tempcolon Comparing Language in Shakespeares Tempest...

Colonial Language in Shakespeares The Tempest and Aime Cesaires A Tempest Language and literature are the most subtle and seductive tools of domination. They gradually shape thoughts and attitudes on an almost subconscious level. Perhaps Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak states this condition most succinctly in her essay The Burden of English when she writes, Literature buys your assent in an almost clandestine way...for good or ill, as medicine or poison, perhaps always a bit of both(137). By examining Shakespeares The Tempest and Cesaires A Tempest, the diabolic and diagnostic functions of language and literature can be explored. Both plays place characters who are foreign to each other in equally unknown and foreign†¦show more content†¦You taught me language and my profit ont/ Is, I know how to curse (363-4). Shakespeares Caliban, though, is concerned as much with revenge as he is his own freedom. Through his ability to speak a European tongue, Caliban is able to persuade Stephano and Trinculo to attempt to overthrow Prospero. In the end, the attemp t fails miserably. Caliban begs for forgiveness and Prosperos power is essentially unchallenged. Prospero as teacher, slave owner, father, and Duke dictates the outcome of the play. Cesaires Caliban uses the same tool, language given to him by Prospero, to subvert Prosperos power and to win his freedom. Like the original, the contemporary Caliban realizes that his education is a sinister form of slavery. Learning Prosperos language means learning to understand and obey orders. He even attributes his alleged attempted rape of Miranda to his education, claiming, youre the one [Prospero] who put those dirty thoughts in my head (13). The efforts of Cesaires Caliban, while full of resentment, are focused primarily on freedom. He wants to rid himself to be free of his name and become X for this very reason. The images of the native as dark, mysterious, primitive, wild, and primally sensual are bound to his given name. These images help to define Prospero and his European mindset, rather than articulating anything authentic