Is he from the new world or simply from Algiers? ToĪssume that Shakespeare suffered from a lack of continuity is tantamount to literary blasphemy. All the proof given creates uncertainty on where Caliban in from. However, this is still ample evidence to argue that Caliban is Native American. This could be dismissed as a jester’s geographical incompetence in assuming he washed up ashore the new world. Legg’d like a man, and his fins like arms! ” (Tempest). Additional evidence can be inferred from Trinculo saying in reference to Caliban “they will lay out ten to see a dead Indian. ” (Harper) This would further bring proof that Caliban is in fact from the new world. canibal “a savage, cannibal,” from Caniba, Christopher Columbus’ rendition of the Caribs’ name for themselves. One could therefore declare that Caliban is Algerian and end the discussion there but in The Tempest, Shakespeare also wrote that Sycorax worshipped the god Setebos a God known to be worshipped in South American countries.Īdditionally in the online etymology dictionary, the name Caliban is described as “from Sp. In addition Corsica is known for having natural springs as well as fertile and infertile lands, due to its mountainous nature. ” (Tempest) The island of Corsica is known for its salt exports which is cultivated from brine pits, or more commonly known as salt marshes. show’d thee all the qualities o’ th’ isle, the fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place, and fertile. Looking further into the text, we can see the physical description of the island by Caliban. If one were to draw a straight line between the two locations, two islands would lay in its path. Looking on a map, Algiers borders the Mediterranean Sea on the south and the duchy of Milan borders it to the north. Adding this to the knowledge that Prospero was the Duke of Milan can give us a good guess as to where the island is. n The Tempest, Arial clearly stated that Sycorax, the mother of Caliban was born in Algiers. One such example can be seen in the topography, flora, and fauna described of the island by Shakespeare himself as well as by the geographical origins of the characters. There are many arguments that say Caliban is not from America. Through an analysis of where Caliban is from, this essay will explain how he is a representation of all the colonized people during Shakespeare’s time. Many scholars go further to try and pinpoint his origins as either a Native American or a savage of Europe. (Tempest) Either way the point is clear, Caliban is initially portrayed as a barbarous being that lacks the common social graces of the imperial world. His body is described as either “half fish and half monster” or “half fish and half man. The “monster” Caliban is first introduced, in The Tempest, as a “freckled whelp hag-born-not honour’d with a human shape” (Tempest) that was ‘littered’ on an island by a witch and fathered by the devil. Concurrently, Spain’s and Portugal’s settlements in Central and South America and their exploitation, often enslavement, of the natives strongly influenced English policies toward racial “others” at home and in England’s colonies, as did Iberian America’s extensive importation of African slaves.Jordan SanEmeterio Professor Stracke Works of English Literature 13 June, 20011 Caliban: Stock Character of Colonization In Shakespearean literature Caliban will always be a character that will garner debate and stir up conversation. Among the developments that profoundly shaped England’s (and presumably Shakespeare’s) attitudes toward “Blackamoores” were the increasingly numerous Africans arriving as offshoots of the international slave trade. This chapter contextualizes those demeaning categories in light of Caliban’s African and perhaps American roots. Although Caliban was born on a remote island and is its sole human inhabitant when Prospero and Miranda arrive, his sexual assault on Miranda and their contempt for Caliban as savage, pagan, monstrous, and perhaps cannibalistic provokes Prospero to enslave him. The Tempest reflects early modern European trends in racial perceptions, especially in the play’s foregrounding of Caliban, who embodies many of the era’s cultural prejudices.
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