English Imperialism and Representations Essay

In William Shakespe bes The tempest Prospero, an exiled Naples duke, and his daughter, Miranda, are forsake on a remote island wagh the lone autochthonic1 inhabitant, a beast musical com mail service named Caliban. Through his sorcery Prospero is able to enslave Caliban, the indigene, who toils for the benefit of Prospero and Miranda, the usurping colonial powers. magical spell it is unclear if Shakespeare think The violent storm to mirror face violetism during the late sixteenth and 17th century, there are creationy congruencies between events in the land and events rough the metre of the adjoins first performance in 1611.To begin with, in order to analyze these congruencies a brief all overview of Englands bleak world2 exploration and colonization is necessary. Next, Gonzalos inte slackening in the island and his woodlet arrange custodyt illustrate the slope purple yearning for the brand-new World. In addition, the first deepen between Caliban and Prospero en capsulate the conflicts of endemic mickle and the colonisers in an imperial relationship. Fin anyy, the question remains if Caliban represents specific completelyy autochthonic the assertsns or by and large represents crush indigenous throng by face colonization.Shakespeares The disturbance metaphorically represents slope imperialism and encapsulates side senti manpowerts towards the clean World during the time of its pagan production. During the life of Shakespeare, especially around the time of the first performance of The Tempest, europium engaged in imperialistic activities through knocked out(p) the raw(a) World. In addition, during Shakespeares lifetime, Englands imperialistic activities would piddle away a larger role in the countrys interests and developments. In Alden T.Vaughan article pack of investigate England Encounters the sassy Worlds indwelling, Vaughan disembowels how face perceptions of the Native Ameri slews developed over the lead of the 16th century. The English, while interested in the New World, did non play an active role in its initial exploration English community in the Tudor era lagged noniceably behind other Europeans in take uping about the Americas. For nearly a century, English interest in the New World was surprisingly tangential, more than a matter of speciality than of conquest and based primarily on foreign rather than on English observation (Vaughan, People, 13).For a majority of the 16th century the English received second hand accounts (writings and illustrations) of the New World. However, the English did make bound forays into developing first hand noesis of the New World. Vaughan states, The first text file advert between the English and the Indians occurred in about 1502, when Sebastian Cabotbrought back three men taken from New anchorland (People, 14), only when he continues, Not until 1530, apparently, were other Indians brought to England, and non until 1553 did an English publi sher issue a book with appreciable attention to Americas inhabitants (People, 14). small-arm slow to capitalize on exploring and colonizing the New World, the English became actively involved in the exploration and conquest of the Americas and its mickles. There by and by, Englands film of American inherings reflected uniquely English experiences and expectations (Vaughan, People, 13). One of the significant imperialist ventures around the time Shakespeare wrote The Tempest was the crowd togethertown settlement. The English founded Jamestown in 1607, four years earlier to the first performance of The Tempest.While a contemporary critic can only speculate the extent which the New World tantalized and influenced the English during this time, it essential urinate had some sway on the popular imagi commonwealth of English society, including Shakespeares. In The Tempest, the character Gonzalo demonstrates an interest with the pristine island setting that represents English imperi al yearnings. After being shipwrecked on the island, Gonzalo first notices the natural beauty of the island. He exclaims, How lush and lusty the grass looks How green (2. 1. 53).From his initial observation of the health of the island, Gonzalos interest in the island soon becomes opportunistic Had I woodlet of this isle, my lord (2. 1. 140).When Gonzalo says limitation, he means colonization. Gonzalo initial admiration for the island transforms into a intention to start a colony he envisions his colony as the antithesis of industry, a utopic society of idleness. Gonzalo describes his plantation in the following manner I the vernacular wealth I would by contraries Execute all things for no large-hearted of traffic, Would I admit no name of magistrate, Letter should not be know riches, poverty, And subroutine of service, none contract, succession, Bourn, bound of land, tilth, vineyard, none No example of coat, corn, or wine, or oilNo occupations all men idle, all, And women too, scarcely innocent and pure No sovereignty (2. 1. 144-52) In Gonzalos colony mountain just lie around with no one singing them what to do in addition, the women all stay virgins. Gonzalos companions apace testify out the impossibility of his Eden-like scenario. Sebastian indicates, Yet Gonzalo would be folkg on the island (2. 1. 153) to which Antonio adds, The farthermost mentioned end of his commonwealth forgets the beginning (2. 1. 154).From the comments by Sebastian and Antonio, it is clear Gonzalos scheme is not practical, but certainly Gonzalos sentiment must dedicate appealed idealistically to English and Europeans tired of the social tumult in the darkened World. benjamin Bertram notes in The sequence is out of Joint Skepticism in Shakespeares England contemporaneous to Shakespeares life, Londons mercantile interests, unemployment, overpopulation, and immigrants from the province all make colonial ventures appealing (58). Gonzalos fantasizing expertness tap into the socioeconomic conditions contemporary to the time of cultural production of The Tempest.For some Europeans the social turmoil of the Old World was a sore spot, yearning like Gonzalo for a fresh start and for a better society in the New World. French courtier Michel De Montaigne in his quiz Of the Cannibals (1580) argues the New World inhabitants are no more barbarous or savage than the Old World denizens, suggesting things might be better in the case of the former. De Montaigne establishes, I find (as further as I have been informed) there is nothing in that nation the American Indians, that is either barbarous or savage, unless men call that atrocity which is not common to them (119).De Montaigne alludes to the social problems of 16th century Europe in pointing out the hypocrisy of the Old World labeling the New World as barbarous or savage. Moreover, De Montaigne sees the New World inhabitants as closer to a natural state and less tainted by humankind wit when he obse rves, It is a nationthat hath no kind of traffic, no knowledge of letters, no intelligence of numbers, no name of magistrates, nor of politic superiority no lend oneself of service, of riches, or of poverty no contracts, no successions, but common, no apparel but natural, no manuring of lands, no use of wine, corn, or metal (120).Curiously, both Gonzalo and De Montaigne evoke the idea of unfettered idleness and non-use of wine, corn, and metal as a more natural society. Also, in painting an idyllic interpret of the social items supposedly absent from the New World, De Montaigne overlooks that corn is a New World vegetable and that American Indians were familiar with the practice of fertilization, although maybe not mannuring. While a lot of De Montaignes generalizations of the New World inhabitants are arguable, he calls the readers attention to a litany of social items as evidence of the Old World tainted by human wit. However, De Montaigne sarcastically concludes that what the American Indians, supposedly, do with their d.o.a. is no more barbaric than what the Europeans do with the living by torturing people, stating there is more barbarism in eating men alive than to feed upon them being out of work to mangle by tortures and torments a body full of lively sense, to roast him in pieces, to make dogs and swine to gnaw at and tear him in mammocksthan to roast and eat him after he is dead (120).De Montaignes relativistic view of transatlantic cultural practices demonstrates culture in the Old World was not necessarily better than culture in the New World. Some Europeans might have yearned for a reprieve from the located trapping of the Old World the New World to them might have represented an opportunity for a fresh start, a chance to attain a utopic society. The only problem was what to do about the indigenous people already there. The English public had a growing interest in the New World during Shakespeares lifetime, and The Tempest almost predicts the course of English imperialism would take.The exchange between Caliban and Prospero in Act 1 Scene 2 metaphorically represents the underlying conflicts plaguing indigenous people and English colonisers. Caliban represents prototypical native otherwise3 as he argues against Prospero, the colonial master. Calibans articulation that he is the rightful(prenominal) owner of the island sounds like the universal grievance of many colonized people This islands mine, by Sycorax my mother, / Which thou takst from me (1. 2. 335-6).Calibans ownership stems from his mother, a witch, who aegir him on the island, and this claim is reminiscent of many indigenous people who mark their social beginnings through a creation myth fixing them to the land. As Caliban goes on, his description of the initial friendly relationship he had with Prospero, parallels the prototypical dealing between indigenous people and colonizers. Often this friendly period includes an exchange of items and information between the two parties. Caliban describes the followingWhen thou camst first, Thou strokst me and make much of me, wouldst give me Water and berries int, and teach me how To name the large light, and how the less, That burn by day and night. And then I loved thee And showed thee all the qualities o th isle, The fresh springs, brine pits, barren place and fertile. (1. 2. 337-43) Caliban attests he showed Prospero the qualities of the island, and in essence, Caliban taught Prospero how to survive on the island. This detail interestingly parallels the situation in Jamestown. B. J. Sokol in A Brave New World of Knowledge points out that sojourning Europeans almost entirely depended upon the services of native inhabitants for material survival, and especially for food (83).This grace period between indigenous people and colonizers, however, does not last forever. Sokol continues, In both The Tempest and Virginia these services had at first been voluntarily offered by Native Americans, then they were purchased or extorted, and finally there was refusal, resistance, and rebellion (83). Soon the colonizer presses for more resources, more control over the land, and more control over the indigenous people soon the indigenous people become the colonized.Caliban describes himself from the position of the colonized, For I am all the subjects that you have, / Which first was mine own kin and here you sty me / In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me /The rest o th island (1. 2. 345-7). Calibans central grievance is how Prospero has stripped Caliban of his shore leave and his control over the island. The central grievance for many colonized people is how the colonizer strips self-direction and control over ancestral lands from the colonized. Richard Hakluyt in his essay Reasons for Colonization, written in 1584 about the Virginia colonial project (125), succinctly describes the intentions of the English imperialismThe end of this voyage to North America are these 1. ) To plant Christian religion. 2) To traffic. 3. ) To Conquer. Or, to do all three (129). As demonstrated earlier, Caliban is unhappy with his conquered billet, a status Prospero confirms when he rebuts Calibans grievances, Thou most lying slave (my emphasis, 1. 2. 347). Prospero interestingly goes on to indicate his own inbred superiority and Calibans inherent inferiority, a privileging central to any colonial situation.Prospero states, I have utilise thee, / Filth as thou are, with humane care (1. 2. 348-9). Prospero ascribes the quality of lewdness to Caliban and humane-ness to his own actions. As the Hakluyt states, the first objective of the colonizer is to plant Christian religion or bring morality to the heathen indigenous people. Prosperos ultimate argument for supplanting Caliban evokes the moral order the colonizer supposedly brings, for Prospero states the reason he has enslaved Caliban is because Caliban sought to violate/ The honor of Prosperos baby (1. 2. 350-1). From the perspective of the colonizer Caliban essay to rape Miranda however, from the perspective of the lone indigenous person Caliban tackleed to propagate his culture O ho O ho Wouldt had been done / Thou didst prevent me I had populate else / This isle with Calibans (1. 2. 352-4). While this relativism does not absolve Caliban of attempting to forcefully procreate with Miranda, it does not absolve Prospero of enslaving Caliban either. Unfortunately, Prospero uses one crime to justify another crime Calibans attempted rape leads to his enslavement at the hands of Prospero.Furthermore, when Miranda tries to instill Caliban with a sense of guilt over his attempted rape, she states she endowed Calibans purposes / With rallying crys that made them known (1. 2. 360-1). However, by endowing Caliban with the verbiage of the colonizer, Miranda has merely indoctrinated Caliban in the ideology of the colonizer in which Caliban, the colonized, occupies the margin. The colonizers languag e is a burden upon the colonized, for in order for the two groups to communicate the onus is on the colonized to learn the colonizers language.Caliban concurs with this onus when he says, You taught me language, and my profit ont / Is I know how to curse. The red plague rid you / For knowledge me your language (1. 2. 366-8). Another privileging in the imperial situation is the language and culture of the colonizer over the language and culture of colonized. For instance, Thomas Harriot spent time in the Virginia colony and wrote about the Algonquian people in Brief and real Report of the New Found Land of Virginia his English contemporaries criticized him for learning the language of the Algonquians (Bertram 59).Bertram notes, the English feared much more than foreign languages, as contact with foreign cultures inspired probing questions about cultural identity (59). Mirandas effacement of Calibans language demonstrates her fear of foreign language and culture. middling as Calib an threatens Mirandas physical holiness, he also threatens her cultural sanctity by not communicating in the controlled discourse. Clearly, the conflict between Caliban and Prospero in The Tempest metaphorically represents the imperialistic conflicts between the colonized and the colonizer.Lastly, although Caliban can metaphorically represent the colonized former(a), did Shakespeare intend Caliban to represent Native Americans specifically? Alden T. Vaughan in his article Shakespeares Indian The Americanization of Caliban examines the history of The Tempest analysis which attempted to see Caliban as representative of Native Americans. Vaughan concludes, If an intentionalist reading is insisted upon, and if early interpretations of Caliban are taken into account, his principal prototype was probably the European wild man of Renaissance literature and iconography (Shakespeares, 153).In addition, Ronald Takaki offers in The Tempest in the state of nature the context surrounding the f irst performance of the play also, he explains how Shakespeares hearing might have descryd the character of Caliban. Takaki explains the following The measure of The Tempest was crucial it was first performed after the English invasion of Ireland but before the colonization of New England, after John Smiths arrival in Virginia but before the beginning of the tobacco economy, and after the first contacts with Indians but before full-scale warfare against them.This was an era when the English were encountering other peoples and delineating the boundary between civilization and savagery. The social constructions of both these monetary value were dynamically developing in three sitesIreland, Virginia, and New England. (143) If Shakespeares audience saw Caliban as more man than monster, they likely conflated all known savage Others in their perception of Caliban.When Prospero says, This thing of darkness Caliban I / bed mine (5. 1. 275-6), Caliban could seem more monster than man, darkness meaning evil, or Caliban could seem more man than monster, darkness referring to skin color. It is unclear what Shakespeare intended however, how people interpret Shakespeare is entirely another matter.Although Vaughan dismisses the notion Shakespeare intended Caliban to be Native American, he supports the notion that Caliban can metaphorically be seen as Native American, stating, metaphoric readings of The Tempest have had equal legitimacy with the sr. literal approach (Shakespeares, 153). There are scholars who have a game in seeing Caliban as totally meant to be Native Americans.An flying thread of their inquiry is Calibans name, which might be an anagram from a variant spelling of the word canibal. John F. Moffitt and Santiago Sebastian in their text O Brave New People The European Invention of The American Indian describe how the lurid European popular perception quickly associated cannibalism with the inhabitants of the New World. Moffit and Sebastian describe the following Cannibalism was also the specific subcultural attribute of the aborigines of the Other World that, as might be expected, some European illustrators found most noteworthy.In a crude woodcut, a German print of 1505representing the earliest European depiction of American Indianscannibalism becomes the foremost collective characteristic of the newly described peoples. (264-5) While Europeans, according to Vaughan, were familiar with the thought of anthropophagi, or eaters of human flesh, such people were considered mythical (People, 15). Vaughan goes on to note, So prominent did some accounts make the eating of human flesh that the word cannibal, from the Carib Indians who presumably practiced the vile custom, gradually replaced the older, more awkward, term for eaters of human flesh (People, 15).Curiously, if Shakespeare meant to evoke the sensational trait of cannibalism ascribed to Native Americans by Europeans in his character Caliban, he does not develop the trait in t he play. Conversely, if Caliban does not represent Native Americans, certainly the European characters within the play perceive his usefulness like Native Americans during the early 17th century. The play mentions dead or alive a Native American is profitable for introing in England. Additionally, Trinculo notes, the English will / lay out ten to see a dead Indian. (2. 2. 31-32).Later, Stephano schemes to capture Caliban, or as Vaughan euphemistically refers to Native Americans kidnapped by Europeans, coerced American envoys (People, 12). Stephano states, If I can recover him Caliban and keep him tame and get / to Naples with him, hes a present for any emperor that / ever trod on neats leather (2. 2. 65-7). Although Caliban might have the same display value as a Native American in England, this concomitant does not necessarily make Caliban Native American. Within The Tempest, there is not plentiful strong evidence to support the reading that Shakespeare meant Caliban to be Native American.If Shakespeare intended Caliban to represent Native American then Leslie Fieldler notes, Calibans attempt on Mirandas virtue makes him the first non tweed rapist in white mans literature his freedom song is the first American poem and when he guzzles too much of Stephanos wine, Caliban is the first bibulous Indian in Western literature (Vaughan, Shakespeares, 148). Native Americans struggle enough with poor representation in American society there is not a pressing need to demonstrate Shakespeare intended Caliban to be solely Native American if it results in additional derision.In contrast, Jeffrey L. Hantman in Calibans Own Voice American Indian Views of the Other in colonial Virginia summarizes the 20th century importance of Caliban as a universal indigenous voice, He is African, and he is Caribbean. He has been a native of Madagascar, Quebec, Cuba, Nigeria, Kenya, and Zambia. Today, he is former(prenominal) enslaved, and psychologically dependent, but he is also a gu erilla, a revolutionary, and a hero (71). Who Shakespeare intended Caliban to be is a non-issue for those who identify with Caliban.If people find an entryway into identifying with Caliban, then certainly Caliban becomes them as much as they become Caliban. Although it would be erroneous to claim Shakespeare meant The Tempest as an allegory for English Imperialism in the New World and Caliban solely represents Native Americans, the play does metaphorically represent English imperialism and encapsulates English sentiments towards the New World during the time of the plays cultural production.A brief overview of Englands New World exploration and colonization demonstrates how the English perception of the New World and Native Americans transformed during the development of English imperialism. Within the play, Gonzalos interests in the island and his plantation scheme illustrate the English imperial yearning for the New World and an opportunity to develop a society closer to a natura l state. Furthermore, the first exchange between Caliban and Prospero encapsulate the conflicts that mar imperial relationship between indigenous people and the colonizer.Moreover, although Caliban does not represent specifically Native Americans, he can broadly represent all subjugated indigenous people. There are many congruencies between events in The Tempest and events during the late 16th and 17th century English imperialism. The Tempest is an compositors case where Shakespeare was not necessarily predicting a future outcome but more likely articulating the trajectory of a present English course. Works Cited Bertram, Benjamin. The Time is out of Joint Skepticism in Shakespeares England. Newark, NJ University of Delaware Press, 2004. De Montaigne, Michel.From Of the Cannibals. William Shakespeare The Tempest A causa Study in Critical Controversy. Ed. Gerald Graff and James Phelan. capital of Massachusetts Bedford/St. Martins, 2000. 119-20. Hakluyt, Richard. Reasons for Coloni zation. William Shakespeare The Tempest A Case Study in Critical Controversy. Ed. Gerald Graff and James Phelan. Boston Bedford/St. Martins, 2000. 125-34. Hantman, Jeffrey L. Calibans Own Voice American Indian Views of the Other in Colonial Virginia. New Literary History 23. 1 (1992) 69-81. JSTOR. Winona State University, Darrell W. Krueger Lib., Winona, MN. 3 Mar. 2007 . Moffitt, John F. , and Santiago Sebastian. O Brave New People The European Invention of the American Indian. Albuquerque, NM University of New Mexico Press, 1996. Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. William Shakespeare The Tempest A Case Study in Critical Controversy. Ed. Gerald Graff and James Phelan. Boston Bedford/St. Martins, 2000. 10-88. Sokol, B. J. A Brave New World of Knowledge Shakespeares the Tempest and betimes Modern Epistemology. Cranbury, NJ Associated University Presses, 2003. Takaki, Ronald. The Tempest in the Wilderness. William Shakespeare The Tempest A Case Study in Critical Controversy. Ed. Ger ald Graff and James Phelan. Boston Bedford/St. Martins, 2000. 140-172. Vaughan, Alden T. People of Wonder England Encounters the New Worlds Natives. New World of Wonders European Images of the Americas, 1492-1700. Ed. Rachel Doggett, et al. Seattle University of capital letter Press, 1992. -. Shakespeares Indian The Americanization of Caliban. Shakespeare Quarterly 39. 2 (1988) 137-153. JSTOR. Winona State University, Darrell W. Krueger Lib. , Winona, MN. 3 Mar. 2007 . 1 passim the paper instead of simply using the term natives, I use indigenous people because the term natives carries negative imperialistic connotations. 2 I use the term New World provisionally in order to describe the dichotomy between Europe, the supposed Old World, and their realization of the Americas, which they dubbed the New World. 3 While some scholars have argued that Shakespeare intended Caliban to be representative of Native American, this intentionality is problematic. I will examine this later in the paper.