Notesale: Turn your study into money

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‘The relationship between Prospero and Caliban can be seen as a reflection
of European man’s colonial attitudes in the seventeenth century’ How far do
you agree with this statement?

I believe Prospero and Caliban’s relationship is reflective of European man’s
colonial attitudes in the seventeenth century, however there are aspects of
their relationship that aren’t typical of European man’s colonial attitudes
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This is reflected through how European
man tried to educate the ‘savages’ and in return the natives showed them
features of the island
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The issue of who is rightful ruler of
the island is displayed through Prospero and Caliban’s relationship, this
demonstrates how Prospero shares certain colonial attitudes European man
would have
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Prospero teaches Caliban to “name the
bigger light,” in return Caliban shows Prospero “all the qualities o’ the isle,”
this shows how Caliban wanted to impress Prospero and show off his
homeland
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Shakespeare is showing how Prospero and Caliban are
working alongside each other like how the Virginian Powhatan tribe in 1608
brought food and rescued the starving colonisers nearby
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Caliban believes his only benefit is that he can “curse”
Prospero for enslaving him
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Prospero consequently is shown to possess the same colonial
attitudes as European man in this instance
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Shakespeare shows Prospero took
“pains” to educate Caliban, the language suggests it was difficult for Prospero
and would have taken time and effort
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Shakespeare does this to suggest how Prospero
and Caliban do not have a ‘business’ relationship but that when the colonisers
and colonised spent enough time together they could potentially become close
contrary most of the seventeenth century European’s beliefs
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Prospero is shown to be fatherly towards Caliban, he angrily
reminds Caliban he “lodged thee in mine own cell” This would suggest that
Prospero isn’t the typical coloniser because he took Caliban into his home and
cared for his well-being rather than treating him like his inferior subject
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Shakespeare does this because it
shows Prospero feels responsible for Caliban and it echoes how a parent would
tell others people stories of their child
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”
Prospero’s sense of responsibility towards Caliban is shown here
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This
shows Prospero displays different attitudes from the typical colonist who
would have had ulterior motives like Herman Cortés who befriended the
Tlaxcalans and formed an alliance with them only so Cortés could defeat the
Aztecs
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Caliban believes it’s his birth right to
rule the island, Caliban states the island is “mine, by Sycorax my mother,” This
shows that Caliban is certain this island belongs to him since he knows it best,
he then uses his mother as a way of backing up his claim
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Shakespeare makes it clear when Prospero
refers to Caliban as “a bastard one” that Caliban is illegitimate and has not
right to the island anyway, this was in case James I took offense at
Shakespeare’s observation
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This displays how Prospero didn’t seek
out the island to rule over like many colonists did
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It is clear Prospero shares the same attitude that the
colonists had in this source from Ronald Takaki’s ‘The “Tempest” in the
Wilderness’ he talks of how colonists interpreted Indian’s dying of small pox as
a divinely sanctioned opportunity to take the land from them
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This shows how he still holds the ideals of European
man and their attitudes towards colonisation
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Prospero is stressing the importance of this because if they were back in Milan
they would have to behave in a civilised fashion, it also shows that Prospero
doesn’t like change and wants to stick to the ideals he’s always lived with
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This leads to friction and tension between the
two characters
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By nature Noble
Savages were without need of education or rulers because they appreciated
what they had and saw beauty in things civilised people wouldn’t
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Prospero calls Caliban “thou tortoise” by
associating Caliban with a creature that can only crawl makes him seem
inferior, this would be how the audience would see Caliban
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If Caliban became civilised would he become materialistic, power hungry and
greedy like them? All Caliban wants is to simply live in peace on his island
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The language Caliban uses shows how meaningless it seems to him and
that he would prefer to look upon the island
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Caliban talks
about the clouds opening and showing him “riches”
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Shakespeare is showing the audience how greedy civilised people can
be, the reason Prospero isn’t quite as bad as the other characters could be
because he has grown accustomed to living on the island without many
material objects
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Prospero however still does not have the
same love and respected for the island that Caliban has
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Immediately upon seeing Caliban they think of
how they can exploit him to make money, Trinculo says in 2
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25-31 if he was
in England even a painting of Caliban would sell for a lot of money
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On his return to Spain from his
second voyage he had around 550 Indian captives, this was because there was
profit to be made from them
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Trinculo goes on to
criticise how people in England “will not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar”
but will “lay out ten to see a dead Indian” Shakespeare is using humour to
convey a serious message across to the audience
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This would also have made it easier
for the likes of Christopher Columbus to capture them, like how he lured some
pf the Abenaki people on to his ship to display in England
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The relationship between Prospero and Caliban is a reflection of European
man’s colonial attitudes in the seventeenth century, Prospero shares attitudes
of European man in the sense that he believes in civilising Caliban and he
believes he is the rightful ruler
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Prospero’s relationship
then develops into something more
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