Comparison of Shakespeare's "The Tempest and Cesaire's A Tempest"

A Tempest

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.

A Tempest is a postcolonial revision of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest and draws heavily on the original play—the cast of characters is, for the most part, the same, and the foundation of the plot follows the same basic premise. Prospero has been exiled and lives on a secluded island, and he drums up a violent storm to drive his daughter’s ship ashore. The island, however, is somewhere in the Caribbean, Ariel is a mulatto slave rather than a sprite, and Caliban is a black slave. A Tempest focuses on the plight of Ariel and Caliban—the never-ending quest 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: upon entering the first act, Caliban greets Prospero by saying “Uhuru!”, the Swahili word for “freedom.” Prospero complains that Caliban often speaks in his native language which Prospero has forbidden. This prompts Caliban to attempt to claim birthrights to the island, angering Prospero who threatens to whip Caliban. During their argument, Caliban tells Prospero that he no longer wants to be called 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.” The allusion to Malcolm X cements the aura of cultural reclamation that serves as the foundational element of A Tempest. Cesaire has also included the character Eshu who in the play is cast as a black devil-god. Calling on the Yoruba mythological traditions of West Africa, Eshu assumes the archetypal role of the trickster and thwarts Prospero’s power and authority during assemblies. Near the end of the play, Prospero sends all the lieutenants off the island to procure a place in Naples for his daughter Miranda and her husband Ferdinand. When the fleet begs him to leave, Prospero refuses and claims that the island cannot stand without him; in the end, only he and Caliban remain. As Prospero continues to assert his hold on the island, Caliban’s freedom song can be heard in the background. Thus, Cesaire leaves his audience to consider the lasting effects of colonialism.

The Tempest

Written between 1610 and 1611, The Tempest is William Shakespeare’s final play. (OK. If you're nitpicky, it's the last play he wrote entirely by himself.) In it, Shakespeare portrays an aging magician who has been living in exile with his young daughter on a remote island for the past twelve years. Over the course of a single day, Prospero uses his magic to whip up a tempest to shipwreck the men responsible for his banishment. He then proceeds to dazzle and dismay the survivors (and the audience) with his art as he orchestrates his triumphant return home where he plans to retire in peace.

For a lot of audiences and literary scholars, Prospero seems like a stand-in in for Shakespeare, who spent a lifetime dazzling audiences before retiring in 1611, shortly after The Tempest was completed. Not only is the play chock-full of self conscious references to the workings of the theater, its epilogue seems to be a final and fond farewell to the stage. When Prospero (after giving up the art of magic he's spent a lifetime perfecting) appears alone before the audience he confesses, "Now my charms are all o'erthrown, / And what strength I have's mine own," we can't help but wonder of Shakespeare is speaking through this character here.

Regardless of whether or not our boy Shakespeare intended for us to understand the epilogue as a big adios to his own art, the play does seem to be a nice capstone to a brilliant career because The Tempest revisits some of the most important issues and themes to have emerged from Shakespeare's previous plays. Literary scholar Stephen Greenblatt, who calls the play an "echo-chamber of Shakespearean motifs," points out that The Tempest resonates "with issues that haunted Shakespeare's imagination throughout his career." Of course, you'll be wanting some examples, so be sure to check out “Allusion” and “Themes”.

A Comparison of Shakespeare's "The Tempest" and Cesaire's "A Tempest"

The Tempest is one of William Shakespeare's final plays, written around the year 1610 and considered to represent the "culmination of his career". Centered around a deposed ruler, Prospero, the play takes place exclusively on a distant island after the ship carrying the King of Naples encounters a powerful storm and the crew is forced to abandon the vessel. We find out that this is caused by the spirit Ariel, a servant of Prospero's. This in fact marks the beginning of a series of actions by Prospero to manipulate the other characters in the play towards his own end.

After reassuring his daughter Miranda that no one on the ship was hurt, Prospero proceeds to inform her of how they ended up on the island, being betrayed by his brother Antonio who took his title as Duke of Milan. We then meet Caliban, a slave of Prospero's and the rightful owner of the island by his Mother Sycorax who owned it previously. Soon Ferdinand, the Kings son happens upon Miranda and the two instantly fall in love. Although this is just what Prospero expected and hoped to happen he plays the suspicious father and enslaves Ferdinand despite his daughters protest.

The next characters we come across are Alonso, the King of Naples and his party, including his scheming brother Sebastian, Antonio and the good hearted Gonzalo. We find Sebastian and Antonio both plotting against the king despite the dire situation they appear to be in. The next scene has the jester Trinculo and Stephano, a drunk, come across Caliban as he hides from what he takes to be an agent of Prospero's. By the end of this scene Caliban has decided to swear his loyalty to Stephano and secure his aid in killing Prospero.

In act 3, scene 3 Prospero finally confronts his enemies as he presents them with a banquet only to snatch it away at the last minute. Ariel echoes his feelings towards them when calling them "three men of sin". Towards the end of the play Prospero again meets with the kings party and a remorseful Alonso. This meeting however is meant to reconcile their differences and bring his plan to a close. Alonso restores Prospero's dukedom during there meeting and in turn learns of his son's survival and betrothal to Miranda. He more or less calls out Antonio for the traitor that he is but forgives him nonetheless. The play itself ends with Prospero appealing to the audience to release him from the island through applause .

Aime Cesaire's A Tempest is a politicized take on Shakespeare's play created during the late sixties, a time of great social change. It is really a "post-colonial response to The Tempest " and as such deals much more with the story from the point of view of Caliban and Ariel . In this version Caliban is a black slave and the spirit Ariel is represented as a mulatto slave.

This version more or less follows the same story however there are other differences from the play which influenced it. The dialogue on Caliban's part is much more harsh and more frequent. In saying "I'll impale you! And on a stake that you've sharpened yourself! You'll have impaled yourself!", Caliban's aggression and hate towards Prospero is a bit more evident .

There are clear lines drawn between characters based on race and even the formerly neutral Gonzalo is condescending towards what he views as a rebellious Caliban obviously in need of Christianity . Caliban's race and subsequent treatment as a result of is quite obvious and the same with Ariel in his role as the willing servant. Better treated but still a captive, Cesaire's decision to make him a mulatto slave was probably an obvious one as they are traditionally viewed as better treated.

In The Tempest there are quite a few characters that might be easily identifiable as villains but the main figure, Prospero seems to play many roles, good and bad. All of the events in the play are more or less orchestrated by him in his attempt to get justice and return to Milan. It can even be argued that he is largely at fault for his current situation by neglecting his duties as Duke and passing off responsibility to his brother. Whether Prospero is a villain or not is not so difficult to figure out in Cesaire's work as that is his purpose as a oppressive European colonist.

Prospero is also a good example of the role power plays in the story. He wields great magic and has the loyalty of a powerful spirit which he uses to exact his revenge and control all of the characters in the around him. Not least of all is his daughter Miranda whom he very much uses to reconcile with King Alonso by marrying her off to his son. As mentioned previously as King Alonso's party is wandering the island Prospero conjures up a feast using his magic only to snatch it away from them . In doing so he demonstrates his power over his enemies, whom flee in fear.

The character Stephano who happens upon Caliban as he's hiding gives us another example of power in the play and more specifically how the characters often abuse it towards their own ends. When Caliban swears his loyalty to him he readily agrees and takes advantage of this, more or less declaring himself king of the island . We see that Caliban has once again decided to trust an outsider to his detriment.

Miranda plays a unique role as she is really the only female character present on the island. She is also depicted as a helpless character whom was the focus of Caliban's unwanted attention thus resulting in his current situation. In this way his treatment is justified, he comes to represent "bestial desire", and Miranda establishes herself as an innocent in need of constant protection.

As to whether Shakespeare's play lends itself to an interpretation like Cesaires, I would have to say that it does. Caliban's character and the way Prospero treats him is a good representation of colonial attitudes towards indigenous peoples. His rebuke of the idea that Prospero did him a favor by teaching him English is synonymous with the view of many, especially during the late sixties when Cesaire wrote his version.