¶ … Island's Mine!" (Caliban, in Shakespeare's "The Tempest," 1.2)
Comparison between the slave rebellions of Shakespeare's "The Tempest" and Aphra Behn's "Oroonoko"
One of the most poignant statements in all of Shakespeare's "Tempest" is the assertion by the work's 'villain,' Caliban, that the island of the play's setting really and rightfully belongs in his ownership, not Prospero's. "This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother, / Which thou takest from me." (1.2) It is Prospero, Caliban alleges, who is the interloper, who took the island away from the control conferred to him by the witch who gave birth to him. Caliban, of course is right in the sense that other than possessing a greater power of sorcery, and by virtue of landing upon the island, Prospero as a human man has no right to control and dominate the island, any more than the protagonists of Aphra Behn's later work "Oroonoko" have to be dominated as slaves.
However, Caliban's claim upon the island, however territorially justified, and indeed justified by the right of succession (which was something quite important as a value in Shakespeare's Elizabethan and Jacobean England) is constantly deflated by the 'creature's own brutality. Caliban attempted to rape Prospero's daughter Miranda. He is powerless in the face of Prospero's book knowledge and learning. And lastly, Caliban is very easily taken in by the machinations of the two clownish imports from the mainland, Stephano and Trinculo. These two alcoholic individuals proceed to get Caliban drunk for the first time. All the while they comically (in the audience's eyes) plot overthrowing Prospero. Caliban wants what is rightfully his, but Stephano and Trinculo merely want to be rulers because they do not have a similar claim to power in their own society and royal milieu back home....
Tempest Shakespeare's the Tempest and Chamoiseau's Solibo Magnificent Slavery Slavery is one of the central themes in The Tempest. However, there are many different levels of slavery included other than the typical master and servant relationship that is based on ownership. There are also instances of mental kind of slavery that it carried out by Prospero who can control the minds of others. The two forms of slavery are closely intertwined in a
Tempest In Act I, scene 2 of Shakespeare's The Tempest, the protagonist Prospero explains his case to both his daughter and his familiar spirit Ariel. Thus, the main themes of the play are elucidated in this one scene more than any other. The concept of power, of power overused and power usurped are evident and constant in Act One, scene 2 of The Tempest. This early in the play, before the
Tempest In the epilogue of A Midsummer's Night Dream, Puck speaks to the audience directly not as an actor or a character in a play, while in The Tempest, Prospero is still in character but begs the audience to set him free so he can return to Naples. For Puck, King Oberon and all the other actors are mere shadows, exactly as Theseus described the actors in the play-within-a-play, and his
Miranda even says, "My father's of a better nature, sir,/Than he appears by speech" (I.ii.500-501). Shakespeare may have been writing Prospero like this only to juxtapose his warm nature at the end of the play, which gives the play a "and they lived happily ever after" feel. Prospero uses his magic to control the spirit Ariel, which gives him a lot of power. Prospero knows of Caliban, Stephano, and Trinculos'
This is, in fact, the basis of colonization as the natives are subdued and forced to abandon their language and traditions in favor of the colonizers'. Critics who supported the thesis of "The Tempest" being a description of the Spaniards' experience in the Americas considered Caliban to be a Native American despite the multitude of details that differentiate him from the Indians as they were described in the travelers' reports
The similar treatment of these very different minor characters highlight's Prospero's obsession with control, as well as his own return to the human world. Consider that although Prospero mourns his exile, he even uses captivity as an enticement for Miranda and Ferdinand's courtship, forcing the young man to carry wood like he does Caliban. The young man responds cheerfully, "There be some sports are painful, and their labor/Delight in
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now