The article on postcolonialism has many possible connections that can be made with themes in the Tempest. For example, the article defines two different roles a person can play. There is what is called the "colonizer", and what is called "the colonized". The colonizer, as described in the article, is the conqueror, and the colonized is the one that has been conquered. In the Tempest, Caliban is the "colonized", and Prospero is the "colonizer".Caliban was the first in his area, but was taken over by an overpowering figure. In this case, this figure is Prospero. Caliban actually describes Prospero as "a sorcerer that by this cunning hath cheated me of the island." There is also definitely a possible connection that can be made between Caliban and the Native Americans. Caliban, like the Native Americans got to the land first. As for the Native Americans, it was the white men that took over their land.
Having Caliban explain to Trinculo, and the other characters, what happened to him when he first got to the island enables the reader to feel sympathy for him. Caliban explains how Prospero took his control from him and treated him poorly, and this makes the audience feel sorry for Caliban. There are many different things that Shakespeare could be trying to portray to his audience in doing this, but as for now, I haven't quite decided which one i feel is accurate. The whole point of writing this could be to show racism, or the power of the whites. However, it could also be about a monarchy and the different levels of power. Or these ideas could be totally off, who knows?
No comments:
Post a Comment