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Idea of appearance and reality the tempest
The significance of nature imagery in the tempest
The tempest character of Prospero
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Cultural Diversity in The Tempest
If we look at Shakespeare's atypically short play The Tempest, the character of Caliban represents a "noble savage" who is enslaved, exploited, and endowed with low-self esteem due to the ethnocentric views of those who encounter him. In much the same way as the British originally exploited the Hindus or Americans exploited Native Americans, Caliban is considered the "property" of those who encounter him, solely because he is not of the same heritage, customs, and manners of his oppressors.
The ostracism and exploitation of Caliban because he is perceived as a brutish animal compared to "civilized" folks is in keeping with the theme and intent of the play-to show that reality is more a manifestation of mentality and conscious perception than concrete black and white, definable phenomena. As one scholar of Elizabethan imagery suggests, "The poet who imitates not the visible world but the intelligible as manifested in the visible will not consider that the use of artifice to emphasize form makes imagery less 'true to nature'" (Scanlan 1). In The Tempest we see a great deal of artifice to understand what is manifested in the visible, however, with Caliban we see that all the artifice in the world does not help him be accepted by those who inhabit the island once his own. Prospero has enslaved the son that Sycorax "did litter" on the island, and his lovely daughter Miranda says of his slave, "'Tis a villain, sir,/I do not love to look on" (Shakespeare 5).
Of course, Prospero says he enslaved Caliban because he tried to coupled with his daughter, however, Caliban, sounding like someone who has had their land and culture stolen from them, replies to this, "O ho,...
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...nce and diversity are often perceived as evil, wrong or somehow inferior in relation to the dominant culture or social norms. These issues are very timely as we face the increasing globalization of the world and increasing pressures to accept and integrate with diverse cultures.
Works Cited
Baker Siepmann, K. (ed.) Benet's Reader's Encyclopedia. New York, Harper & Row, Publishers, New York, 1987.
Moore, P. "The Tempest and the Bermuda Shipwreck of 1609." Shakespeare Oxford Newsletter. Summer, 1996, 1-2.
Scanlan, R. "Shakespeare's New World Fantasia." http://fas-www.harvard.edu/~art/center.html April 21, 1999, 1-3.
Scanlan, R. "The Veil of Poetry." http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~art/poetry.html April 21, 1999, 1-2.
Shakespeare, W. William Shakespeare: The Complete Works. New York, Gramercy Books, 1975.
In the play, The Tempest by William Shakespeare, Prospero took control of Caliban and made him his servant. Prospero was able to do this because he viewed Caliban as an uncivilized being; Caliban was portrayed as a beast. Thus, Prospero was able to assume power over Caliban. It can be seen from Prospero’s speech that he thinks that Caliban is inferior to him when Prosper says, “I have used thee, Filth as thou art, with human care […]” (1.2.348-349). Prospero tries to justify enslaving Caliban, but all he really does is place Caliban into a category of bestial and uncivilized and as a result enslaves him.
The Tempest reflects Shakespeare's society through the relationship between characters, especially between Prospero and Caliban. Caliban, who was the previous king of the island, is taught how to be "civilized" by Prospero and his daughter Miranda. Then he is forced to be their servant. Caliban explains "Thou strok'st me and make much of me; wo...
In this whimsical play, Prospero, the former Duke of Milan, after being supplanted of his dukedom by his brother, arrives on an island. He frees a spirit named Ariel from a spell and in turn makes the spirit his slave. He also enslaves a native monster named Caliban. These two slaves, Caliban and Ariel, symbolize the theme of nature versus nurture. Caliban is regarded as the representation of the wild; the side that is usually looked down upon. Although from his repulsive behavior, Caliban can be viewed as a detestable beast of nature, it can be reasonably inferred that Shakespeare’s intent was to make Caliban a sympathetic character.
In every society, the difference between genders leads to different roles and lifestyles depending on the culture of each society. While there may be similarities between gender roles among many societies, the explanations tend to be different from culture to culture. The society depicted in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart is reminiscent of an Ancient Greek or Roman society, where the men are considered to be strong warriors and breadwinners, and the women are looked at as objects, whose main duty is to tend to the children and obey the husband without a question. While at first glance, the Shakespearean play Tempest seems different from Achebe’s book, in reality, similar themes lie at its center, including the abuse of women and male power dominating throughout the play. While the only female character is a young girl, who is a puppet of his father’s will, she has courage to be honest and to stand up against her father on more than one occasion, exhibiting an innate female power like Ekwefi in Things Fall Apart. Hence these two works, while written three hundred years apart and showing two societies at the opposite ends of colonization, illustrate that the gap between them is not as big as one would think when it comes to society’s gender roles.
When Caliban is first introduced in the play it is as an animal, a lazy beast that tried to rape Prospero’s daughter, Miranda. Prospero wastes no time referring to him as, “Thou poisonous slave, got by the de...
Shakespeare shows this by having Prospero, the rightful duke of Milan and Usurping ruler of the island, call Caliban. “A devil, a born devil on whose nature nurture can never stick” but then having Miranda, Prospero’s daughter, say. “I pitied thee, took pains to make thee speak, taught thee each hour one thing or another.” Prospero is saying that Caliban is a “savage” who can not be educated, yet we hear that Miranda has taught him to speak, amongst other things. This gives a conflicting view of the character of Caliban.
William Shakespeare’s The Tempest provides dialogue that portrays the social expectations and stereotypes imposed upon women in Elizabethan times. Even though the play has only one primary female character, Miranda, the play also includes another women; Sycorax, although she does not play as large a roll. During many scenes, the play illustrates the characteristics that represent the ideal woman within Elizabethan society. These characteristics support the fact that men considered women as a mere object that they had the luxury of owning and were nowhere near equal to them. Feminists can interpret the play as a depiction of the sexist treatment of women and would disagree with many of the characteristics and expectations that make Miranda the ideal woman. From this perspective, The Tempest can be used to objectify the common expectations and treatment of women within the 16th and 17th Centuries and compare and contrast to those of today.
Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest is set on a mysterious island surrounded by the ocean. Here the magician Prospero is ruler of the isle with his two servants Caliban and Ariel. Caliban is the abrasive, foul-mouthed son of the evil witch Sycorax. When Prospero was shipwrecked on the island Prospero treated him kindly but their relationship changed when Caliban tried to rape Prospero's daughter, Miranda. Caliban then became Prospero's unwilling servant. Caliban serves his master out of fear Prospero's wrath. Prospero's other servant Ariel is a graceful spirit who has courtesy and charm. Ariel has put her services at Prospero's disposal out of gratitude for his kind actions towards her. Prospero saved Ariel from the confinement of Sycorax who held her prisoner.
During the Roman Empire and ancient Greek, graffiti was well known as an inscription but graffiti was discovered long before the Roman Empire and ancient Greek. Graffiti was discovered 30,000 BCE in caves paintings using tools such as animal bones and pigments. These illustrations were often placed in ceremonial and sacred locations inside of the caves. Today graffiti is a form of art conveying political social messages in artistic form.
The role of language in Shakespeare’s play “The Tempest” is quite significant. To Miranda and Prospero the use of language is a means to knowing oneself. Caliban does not view language in the same light. Prospero taught Caliban to speak, but instead of creating the feeling of empowerment from language, Caliban reacts in insurrectionary manner. Language reminds him how different he is from Miranda and Prospero, and also how they have changed him. It also reminds him of how he was when he wasn’t a slave. He resents Prospero for “Civilising” him, because in doing so he took away his freedom.
In Act I Scene 2, we learn about the nature of Sycorax through the speeches between Ariel, Caliban and Prospero. Caliban claims that Sycorax was the first to arrive upon the island, and thus giving her the ownership to the island (Shakespeare 1,2,331). Trained in the arts of magic like Prospero, Sycorax takes over the island through her witchcraft. Prospero describes Sycorax as an old and foul witch, whom is feared and hated by the residences of the island (Shakespeare 1,2,258). It was Sycorax whom maliciously enslaved the spirits of the island in the first place, and her actions would lead to a series of events which explains the existence of Caliban and his savage behaviours, as well as the bonds between Prospero and the local spirits. Without the existence of Sycorax, Prospero would not have had the services of Caliban nor the spirits. Thus the survival of Prospero and Miranda would’ve been jeopardized, and the events to follow would not have occurred. As well, the great tempest conjured by Ariel would not have been present, and the King and his men would’ve had a safe passage, unaware of Prospero’s presence. Without the existence of Sycorax, the play cannot exist.
Caliban is evil is the fact that he tried to rape Miranda, Prospero’s daughter as states by Barbara Fuchs in her article Conquering Islands: Contextualizing the Tempest where it says, “Caliban’s attack on Prospero’s daughter once more genders the colonizing impulses” (61). This suggests rape and it is not inhuman and it shows that Miranda is not the first woman who this has happen to. It not right, it’s evil. Caliban’s character in this book is horrible in the things that he does, he starting off has an evil monster that was born from an evil parents and he goes around causing trouble wherever he goes. As a servant, he does evil deed and by himself he is evil.
Marshall, Tristan. “The Tempest and the British Imperium in 1611.” The Historical Journal 41.2 (2003): 375-400. Print.
‘“Graffiti (sgraffiti), meaning drawings or scribblings on a flat surface and deriving from the Italian sgraffio (‘scratch’), with a nod to the Greek graphein (‘to write’), originally referred to those marks found on ancient Roman architecture”’(Weisburg). Though, it is unknown when or where graffiti first made an appearance; modern graffiti did not come around till the late 1960’s to early 1970’s in New York. The term “tagging” is the modern form of scratching (Weisburg). It also is considered the origin of all modern graffiti, including street art.
"Tracing the Roots of Modern Street-Art and Graffiti." Tracing the Roots of Modern Street-Art and Graffiti | WebUrbanist. WebUrbanist | From Urban Art & 3D Graffiti to Abandoned Cities. Webist Media Publishing, 22 Apr. 2009. Web. 05 Dec. 2011. .