Monsieur Monster

In my reading of Shakespeare’s The Tempest this week I found evidence of Caliban being portrayed as an “other”. The term “other” comes from postcolonialism and is defined in Cultural Studies: Postcolonialism, African-American Criticism, And Queer Theory, as “any person defined as ‘different from’” (Cultural Studies, 239). I don’t think that Shakespeare was an evil person for this or that he held an awful view point (though I don’t agree with or condone his attitude) but I do believe that this was the view point of the entire world at the time, or its hegemony. Hegemony is a Marxist term referring to a culture’s ideology, “that is, its dominant values, sense of right and wrong, and sense of personal self-worth” (Cultural Studies, 234).

Shakespeare took the view of natives of foreign lands as savages and incorporated them into his play in that such way. Throughout The Tempest Stephano and Trinculo refer to Caliban, a native of the island, as a monster. When Trinculo first comes upon Caliban he says, “What have we here? A man or a fish? Dead or alive? A fish” (The Tempest, ACT II Scene 2 line 24, page 96). Shakespeare also depicts Caliban as dumb and animal-like, hungry for a master who he believes will be nice to him. When Caliban finds Stephano, he takes a liking to him and believes that Stephano can protect him from anything.

As the play continues we find Caliban to be bloodthirsty as well. He seeks revenge on his former master, Prospero, through the “superior” Stephano and Trinculo. He can take the two “superior” individuals to the subject, but the “savage native” can not build up the courage to avenge himself. This is an example of Stephano and Trinculo being the “superior race” since they are white & from Naples, while Caliban portrays a dumb, savage who is native to the island and thus, of a lesser race.