The difference in colonial mentality of 17th century and 18th century: A comparative study

between Defoe's Friday from Robinson Crusoe and Shakespeare's Caliban from The Tempest.

Submitted to:

Afia Arafat

Assistant Professor

Department of English,

East West University.

Submitted by:

Faysal Ebne Zaman Rupok

ID: 2020-1-40-118

Department of English,

East West University.

Date of Submission: 11/05/23

Course: ENG 340

Abstract:
Colonialism is a process where powerful rules the powerless. This phenomenon comes to

prominence during the 15th century but was widespread during the 17th and 18th century. In

colonialism white people (mainly Europeans) are the powerful ones and any ‘other’ race is

subjugated as powerless. During the 19th century most of the powerful Europeans leaves the

territories they occupied because of several factors. By 1970s-1980s, almost the entire world

becomes free from colonization. In this paper I will show the changes in colonial mentality over

two centuries by analyzing the discriminations of Caliban by Prospero in Shakespeare’s The

Tempest and the dehumanizing of Friday by Crusoe in Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe.

Introduction:

Shakespeare and Defoe both are British writers from different era but both includes colonial

narrative in their texts. Elizabethan era marks the start of colonialism. Robert Longley defines

colonialism as “the practice of one country taking full or partial political control of another

country and occupying it with settlers for purposes of profiting from its resources and economy.”

(1). This literal definition does not match the surface meaning of colonialism. British people first

start trading in a region, in the name of trade they start to impose native people to learn their

language and Religion, along with the brainwashing of native people being inferior to them.

Once the colonizers get full authority of the native people they fight and/or kill the native leaders

to take control politically and the exploitations begins.

The showcase of colonialism by both the writers, Shakespeare, and Defoe, is similar as they

choose set of characters who portrays the master-slave relationship. In Shakespeare’s The

Tempest, Prospero is the master and Caliban is the slave whereas in Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe,

Crusoe is the master and Friday is the slave. One of the first comparatist on this topic John
Robert More claims, “not that The Tempest and Robinson Crusoe are alike but that many details

of the plot is similar.” (53). The treatments of Caliban and Friday is like some extent but the

glorification of Crusoe as a noble superior Christian man is far more than that of Prospero.

Moore again says, “Defoe’s early reading of Shakespeare suggested the method by which

Governor Crusoe and his man Friday (like Prospero and Caliban) overcome the adversities of the

island.” With respect to Moore’s claims, it can be said that although the relationship between

Crusoe and Friday is likely to be inspired from Prospero and Caliban but the significant

difference in the treatment of their respective slaves mainly points out the difference in colonial

mentality of the masters.

Breakdown of Prospero’s treatment of Caliban:

Initially, after arriving on the lone island Prospero finds no one and establishes himself as the

master of the island. Later, he discovers only one native of the island, Caliban. Prospero

describes Caliban as:

A freckled whelp hag-born--not honour'd with

A human shape. (Act 1, Scene 2).

This is the first step of colonial attitude where the colonizers dehumanize the colonized natives.

Moreover, Prospero not only discriminates Caliban physically, he refuses to call him human, he

refers to Caliban as a thing and his servant:

“This thing of darkness, I call my own” (Act 5, scene 1).

the island, the text quotes, “And show'd thee all the qualities o' the isle” (Act 1, Scene 2).

Caliban does these things only because Prospero hid his evil intensions disguising a guest. It is a

common human trait where guests are shown the house, lands, and properties. This certainly

shows Caliban had human qualities. Also, Deborah Willis explains how Caliban’s qualities

humanize him:

“As ‘Wildman’, he is also a composite, possessing qualities of the noble savage as

well as the monster. He is capable of learning language, of forming warm

attachments; he is sensitive to beauty and music; he speaks-like aristocratic

characters-in the rhythms of verse, in contrast to the prose of Stephano and

Trinculo; he can follow a plan and reason.” (1989).

As Caliban’s humanity is learned, many critics sympathizes him, as cruelty done to a human is a

bad thing. The sympathy usually comes on the scene where everybody understands that Caliban

is being imprisoned in his own native land and the person imprisoned him is exploiting the

sources of his land. Caliban says:

“For every trifle are they set upon me,

Sometimes like apes that mow and chatter at me

And after bit me, then like hedgehogs which

Lie tumbling in my barefoot way and mount

Their pricks at my football; sometimes am I

All wound with adders, who with cloven tongues

Do hiss me into madness.” (Act2, scene 2).

India and Africa. In India, the British colonizers exploited food sources to such an extent during

WW1 that it has caused a famine, a man-made famine. On that contrary, the colonial mentality

has not changed to certain extent as The Tempest has been written in the 17th century and the

famine occurred in 19th century.

Breakdown of Crusoe’s treatment of Friday:

Crusoe represents the noble Englishman when he arrives at the island. His attitude from the

beginning is supreme. He saves Friday, after a brief time on the island. He names him Friday

only because he has saved him on a Friday:

“I made him know his name should be Friday, which was the day I saved his

life… I like wise thought him to say Master.” (206).

The epitome of dehumanization can be seen here, Crusoe not even bothers to ask him about his

real name. Furthermore, Crusoe expects Friday to call him master, who gave Crusoe the

authority? Saving someone’s life does not give anyone the opportunity to own.

Crusoe colonizes Friday methodically, after Crusoe saves his life, Friday behaves like he has

incurred a debt towards Crusoe. Crusoe, being an educated man gets a hint of this and decides to

slave Friday, as he already knows about the cannibal native inhabitants of the island. Friday’s

immediate gesture is the hint that Crusoe identifies:

“At length he came close to me, and then he kneeled down again, kissed the

ground, and, taking my foot, set it upon his head; this, it seems, was in token of

swearing to be my slave forever.” (214).

that, Crusoe imposes Christianity upon Friday and makes him believe that only Christians are

supposed to be the chosen and quotes, “that there should not be one soul saved but myself” (46),

referring to the shipwreck survival. Although Friday has been following Crusoe’s commands

without being rebellious, Crusoe seems to not being convinced about his loyalty. As a result,

when Friday accepts Christianity, Crusoe thinks he has not only saved Friday physically but has

also saved his soul:

“The soul of a poor savage, and bring him to the true knowledge of Religion, and

of the Christian Doctrine, that he might know Jesus Christ, to know him is Life

Eternal. I say, when I reflected Upon all these Things, a secret Joy run through

every Part of my Soul, and I frequently rejoiced that ever I was brought to this

place.” (220).

The authoritative self of Crusoe is more visible in the novel as he is introduced as a voyager in

the novel but surely ends it being a colonizer, Crusoe concludes:

“My island was now peopled, and I thought myself very rich in subjects and it

was a merry Reflection which I frequently made, how like a king I look’d.” (241).

Compare and Contrast:

Analyzing the breakdowns, there are certain differences in Prospero’s mentality while colonizing

Caliban and Crusoe’s mentality while colonizing Friday. Prospero has one valid reason to make

Caliban his prisoner and servant as Caliban approached Miranda sexually. On tat contrary, the

other discourse says Prospero could have easily stopped Caliban through magic even before

Caliban has been thinking of that approach. Prospero being an elite on exile must need a servant
as he may have always had one can be reason he colonizes Caliban. On the other hand, Crusoe

makes Friday his servant for protection purposes from the cannibal natives and Friday’s gratitude

makes him an easy prey for Crusoe to colonize. Chantal Zabus argues about a parallel contrast,

he states, “Caliban shares Crusoe's self-sufficiency and concern with the island as territory,

whereas Friday shares Prospero's subordination-acknowledged or not- and his spiritual

engrossment. Hence, the actual gap or relation is not so much between colonizer and colonized

as it is between the 'Alienated Self' (A-self) and the 'Integrated Self' (I-self).” (155). The only

similarity between the subjects of the study is the process by which both Caliban and Friday are

colonized. The process includes dehumanization, language teaching and religious preaching. To

sum it up, deep reading and dissecting both the texts reveals a good amount of the horrors of the

colonization process.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, the paper has well established the differences in the mentality of 17th and 18th

century colonialism. The most significant one is Prospero needed a reason to prison Caliban

where as Crusoe claims a reason to make Friday servant. In simple words, the superiority

complex and authoritative attitude of the colonizers increases in those 100 years, they gain more

confidence to colonize people with increasing experience.

Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. Public Domain, pdf.

Defoe, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe. Friends Classics, First Edition, 2006.

Longley, Robert. What Is Colonialism? Definition and Examples. ThoughtCo, Dec. 6, 2021,
thoughtco.com/colonialism-definition-and-examples-5112779.

Moore, John Robert. The Tempest and Robinson Crusoe. RES, 21(1945).

Moore, John Robert. Daniel Defoe: Citizen of the Modern World. (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1958).

Zabus, Jeanne De Chantal. The Tempest and Robinson Crusoe: A Structuralist “Attention.”
ESC: English Studies in Canada, Volume 9, Number 2, June 1983, pp. 151-16.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/esc.1983.0019.