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Simple meaning of tempest: means a very violent storm with very high
winds and often rain, hail or snow (Encarta dictionary) Story is also
like that Prospero call tempest from his magic.
Defination of post colonialism: Post colonialism is the study of the legacy of the
era of European, and sometimes American, direct global domination, which ended roughly in the
mid-20th century, and the residual political, socio-economic, and psychological effects of that
colonial history. Post colonialism examines the manner in which emerging societies grapple with
the challenges of self-determination and how they incorporate or reject the Western norms and
conventions, such as legal or political systems, left in place after direct administration by
colonial powers ended. Ironically, much early postcolonial theory, with its emphasis on overt
rejection of imposed Western norms, was tied to Marxist theory, which also originated in
Europe. Contemporary studies focus more on the effects of postcolonial globalization and the
development of indigenous solutions to local needs. (htt5)
Martinican poet, playwright, and politician, one of the most influential authors
from the French-speaking Caribbean. Aime Cesaire formulated with Leopold
Senghor and Leon Gontian Damas the concept and movement of negritude, defined
as "affirmation that one is black and proud of it". Cesaires thoughts about
restoring the cultural identity of black Africans were first fully expressed in
(Return to My Native Land), a mixture of poetry and poetic prose. The work
celebrated the ancestral homelands of Africa and the Caribbean. It was completed
in 1939 but not published in full form until 1947.
Cesaire criticism of European civilization and colonial racism in Discourse on
colonialism (1955) influenced deeply Frantz Fanon's revolutionary manifesto
Black Skin, White Masks (1967), an examination of psychic, cultural and social
damages inflicted by colonialism. Cesaire parallels the relationship between the
colonizer and the colonized with the relationship between Nazis and their
victims. (htt6)
A Tempest by Aime Cesaire was originally published in 1969 in French by Editions du Seuil in
Paris. Cesaire, a recognized poet, essayist, playwright, and politician, was born in Martinique in
1913 and, until his death in 2008, had been instrumental in voicing post-colonial concerns. In the
1930s, he, along with Leopold Senghor and Leon Gontian Damas, developed the negritude
movement which endeavored to question French colonial rule and restore 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 and had its American premiere in 1991 at the Ubu Repertory Theater in
New York after having been performed in France, the Middle East, Africa, and the West
Indies.
(Character of Caliban and Prospero are very important to the study of colonial postcolonial
theory)
A Tempest is the third play in a trilogy aimed at advancing the tenets of the negritude movement.
It is written as a postcolonial response to The Tempest by Shakespeare. The story is the same; a
big storm, an angry Duke who has been usurped by his brother, all the devoted courtesans, and
the natives. This play deals mostly with the natives; Ariel and Caliban. It is Cesaires common
on the colonization of the new world. He has many of the same ideas are C.L.R. James and
Frantz Fanon, and he has inspired newer Caribbean writers like Michelle Cliff. It is postcolonial
revision of The Tempest and it draws heavily on the original play. The cast of character is for the
most part the same and the foundation of the plot follows the same basic premise.
Cesaire takes the well-known Shakespearian play and re-writes it addressing the
concerns a colonial subject of the Caribbean had back then, and whose post-Independent is still
concerned with today. Caliban is the spokesman through which Cesaire can vent his anticolonial
anger on Prospero, who here as we have said, is a representative of all the colonial empires of
Europe. In the end Caliban holds Prospero accountable for all the psychological damage he has
suffered:
You lied to me so much
about the world, about myself,
that you ended up by imposing on me
an image of myself:
underdeveloped, in your words, under competentthats how you made me see myself!
This may as well be the official letter all postcolonial subjects post to the former Empires for it
speaks of the mental slavery. (Wordpress.com)
Prospero has been exiled and lives on a secluded island and he drums up a violent storm to
drive his daughters ship ashore this island however is somewhere in the Caribbean;
A Tempest focuses on the plight of Ariel and Caliban the never ending ques to gain freedom
from Prospero and his rule over the island.
Ariel dutiful to Prospero follows all orders given to him and sincerely believes that Prospero will
honor his promise of emancipation. Caliban on the other hand slights Prospero at every
opportunity. In the first act: Caliban greets Prospero by saying Uhuru Swahili word for
Freedom. Prospero complains that Caliban often speaks in his native language which Prospero
has forbidden.
Caliban generally viewed as an almost archetypal representation of the third
world colonized subject originated in Shakespeares The Tempest.
What is the meaning of Third World? Third World the countries of Africa, Asia
and South America are some tomes referred to all together as third world, especially those parts
that are poor do not have much power and are not considered to be highly development compare
First World. (Collins Cobuild Advanced Dictionary of English)
Both are opposite to each other and Prospero is the main subject for them.
Despite the characters minor role in the play Caliban has gained critics interest due to his
subsequent re-contextualization within postcolonial contexts. Initially the figure of Caliban was
read as the symbol of primitive humanity a degenerates character exhibiting greed, lawlessness
and lust.
In his development up to mid-20th century Caliban symbolized the third world as
imagined by Europe to justify colonialism. Conversely in third world countries this character has
developed into a positive symbol of the third world view that high lights the implacable spirit of
Caliban against Prosperos subjugation. The reiterations of Caliban as a symbol of the third
world can be found not only in a dramatic work such as in Amie Cesaires A Tempest but also in
psychological and political treatises such as those written by Octavia Mannoni and Fernando
Retamar. It is interesting to situate the process of Calibans subrogation within the realm of
postcolonial theory. Postcolonial theory has raised some problematic definitions and articulations
due to ambiguities of term itself.
Taken literary the term may mean theory after colonialism culturally and economically various
forms of neocolonialism. Secondly if postcolonial theory is understood as theory written after
colonialism, it contradicts the fact that many postcolonial works were written during the colonial
period.
Bill Ashcroft defines postcolonial theory as; that dynamic of opposition the discourse of
resistance to colonialism which begins from the first moment of colonization. I must definitely
do not mean after colonialism because that would be to suppose an end to imperial process.
Ashcrofts defination of postcolonial theory anticipates the above
reductive meaning and generally accepted since it denotes that colonialism is still at work and
that postcolonial theory has been written in resistance to colonialism. One key postcolonial issue
concerns the matter of identity indicate that ; like the figure of Caliban the formulation of
identity in postcolonial theory cannot escape from the process of surrogating. During their
argument (between Caliban and Prospero) Caliban tells Prospero that he no longer want to be
called Caliban;
Caliban: put it this way Im telling you that from now on I wont answer to the name Caliban.
Prospero: what put that notion into your head?
Caliban: well, Caliban isnt my name its as simple as that
Prospero: Its mine I suppose!
Caliban: Its the name give me by hatred and every time its spoken its an insult
Prospero: My hoe sensitive were getting to be! All right suggest something else, Ive got to call
you something what will it be? Cannibal would suit you, but Im sure you would not like that
would you? Lets see what about Hannibal? That fits and why not ...they all seem to like
historical names.
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 thats history and everyone knows it!
Every time you call me it reminds me of a basic fact, the fact that youve stolen everything from
me, even my identity! Uhuru!
These conversations between Caliban and Prospero are very important for postcolonial aspect.
The allusion to Malcolm X cements the aura of cultural reclamation that serves as the