Skakespeare and Colonialiasm

In Acts 2 and 3 of The Tempest, Shakespeare uses the interactions between Prospero and Caliban to represent struggles between colonization and native peoples. Caliban believes the island was his right of inheritance and that Prospero took it from him. He feels he has been extorted by Prospero and his magical powers. The way Caliban views the situation is that he is being forced to work as a slave on an island which he should be ruling. And he hates him for this as can be seen in lines 1-3: "all the infections that the sun pucks up from bogs, fens, flats, on Prosper fall and make him by inchmeal a disease!" However Prospero sees things differently. In his view,  he brought intelligence to Caliban and the island. By coming to this island and bringing it culture, he has gained the right to its ownership. And by raising Caliban, he feels Caliban should serve him. Because without Prospero's help he would not know how to take care of himself or even speak.

This ties into the "cultural studies" we got in class. Specifically how it describes how there is not always one objective reality, but instead there is many. Many different people can see something different ways. How a situation is interpreted is completely dependent on point of view. "From this point of view, no single or primary objective really exists; instead many realities exist." Each person has their own reality. There are many examples of different cultures being colonized and no doubt in each example the culture being dominated has a different view of what happened than the dominating culture. Such as Native Americans being forced to walk the Trail of Tears or when Britain colonized India. In the packet on culture studies it states how there can be an assertion between "a different perspective, a vantage point not in the dominant culture but one from which to view the world and its peoples: they speak for not one culture, but many; not one cultural perspective, but a host; not one interpretation of life, but many."

I think in The Tempest Shakespeare does not necessarily attempt to condemn nor condone colonization. I think he wants to, in a way, do both. He uses Caliban to represent cultures that have been colonized and uses Prospero to represent cultures that have done colonizing. But i have not seen him take favor to either side, at least not this far in the novel.

The Tempest Act I - Prospero's rhetoric

In Act One of The Tempest it can be seen how Prospero uses rhetoric when he tells Miranda about her childhood. Several times he appeals to her emotions to make himself seem just and even victimized. When he describes the neglect of his responsibilities as Duke of Milan he tries to justify why he did it by saying it was for knowledgeable pursuits. He tells Miranda "I, thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicated to closeness and the bettering of my mind..." to convince her he had good intentions. Then, Prospero describes how he trusted his brother, Antonio, to help him take care of the kingdom, but that his trust was taken for granted. "And my trust, like a good parent, did beget of him a falsehood in its contrary as great as my trust was, which had indeed no limit, a confidence sans bound." He claims he trusted Antonio so infinetly and so deeply that his brother used it against him. He tells Miranda that Antonio knew he would trust him no matter what and therefore his brother used that to overthrow him with treacherous deeds of political bribery. This makes him seem like his only mistake was being a trusting brother and that he was severely wronged. Later, Miranda asks if she was a burden on their long trip through the sea to the shore they currently live at and he replies, "Oh, a cherubim thou wast that did preserve me. Thou didst smile infused with a fortitude from heaven, when I have decked the sea with drops full salt, under my burthen groaned; which raised in me an undergoing stomach to bear up against what should ensue." Once again, Prospero is using Miranda's emotion reactions to influence how she sees him through his story; a rhetorical device knows as "ethos." He tells her she was the one thing that got him through his suffering. He claims her smile is what encouraged him to continue onward and that it gave him the strength to get through the temperance. Prospero's use of rhetoric is very apparent in Act One and he uses it to manipulate the other characters.

socratic reflections - textbook issue

history; how can it be taught objectively? it seems that the actions of a historical figure or an event that has taken place can always be seen in different ways. how this information is taught can greatly influence the scholars opinion or interpretation of what happened. for example, any war in history could be seen to have a right side or a wrong side. take the U.S. Civil War for example, both the South and the North had ideals they fought for which they each believed to be "right."

so with the ability to portray the same events as heroic or malicious, who can say which the events really were? well the only logical answer is to provide the facts as objectively and unbiased as possible. but to do this takes extremely tactful word choice and, of course, the inclusion of all peoples involved. the concept of manipulating history's connotation must be acknowledged and furthermore used to caution those reading the textbook.

thus the simple breakdown for an objective display of history has a recipe. for the events which transpired everyone who was effected must be noted. and instead of saying how these events or actions were right or wrong, the feelings of those effected must be shown. objective history lies not with describing the ethics of an event, but instead describing how those who experienced the event reacted to and felt about it.