Answer the following question as a Comment below:
Césaire reduces most of
Acts III-V of The Tempest to a duel between Caliban and Prospero (his
Act III). Far from fleeing the stage
and promising to be good, as he does in Shakespeare’s version, Caliban has a
tremendous speech (pp.61-62) which changes the entire scope of the play. Why does Prospero decide not to leave
the island, and what do you make of the line, “Well, I hate you as well!/for it
is you who have made me/doubt myself for the first time” (63). How has Caliban challenged Prospero’s power
in this Act, and is Prospero “beaten” by the end of the play?
Prospero decides not to leave the island because Caliban has challenged him and confronted him with the truth in front of everyone. His pride has been wounded, and now he must prove it to himself that he really can destroy Caliban without any help--and without Ariel, the entire island turns on him. It's almost as if his own magic has been reflected back on him, or "come back to roost," so to speak. Prospero hates Caliban because for many years he has told himself that everything he did was for everyone else's benefit, even Caliban's, and Caliban's continued defiance even in the face of his apparent mercy is too much for Prospero, and made him question himself. Caliban not only exposed everything, and challenged Prospero's self-belief, that very challenge broke his confidence and ability to concentrate on anything with his magic--and as an old man, he's very tired. Prospero is likely beaten, but not by Caliban alone; by his overconfidence, rage, unwillingness to listen to any will but his own, the lack of Ariel and Ariel's loyalty, and the loyalty of the island itself. That, and apparently Caliban is ignoring him rather than simply killing him (because here he's not a murderer), but celebrating his own self-governance. This also in a way defeats Prospero.
ReplyDeleteJessie Randall
This exchange actually reminds me of a passage from A Room of One's Own. Woolf asserts that women have existed throughout history, apparently, to reflect men and make them feel larger. In a way native people like the ones that Caliban represents were just another opportunity for men, or white men, to feel superior by dominating someone. Then when Caliban stood up to him he refused to serve the function of making Prospero feel larger. So essentially Prospero stays because he can no longer go back and look his peers in the eye without feeling that little bit of self doubt planted by Caliban's refusal of his authority.
ReplyDeleteMacy McDonald
The third act of A Tempest seems even more political than the previous two acts. Caliban is a rebellious slave or native, and Prospero is the colonizer who thinks he is making the native better by giving him Christianity, his own language and culture. Prospero talks about Caliban being his own ruin because he refuses to see the good Prospero is trying to do for him. I think he stays behind because he’s not done civilizing Caliban. Also, Caliban wants to be king of the island again. IF Prospero moves back to Naples, he’ll only be a duke, not king. Even if he’s only got one subject who hates his guts, he’ll still be all powerful and able to continue his other mission of civilizing him. I think Caliban made Prospero realize that he’ll be giving up his power, and maybe he knows he can’t hack it in the real world anymore.
ReplyDeleteKim McCreery
Prospero chooses to stay on the island because of intense altercation with Caliban. He realizes that he has been called out and that leaving the island would mean giving up his power. Prospero is so power hungry and in love with control that he could never stand a life where that was not at the center of it. In the end though, it does seem like Caliban exposes Prospero. It seems to me that Prospero exposes himself Caliban might have just manipulated the conversation to get him to that point. When Prospero says, “Well, I hate you as well!/ for it is you who have made me/ doubt myself for the first time”. It seems very childish of him to say he hates someone. It reminds me of a toddler throwing a temper tantrum. Prospero is embarrassed and humiliated that his power is being called out and exposed by Caliban. In a way I do think that Prospero is “beaten” at the end of the play. All of his resources have run out. His self-governance of the island has been taken over. His beliefs were challenged and he did not know how to handle that.
ReplyDeleteKayci Snider