In 1969 Aimé Césaire published his spinoff William Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Césaire’s version, The Tempest, expands and changes the characters to highlight some of their characters and directly deal with the colonial issues raised by Shakespeare’s original work. In particular, Césaire points out the various aspects of colonial minds that are common, and provides insight into the reasons why colonialism can be done in the first place, despite people’s suspicion or hostility. This essay will focus on Césaire’s three main characters and their relationship to each other, and their role in the narrative of colonialism. At first it will be seen that Prosperus, the colonist, lacks all real power: although the Westerners are allegedly reclaiming their leadership, he plays with forces outside his control and introduces the smallest threats. Granted, the colonist must establish his rule through illusion, which is largely accomplished by Ariel, the second notable character: Ariel believes that Prospero has great magic, and helps his oppressor by confirming to others the false idea that this man is. to be feared Finally, there is Caliban, idealized by Césaire: although not disapproved of by Prospero, Caliban clings to the remnants of his identity and eventually rises to tyrant, ultimately breaking Prospero’s faith. In A Tempest, Césaire not only made a psychological history of colonialism but also a feature by which to break the chains of the oppressor: cultural pride and fearless defiance. The real power is not with Prospero, but with Stoa.
Readers familiar with Shakespeare’s play in A Tempest preconceive Prospero as a sorcerer, this is how Shakespeare and his audience likely saw the exiled Milanese leader. However, in the text of Césaire’s reading, it becomes clear that this Prosperus is weak, capable and cruel: the shell of a mournful man. Both Shakespeare’s and Césaire’s texts refer to the colony, with Prospero recognized as the force of the invasion; but while Shakespeare’s work is in many respects ambiguous, and in a great part serves only to raise questions, it is easy for The Tempest to condemn the peasant as a vain villain. Césaire’s Prosper is invested in power: he recreates the island in his likeness, reduces the natives to slavery, and imagines a hierarchy for himself at the top. After tempting and then removing the masters of the feast, Prosper returns again and complains, “My manner has changed: they insult me not to eat. They must be deserted island, and the native still represents the best archetype. friends and enemies, Venus and cannibals. Thus colonial life is substituted simply for those who are still obscurely brought to a world without men, that is, those who have not given the necessary effort to adapt to the infantile images of adult reality. (105)
Given these assertions, it is easy to see the colonist as stubborn, desperate, and obstinate. Prospero fits this description perfectly. Césaire’s Caliban is not a barbarian, but Prosper insists on treating him as one: “The pulse is the only language you really understand” (19). When Ariel questions his master, Prosper fights with anger: “Oh, you are so disturbed! You always have such a mind! Who cares! What moves me is not your behavior, but your deeds!” (16). Caliban and Ariel are both good, but Prosper refuses to see them in himself. In his desperation to achieve order, Prosper ignores fact in favor of black and white thinking. These examples show that the colonist is power hungry and impatient with those who resist his will. A criminal, perhaps mad, and in no way to be admired.
This image of Prosperus would indeed be undiscovered, if it had any force; but Césaire Shakespeare adapted the protagonist to portray a poor peasant whose magic is weak and depends on lies. Notably, Césaire chose this path, criticizing not only the mind of the colonist, but also his character. Where Prosperus’s insatiable desire to dominate made him deplorable, the extreme limits of domination mock him: he is not to be despised. Prospero, with Ferdinand and Miranda’s spectacular festivities, are rudely and comically interrupted by the sycophantic Eshu; “What are you doing here?” he also asks the swollen Prospero, “Who invited you?” (48). The colonist’s position is precarious; He takes control, but escapes. The Tempest asks the readers to recognize that such men deserve no authority. The deeds of the island of Prosperus were also proven in his own land: “They corrupted my people, they took my tablets and my records, and, in order to take me away, they denounced me as a magician and a magician of the Inquisition.” (13). This flashback does little to build confidence in Prosperi’s qualities as a leader: the subjects themselves rose up against him, and there was no chance. subduing them. Towards the end of the play, this narrative threatens to repeat itself, and Prospero is destined not to lose another kingdom: “henceforth,” says the rebellious Caliban, “I will answer your violence, / with violence!” (65); the rest of the fight is not shown, but the result was clearly not what Prosper had foreseen. The last lines of A Tempest show that the tyrant is old and faltering; (Ellipses do not indicate a break in the text): “It’s cold on this island… We must think about making a fire… Well, Caliban, old man, now there are two of us, here on the island… just me and you. Me. (65- 66) This is the colonist, this is the force that wants to rule the island.
Acknowledging Prosper’s mind and magic, the weak begs the question of how he can maintain apparent control for so long. Ariel, less interesting than Prosper or Caliban, is an essential character in the plot of colonialism; Prosper’s servant Ariel gives the colonist power and reinforces his ideas of power to others. It is noteworthy that in the text Ariel Césaire does a lot of work reluctantly: “Master,” he says, after protesting the storm, I beg you to spare this work. Later, he is forced to reprimand the owners, and he objects to Prospero: “It is bad to play with hunger as with one’s anxiety and hope” (32). Instances like these, along with her desire for freedom, show that Ariel is not spiteful or unwilling about Prosperi’s actions. Annoyingly, but truly, he took ownership of the domain, the power and the ability to dominate. Some writers have condemned the Ariels as traitors to their culture, but Césaire paints a more sympathetic picture. Her Ariel is not one-dimensional, but only follows what she believes is necessary; It is therefore not his fault to favor the colonist, but to have the courage to challenge him. But this is not to say that Ariel Césaire is ideal, because he makes a powerful tyrant both by knowing the aforementioned actions and by the well-meaning expressions of others. “There is no use in resisting, young man,” says Ferdinand; “My teacher is a magician; neither your love nor your youth can prevail against him. Thinking to do the best thing, follow and obey him” (23). The next scene is when Caliban talks about his master’s dark plans: “I have come to warn you. Prosper is wreaking a terrible vengeance against you… He is stronger than you are” (26). Holding back the others in fear of the oppressor, Ariel single-handedly captures the tyrant’s island. Essentially Ariel does Prosperi’s job for him. This is what Chinweizu means in “Caliban vs Ariels” when he writes that “as long as Ariel led the Third World, the prosperous old world order, whether economic, cultural, political or informational, would be safe” (2). Unlike some colonists, Ariel does not willingly bear the yoke; He is neither proud nor happy in his place, but he believes in the power of the magic of Prosperus and accepts his life with abject submission. Césaire illustrates that such men only confirm the authority of their masters, and while he does not want us to despise Ariel, he gives us another nobler servant in the person of Caliban.
The hero of Césaire’s play and easily the most honorable character, Caliban is an example of a peasant people who refuse to accept the authority of the lord. It is not a certain victory, but integrity: he never hopes to strike Prosperus, who has rejected and alienated him, but he keeps faith in Prosperus the usurper, and mourns the loss of the past. John McLeod takes up Frantz Fanon’s argument that “the colonial subject… is forced into internalizing himself as an ‘other'” (23); that is, an outsider. Through frequent insults and the insolence of the colonist, Caliban comes to see himself as inferior against his will. He was once a free man, but now he is nothing more than a servant to Prospero, a human servant who will never receive him. “Call me X,” says Caliban, “that would be better. as a man without a name. Or, to be more precise, the man whose name he stole… You stole everything from me, even my identity!” (20). But Caliban in despair remembers that he once did what Prosper did. He clings to the last shreds of honor: “I prosper,” he says;
you are a great magician
You are an old hand at deception.
And you lied to me so much;
of the world, of myself;
as it ended up being imposed upon me
my image;
crude, in words, they are undercompetent
that’s how you made me see myself!
And I hate that image, and it’s false! (61-62)
Ariel is content with the bow, but it’s Caliban who doesn’t stop to stand up for himself. He makes an insult with Prosperus, and marches upon him singing the god who will destroy the ways of the colonist;
Shango carries a large stick;
strikes and blows money!
He strikes and lies to expire!
He strikes and exhales the robbery!
Shango, Shango! (52).
Stoa is humbled, but never converted. It retains the songs and beliefs of the old life. It is a thorn in the side of Prosperus, and a force that will finally break the power of the tyrant. Césaire, by choosing Caliban as his protagonist, illustrates a double defense against oppression: memory and defiance.
Césaire shows his readers through Caliban that a stubborn slave can overthrow his master. Prosperus is shown to be weak, and draws most of Ariel’s power. Although Caliban believes in his heroic powers, he never willingly puts himself in danger, making him an honorable if tragic character. “The day when I begin to feel that everything is lost,” Ariel tells me, “just let me receive some vats of your hellish powder and while you fly there in your blue skies you will see this island, my inherent, my work, all explode to smithereens” (28). he does not know, and he fully believes that his story will end in disaster, and that Prosper will die in spite of himself. Unfortunately, the story of Caliban does not end. and the slave enjoying his new freedom, Césaire would prove that the rebel’s business was not hopeless: that, contrary to all appearances, the colonial thing would survive.
Aimé Césaire adapted Shakespeare’s original characters Prospero, Ariel and Caliban to show the minds behind colonialism and make an argument for how to fight against it. He describes the obsessive tyrant who seizes power, the envious slave who fears his master, and the rebellious slave whose conviction is strong enough to unleash the tyranny. The Tempest encourages readers to follow the noble example of this last character, and assures them that the poor peasant will eventually fall.
Works Citation
Césaire, Aimé. Tempest. Across. Richard Miller. NY: TGC Translations, 1985
Chinweizu, Ibekwe. “Caliban vs. Ariels” in Decorating the African Mind. Lagos, Nigeria:
1987
McLeod, John. The Beginning of Postcolonialism. 2nd edition. NY: Manchester University Press, 2010.
Powesland, Pamela. “Crusoe and Prospero” in Octavo Mannoni, Prospero et Caliban: The
Psychology of Cologne. Across. Ann Arbor. MI: University of Michigan Press, 1990.
