Essay on Comparing Shakespeare's Caliban to the African-American

Last but not least, Caliban had an unstable relationship with Prospero. Miranda wasn’t the only one that treated Caliban as a slave, Prospero did as well. “..What,ho! Slave! Caliban!”(1.2.375). Caliban would be called names, and numerous times he is treated as a slave, but Prospero felt no guilt to how he treats him. As mentioned before, Caliban is a villain as well, which means he is also evil to Prospero. “All the infections that the sun sucks up/ From bogs, fens, flats, on Prosper fall and make him/By inchmeal a disease!”(2.2.5). Caliban hoped that all the diseases that are in swamps and marches infect Prospero, in every inch of his body so he could become a walking disease. Not only did he wish for him to be infected, but he also wanted to severely hurt him. “I’ll yield him thee asleep, where thou mayst knock a nail into his head”(2.3.67-8) He tells Stephano that he will take him to where Prospero sleeps, so he could pound a nail into his head. After they were to put a nail into his head, he wanted to continue to do evil things to him. “Beat him enough. After a little time, I’ll beat him too”(3.2.92-3) As it shows in this quotation, Caliban wanted to beat Prospero.

In the United States, there has been many cases of Racial injustice. From the beginning of the start of the United States of America it was the injustice to the Native Americans being captured and used for slave labor while their bison be slaughtered for sportsmanship. But this paper is on the specific race of the African Americans. There are many races that have been racially profiled and ostracized by the English people. But the treatment that African Americans have endured even till this day is disheartening. African Americans have gone through enslavement during the early 1600’s to the mid 1800’s. Then the African Americans were obstructed by the Jim Crow laws creating the ‘Separate but Equal” propaganda during the late 1800’s into the 1960’s. After the abolishment of the Jim Crow Laws, people were considered equal until the recent actions of many police officers using deadly force on African American youths in the early 2000’s.

When we assess the evils of slavery, we typically think of the North American slaves plight. We think of the beatings, murders, hangings and mistreatment of the Southern slave. But what about the slaves of Latin America? Who hears their cries of woe because of their evil slave masters? Is their treatment the same of their brethren under slave rule in North America? In order to answer these questions, it is necessary to look into the lives of both North and Latin American slaves. For our purposes, we will utilize two slave narratives. One account will come from the North American slave, Frederick Douglass, and his

Just like Prospero says to Caliban: “thy vile race, though thou didst learn, had that in’t which good natures could not abide to be with”(Shakespeare, 358-359). Caliban’s inborn sinful nature is rooted so deeply that even civilization and education cannot alter it. Even worse, civilization facilitates his viciousness. Although before learning the language Caliban is already of an evil state of mind, since he cannot express his feeling by words, he could only “gabble like a thing most brutish”(Shakespeare, 357-358). It is exactly the acquirement of language that enables Caliban to vent his venom. Moreover, trying to civilize the barbarian and treat him in a humane way, Prospero lets Caliban live together with him and Miranda, but it ends up that Caliban acts foully and Miranda’s safety is threatened. Without the thought of civilizing Caliban, Prospero would not have put Miranda in such dangerous situation. In these instances, it would be better if Caliban did not get the chance to be civilized and remained at the original barbaric status, by which those inherent wicked thoughts would have been restrained within Caliban himself and never get expressed or lead to worse

When Prospero calls upon Caliban he refers him to as ‘thou poisonous slave, got by the devil himself’ (1.2.320) this is significant as poison runs through your veins resulting in the deterioration of your body hence, Caliban’s appearance ‘…not honoured with a human shape’. This suggests to the reader that Prospero has no respect for Caliban. The quote conveys Caliban’s flaws of being vulnerable, due to being a foil character he is the opposite of the protagonist; Prospero, this is because his mother Sycorax was wicked to him and did not teach him moral. This is evident when Caliban attempts to rape Miranda stating ‘Though dist prevent me – I had peopled else this isle with Calibans’ the quote is meaningful, as it is an indication of subliminal

Prospero, the self-appointed king of the island upon which everyone eventually becomes shipwrecked, immediately oppresses Caliban and claims him as his slave, even though Caliban was the original inhabitant of the island. Prospero and his daughter are technically guests in Caliban's home. Caliban is the son of the devil and Sycorax, a witch. Prospero uses Caliban's unsavory origin as an excuse to enslave him. He claims that he is a bad seed, and he deserves a life of servitude. He never actually justifies the situation with a logical explanation, so he must use whatever information he can think of as a poor excuse to exploit Caliban for his own self-propagation. Prospero is even bold enough to suggest that by enslaving Caliban, he is actually extending charity towards him. He feels that

With the 13th amendment, forced servitude was rendered unlawful, yet remaining shrapnel of the bomb that is slavery continues to strain the nation’s body today. While the northern states of the US abolished slavery in the early 1800s, the rest of the country did not do so until decades later. Despite the fact that slavery is over, more than half of our nations African American citizens continue to be bound by chains as part of the correctional system. Sure, America has claimed responsibility for its wrongdoings towards an entire race, but a question remains. How come it took over a hundred years for slavery to be abolished? Especially considering that the single unsubstantiated excuse for slavery was that the Africans were “sub-human”. The answer, plain and simple, boils down to the fact that slavery was an extremely lucrative business. Which shows how time and time again, greed wins over compassion. For this reason, Benito Cereno is a work that transcends the scope of the era in which it was written. Thinly veiled under flawless syntax and layers of metaphors lie Melville’s progressive ideologies about racial disparity in America. All the while addressing how we, like Captain Delano, don’t see what is right before our eyes.

The tone Caliban uses indicates his feeling of betrayal which Prospero’s misuse of a discovery result in. The degradation suffered by Caliban highlights Prospero’s new found power which he uses to create an imperialist society. The influence of Prospero’s magic is oppressive and portrays Prospero as a person who exploits others’ innocence.

"In The Tempest, Caliban represents the deprived colonial subject, and Prospero, the usurping European colonizer.” Unfortunately, I must agree with this statement. Caliban represents the colonial injustice and Prospero represent the powerful, forceful European colonizer. Caliban’s actions in The Tempest could give a reader mixed emotions or cause controversy. Some may consider him a gruesome monster for trying to rape his friend, Miranda. Others may actually have sympathy for Caliban for his undeveloped

Native Americans and African slaves make up Caliban very well because he in a way was those two combined. All these different people were treated badly even though the lands were their homes too, they were forced to work for others and to give up their lands even though they might have been in their families for multiple generations. At least today we no longer face many of these problems. Even though Native Americans still don’t have their lands they used to have before they have their reservations which is better than nothing especially since people that aren’t from their tribe can’t stay

His art is of such power" (1.2.448-450). Caliban is terrified of Prospero, and hence is forced to fulfill all of his orders, against his own will. Prospero constantly terrorizes Caliban with the aid of his powers, and compels Caliban to perform all of his bidding, causing Caliban to conspire against Prospero. This is a direct aftermath of Caliban believing himself to be a victim of colonization and his anxiousness towards

Prospero's relationship with Caliban differs from that of Prospero and Ariel's. Prospero does not view Caliban as a being who could be his equal. He is blinded by his prejudice against Caliban's appearance and manners. Caliban is portrayed in a negative light. He can be seen as the depiction of the victims of colonial expansion. Although Prospero seeks this righteousness, he both mistreats and insults Caliban, who ultimately attempts to kill Prospero.  In comparison to Ariel who acts only when commanded by Prospero, Caliban is wild. He refuses to be colonized and tamed. This can be taken as a reference by Shakespeare towards those who were

After Prospero enslaved him, Caliban no longer treated him with respect. Caliban curses at Propero a lot and he is very impudence, which irritates Prospero causing him to torture Caliban. The relationship between Prospero and Caliban can relate back to history when slaves were becoming rebellious. Slaves would disrespect their owners in the same way Caliban disrespects Prospero; however, in return for their rebellious acts, they would be punished in a similar way Prospero punished Caliban.

Even though he completely opposed to obeying Prospero, Caliban is constantly in fear of punishment; which, quite literally, haunts him everywhere he goes. Moreover, magic and spirits are used to symbolize Prospero’s authority over Caliban in that he is superior. Although Caliban is a parody of himself and used as comic relief, he nevertheless displays how power can change people's good-nature. In an effort usurp Prospero and gain freedom, Caliban conspires with Stephano and Trinculo. Caliban displays his newfound idolatry to Stefano when he says, “I’ll show thee the best springs.

Caliban is treated as a slave of Prospero’s who is constantly tortured with Prospero’s magic. He contends that, “This island’s mine by Sycorax, my mother, which thou tak’st from me,” (1.2.396-397) implying that Prospero had no rightful claim to the island. This was an oft used point against colonialism of the time, however it is swiftfully countered by Caliban’s own words of the good that Prospero brought to Caliban. Caliban claims Prospero, “Strok’st me and made much of me, wouldst give me water with berries in’t, and teach me how to name the bigger 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,” (1.2.398-403). What Shakespeare is conveying here is the classic reasoning of Europeans as the saviors of native people. With Prospero bringing comfort to Caliban in the beginning and saving him from the witch Sycorax, Caliban should feel lucky Prospero came to this island. Any punishment brought upon Caliban is deserved in the eyes of Prospero, Shakespeare, and the audience Shakespeare is writing