Theme of Colonisation

Question 1

CONTEXT william strachey letter

Answer 1

about the wreck in 1609 of one of the ships carrying colonists to the english colony called ‘Jamestown’ in North America. He was a survivor who was stranded on the uninhabited island of Bermuda for nearly a year before finally reaching the colony in Virginia. he describes the “misery and misgovernment” he found in jamestown. His letters were published in 1625

Question 2

CONTEXT “language is the perfect

Answer 2

“language is the perfect instrument of Empire” - the Bishop of Avila said to queen isabella of spain in 1492: shows how the link between language and empire was recognised early in the colonial enterprise.

Question 3

Ariel: “all hail,

Answer 3

“all hail, great master, grave sir, hail!

colonial relationship. A greets prosper in an obsequious manner

Question 4

Ariel: “is there more toil

Answer 4

Is there more toil? since thou dost give me pains”

colonial pains? ariel’s rebellion is received by prosper in an aggressive way “thou list, malignant thing”

Question 5

Thou liest,

Answer 5

Thou liest, malignant thing

Prospero uses violent language to assert authority. diminishes Ariel to a ‘thing’.

Question 6

“thou best know’st

Answer 6

Thou best know’st what torment i did find thee in

Prospero uses language to manipulate Ariel to be once more obedient

Question 7

“i will render

Answer 7

“i will render an oak and peg thee in his knotty entrails till thou hast howl’d away twelve winters”

Prospero inflicts fear to assert colonial power. Links to Sycorax

Question 8

I will be correspondent

Answer 8

I will be correspondent and do my spiriting gently

Ariel is subservient due to fear of Prospero’s threats.

Question 9

“we’ll visit

Answer 9

We’ll visit Caliban, my slave

Prospero inflicts higher-archy and slavery through language. has come to island and enslaved Caliban due to uncivil act of rape.

Question 10

“thy vile

Answer 10

thy vile race

Miranda uses derogatory phrases. colonial identity-stripping racism

Question 11

“you taught me language

Answer 11

“you taught me language, and my profit on’t is i know how to curse”

Caliban has been corrupted by the colonial language. raped of innocence. he knows how to fight back now which makes him Prospero’s tempest rather than ariel. he shows the limitations to Prospero’s power.

Question 12

CRITIC: “caliban in ‘the other’…

Answer 12

Caliban is ‘the other’ and Prospero has power over him through language”

• Cicily Berry, RSC director/

Question 13

“thou shalt be pinch’d

Answer 13

Thou shalt be pinch’d as thick as honeycomb, each pinch more stinging than bee’s

Caliban obeys due to the threats of torture Prospero proposes. As also seen with Ariel, Prospero;s dominance seems to be on the edge of Collapse - held in place only through threats

Question 14

CONTEXT the ‘Requerimento’

Answer 14

The Requerimento: read aloud to the newly encountered peoples in the new world, demanding obedience to the king and queen of Spain as rulers of the Indies. If the natives resisted colonialism, they would be informed “[the settlers] will take you, and your wives, and your children, and shall make slaves of them…the deaths and losses which shall accrue from this are your fault” - They claimed the right to saying this due to the Pope being ‘the head of the whole human race’

Question 15

“i will kiss thy

Answer 15

“i will kiss thy foot. i prithee be my god”

cynical comedy as Caliban knows nothing other than to be subservient. he has been conditioned by Prospero to serve.

Question 16

“thou liest, most

Answer 16

“thou liest, most ignorant monster”

Trinculo uses same threats as Prospero. asserting authority through violent and derogatory language

Question 17

These are people of the island whom

Answer 17

These are people of the island whom though they are of monstrous shape, yet, note, their manners are more gentle-kind than of our human generation you shall find

Gonzalo’s language ‘others’ the spirits in a colonial fashion, yet only uses “monstrous” because they are of an unknown image. Link to Montagne observation

Question 18

CONTEXT Montagne: “there is nothing in that nation

Answer 18

Michel de Montagne: there is nothing in that nation, that is either barbarous or savage, unless men call that barbarism which is not common to them”

Question 19

Most delicate

Answer 19

Most delicate monster

Trinculo calls Caliban “ignorant monster”. T is particularly contemptuous of Caliban (demonstrated through these labels). This contempt is ironically based on the fact that Caliban is not a very adequate monster.

Question 20

“a devil, a born devil

Answer 20

“a devil, a born devil, on whose nature nurture can never stick; on whom my pains, humanely taken, all, all lost, quite lost”

P considers C as genetically (rather than culturally) inferior, and incapable of civilised behaviour. use of religious language to assert authority.

Question 21

“We cannot

Answer 21

“we cannot miss him”

P and M need caliban for survival. someone to exploit the island for them who knows it well. link to john smith

Question 22

CONTEXT J.SMITH “the beasts so wild

Answer 22

The beasts so wild, and we so unskillful to catch them… had the Savages not fed us, we directly would have starved”

Question 23

Full fathom five

Answer 23

full fathom five your father lies, his bones are coral made

P manipulates the islands music. Prospero’s colonising of the spirit has lead to music becoming a tool for manipulation to for fill his ambitions. a slave to his ambitions.

Question 24

“i am subject to a

Answer 24

i am subject to a tyrant, a sorcerer, that by his cunning hath cheated me of the island”

P usurped C like Antonio did to him