Roy 1

Siddhartho Sankar Roy Md. Samyul Huq Eng 3201 9 April 2011 Caliban and Racism in Shakespeares The Tempest The Tempest is a play written by William Shakespeare which deals with the Racial Tension. It is generally dated to 1610-11 and accepted to be the last play solely written by him, although some scholars have argued for an earlier dating. While listed as a comedy in its initial publication in the First Folio of 1623, many modern editors have relabeled the play a romance. It did not attract a significant amount of attention before the closing of the theatres in 1642, and after the Restoration it attained great popularity only in adapted versions. Theatre productions returned conclusively to the original Shakespearean text in the mid-nineteenth century. In the twentieth century, the play received a sweeping re-appraisal by critics and scholars, to the point that it is now considered one of Shakespeare's greatest works. Racism is the belief that characteristics and abilities can be attributed to people simply on the basis of their race and that some racial groups are superior to others. Racism and discrimination have been used as powerful weapons encouraging fear or hatred of others in times of conflict and war, and even during economic downturns. We can say Racism is the belief that there are inherent differences in people's traits and capacities which are entirely due to their race, however defined, and which consequently justify those people being treated differently, both socially and legally. Alternatively, racism is the practice of certain group/s of people being treated differently, which is then justified by recourse to racial sterotyping or pseudo-science.

Roy 2

In Shakespeare's day, most of the planets were still being "discovered", and stories were coming back from distant islands, with myths about the Cannibals of the Caribbean, faraway Edens, and distant Tropical Utopias. With the character Caliban (whose name is roughly anagrammatic to Cannibal), Shakespeare may be offering an in-depth discussion into the morality of colonialism. Different views are discussed, with examples including Gonzalo's Utopia, Prospero's enslavement of Caliban, and Caliban's subsequent resentment. Caliban is also shown as one of the most natural characters in the play, being very much in touch with the natural world (and modern audiences have come to view him as far nobler than his two Old World friends, Stephano and Trinculo, although the original intent of the author may have been different). There is evidence that Shakespeare drew on Montaigne's essay Of Cannibals, which discusses the values of societies insulated from European influences, while writing The Tempest. Nearly every scene in the play either explicitly or implicitly portrays a relationship between a figure that possesses power and a figure that is subject to that power. The play explores the master-servant dynamic most harshly in cases in which the harmony of the relationship is threatened or disrupted, as by the rebellion of a servant or the ineptitude of a master. For instance, in the opening scene, the servant (the Boatswain) is dismissive and angry toward his masters (the noblemen), whose ineptitude threatens to lead to a shipwreck in the storm. From then on, master-servant relationships like these dominate the play: Prospero and Caliban; Prospero and Ariel; Alonso and his nobles; the nobles and Gonzalo; Stephano, Trinculo, and Caliban; and so forth. The play explores the psychological and social dynamics of power relationships from a number of contrasting angles, such as the generally positive relationship between Prospero and Ariel, the generally negative relationship between Prospero and Caliban, and the treachery in Alonsos relationship to his nobles.

Roy 3

In the play we find some words- "Hag-born", "whelp," not "honoured with human shape." "Demi-devil.", "Poor credulous monster" ,"Hag-seed", "Strange fish." These are just a few descriptions of Caliban, one of the most debated figures in all of Shakespeare. Critical interpretations of Caliban are wildly different and have changed dramatically over the years. In fact, scholars get pretty fired up about how this character should be interpreted. Before we get carried away, let's start with what we do know.

Caliban is the island's only native. As Prospero tells us, he is the product of the witch Sycorax's hook-up with the devil and Caliban was "littered" (a word usually used to describe animals being born, like kittens) on the island after Sycorax was booted out of her home in Algiers (1.2.35). So, Caliban's life didn't exactly get off to a good start. So, was he born bad, or did something happen in his life to turn him into a "thing most brutish" (1.2)? Prosperos dark, earthy slave, frequently referred to as a monster by the other characters, Caliban is the son of a witch-hag and the only real native of the island to appear in the play. He is an extremely complex figure, and he mirrors or parodies several other characters in the play. In his first speech to Prospero, Caliban insists that Prospero stole the island from him. Through this speech, Caliban suggests that his situation is much the same as Prosperos, whose brother usurped his dukedom. On the other hand, Calibans desire for sovereignty of the island mirrors the lust for power that led Antonio to overthrow Prospero. Calibans conspiracy with Stephano and Trinculo to murder Prospero mirrors Antonio and Sebastians plot against Alonso, as well as Antonio and Alonsos original conspiracy against Prospero.

Roy 4

Caliban both mirrors and contrasts with Prosperos other servant, Ariel. While Ariel is an airy spirit, Caliban is of the earth, his speeches turning to springs, brine pits (I.ii.341), bogs, fens, flats (II.ii.2), or crabapples and pignuts (II.ii.159160). While Ariel maintains his dignity and his freedom by serving Prospero willingly, Caliban achieves a different kind of dignity by refusing, if only sporadically, to bow before Prosperos intimidation.

Surprisingly, Caliban also mirrors and contrasts with Ferdinand in certain ways. In Act II, scene ii Caliban enters with a burden of wood, and Ferdinand enters in Act III, scene i bearing a log. Both Caliban and Ferdinand profess an interest in untying Mirandas virgin knot. Ferdinand plans to marry her, while Caliban has attempted to rape her. The glorified, romantic, almost ethereal love of Ferdinand for Miranda starkly contrasts with Calibans desire to impregnate Miranda and people the island with Calibans.

Finally, and most tragically, Caliban becomes a parody of himself. In his first speech to Prospero, he regretfully reminds the magician of how he showed him all the ins and outs of the island when Prospero first arrived. Only a few scenes later, however, we see Caliban drunk and fawning before a new magical being in his life: Stephano and his bottle of liquor. Soon, Caliban begs to show Stephano the island and even asks to lick his shoe. Caliban repeats the mistakes he claims to curse. In his final act of rebellion, he is once more entirely subdued by Prospero in the most petty wayhe is dunked in a stinking bog and ordered to clean up Prosperos cell in preparation for dinner.

Despite his savage demeanor and grotesque appearance, however, Caliban has a nobler, more sensitive side that the audience is only allowed to glimpse briefly, and which Prospero and Miranda do not acknowledge at all. His beautiful speeches about his island home provide some

Roy 5

of the most affecting imagery in the play, reminding the audience that Caliban really did occupy the island before Prospero came, and that he may be right in thinking his enslavement to be monstrously unjust. Calibans swarthy appearance, his forced servitude, and his native status on the island have led many readers to interpret him as a symbol of the native cultures occupied and suppressed by European colonial societies, which are represented by the power of Prospero. Whether or not one accepts this allegory, Caliban remains one of the most intriguing and ambiguous minor characters in all of Shakespeare, a sensitive monster who allows himself to be transformed into a fool.

We know that after Prospero and Miranda washed up on shore, Caliban seems to have had a pretty decent relationship with the old magician. To Prospero Caliban says:

When thou camest first, Thou strokedst me and madest 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 show'd thee all the qualities o' the isle, The fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place and fertile-- (1.2.3)

In other words, Caliban showed Prospero how to survive on the island and Prospero took Caliban under his wing and taught him to speak. (Apparently, Caliban had no language before this.) For a while, things were hunky dory. Or, as hunky dory as things can possibly be on a remote island.

Roy 6

We even learn that Prospero treated Caliban "with human care" and let him stay at his pad. Regardless of how repulsive Caliban may be, he's also the character who delivers some of the most beautiful and stunning speeches in the play. Here's a sample:

Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises, Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not. Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices That, if I then had waked after long sleep, Will make me sleep again .(3.2.18).

For a lot of critics, Caliban is symbolic of what happened to victims of European colonization in the centuries after Shakespeare wrote The Tempest. We think Virginia Mason Vaughan and Alden T. Vaughan do the best job of summing up this argument:

Caliban stands for countless victims of European imperialism and colonization. Like Caliban (so the argument goes), colonized peoples were disinherited, exploited, and subjugated. Like him, they learned a conqueror's language and perhaps that conqueror's values. Like him, they endured enslavement and contempt by European usurpers and eventually rebelled. Like him, they were torn between their indigenous culture and the culture superimposed on it by their conquerors. (Shakespeare's Caliban: A Cultural History, 145)

This interpretation of Caliban can be pretty powerful and socially relevant, especially in film and stage productions where Caliban is portrayed as a colonized, New World subject. Yet, it's also

Roy 7

important to remember, as Vaughan and Vaughan point out, that this "interpretation of Caliban is symbolic for what he represents to the observer, not for what Shakespeare may have had in mind."

Regardless of whether or not we read Caliban as a victim of colonial injustice, he's most definitely a slave and, in some ways, the play suggests he was born to be one. Miranda (or Prospero, depending on which edition of the play you're reading) says as much when she points out that she helped teach Caliban language:

[...] I pitied thee, Took pains to make thee speak, taught thee each hour One thing or other: when thou didst not, savage, Know thine own meaning, but wouldst gabble like A thing most brutish, I endow'd thy purposes With words that made them known. But thy vile race, Though thou didst learn, had that in't which good natures Could not abide to be with; therefore wast thou Deservedly confined into this rock, Who hadst deserved more than a prison. (1.2.24)

In other words, Miranda suggests that Caliban's "vile race" and lack of language makes him deserving of his status as a slave. (This, of course, is exactly what European imperialists said about the people they colonized.) What's interesting is that even Caliban seems like he lives to serve. When he conspires with Stefano and Trinculo to kill Prospero, he promises to serve Stephano:

Roy 8

I'll show thee every fertile inch o' th' island; And I will kiss thy foot: I prithee, be my god. (2.2.11)

Shakespeare's The Tempest emerged at a very significant time in English history. English imperial ambition was just beginning to take hold, English settlers were attempting to survive in the new colony in Virginia and stories of the savages of the New World were beginning to make their way into the collective English consciousness. 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 delineating the boundary between civilization and savagery." (893 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. In the words of Daniel Wilson, "Shakespeare has purposefully placed the true anthropomorphoid alongside these types of degraded humanity, to shew the contrast between them." (Murphy, 20). 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 from those who are basically good and just. Those within the play who react negatively or exploitatively toward Caliban are among the most evil or stupid in the play.

Roy 9

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. Others, including Pope Paul II, thought that Indians, as well as "other people," "should not be deprived of their liberty and property, even though they were outside the Christian faith." (Takaki, 899). The Tempest invites readers and playgoers to explore this dichotomy for themselves. As Takaki puts it: "The play invites us to view English expansionism not only as an imperialism but as a

defining moment in the making of an English-American identity based on race. For the first time in the English theater, an Indian character was being presented." (893) Shakespeare himself seems to take great pains to present both sides of the issue. In Act 1, Scene 2, the reader gets two conflicting stories of how the island came to be under the control of Prospero. The first, Prospero's version delivered in a series of speeches to Miranda, sees the two castaways coming ashore and subsequently ruling the island "by providence divine." The version delivered by Caliban is quite different. In his account "Prospero is the usurper in his dispossession and enslavement of Caliban." (Graff, 203). Shakespeare resists the temptation to make a simple caricature of Caliban, instead, "Shakespeare gives him some of the best lines in the play, lines that show him protesting eloquently and convincingly about what Prospero has done to him." (Graff, 93).

This dichotomy plays out in interesting ways within The Tempest. Some characters, like Stephano and Trinculo, see Caliban solely as something to be exploited and seem to agree more with Sepulveda's view of so-called "savages." Others like Gonzalo seem to take a more

Roy 10

sympathetic view of native peoples more in line with the opinion of Pope Paul II. Stephano and Trinculo repeatedly refer to Caliban as a "monster." When Trinculo first comes across Caliban in Act 2, Scene 2, his first thought is of finding a way to exploit him for profit: Were I in England now, as once I was, and had but this fish painted, not a holiday fool there but would give a piece of silver: there would this monster make a man; any strange beast there makes a man: when they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar, they will lazy out ten to see a dead Indian. Legged like a man and his fins like arms! (2.2.28-36) When Stephano comes across the four-legged monster of Caliban and Trinculo, he too immediately thinks of the possible benefits of exploiting the "monster. This is some monster of the isle with four legs, who hath got, as I take it, an ague. Where the devil should he learn our language? I will give him some relief, if it be but for that. if I can recover him and keep him tame and get to Naples with him, he's a present for any emperor that ever trod on neat's leather. ! (2.2. 66-72)

Roy 11

Later on, in Act 3, Scene 2, Stephano delights in talking down to his new servant. He seems to have no concept of Caliban as a human being. Rather, Stephano only sees him in terms of what he can get from him. Stephano and Trinculo are easily the biggest buffoons in the entire play. They're seemingly drunk from the moment we meet them until the play ends, they make no effort to seek shelter or devise a way off the island, they're simply content to wander around until they meet Caliban and Stephano declares himself the king of the island. They easily fall for Ariel's simple ruse in Act 3, Scene 2. All Ariel has to do is speak a few words while imitating the voice of Trinculo to get them fighting. Stephano strikes Trinculo at the very suggestion of a challenge to his self-granted authority, a challenge that doesn't' even come from Trinculo himself. The whole of Act 3, Scene 2 plays out like a scene from The Three Stooges. They are constantly getting distracted from their plot against Prospero, and when they finally arrive to perform the deed in Act 4, Scene 1, they are so preoccupied with playing dress up that they miss their opportunity completely. Instead of murdering Prospero and taking over the island, they're driven off by Ariel's apparitions. It's no accident on Shakespeare's part that two of the most racist characters in the play are also the least intelligent.

Sebastian and Antonio are the most treacherous characters in The Tempest. Antonio's original plot against Prospero is alluded to many times, and he himself confirms it in his conversations with Sebastian. When Alonso falls asleep in Act 2, Scene 1, Antonio easily convinces Sebastian to murder his brother in order to usurp the crown of Naples the same way Antonio stole Prospero's dukedom. In Act 3, Scene 3, the two discuss their plot again, and Antonio actually expresses happiness over Ferdinand's death: "I am right glad that he's so out of hope." (line 13).

Roy 12

Of course, no analysis of the role of racism in the play would be complete without addressing the main character, Prospero. Prospero's relationship to Caliban is less black and white than others in the play. We don't see Prospero's initial reaction to him; instead we have to gather what we can from the conflicting narratives of Caliban and Prospero. Caliban himself admits that Prospero treated him well at first: When thou camest first, Thou strokedst me and madest 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 show'd thee all the qualities o' the isle,(1.2.397-402) Prospero and Miranda teach Caliban to speak, and even allow him to live with them until his attempted rape of Miranda. During the play Prospero treats Caliban harshly, but Shakespeare gives the reader reason to think that perhaps it is justified. By the end of the play, however, Prospero comes to accept Caliban. "This thing of darkness I acknowledge mine." (5.1: 330-331). The existence of Racial Tension is evident here. These two utterances of the two characters below will show a clear evidence of Racism. Prosperos words about Caliban : A devil, a born devil, on whose nature Nurture can never stick; on whom my pains, Humanely taken, all, all lost, quite lost; And as with age his body uglier grows,

Roy 13

So his mind cankers. I will plague them all, Even to roaring.(4.1.188-193) On the other hand, Calibans speech about Prospero and Miranda: As I told thee before, I am subject to a tyrant, a sorcerer, that by his cunning hath cheated me of the island. (3.2.40-41) This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother, Which thou takest from me.(1.2.393-394). You taught me language; and my profit on't Is, I know how to curse. The red plague rid you For learning me your language!(1.2.362-364). Racism and the character Caliban are closely connected. Caliban is often referred to as a monster by the other characters in this play. Racial Tension pervades throughout the play as Prospero and Caliban are two most important characters in this play who are the two components of our discussion. After discussing all these things it is evident that The Tempest is an allegory where Racism is the main theme.

Roy 14

Work Cited Shakespeare, William. The Riverside Shakespeare, ed. G. Blakemore Evans. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1974. The First Folio of Shakespeare, The Norton Facsimile, ed. Charlton Hinman. New York: W. W. Norton, 1968. Hazlitt, William. Characters of Shakespeare's Plays. Project Gutenburg. Vers. 01. May. 2011. <http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/5085>. Slights, Jessica. "Rape and the Romanticization of Shakespeare's Miranda." SEL Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 41.2 (2001) 357-79. Altick, Richard Daniel. Paintings from Books: Art and Literature in Britain, 1760-1900. Columbus: Ohio State UP, 1985. Dolan, Jill. The Racist Spectator as Critic. Ann Arbor: The U of Michigan P, 1991. Gender Impersonation Onstage: Destroying or Maintaining the Mirror of Gender Roles? Racism and Performance 2.2 (1985): 5-11. Mabillard, Amanda, Caliban. Shakespeare Online. 4 May. 2011. < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/tempest/Calibancharacter.html > Weber, Harold (1986). The restoration rake-hero: transformations in sexual understanding in seventeenth-century England. University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 9780299106904. Forbes, DAnna. Niki Sarich as Miranda. 1997. First Folio Shakespeare Festival, Oak Brook. 2 May 2011 <http://www.firstfolio.org/1997. htm>. 6 May, 2011.Shakespeares Caliban <http://www.shakespeare-online.org>