But None Of Us Cared For Kate

“They’re not like us, and for that reason deserve to be ruled.” This statement, in which Edward Said dissects colonial mentality down to its core principle, depicts Prospero’s own justification in colonizing Caliban and branding him “the Other.” The chapter on Postcolonialism mentions hegemony, “dominant values…all people in a culture are consciously and unconsciously asked to conform to.” Every entity on the Island is forced to accept the culture Prospero has established, as he is the sole figure of authority. Caliban though, in particular, is oppressed to a more extensive degree. Not only has he experienced “a collapse of the ego,” the desecration of the I, or one’s personal sense of identity, but he has also been allotted an alternative identity, an identity based solely on his worth as a manual laborer. This situation parallels Britain’s colonization with uncanny similarity, as they too made, “them produce and then give up their countries’ raw materials in exchange for what material goods the colonized desired or were made to believe they desired by the colonizers.” Additionally, the chapter discusses how Britain, “justified their cruel treatment of the colonized by invoking European religious beliefs.” In the same way, Prospero condones his own behavior by referencing his history as Caliban’s savior, and relentlessly presents this argument to Caliban in an attempt to manipulate him out of a sense of obligation and inferiority. Prospero has created an image of Caliban that the all inhabitants of the Island have bought into, because Prospero’s conception is the only one they’ve ever known. They have all accepted Prospero’s hegemony as truth, rather than acknowledge his oppressive regime and dehumanizing treatment of Caliban as evidence of his, “unconscious desires for power, wealth, and domination.” Just as the Native Americans in the video were depicted by Hollywood as “blood thirsty savages,” and prevented from being proud of who they were, Caliban has beem depicted as monster for so long that he cannot remember not being called a monster, and therefore cannot feel any sense of pride or self respect.

Shakespeare clearly emphasizes a native stereotype with his representation of Caliban. Though Caliban recognizes Prospero’s treatment as cruel and unfair, his vision of freedom is not freedom from under a human authority, but freedom from brutality. Thus, when he meets Trinculo and Stephano and deduces that they are somewhat more civil than his current master, he swears to them, “to be thy true subject,” (Act II, Scene II). He has never considered being the master of his own life and destiny, Shakespeare paints him as a creature understanding and accepting of his own inferiority. He exclaims, “A plague upon the tyrant that I serve! I’ll bear him no more sticks but follow thee, thou wondrous man.” Caliban is content to be enslaved in servitude, as long as his master is gentle, never even considering the possibility that he may be in equal status to these noblemen. In fact, the only thing he considers is revenge. He tells Stephano, “I’ll yield him thee asleep, where thoust may knock a nail into his head.” Caliban is consumed only by pure spiteful, vengeance to wrong the man that has wronged him, so much so, his only pleasure is gained through anticipating these events. Shakespeare, allots few, if any, redeeming qualities: he is seemingly mean-spirited and frighteningly disfigured.  As a result, our judgments are somewhat biased due to Shakespeare’s own bias, a bias cultivated due to the fact that he was influenced by and grew up in 16^th century England.