The Tempest by William Shakespeare is interestingly simple yet complex in its own way. It has the complete recipe that categorizes it as a true Shakesperian play written during his time, with its magical theme as opposed to what ‘s real, the conflict between a father and his dhild, or between the old and the new, and the most apparent struggle for power. The play, with its constant reference to power and culture, appears to be an elucidation on European colonization. There were so much indication in the text, such as the arrival of Prospero and his daughter, Miranda, on the island where they met a nativa inhabitant named Caliban. Caliban was considered a savage by the father and the son, and was very far from the nobility that they exuded. As such, and true to the fashion of colonialization, Prospero educated him with his language and customs, and later on enslaved him, forcing him to do menial work to further put Caliban beneath their noble stature. However, despite Prospero’s insistence, Caliban appeared to be unaffected and resisting. With all the assertion and struggle for power, the story then moves on to explore in a rather straightforward manner the unjust acts that Prospero committed against Caliban. However, Prospero himself was embroiled in his own struggle for power, as his bother usurped his throne which led them being stranded on the island. As Prospero aims to bring justice for himself for what his brother did, he ended up committing the same injustice towards Caliban. Later on, as Prospero starts to focus more on art and creation, he becomes a storyteller weaving a story that was purely for his advantage.
what appears to be a rather strong tempest. While the other passengers offered help and inquired about what was goind on, the captain shood them off and the next thing they knew, the ship broke into pieces and everyone thought they would all die. The concept of hieracrchy is already shown in this first scene, as Antonio addresses him “Hang, cur! Hang, you whoreson, insolent noisemaker!” (Act 1, Scene 1) as he opposed being shood away by a mere boatswain when he himself is the King of Naples. Alonso obviously found this to be a disrespect to him, being a nobleman that he was, and he addressed the incident with the usual high-fashion that comes with the nobility. In addition, Gonzalo, who was councilor to the king, described the boat the same derogatory way the king addressed the boatswain, saying “the ship were no stronger than a nutshell and as leaky as an unstanched wench.” The use of simile here, to compare the ship with its numerous holes and an ‘unstanched’ woman, which, according to Oxford Dictionary means ‘uncontrolled or unstopped,’ also shows how these men view women. In the same way, repitition was also dominant and obvious in this scene, as they exhibited how panicked they were that the ship appeared to be sinking. Gonzalo then said, “Farewell, my wife and children!Farewell, my brother! – ‘We Split, we split, we split!.” Repitition here was an effective device to use to strongly express the panic and fear that Gonzalo felt, as well as the others due to the sinking ship.
The party from the shipwreck miraculously survived, and all of them arrived on the island except for his son Ferdinan whom they thought was already dead. Prospero and Miranda were already on the island, and already had Caliban as their slave. Racial hierarchy was strong and felt in almost every part of the play, especially so in Act 2 as this was when Caliban was first introduced. As Prospero and Miranda arrive on the island, Prospero enslaves Caliban, the native they found living in the island. With Prospero’s magic powers, Caliban felt that the spirits doing Prospero’s bidding were also punishing him whenever he doesn’t work hard or when he’s late. In Act II Scene II, Caliban was on the other side of the island gathering woods. As he does so, he murmurs “His spirits hear me And yet I needs must curse. But they’ll nor pinch, Fight me with urchin” indicates how he was enslaved by Prospero to do his biddings and through the use of epithet, he adds characteristics to Prospero’s spirits who would always follow him and check on what he was doing. As Trinculo enters, he also assumed that he was one of the spirits sent to torment him “for bringing wood in slowly.” Caliban has fully fallen to his role as Prospero’s slave, and with the spirits that Prospero had, he was forced to follow Prospero’s bidding, despite his oppositions as the spirits would come to torment him. Another literary device that was heavily used in the story was the metaphor. They were everywhere, but was stronger in Act 3, Scene 5 of the play, where Prospero uttered “O heaven, O earth, bear witness to this sound,/ and crown what I profess with kind event/ If I speak true, if hollowly, invert/ What best is boded me to mischief. I,/ Beyond all limit of what else I’ th’ world,/ Do love, prize honor you” (Shakespeare 95). Prospero here claims that his words are as good as he is, and that if he was deceiving or lying, he should be punished.
Stephano, the often drunk butler of King Alonso, also exhibited unjust treatment and behavior towards Caliban, even going as far as calling him a ‘monster.’ His boast about “keep him tame and get to Naples with him, he’s a present for any emperor that ever trod on neat’s leather” (Act 2, Scene 2, p.68). Even though he was of no noble blood, he still treated Caliban with such callousness and disrespect, all because he felt that he needed to because Caliban was a ‘monster.’ In another use of epithet, Trinculo refers to Caliban as a ‘Moon-calf’ which is described as a deformed calf born under the moon, or another term for monster. However, Oxford Dictionary defines ‘mooncalf’ as a foolish person. Either way, the way Trinculo said, “Is the storm overblown? I hid me under the moon-calf’s gaberdine for fear of the storm” indicates how he looks down on Caliban, another display of racial hierarchy, which in this situation, is from Trinculo, who himself was merely a butler to King Alonso, but still sees himself better than Caliban. Caliban, on the other hand, through the use of alliteration, describes how he was able to see the moon as she was taught by Miranda, whom he now calls “his Mistress,” a verbal admission that he has indeed fallen to the role of a servant to the people who just in his own island. Caliban states, “I have seen thee in her and I do adore thee: My mistress show’d me thee and thy dog and thy bush.” (Act 2, Scene 2 p.72) to tell the other two about how Miranda taught him about the gods and the creations, thinking all along that Stephano was really one of the gods simply because he had with him a bottle of alcohol, a substance that Caliban haven’t seen his whole life and was surpised to experience its magic power of making him feel lightheaded and dizzy.
On the other side of the island, Ferdinand falls into the role of Caliban, but not because he felt inferior, but more because he had fallen in love with Miranda, “The mistress which I serve quickens what’s dead/ And makes my labour pleasure” was how Ferdinand described his sacrifice for Miranda. All was going well according to his plans, but on the other side of the island, Stephano, Caliban, and Trinculo were busy drinking. Trinculo and Stephano continues to call Caliban a ‘monster’ or a ‘moon-calf’and Caliban himself seemed to have accepted this role, as indicated in his desire to change masters. He asked Stephano “How does thy honour? Let me lick thy shoe” and “Lo, how he mocks me! Wilt thou let him, my lord?” (Act 3, Scene 2, p.85) as he addressed Stephano to be his new master. He further told Stephano, “As I told thee before, I am subject to a tyrant, a sorcerer, that by his cunning hath cheated me of the island” (Act 3, Scene 2, p.86). Here Caliban has somehow alluded to the injustice that was done to him, but only for the effect of convincing Stephano to take him as his new servant. He has completely let go of his freedom, and subjected himself to slavery. In his criticism of Prospero as they planned to kill him, Caliban used rhyme through “He’s but a sot, as I am, nor hath not” as he was giving Stephano the instruction of taking Prospero’s book first. This scene could also be an indication that as a slave, Caliban is rising and fighting Prospero’s unjust acts against him. His allusion to the book, which symbolizes Prospero’s power was an important use of symbolism in this scene. Knowing that the book was Prospero’s source of power, Caliban then made good warning about how it should be taken first before the attack.
As the three devised a plan to kill Prospero to take over the leadership of the island, Prospero on the other hand was busy making sure that his plans were put into action. He put Miranda and Ferdinand close together until they fall in love with each other, and in the process marry them off without Alonso knowing about it. This was his way of making sure that he would get his vengeance for Alonso’s treachery. In doing so, the use of symbollism was effectively used. Through the game chess, which Miranda and Ferdinand were playing, refers to Prospero’s plan to capture the king, as Ferdinand would be the next king to succeed Alonso. In his grand plan, he reveals Miranda and Ferdinand playing the game in Act 5, Scene 1. However, before this was all revealed, Prospero learned about Caliban’s plan with Trinculo and Stephano to kill him. in Act 4, Scene 1, through an aside, Prospero tells the audience about this treachery, “I had forgot about that foul conspiracy/ Of the beast Caliban and his confederates/ Against my life: the minute of their plot/ Is almost come.” Here, Prospero consistently refers to Caliban as a beast that was his slave, a reminder of how he had conquered the land and its sole inhabitant, asserting his authority as he would also do against King Alonso in order to take back his dukedom. Prospero was indeed on top of things, making sure that his plans of revenge and vengeance would take place. Caliban, on the other hand, was merely a casualty in this whole scheme, a man who was overpowered and victimized by people who thought of themselves a better than him, even calling him a ‘monster’ or the ‘moon-calf.’
The play was rife with other themes that added to the otherwise simplicity of the story and made it complicated. However, the strongest theme that was observed was racial hierarchy, in which the native inhabitant of the island, the beleaguered Caliban, was the victim. He was made a servant by Prospero, in the guise of teaching him how to get rid of his savagery. Later on, wanting to escape Prospero’s authority, the poor man, never addressed using his name and was indeed called a ‘monster,’ a ‘beat,’ or a ‘moon-calf,’ all meant to degrade his race which was apparently lesser than those of the people who came to the island. This theme of post-coloniality was also recognized by Zabus in her study, which highlighted the three important keys discussed: postcoloniality, postpatriarchy, and postmodernism (as cited in Harris).
After everything came to an end, Prospero delivered his epilogue, the last literary device that was aptly use to close the story. In his epilogue, rhyme was also applied, in that he said “But release me from my bands/ With the help of your good hands/ Gentler breath of yours my sails/ Must fill or else my project fails/ Which was to please. Now I want/ Spirits to enforce, art to enchant/ And my ending is despair/ Unless I be relieved by prayer/ Which pierces so that it assaults/ Mercy itself and frees all faults” (Epilogue 140). In this epilogue, Prospero was asking for forgiveness for what he has done, and perhaps this would also include how he treated Caliban, who would now be left alone in his island.
Works Cited
Harris, Jonathan Gil. “Tempests after Shakespeare (revew).” Project Muse 55(3), pp.355-358.
Web. 30 Apr 2016.
Oxford Dictionaries. Oxfordditionaries.com. Web. 30 Apr 2016.
Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. Web. 30 Apr 2016.
