The Tempest v. A Tempest, Views On Colonialism

In Michel-Roth Trouillots Silencing the Past, he observes that the word history offers us a semantic ambiguity: an irreducible distinction and stock-still an equally irreducible overlap between what happened and that which is said to happen. (Trouillot 3) This ambiguity is implicitly shown in the circumstances surrounding the colonization of the Caribbean in William Shakespeargons The Tempest and Aime Césaires A Tempest. to each one playwright painted their own picture of their cultures views toward the Caribbean in each of their respective times. The playwrights opposing views regarding colonization are portrayed in legion(predicate) different ways; by means of Caliban and Ariels actions, attitudes, and emotions, the two characters portrayals reflect very different understandings of the Caribbean and its colonization.

To begin, in Shakespeare, Caliban, a slave, is portrayed as a savage, deformed monster while in Césaire, he is just a black slave. He was portrayed this way in Shakespeare because the Europeans were unsure how to accept the unfamiliar looks and lifestyles of these newly nominate people of the New World. In Césaire, the author wants Caliban to be an example of black pride by making him much vocal and rebellious.



This subtle difference in the character descriptions speaks volumes to how the views on Caribbean colonization changed over the 350 year time period between the releases of the plays. In Shakespeares time, the newfound natives of the Caribbean were known as cannibals to well-nigh of Europe. They were generally thought as monstrous, uncivilized beings who consumed the flesh of otherwise humans. The character Caliban reflects this notion in The Tempest as his get to is an anagram of the word Cannibal, he is native to the island Prospero lands on, and he is referred to many times as a monster throughout the play. In A Tempest, he is also conveyed as ugly and a savage…a dumb animal, a beast I educated, trained, and dragged up from the bestiality that still clings to you...If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website: Ordercustompaper.com



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