Letters should not be known; riches, poverty,
And use of service, none…” [II.i.143]
This shows that he thought the ‘New World’ was an example of many people’s ideals put into action. Gonzalo's utopian vision in Act II, scene i, is undercut by a sharp retort from others in his company, the usually foolish Sebastian and Antonio. When Gonzalo says that there would be no commerce or work or "sovereignty" in his society, Sebastian replies, "yet he would be king on't," and Antonio adds, "The latter end of his commonwealth forgets the beginning." [II.i.156]. Gonzalo's fantasy thus involves him ruling the island while seeming not to rule it, and in this he becomes a kind of parody of Prospero. Already Shakespeare casts some doubt in his audiences mind that power and authority can be enforced without subjecting some people.
When Prospero and Miranda first land on the isle, a native named Caliban shows them around the isle and they adopt him as a pet, feeding and showing affection toward him.
“…Thou strok’dst me and made much of me…” [I.ii.333]
However, we find out from a dispute between Prospero and Caliban that Caliban had forced himself upon Miranda, against her will.
“…And lodged thee
In mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate
The honour of my child.” [I.ii.346]
Prospero thus makes a slave out of Caliban and reminds him that he is forever in his debt for attempting to rape his daughter. Caliban is the son of the now-deceased witch Sycorax and therefore believes that the island rightfully belongs to him and has been stolen by Prospero.
“This island’s mine, by Sycorax my mother,
Which thou tak’st from me.” [I.ii.332]
Compared to the ideals of Hariot and Gonzalo, the reality of the situation is very different. On the isle, the constant power-struggles between Prospero and his subjects undermine any idea of peace and the slavery that Prospero forces upon his subjects is contrary to any type of freedom. Hariot and Gonzalo share an idealistic view of what the ‘New World’ is like compared to the realistic picture that Shakespeare portrays in The Tempest.
The play is symbolic of Europe’s frenzy to colonise the ‘New World’ and mirrors the injustice faced by the natives. While there are many representatives of the colonial impulse in the play, the natives have only one main representative: Caliban. The audience are conditioned to feel sympathy for him at first, when Prospero seeks him out merely to abuse him, and when we see him tormented by spirits. However, this sympathy is made more difficult to accept by his willingness to abase himself before Stephano in Act II, scene ii.
There is also Ariel, who is a sprite, is rescued by Prospero from a long imprisonment at the hands of the late witch Sycorax, and is thus indebted to Prospero until he decides to release him.
“PROSPERO: …When I arrived and heard thee, that made gape the pine, and let thee out.
ARIEL: I thank thee master.” [I.ii.291]
He is mischievous and universal, able to be anywhere, to traverse the length of the island in an instant and to change shapes at will. He carries out virtually every task Prospero needs accomplished in the play, but longs for the freedom that Prospero had promised him.
“Remember I have done thee worthy service,
…Thou didst promise to bate me a full year.” [I.ii.246]
Prospero and Ariel’s relationship is miles away from the ‘New World’ ideal because Prospero is obviously Ariel’s master and Ariel insists he deserves liberty but Prospero is unwilling to keep his word. Evidently, this model of freedom does not exist on the isle.
Prospero uses intimidation and threats to dominate his subjects, and uses his superior status to force both Ariel and Caliban into slavery. He threatens them both with magic and retribution, particularly in the case of Ariel, whom he threatens to imprison from where he was once freed if he does not obey.
“If though murmur’st, I will rend an oak,
And peg thee in his knotty entrails…” [I.ii.295]
Two of the key qualities of the utopia that were supposedly present in the ‘New World’ were freedom and equality. These are immediately shattered in this play because Prospero is blatantly the island’s leader, dictating over his subjects and enforcing them into slavery. He even uses malicious methods to force them to submit to his every will.
Prospero calls Sycorax as a “foul witch” [I.ii.255] and “damned witch” [I.ii.265] however this is ironic because he possesses the same traits of arrogance and cruelty that Sycorax had used to enslave Ariel.
At first, Ariel appears to benefit from Prospero’s leadership because he sets him free, however he soon realises that he has simply been traded from one form of servitude to another. Prospero exploits Ariel’s magical ability and uses his ability to appear anywhere to spy on others around the island.
There are some parallels and some differences between the way that Prospero treats Ariel and the methods he uses to control Caliban. Prospero threatens both his subjects to oppress them and make them do what he wants. He doesn’t treat his subjects as equals.
Yet from the outset it seems that Ariel is more intelligent than Caliban and is favoured by Prospero. Because Ariel has special powers that Caliban can use and because Ariel is more obedient to him until Act II, Scene I where he reminds Prospero of his promise to free her after he has served him for a full year, Prospero is less cruel to Ariel.
Caliban on the other hand often defies Prospero and argues when given orders. Where Ariel usually bows to Prospero’s every will Caliban rebels. Where Ariel has power, Caliban has brawn and thus Ariel is more of a servant where Caliban is a slave by any other name.
Prospero and Caliban share a stormy relationship where Caliban is Prospero’s slave. Caliban is constantly resentful of Prospero’s orders because he was once free and resents being enslaved. He is always challenging Prospero’s power and cursing him in an attempt to gain back his island. Caliban feels hard-done by because he believes Prospero has done him a huge injustice by seizing the isle that was formerly his.
“This island’s mine, by Sycorax my mother,
Which thou tak’st from me.” [I.ii.332]
Caliban suggests that his situation is much the same as Prospero's, whose brother usurped his dukedom. Caliban's desire for sovereignty of the island mirrors the lust for power that led Antonio to overthrow Prospero.
Prospero uses idle treats of curses and violence to scare Caliban into submission, assuming that this is necessary because that is the only way he sees him respond.
“…Tonight thou shalt have cramps,
Side-stitches that shall pen thy breath up…” [I.ii.325]
Caliban argues that he was kind to Prospero, and that Prospero repaid his kindness by imprisoning him. In contrast, Prospero claims that he only stopped being kind to Caliban once Caliban had tried to rape Miranda. Which character the audience decides to believe depends on whether they view Caliban as inherently brutish, or as made brutish by oppression.
I do think that on the one hand Prospero as a father is somewhat justified in enslaving Caliban to protect his daughter’s safety. He fears that because Caliban is remorseless, he may attempt to do it again.
“O ho, O ho, would’t had been done!
Thou didst prevent me; I had peopled else
This island with Calibans.” [I.ii.349]
However, I also believe that Prospero is taking advantage of the situation and using Miranda to justify keeping Caliban as a slave. As a ruler he should be forgiving but instead he simply wants to use Caliban for his own gain.
Prospero and Miranda educate Caliban because they regard him as an ignorant savage. Miranda teaches him the English language and gives him a basic education in return for being shown around the island.
“…And teach me how
To name the bigger light, and how the less,
That burn by day and night.” [I.ii.334]
On the surface it appears charitable and beneficial for Caliban, but it is also detrimental because it devalues and demeans Caliban’s language and culture as somehow inferior and worthless. Since Prospero and Miranda already know English, they instantly have more power than Caliban. Prospero sees himself superior to Caliban because Caliban is not properly educated.
This is ignorant on the colonisers’ part because they have forced their language upon the natives, rather than making any effort to learn theirs. Caliban gains a basic understanding of the world around him, and a language that he can use to communicate with his masters but in the wider picture he hasn’t benefited at all because he is enslaved and loses command of the isle. There is an ironic side to this, because throughout Act I, Scene ii, all that Caliban says is either threatening or rude. The audience would get the view that this is all that Caliban knows and assume that this was because it is all Prospero ever says to him.
“You taught me language, and my profit on’t
Is, I know how to curse. The red plague rid you
For learning me your language.” [I.ii.363]
This is partly true but later on in the play we find that Caliban can also be expressive and eloquent instead of vulgar and crass. This is sometimes called The Colonisers’ Trick where they appear to benefit the natives but instead use that to enslave them.
Despite his savage demeanour and grotesque appearance, however, Caliban has a nobler, more sensitive side that the audience is only allowed to glimpse briefly, and which Prospero and Miranda do not acknowledge at all. His beautiful speeches about his island home provide some of the most affective imagery in the play, reminding the audience that Caliban really did occupy the island before Prospero came, and that he may be right in thinking his enslavement to be monstrously unjust.
“Be not afeard. The isle is full of noises,
Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices
That, if I then had waked after long sleep
Will make me sleep again; and then in dreaming
The clouds methought would open and show riches
Ready to drop upon me, that when I waked
I cried to dream again.” [III.ii.128]
Caliban reveals an ability to speak with a flowing poetic eloquence. His voice has a dreamlike, soothing quality and quite moving compared with Caliban’s previous lines.
The audience can construe that Caliban is actually intelligent but screens this side of him from Prospero. Prospero views Caliban as an uncivilized savage because he doesn’t share the same religion and language as Prospero. In essence, Caliban is a sensitive soul who allows himself to be transformed into a fool. This mirrors the actions of colonisers at that time. The European explorers had the prejudice view that anyone that didn’t share their culture or religion was uncivilized and no more than an ignorant animal. This mindset of considering the natives less than human led the colonisers to enslave them, because they had no qualms about depriving them of their human rights.
Trinculo, a jester, and Stephano, a drunken butler, are two minor members of the shipwrecked party. They provide comic relief to the more powerful pairs of Prospero and Alonso. Their drunken boasting and petty greed reflect and deflate the quarrels and power struggles of Prospero and the other noblemen. However, beyond this comic-subplot underlies a more serious issue of exploiting Caliban for self-gain.
Upon stumbling across Caliban, Trinculo is curious about his origin:
“A man or a fish?” [II.ii.24]
And upon discovering Caliban’s differences he immediately thinks about how he could milk Caliban as a tourist trap.
“…Were I in England now, as I once was, and had this fish painted, not a holiday fool there but
would give a piece of silver. There would this monster make a
man. Any strange beast makes a man. When they will
not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar, they will lay out ten
to see a dead Indian.” [II.ii.26]
Trinculo sees an opportunity to exploit a native and hopes to gain financially.
Stephano’s reaction to Caliban is identical to Trinculo’s and instantly his mind turns to how he could gain. He ponders giving Caliban as a gift to the king of Italy for self-gratitude.
“If I can recover him, and keep him tame, and get to Naples
with him, he’s a present for any emperor that ever trod on
neat’s leather…I will not take too much for him; he shall pay for
him that hath him, and that soundly.” [II.ii.64]
Both Trinculo and Stephano regard Caliban as a commodity to be bought, sold, traded and exhibited at their will. They don’t see him a human being and have no moral qualms about exploiting him for their own personal gain.
At first, Stephano uses alcohol by way of calming Caliban down, but as Caliban is more affected by it Stephano uses it as a form of control. This is a parallel to Prospero who uses his magic to control him.
“…If all the
wine in my bottle will recover him, I will help his ague. Come.
Amen, I will pour some in thy other mouth.” [II.ii.84]
“Come on your ways. Open your mouth. Here is
that which will give language to you, cat. Open your mouth…” [II.ii.76]
There is a similarity between language and alcohol. They are both given to Caliban with the apparent intention of benefiting him, but instead they disempower him and tragically he ends up being less that what he could be. Once intoxicated Caliban becomes very impressionable and begins to view Stephano as God-like.
‘Hast though not dropped from Heaven?’ [II.ii.124]
We see Caliban drunk and fawning before a new magical being in his life: Stefano and his bottle of liquor. Soon, Caliban is begging to show Stefano the island and even asks to lick his shoe. Caliban repeats the mistakes he claims to curse.
“I’ll show thee every fertile inch o’ th’ island,
And I will kiss thy foot. I prithee be my god.” [II.ii.135]
Further on in the scene, Stephano and Trinculo begin to ridicule Caliban for his drunken actions. Trinculo declares Caliban a ‘monster’ on several occasions, but not a fearsome kind, a comical kind. The two men view themselves as superior to Caliban, who regards them as all-powerful. This somehow gives them permission to use him for their advantage and abuse him as they wish.
“A howling monster; a drunken monster.” [II.ii.165]
“Come, kiss [my feet].” [II.ii.146]
“I shall laugh myself to death at this puppy-headed
monster. A most scurvy monster. I could find it in my heart to
beat him.” [II.ii.141]
Essentially, the drink dehumanises Caliban and opens him up to be abased by people who are willing to take advantage of him.
Stephano and Trinculo are used by Shakespeare to comment on the behaviour of the colonisers’ attitude toward native inhabitants. Prospero, Stephano and Trinculo all view Caliban as a sub-human commodity to be used for personal gain. The colonisers felt superior to the natives because they lacked culture, religion, language and medicine but could’ve actually learned a lot more by trying to befriend the natives. Perhaps the natives could teach the new comers about life in their context if they had listened to them and respected them.
Throughout The Tempest, Shakespeare constantly reveals the reality of the paternalistic cruelty of colonisation compared to the ideals of the ‘New World’ as described by Gonzalo. Gonzalo depicts a utopian society where all inhabitants are equal and free from laws. Further on in the play, Miranda laments with joy “O brave new world / That has such people in’t!” [v.i.184] This quote shows a bit of naivety on her part because she does not entirely know what is happening regarding the power struggles and injustice around her.
Shakespeare reveals the reality of injustice present in colonisation through The Tempest. The main theme of the play is power and the allure of ruling a colony. Stephano represents the exploitation of natives by colonisers and the trio of Prospero, Stephano and Trinculo personify the greed.
In Act IV, scene i, reminded of Caliban's plot, Prospero refers to him as a “devil, a born devil, on whose nature / Nurture can never stick” [IV.i.188]. Miranda and Prospero both have contradictory views of Caliban's humanity. On the one hand, they think that their education of him has lifted him from his originally brutish status. On the other hand, they seem to see him as inherently brutish. His devilish nature can never be overcome by nurture, according to Prospero; Miranda expresses a similar sentiment in Act I, scene ii: “thy vile race, / Though thou didst learn, had that in't which good natures / Could not abide to be with” [I.ii.361]. The inhuman part of Caliban drives out the human part, the "good nature," that is imposed on him.
“…This thing of darkness I
Acknowledge mine.” [V.i.272]
This subtle confession shows that Prospero does admit to being unjust toward Caliban, and that it could have been his actions that turned Caliban into a monster.
In The Tempest Shakespeare shows that human nature is the same in all societies and in so doing presents a more honest and realistic appraisal of colonisation as a form of exploitation and oppression as much as exploration and expansion. In this way he challenges the common prevailing myth of the ‘New World’ as places of peace and prosperity. In this he was well ahead of his time, revealing many insights that were only acknowledged by later generations in hindsight.
