Native of the New World

Native of The New World

The Tempest can readily be seen as a text which portrays colonialism as an integral part of European history. The problematic relationship between the European colonizer and the native colonized peoples is expanded on through the depths of the relationship between Prospero and Caliban. Specifically, in this scene, we are shown how Prospero outcasts and speaks down to Caliban as if he were nothing more than his personal slave. When Prospero first arrives on the island, Shakespeare does not portray Caliban as the exploited indigenous, primitive native of the new world. Caliban claims that “When thou cam’st first, / Thou strok’st me and made much of me” (1.2.333-334). At first, Prospero and Caliban share a mutual relationship, which benefits them both in different ways. Over the years, Caliban is enslaved by Prospero’s superior knowledge and forced to do his bidding, making him a distinct symbol of colonial injustice. “Come, thou tortoise” (1.2.316), Prospero calls, “Thou poisonous slave” (1.2.319), he says. Caliban is being dehumanized, disinherited and looked down upon as a lesser being than himself, Prospero. A civilized and sophisticated European, coming from a state of power, arrived on an island with nobody but this product of nature. He manipulated and exploited Caliban until he was at the top of his invisible hierarchy. The civilized mission is driven by the politics of dominance and superiority over the colonized. Caliban is representing all those who were impacted by European colonialism and the enslavement of the natives in the new world in the early years of 1600. He is the outset victim of Prospero and his assertions of sovereignty. What Caliban once called home, is now Prospero’s domain. Who once was an indigenous person to the island, is now a colonialized slave.