I chose to compare Frantz Fanon’s theory with the first segment of the English Spymposium. In this segment, Dr. David Morrow’s ENG 370: Literature and Empire class chose to act out a scene from William Shakespeare’s, The Tempest. They also acted a counterpart scene in Aime Cesaire’s A Tempest. In both of these plays, the ideas of race and colonialism are the main theme. In the plays, the Europeans have colonized the island, making the only black man on the island, Caliban, their slave and taking what was his from him.
Fanon states, “As long as the black man is among his own, he will have no occasion, except in minor internal conflicts, to experience his being through others,” (109). This is true in the plays. Caliban had been born and raised on the island by his mother Sycorax, and he was the owner of his domain. He never saw any problems with who he or his mother were, and he was content when he inherited the island after his mother died. When the Europeans came, however, he was immediately looked down upon as being a “savage” or a “monster.” The Europeans taught him to speak their language, only to use it against him and make him do their bidding. Until the Europeans came, he never saw himself as a servant or slave. They put that into his head.
Fanon believed that there was no real way for a black man to escape his “blackness” in the eyes of white men. He was put into the position of the “other” so long ago, and this cannot be undone. Within the two plays that were acted out, Caliban goes through some changes in the way that he is portrayed. In Shakespeare’s play, Caliban has been enslaved through magic by Prospero. He is made to do the European’s bidding, and when he meets the characters of Triculo and Stephano, he jumps at the chance to work for them instead of Prospero. Shakespeare’s Caliban appears to be ignorant and unknowing about how his enslavement is unjust. In Cesaire’s play, however, while Caliban still tries to strike up a deal with Trinculo and Stephano, he knows that he will not serve them, but merely try to take the power away from Prospero.
Caliban’s way of life was completely wiped out upon the colonization of the island which once was his. Fanon states, “His metaphysics, or, less pretentiously, his customs and the sources on which they were based, were wiped out because they were in conflict with a civilization that he did not know and that imposed itself on him,” (110). Caliban did not know what was coming when the Europeans first landed on the island. He wanted to help them find food and water to survive, and yet they took advantage of him and enslaved him on his own home island.
Fanon’s theory, while expressed in Cesaire’s play, shows that the prejudice and ideas of Shakespeare’s play are still happening, and most likely will always happen. No matter how hard our society tries, we will always see that there are differences between peoples. We are pegged as white people only because other cultures have seen us as so. There will always be black people because we have put them in that category. Shakespeare’s representation of Caliban as being ignorant to this does not necessarily transfer to today’s African Americans, but it shows that there are still separations within our society.
The significance of this application of Fanon’s theory to the two Tempest plays is that we need to be aware that we are still forming a separation within our society. We see blacks, whites, Hispanics, Asians, and many other races within the United States. Yet, we are all Americans, and we fail to see that. Instead we see each other by color because we have been forced to do so for so long. It started before Shakespeare’s time, but was amplified within his Tempest. The idea that colonization has separated us permanently has continued through Fanon’s writings, his theory, and into Cesaire’s play. We, as literary critics and writers ourselves, need to stop creating these types of work that further separate the different races. We are all humans. We are all Americans. We need to stop finding ways to classify each other.
I think you did a very in-depth reading of The Tempest. Fanon is definitely enhances the reading of this text. An important aspect of Fanon’s theory is that the history of a people is often written by a member of the other race. In this case, Caliban’s history is told through Prospero’s retelling of it. He is the one who describes Caliban’s mother and how evil and wretched of a person he is. If the tale were told by a member of Caliban’s own race instead of the one who colonized him, perhaps we would get another angle on Caliban’s past.