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Cannibals,” which is quoted almost
word for word in Gonzalo’s plea
for a commonwealth based on
humanity. In the essay, Montaigne
describes the “noble savage”
of the New World, untouched
by the corruption of the old, and
Caliban, it seems, was once such
a creature. Caliban retains traces
of a sensitivity to the island’s
natural spirit that he expresses
more poetically than Prospero;
it is Prospero whose schooling
turns Caliban to a “piece of filth.”
For all Prospero’s knowledge,
he has learned only mastery. He
is, then, not so different from
Antonio who usurps his rule, or
Sebastian who plots with Antonio
to kill Alonso. More tellingly,
mastery is the lesson he teaches
Caliban, who plots to kill Prospero.
Prospero the colonial
Over the last half century, more
and more critics have focused
on Prospero as a forerunner of a
European colonist and have seen
in his enslavement of the island’s
original inhabitants, Ariel and
Caliban, an exploitation of native
people by European masters. This
resonance in the play may be no
accident. Explorer Sir Walter Raleigh
had tried to establish a colony at
Roanoke, Virginia, in the 1590s,
and Shakespeare was in contact
with the Virginia Company that
founded the first successful English
settlement at Jamestown in 1607.Letting go
In the end, though, Prospero learns
the folly of his attempts to control
everything. He breaks his staff to
end his magic power, “drowns”
his books, forgives his foes, and at
last sets Caliban and Ariel free.
As Prospero admits in the
Epilogue, with all his magic gone,
he has only his own faint human
strength to rely on. But he, like
Shakespeare the playwright,
acknowledges that the real power
lies not with him but with the
audience, who can either approve
or disapprove of the play. Their
applause will set him free from
the bondage of expectation. ■THE KING’S MAN
An American play?
In September 1610, a
sensational story reached
London of a storm that had
engulfed the Sea Venture,
a ship carrying settlers to
Jamestown, Virginia. All 150
aboard were washed onto a
reef off Bermuda, and there
found an exotic island, seas
teeming with fish, and skies
filled with gorgeous birds.
Helped by the natives, the
survivors lived on the island
while they built a new ship.
That Shakespeare was partly
inspired by this story is clear,
and The Tempest has been
called the “American” play,
even though Prospero’s island
was in the Mediterranean.
There was a Spanish
empire in the Americas at the
time that, in the 15th century,
had enslaved the indigenous
people with the godlike power
of its technology. Whether
Shakespeare intended it or
not, the play has found
such a resonance with the
colonial past that this has
become a key thread in many
interpretations. Caliban,
not Prospero, is often the
focus. Black actors have been
cast to emphasize the way
European colonials enslaved
native populations.A 2010 US fantasy film, The Tempest,
based on the play, cast Helen Mirren as
“Prospera,” and Djimon Hounsou as a
powerfully physical Caliban.