tempcolon Comparing Language in Shakespeares Tempest and Aime Cesaire

Colonial Language in Shakespeare's The Tempest and Aime Cesaire's A Tempest      Ã‚  Ã‚   Language and literature are the most subtle and seductive tools of domination. They gradually shape thoughts and attitudes on an almost subconscious level. Perhaps Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak states this condition most succinctly in her essay "The Burden of English" when she writes, "Literature buys your assent in an almost clandestine way...for good or ill, as medicine or poison, perhaps always a bit of both"(137). By examining Shakespeare's "The Tempest" and Cesaire's "A Tempest", the diabolic and diagnostic functions of language and literature can be explored. Both plays place characters who are foreign to each other in equally unknown and foreign environments. Shakespeare allows Prospero the sorcerer to dominate his foreign environment and all who inhabit it, while Caliban in Cesaire's play uses the foreign language of his master, Prospero, to stage an open revolt. Placed within a post-colonial context, Cesaire ultimately expands upon the actions and characters create d by Shakespeare in order to posit a plausible modern explanation for the role of language and literature in the progression from fictional to actual, all too real, colonies.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Slavery is a central issue in both plays, especially in defining the relationship between Prospero and Caliban. Prospero, a European of high social and intellectual stature, is placed within an unfamiliar and hostile environment. Caliban befriends Prospero and gives him the necessary skills to survive. In return, Prospero teaches Caliban an European language. Ironically, this knowledge of language provides the basis for both slavery and revolt. Though physically enslaved because of an attempt... ...le it may be impossible to separate the poisonous properties of language and literature from the medicinal ones, Cesaire seems to attempt to identify the former and espouse the latter. Though the scope and influence of language and literature may be wider than that of colonialism, the same essential hurtful and hopeful paradox rests at the core of each concept.   Works Cited Cesaire, Aime. A Tempest. Trans Richard Miller, New York: Ubu Repertory Theatre Publications, 1992. Shakespeare, William. "The Tempest." Rpt in William Shakespeare: The Complete Works. Ed. Peter Alexander, London: Collins Clear Type Press, 1989. Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. "The Burden of English." Orientalism and the Postcolonial Predicament: Perspectives on South Asia. Carol A. Breckinridge and Peter van der Veer Eds.   Philadelphia: U. of Pennsylvania Press, 1993. 134-57.