Comparison of Shakespeare's The Tempest and Cesaire's A Tempest

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Name: Ranjan P. Velari

Class: M.A. Sem. 3

Paper no.: 11(The post-colonial literature)

Topic: Comparison of Shakespeare’s The Tempest and Cesaire’s A Tempest

Enrollment No.: 14101032

Email id: ranjanvelari@gmail.com

Guidance: Dr. Dilip Barad

Submitted to: Smt.S.B. Gardi

                        Department of English

                        M.K. Bhavnagar University

                                

Comparison of Shakespeare’s The Tempest and Cesaire's A tempest

Introduction of ‘The Tempest’:

  The Tempest was written by William Shakespeare in 1610-11. It is the last play of Shakespeare. Setting is on a remote island, where Prospero, the rightful Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place using illusion and skillful manipulation. He conjures up a storm, the eponymous tempest, to lure his usurping brother Antonio and the complicit king Alonso of Naples to the island. There, his machinations bring about the revelation of Antonio’s lowly nature, the redemption of the king, and the marriage to Alonso’s son, Ferdinand. 

  The story draws heavily on the tradition of remote, and it was influenced by tragicomedy. Character of Prospero represent art through his magic, he is representation of Shakespeare. The play portrays Prospero as a rational and character of Sycorax, her magic is frequently described as destructive and terrible.

  The play begins with a ship with a ship-master and a boatswain trying to keep the ship from wrecking in a tempest. There is a heavy storm and boat splits in half and the people float off into the sea. At that time Prospero chatting with his daughter Miranda. He knows magic that’s why he caused the storm that sank this boat, but he did it for good reason. He also promises his daughter that nobody was hurt in spite of all the fire, boat-splitting, and drawing that was clearly going on.

  Then Prospero tells Miranda for their past that it’s time she found out that she is a princess. When Prospero busy with learning magic in his library at that time he used to be a duke of Milan until his brother, Antonio, betrayed him and stole the dukedom. Then stealing Prospero’s power and position he and the three-year’s old Miranda were shuttled out to the ocean in a wreck of a boat. They ended up on this island, where the ex-duke has raised his daughter for the last twelve years. Because of this reason Prospero thinks about revenge. 

  Other characters are Ariel and Caliban, they are servants. Ariel is free airy spirit who was imprisoned in a tree by a witch for not being nasty enough and the other is the child of witch and the Devil is Caliban. All the folks were responsible for stealing Prospero’s dukedom. Alonso the king who allowed the wicked Antonio to take Prospero’s dukedom. Because of this fear he lost his son, Ferdinand. Alonso, Antonio, Alonso’s brother Sebastian- set off to find Alonso’s son, the lost Prince Ferdinand. Meanwhile, the Prince is alive and conceived that his father and everyone else from the boat are dead. 

  Then Ferdinand fell in love with Prospero’s daughter Miranda. Hard task given by Prospero to Ferdinand and he happily done this. When he meets second time to Miranda he knows about her name and promises to marry her. During her whole life she has ever seen third person except her father and Caliban, the son of Devil. Back with the search party looking for the Prince, everyone feels weary and assumes the guy is dead. A banquet appears in front of the shipwrecked group, set up by silent fairy spirits. Yes, this is weird, but the search party is hungry and wants to eat. Before they can dig in, a scary harpy monster shows up. This freaky harpy (a result of Prospero's magic) says that the sea took Prince Ferdinand in exchange for the wrong Alonso committed against Prospero many years ago. The harpy also points out that there are three traitors at the table.

  This traitor comment brings us to an important side-plot: Antonio and Sebastian, thinking Prince Ferdinand is dead, are plotting to murder Alonso so Sebastian can be king. This is messed up because Alonso is Sebastian's brother. Still, Antonio clearly has no conscience; he admits that he's never been bothered by stealing his brother Prospero's dukedom. So, back at the scene with the monster harpy: Alonso is disturbed and repents of his foul deed, but Sebastian and Antonio—not so much. Then Prospero accepts Ferdinand, saying that he was just testing the young man with all that hard labor. Since the Prince has worked carrying heavy wood, he has permission to marry Prospero’s daughter. Other side second story going on that Caliban has been plotting with the king’s drunken butler, Stephano and jester, Trinculo to murder Prospero so they can rule the island. Caliban and Trinculo is very drunkard. Caliban pledges to be Stephano's slave and kisses his feet way more than we are comfortable with. 

  The drunken schemers are led off by Ariel playing music. Ariel leaves the group in a pool that smells like the lesser part of a horse to await his master's orders. The trio eventually gets out of the muck pool and sets off to murder Prospero. However, Prospero sets hounds upon them, and the would-be-murderers run off. Eventually they come back and get made fun of for a bit, at which point Caliban repents and says he'll work to be in Prospero's good graces again. That being dealt with, Prospero now goes to meet the shipwrecked King. The harpy really shook up the King, so Alonso apologizes to Prospero and returns his dukedom. Prospero doesn't tell the King directly of Antonio and Sebastian's treachery, but neither of the traitors apologizes or repents or even shuffle their feet. They don't learn a lesson. However, Prospero starts some banter about how he recently lost his daughter to the tempest too, commiserating with the King. Prospero changes the subject and asks if they'd like to see his cell. He pulls back the curtain covering his dwelling to reveal—you guessed it—two very-much-not-dead children, who are very much in love. Alonso rejoices to see his son, Ferdinand rejoices to show-off his new girl, and Miranda rejoices at seeing so many dude —hence the line "O brave new world that has such people in it." Prospero promises to explain most of this eventually. Tonight he'll tell some of his life story and everyone will head back to Naples via ships in the morning. Prospero says he'll watch the kids get married, and then he'll retire to his dukedom in peace. He charges Ariel to make sure the ships get to Naples safely, and then frees him from the servant gig.

Introduction of Aime Cesaire:

    Aime Fernand David Cesaire was born on 26^th June, 1913 and died on 17^th April, 2008 was a French poet, author and politician. He was the founder of Negritude movement in Francophone literature. His works are “A Tempest”, “Discourse on Colonialism” is an essay on the conflict between the colonizers and the colonized.

Introduction of “A Tempest”:

Ø   A Tempest originally published in 1969 in French. Aime Cesaire developed the negritude movement which raises the question of French colonial rule and restores the cultural identity of blacks in the African Diaspora. A Tempest is the third play in a trilogy aimed at advancing the tenets of the negritude movement. In 1985, the play was translated into English by Richard Miller in New York.

Ø      A Tempest is a postcolonial revision of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest and draws heavily attention on the original play—the cast of characters is, for the most part, the same, and the foundation of the plot follows the same basic premise. 

  Prospero has been exiled and lives on a secluded island, and he drums up a violent storm to drive his daughter’s ship ashore. The island, however, is somewhere in the Caribbean, Ariel is a mulatto slave rather than a spirit, and Caliban is a black slave.

   A Tempest focuses on the trouble of Ariel and Caliban—the never-ending quest to gain freedom from Prospero and his rule over the island. Ariel, dutiful to Prospero, follows all orders given by him and sincerely believes that Prospero will honor his promise of emancipation. Caliban, on the other hand, slights Prospero at every opportunity: upon entering the first act, Caliban greets Prospero by saying “Uhuru!”, the Swahili word for “freedom.” 

Here is a dialogue between Prospero and Caliban. 

 Prospero: Stuff it! I don’t like talking trees. As for your freedom, you’ll have it    when I’m good and ready. In the meanwhile, see to the ship. I’m going to have a few words with Master Caliban. I have been keeping my eye on him, and he’s getting a little too emancipated. (Calling) Caliban! Caliban! (He sighs).

Enter Caliban.

Caliban: Uhuru!

Prospero: What did you say?

Caliban: I said, Uhuru!

Prospero: Mumbling your native language again! I’ve already be polite, at least; a simple “hello” wouldn’t kill you. (Original text A Tempest, Page no. 11)

 

  Prospero complains that Caliban often speaks in his native language which Prospero has forbidden. This prompts Caliban to attempt to claim birthrights to the island, angering Prospero who threatens to whip Caliban. Caliban raises a question for his identity and Ariel easily follows the rules of Alonso. Identity crisis also glimpse in ‘A Tempest’ by Aime Cesaire.

Here Caliban speaks with Prospero.

Caliban: Call me X. That would be best. Like a man without a name. Or, to be more precise, a man whose name has been stolen. You talk about history…well, that’s history, and everyone knows it! Every time you summon me it reminds me of a fact, the fact that you’ve stolen everything from me, even my identity! Uhuru! (He exists.) (Original text A Tempest, Page no.15)

   The allusion to Malcolm X cements the aura of cultural reclamation that serves as the foundational element of A Tempest.

   Cesaire has also included the character of Eshu who in the play is cast as a black devil-god. Calling on the Yoruba mythological traditions of West Africa, Eshu assumes the archetypal role of the trickster and thwarts Prospero’s power and authority during assemblies. Near the end of the play, Prospero sends all the lieutenants off the island to procure a place in Naples for his daughter Miranda and her husband Ferdinand. When the fleet begs him to leave, Prospero refuses and claims that the island cannot stand without him; in the end, only he and Caliban remain. As Prospero continues to assert his hold on the island, Caliban’s freedom song can be heard in the background. Thus, Cesaire leaves his audience to consider the lasting effects of colonialism. 

How can we compare Shakespeare’s The Tempest with A Tempest?

 There is not much difference between Shakespeare’s The Tempest and Aime Cesaire’s   A Tempest. But ‘A Tempest’ presents colonial aspect and mentality of master-slave relationship. Here in the play Caliban and Ariel portrays as a different way. Prospero is also a good example of the role power plays in the story. Character of Stephano is another example of power in the play. Miranda plays very innocent role in the play and she is only one character who presents woman role in the island. 

Prospero asked question to Caliban.

Prospero: What would you be without me?

Caliban: Without you? I’d be the king, that’s what I’d be, the king of the Island. (Original text A Tempest, Page no. 12)

  So, in this question we can find that how Prospero overpower and make his self superior to Caliban. But Caliban also very talkative and give appropriate answers to the questions of Prospero and can’t bear him. Here, Aime Cesaire gives voice to Caliban, the subaltern identity of The Tempest. Caliban tells Prospero that “I am not interested in peace; I am interested in free will.” Here Caliban presented as free individualistic person and rebel.

Conclusion:

    In short, A Tempest presents colonial angle towards black identity or mulatto. The Tempest more focused on the shipwrecked, magic, revenge and happy marriage of Miranda and A Tempest more concentrate on attitude of Negro, status of their mind and relationship of master-slave. Idea of rebel, Idea of resistance shown by Aime Cesaire in the play through the character of Caliban. Caliban is a speaking subaltern and subjugated for himself, not killing Prospero. Colonialism gives the name to the person that’s why identity crisis happens in the play. Here we can give the example of Robinson Crusoe that how he gives name to the Friday and teaches all the things.

Work Cited:

http://www.enotes.com/topics/a-tempest
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tempest
http://www.shmoop.com/tempest/
http://www.gradesaver.com/the-tempest
http://wmich.edu/dialogues/texts/atempest.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aim%C3%A9_C%C3%A9saire

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