Essay: Racism and Wilderness in “The Tempest”

Impressive or thoughtful?  In his argument Ronald Takaki indicates the reader that, the meaning might be deeper than one might assume when the play “The Tempest” is watched or read. One might think it is only sightly and impressive, but characteristic features and setting open up a “New World” for us in the eyes of Englishmen. It is true that there is a specific story that takes places around the antagonist Caliban and protagonist Prospero but still it is very crucial to not neglect the play evolves in race based issues. It is also essential to say, the play points out how the English tended to succeed its expansionism not only by colonialism but also by representing itself more superior than the Indian and Irish from the beginning. Thus, Caliban can be a great and significant example which could symbolize the inferiority of another race from the typical English colonial point of view.
Civilization and savagery were getting new meanings for the English especially after their colonialism process and their Irish hostility. The more the English represented civilization the more Irish represented savagery and wilderness as Caliban did so in the play. “Like Caliban, the Irish were viewed as “savages,” a people living outside of “civilization.”(Takaki, 893) From the English colonial perspective, they were even seen as non-Christians who did not want to practice hard work and good behaviors for the love of God. “The Irish were described as lazy, “naturally” given to “idleness,” and unwilling to work for “their own bread”. Dominated by “innate sloth”, “loose, barbarous and most wicked,” and living “like beasts,” they were also thought to be criminals, an underclass inclined to steal from the English.” (Takaki, 893) The idea of being Irish man was so worthless for the English, so they prevented inter marriage and land ownership and they did not even hesitate burning down the Irish colonies and killing Irish families in their villages. Takaki also mentions, for the English the God given province of faith and hard work is so scarred, the English thought even the most barbarian one could become civilized thanks to their knowledge. The comparison of English discriminating the Irish represents that with the Irish, the meaning of race was approached in a cultural frame rather than physical/racial frame. Yes, people from both countries were white skinned and came from close regions it was still clear being white meant something else. The English superiority was not only about the skin color but also cultural differences.
After all these differences of culture and race, it is easy to realize the Indians had no different characteristics than the Irish for the New World colonists. From their traditional clothes to their villages and their basic attitudes, they earned the label “savagery” as the Irish did because they both looked very similar in terms of their life styles. In the play “The Tempest”, even though the audience was aware that Caliban did not specifically represent the Irish people, the characteristic was very similar. In the play when Prospero was calling Caliban, he said; “What ho, slave!” “Caliban!” “Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil himself.” “Upon thy wicked dam, come forth!” (Shakespeare, 119) Therefore it was simple for them to image how the Indian wilderness could look like. It is quite possible that, the audience had never seen the New World with their own eyes while Shakespeare himself did not. Besides from what Ronald Takaki reminds us, we learn that he might even have got help. To imagine it from the stories his colonizer contacts told he might have created the setting of Bermoothes. From the documents of America he observed, the New World near Virginia was abundant of nature and undiscovered fertility. For the English, we understand that there was a lot to expand and explore, but there was these “wilderness” of nature and indigenous people they had to overcome before that.
“Moreover, the play provided a conclusive clue that the story was indeed about America: Caliban, one of the principal characters was a New World inhabitant.” (Takaki, 896) The first word we think when we mention “Caliban” is Cannibal. Caliban is derived from “carib” which was also the name of one Indian tribe. The English saw the indigenous people as the most cruel and barbarous and it was no surprise that Caliban had those features. He was an arrogant, ignorant creature. He was a collection of this typical English identification that the Indians were thought to lack Christian manners, weapons and proper clothes. He was the antagonist so he was “the other”. He was everything the English did not want to become at all. He is different both physically and mentally. He had lust for sexuality for Miranda and “savagery” for survival. Prospero who is one of the main characters of the play was all the opposite. He was the personification of civilization and mind. And Prospero’s virtuous mind thought that even a brutal creature like Caliban could be educated by him. Takaki informs us, Prospero taught him the European language; but the only profit for Caliban was to curse. We understand the English sees the Indians capable of becoming civilized and that physical differences were not as important as the cultural differences. But Takaki tells us that the Tempest was showing the otherwise. Takaki says that the audience saw Caliban very diverse from the typical English physical appearance. He was even far from the human shape itself. He had long hair, he had racial markers, and even his look was strange. For example in the play, “What have we here a man or a fish?” “Dead or alive? A fish, he smells like a fish; a very ancient and fish-like smell; a kind of not- of-the-newest pure-John. A strange fish!” (Shakespeare, 145) His representation was demonized and because he had almost no human shape, Shakespeare aimed to link this to his intellectual absence. Like once the Irish was represented, they were lazy, they did not know how to properly cultivate a land, they did not know how to serve for the God, all of these was the fear of English Christians who thought the Indian way of life was evil. Basically the English were afraid to become “calibanized”. Also they were afraid of being alienated as the way that they use for the minority groups.
All in all, Shakespeare observes all of these practices by the English colonists in his play, “The Tempest”, especially through Prospero and Caliban. Prospero represented the colonists while Caliban represented the “others” who had to be driven out in order to start the expansion of colonialism. In the end we understand in Shakespeare’s play Caliban wants to show the audience that it is in his nature rather than his potential to become civilized and his intellectual incapability and race inferiority is destiny rather than it could be improved. At this point, we can understand that “The Tempest” senses more meanings than a play as it provides reader to think and combine other issues in the world such as slavery, discrimination, savagery, alienation. And we can understand that it is not only about the physical appearance. As we read, besides Indians, Irish people were under pressure about their identity. At the same time, Indians were seemed to lack of everything by both English colonizers and Americans. As it is stated in the play, “On the stage, they saw Caliban, with long shaggy hair, personifying the Indian. He has distinct racial markers. “Frecked,” covered with brown spots, he was “not honored with human shape.” Called a “fish,” he was mockingly told: “Thy eyesare almost set in thy head.” (Takaki, 904) Being different and not resembling other white supremacy people make people minorities, like “fish” or “monster”. At the end, in my essay, I tried to show the importance of the play. Because in my opinion, racialization and categorization people by their race and nations are big problems in our world history. So I tried to show the radicalization issue in the play “The Tempest” and also tried to connect both Indians and Irish people by benefiting from Ronald Takaki’s journal. Thus, as I said in early parts of my essay, it is true that there is a specific story that takes places around the antagonist Caliban and protagonist Prospero but still it is very crucial to not neglect the play evolves in race based issues. In my opinion at the end of the play, maybe the epilogue part shows the protagonist Prospero’s redemption about what he did for Caliban and the other people.
Bibliography;
Shakespeare, William, and Stephen Orgel. The Tempest. Oxford: Clarendon, 1987. Print.
Takaki, Ronald. “The Tempest in the Wilderness: The Racialization of Savagery.” The Journal of American History 79.3 (1992): 893-96. Web