imagine Caliban playing the second role"(1).

Yet the most important idea that Gunnin gives in his article is the

description of Caliban;

He is of different complexion, savage nature, ill

temperament, and prone to outbursts of baser passions. Add

to that his physical deformities, which as we have seen

previously in pieces such as Richard III, at the time was

considered to be an obvious sign of mental ills and

imperfection as well, and it should have been clear to any

viewer that this character was most certainly a lesser to the

likes of fair and wise and noble Prospero. So, how then can it

be that when the character begins to speak and give

discourse, that Shakespeare saw fit to grace him with such a

seemingly pure and noble voice.(1)

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The focus of Benjamin Sell in his article "Racism and Evil in

Shakespeare's the Tempest" is on the reaction of characters to

native peoples like Caliban, and how it determines the

quality of their character in the play. He points out that:

"The dichotomy of savagery and civilization is present throughout the

play. Shakespeare invites both his characters and his audience to explore

and form their own opinions about it." (2). He also points out that

Shakespeare uses the reactions of his characters to the character of

Caliban and the issue of race in general to differentiate those who are evil

or stupid, naming the native, from those who are basically good and just,

naming the colonizers or white people.

In his article "The Tempest in the Wilderness: The

Racialization of Savagery" Ronald Takaki sums up the play's historical

situation: "The timing of the first performance of The Tempest was

crucial. It came after the English invasion of Ireland but before the

colonization of New England, after John Smith's arrival in Virginia but

before the beginning of the tobacco economy, and after the first contacts

with the Indians but before full-scale warfare against them. In that

historical moment, the English were encountering "other" peoples and

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delineating the boundary between civilization and savagery." (893). The

most important idea which he points out, and I think that is the emblem of

the argument that I oppose, is that; as there are views supporting the idea

of the colonial discourse of Caliban's character, there are also voices

supporting the idea of naturalizing Caliban's enslavement:

The debate between civilization and savagery was a

popular one in Europe at the time. Some, like Spanish

lawyer Juan Gines de Sepulveda, argued Aristotle's

view that some people were "natural slaves" and

therefore incapable of being educated or existing

alongside the civilized people of Europe. (Takaki 899).

The circumstances of Caliban's parentage, specifically the fact

that his mother was exiled from Algiers and dropped on the island by

sailors "suggests that Caliban himself must be considered as North

African" (26) suggest Nadia Haen Lie, and Theo D. in their book

Constellation Caliban: Figurations of a Character. And as such can be

seen as a stand in for all dark-skinned foreign peoples. Caliban is a

reflection, and in some ways even a caricature, of late 16th and early 17th

century British attitudes and misguided beliefs about the native peoples

present in less-civilized parts of the world, argues Lie.

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The idea which I like to emphasize is Shakespeare's purpose of

Caliban's portrayal. My argument is that this portrayal is done to

perpetuates the image of the native or colonized throughout time and

place, whatever his nationality or the time which he lives in, the native,

colonized, is Caliban and he never changes. I could grasp this idea only

when I read what Edward said, in his Canonical book Orientalism, wrote

and believed that: "Orientalism assumed an unchanging orient, absolutely

different from the west"(96), and through this image the west can

manipulate and control the East. The methods by which the West

assumes this unchangeable orient is the core issue of Edward Said's book.

Although Said is focusing on the relation between the orient or the East

and the West his ideas are applicable to any other nations or more sides

of binary opposition.

Sample of analysis:

If we applied the post-colonial idea on the setting of the play,

the island which Shakespeare, purposely, has not given it any name

would represent the whole universe. Or rather the island would represent

all the lands that have treasures and should be colonized. Prospero the

great magician will consequently represent the white, supposedly

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civilized wise, man. And Caliban should be the outcast the uncivilized

and the monkey-like creature. He is past the point of redemption thus his

sole role in life now is to be a slave of the great powerful Prosper whose

name suggests prosperity and goodness. Henceforward, the magic which

Prospero practices is thus good and that of Cycorax, is black and evil. In

fact Prospero's magic and knowledge, in my opinion, are nothing more

than methods and tools of practicing power on other creatures only for

his own benefit and to maintain his place as the dominant at the top of the

hierarchy.

If we examined the title of the play in depth, we will find it rich

with meaning. The tempest which is the violent force and the chaotic

state which Shakespeare has opened his play with is actually his solution

and justification to place every thing in its right place. In order for

Prospero to regain his rights he sets the world into a state of chaos and

enslaves the native creatures that inhabit the island and those who don't

obey his orders are severely punished like Caliban and once Ariel the airy

creature. So this is Shakespeare's idea about setting stability in the world,

it is through chaos we can only reach stability. Actually this ideology is

echoed now in what the major colonial powers do in the modern world.

They colonize countries claiming that there is no stability in these

countries because of their dictatorships, so the most suitable solution to

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achieve stability and regain the rights is through a TEMPEST or WAR in

the modern sense, forgetting about the devastations of these wars upon

the countries they occupy.

In a nutshell, a post-colonial examination of the different

elements of Shakespeare's play The Tempest is a suggested method to

read what the lines of the play hide of the complicated relation between

two sides of the binary opposition naming, the dominant and the

dominated or the colonizer and the colonized. The emphasis in this

proposal will be given to the character of Caliban and his relation to

Prospero mainly and the other characters of the play generally.

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Bibliography

I. Primary Sources

Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. Delhi: Rama Brothers Press, 2001.

II. Secondary SourcesA. Books

Ashcroft, Bill. The Empire Writes Back : Theory and Practice in Post-

Colonial Literature. London: CRC Press, 1990.

---, and Gareth Griffith. The Post-Colonial Studies Reader . London: CRC

Press, 2000.

Gilbert, Helen, and Joanne Tompkins. Post-Colonial Drama: theory,

practice, politics. London: Routledge, 1996.

Graff, Gerald, and James Phelan, Eds. The Tempest: A Case Study in

Critical Controvery. London: Macmillan, 2000.

Lie, Nadia, Haen, Theo D. Constellation Caliban: Figurations of a

Character. Rodopi BV Editions, 1997.

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Murphy, Patrick, Ed. The Tempest: Critical Essays. London: Routledge,

2001.

Said, Edward W. Orientalism. London: Vintage Books, 1979.

Schoenberg, Thomas J., and Lawrence J. Trudeau. Twentieth-Century

Literary Criticism. Farmington Hills: Thomson Gale, 2007.

Vaughan, Virginia Mason. Shakespeare's Caliban. London: Cambridge

Univ. Perss,1993.

----, The Tempest. London: Cambridge Univ. Perss, 2002.

B. Articles

Gunnin, Steven Thor "Revolution Calling: A Look at the Role of Caliban

Within Shakespeare's The Tempest." associatedcontent.com. 20 October

2006.

<http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/864441/caliban_in_the_tempe

st_pg2.html?cat=4 >

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Sell, Benjamin. "Racism and Evil in Shakespeare's the Tempest." associatedcontent.com. 18 August 2005.

<http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/864442/caliban_in_the_tempest_pg2.html?cat=4 >

Takaki, Ronald. "The Tempest in the Wilderness: The Racialization of Savagery." Journal of American History 79.3 (Dec. 1992): 892-912

"An Introduction to The Tempest." 123HelpMe.com. 28 May 2009.     <http://www.123HelpMe.com/view.asp?id=16184>.

C. Internet sources

http://www.culturewars.org.uk/2005-01/globe.htm

http://www.123helpme.com/preview.asp?id=13529

http://www.123HelpMe.com/view.asp?id=16184

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/864441/caliban_in_the_tempest.html?cat=4

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