Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Shakespeare: The Great American Author

Though the title of this post is exaggerative, many of the events and themes in The Tempest reflect some of the tropes associated with early America. In a time where the presence of the new world was a mysterious and strange prospect to Europeans, Shakespeare plays on the world's curiosities of America and raises questions of its savage setting in conflict with its civilized invaders.

Shakespeare definitely plays up the mysterious quality of the new world by imbuing it with a supernatural and mystical quality. Every character that inhabits the island at the start of the play has a mystical quality to their nature. Prospero was exiled there for his practice of mysticism, Caliban is the son of a banished witch, and Ariel and the other spirits are natural inhabitants. Miranda is arguable the only character who lacks a supernaturalness. Though she is the daughter or Prospero, she does not seem to inherit an interest in magic, or at least she is ignorant of it. Being born on the island, I would argue that she might represent a more settled future for the new world. Her love for Ferdinand could represent a new generation that will settle and tame these wild lands.

Caliban, of course, represents an American native. His character listing is "a savage and deformed native of the island". In Shakespeare's time the idea of the "savages" of the new world brought many curiosities to the nature of the less civilized natives, which the playwright cultivated in the character. By Prospero, or the Europeans, Caliban was educated and knowledged of "civilization", just as the real natives. European colonists sought to educate these natives and bring them into their lifestyle. Eventually, natives resisted the europeans' control causing strife between the two groups. And as Caliban overstepped Prospero in endevouring Miranda, he was cast from a student to a slave as punishment. Caliban cursing "This is my island!" echoes the voice felt by natives from colonization.

One other minor connection to American ideals in the play is the roles of Trinculo and Stefano. In a world without kings, these two lower class fools take the drastic transformation in "masters" of Caliban. This new world didn't have empires or rulers, and the colonists who eventually came were a low class society. Though Shakespeare plays the idea up to a comedic plot, these two represent the lack of class that existed in the new world.


5 comments:

Andrea Harrington said...

I like how you connected the play and new world i think you did a good job.

Carrie C said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Carrie C said...

I like the connections you made here Brian. I think it would also be interesting to note the connection between Trinculo and Stefano's “masterhood” over Caliban, perhaps similar to the new world inhabitants seize of control over the natives. I like the idea of The Tempest being an allegory for the exploration and settling of the New World.

A said...

I fully agree with the connections you've made between The Tempest and stories of early America, the new world, its mysterious quality, and the Native American narrative with Caliban. I had not acknowledged that Miranda seems somewhat uninterested in her father's power but now that you've pointed it out to me, I find it very intriguing. Is she really clueless and ignorant or has she spent her whole life being educated on the island and she might not flaunt her education because she's never had any experiences off the island to apply them to?

Morgan Smith said...

Until reading this post, I never considered how Shakespeare tied well into American colonialism. True, some of America's first settlers were England's religious and criminal outcasts- as possibly reflected by Stefano and Trinculo, the fools ambitious for a higher place in the world in the new land. Also, Caliban has striking resemblance to the Native American attitude (This is my land!) and the way the Europeans perceived the natives (physically peculiar, deformed, naive)