Summary: Shakespeare’s The Tempest Plot and Characters

A Tempest was originally written in 1969, during this time there was pressure on the people for decolonization which is “The action or process of a state withdrawing from a former colony, leaving it independent.” (Dictonary.com). Shakespeare’s The Tempest was written in 1610, following the European exploration of the New World. This paper will analyze the interrelationship held between the characters Prospero and his slave, Caliban by the two contrasting plays that were written over 300 years apart. Césaire personifies the characters as the colonizer, Prospero and the colonized, Caliban.

The most distinctive change made in Césaire’s A Tempest is that Césaire reframes Shakespeare’s work and puts it in a clearer postcolonial setting whereas Shakespeare sets the action of the play in a colonial context. “Postcolonial theory examines the effects and reverberations of colonialism both during the colonial period and after decolonization.” (Toms). Césaire’s Caliban differs from Shakespeare’s in which Shakespeare illustrates Caliban more definitively as a threatening colonized character whereas, Césaire illustrates Caliban as a more sympathetic figure in A Tempest.

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Shakespeare’s The Tempest illustrates Caliban as a monster, he is thought of by others as a slave, and plays a more minor role with less of a voice. Whereas Césaire’s Caliban is a much more pronounced character, and he’s no longer portrayed as a slave. This Caliban is not a villain to others, he’s relatively a suppressed slave.

In Shakespeare’s The Tempest Prospero views Caliban as a beast, Caliban doesn’t hold a demand for freedom; he solely wants to be freed from Prospero because of his bitterness towards him.

Césaire’s Caliban is a native of the island and has had his dignity stripped from him by Prospero, this Caliban is more vocal about his anger as being enslaved by Prospero. Césaire’s Caliban also has a broader demand for freedom, he believes he has the right to be free and shouldn’t have to serve anyone. In The Tempest, Caliban colludes with Stephano and Trinculo to kill Prospero and he may have succeeded if his plan was speculated in a timelier matter. He deliberated this plan too late when Stephano and Trinculo had already passed. The Caliban in A Tempest had a clearer end goal, to gain complete freedom, yet he realizes that the same two men were fools after the fact. Caliban states “How could I ever have thought I could create the Revolution with swollen guts and fat faces! Oh well! History wont blame me for not having been able to win my freedom all by myself.” (Césaire 55). Caliban then proceeds to challenge Prospero all alone, but Prospero belittled him with his words, challenging him to a battle and then further refusing to fight him. In the end Caliban fails in his rebellion, but in standing up to Prospero, he gains Prospero’s respect and regains some of his own dignity and cultural identity back. Whereas in Shakespeare’s The Tempest during Caliban’s rebellion Caliban is further humiliated by Prospero and is dunked in horse-urine, still enslaved by Prospero’s authority in the end.

Caliban’s response when asked what is hopes of the revolt was by Prospero, was “To get back my island and regain my freedom.” (Césaire 60). Caliban’s response emphasizes his bitterness he possesses towards the colonizers such as Prospero. When Prospero offers to make peace with Caliban, Caliban delivers his final speech, in summary he illustrates the colonized people and his own desire for freedom. Césaire’s play ends with Prospero, the colonizer, becoming weaker and holding less power, This suggests that the colonizers are losing the power they once had over the colonies. Therefore, by the end of A Tempest, the interrelationship between Prospero the colonizer and Caliban the colonized has changed. If Césaire hadn’t changed the original written ending in Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Caliban wouldn’t have had the opportunity to portray his courage in facing his destiny.

Works Cited

1. Césaire, Aimé., et al. A Tempest. Translated by Richard Miller. New York: TCG Translations, 2018. Print
2. “Decolonization.” Dictonary.com, Dictonary.com, 2020, https://www.dictionary.com/browse/decolonization?s=t
3. Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. Ed. Robert Langbaum and Sylvan Barnet. The Signet Classic Shakespeare, New York: New American Library, 1998. Act I: 3-27. Print.
4. Toms, Jennifer. “Lecture on Shakespeare, Césaire and Adaption.” ENG 1700. Oakland University, Rochester. 7 Apr. 2020.