LANGUAGE

colonization as about territo

is as much about linguistic
The Tempest Caliban and Prospero
first altercation
between
rial aggression.
The
of language. Miranda
round the teaching
and Miranda revolves she has taken
gift of articulation:
claims to have
given Caliban the
With
´endowed...[his] purposes/
'pains to make... him) speak' has
known' (1.2.354-58). Caliban acknowledges
words that made them
has taught him 'how/To name the
Prospero
this claim when he says
(1.2.334-35). Together Prospero and
bigger light, and how
the less'

that they have civilized

Caliban because lan
Miranda can maintain
human beings and beasts. Yet,
guage is the basic distinction between
Miranda labels it, was fully invested with 'mean
Caliban's 'gabble' as

ing' (1.2.356) much before the arrival of the father-daughter team:

he could make perfect sense of the world around him, knew all the
secrets of the island, could distinguish accurately between 'fresh
 INTRODUCTION xlv

springs' and 'brine-pits, 'barren place and fertile' (1.2.338). Caliban

then, must have had a language of his own, incomprehensible to the
new inhabitants. Yet, like the early European settlers of America,
Miranda reduces this alien tongue to the category of non-language
and confidently proceeds to impose her superior language over
Caliban.)
In teaching him their language, Prospero and Miranda are
effectivelyerasing his native tongue and it is this simultaneous erasure
and imposition that Caliban vehemently opposes. Language is the
primary mode of comprehending, contextualizing and
communicating without it one can neither name nor
reality:

distinguishwhat one perceives. It is also the vital medium of shaping

and articulating our thoughts, we cannot think without language.
Thoughts are as much shaped and expressed by language as that

language is shaped by its specific contextThe lives of the people who

speak it, the terrain which they inhabit, their cultural, social and
religious practices, their economic activities allcontribute to the
development of a language.Caliban's native language, since it pre
dates the arrival of those who enslave him, fosters images and
memories of freedom, of his inalienable right to the island.(Erasure of
this language willentail the removal of these indigenous asociations
andreduce his consciousness to a blank slate-tabula rasa-on which
new inscriptions can be wrought at the coloniser's will. Moreover,
both Miranda and Prospero encode this linguistic colonization as a

charitable mission undertaken out of pity for the brutish, inarticulate

native by a superior people speaking a superior
language
(1.2.353-60).Caliban's learning of this language will involve an
interiorization and acknowledgement of this supremacy. Caliban's
refiusal to bear to this ideological baggage is manifested in his
conscious deployment of the received language solely to curse:
You taught me language,and my profit on't
Is, Iknow how to curse. The red plague rid
you
For learning me
your language! (1.2.363-65)
Much before he joins hands with Stephano and Trinculo to defy
political enslavement, Caliban opposes linguistic
subjugation by,
turning the so-called civilized (and civilizing)
language into a
weapon of resistance against the very masters who have taught it to
him Language thus becomes an essential site for the
confrontation
between the colonizer and the colonized.
 CHAU
SARRAN
for charting
vehicde affinities and
as a crucial hierarchies.
works and social Caliban is
also moral hat Mirafda's
languar
r constructing print ot goodness' an
supenor
emmines andis consequently
amarable
tongue
of imbibing'any
to transmit
, not
s upposd Fentinand, by contrast, this speech
Miranda. them that
speak
inappropriate
only speaks the
same
(1.2.430),.
mathtor is the best
of
and
boy' for the chaste
virtuous
he 'suitable
languae most from the
him the as distinct plebeian prose
making articulation,
in poetry. Prospero calm
is

Miranda.
Aristocratic
and TTrinuclo, of
Stephano care thee'
mariners, but in (1.2.16),
of the done nothing
1 have of his utopian commonwealth
asurance, on behalfo
claims
flamboyant Miranda!/ Indeed, the
Gonzalos ecstasy,
Admired
Ferdinand's 'the sea mocks/ Our
(21.143-65). Alonso'š anguish,
(3.1.37-38), in
of admiration' are invariably iambic
top on land' (3.3.10-11), difera
search
se marking the
rustrate or restraint
with emotive excesses this elite
pentameter shares Ariel
sensibilityas
personages.
and Sebastiar, the
various
between the
his use of blank verse(Antonio
denoted by of their lineage,
adept'at similar
are, by virtue the
villains
of the play i_indicated by
But their threatening malevolence th
in 2.1. (They transform
articulation.
particularly
of language, rudel.
disruptive use disruptive tool,
into a persistent
means of communication the distraugh
Gonzalo's attempt to soothe
and
thwarting Adrian violence of their
the linguistic
transmits
Alonso,The text
visually the
of their lines against
by positing the intrusive brevity
speech the courtiers:
utterances of
relatively lengthier

SEBASTIAN The old cock.

ANTONIO The cockerel.
wager?
SEBASTIAN Done. The
ANTONIO A laughter.
SEBASTIAN A match.
island seem to be desert
ADRIAN Though this
ANTONIO Ha, ha, ha!
paid.
SEBASTIAN So,you're
ADRIAN Uninhabitable,and almost
inaccesible -
SEBASTIAN Yet

ADRJAN Yet

ANTONIO He could not miss't. (2.1.30-41)

on the basis of one's articulation is problematized by

Segregation
Caliban. He matches the inane speech of Trinculo and Stephano,
 INTRODUCTION xlvn

which, in turn, parodies the

linguistic violence of Antonio and
Sebastian. His first excharge
with the drunken jester and
the butler
begins with mutual
misrecognition, i.e., with a of
cation. IfTrinculo mistakes communi
failure
Caliban for'a fish','a kind of
not-of-the
newest poor-John', Caliban returns
the compliment by
che foolish pair first as identifying
spirits and later as
'brave god[s]' that
'bear...cclestial liquor (2.2.24-25, 59, 107).
Their coarse cacophony
(2.2.38-51) finds an apt counterpart in
Caliban's, 'Ban, Ban,
Cacaliban/ Has a new master-get a
new man' (2.2.171-72). The
dregs of the civilized world
are as impervious to
improvement as this
'born devil,on whose nature/
Nurture can never stick' (4.1.188-89).
Together they constitute a dissident periphery
that needs constant
monitoring and surveillance.But Caliban is
equally capable
of using
philosophic language at par with Prospero. His
wistful longing for
dreams as a substitute reality is no less poetic
than Prospero's reflec
tion on the transience of human life,'Weare
such stuff/As dreams are
made on; and our little life/Is rounded with a sleep'(4.1.156-58):
in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open, and show riches
Ready to drop upon me, that when Iwaked
Icried to dream again. (3.2.133-36)

Caliban's facile movement through the

contours of sophisticatedand
base articulationadds another dimension to his
subversive potential.
Apart from being a recalcitrant native who needs to be coercively
colonized, he is a corrupter of the linguistic demarcation between

the high and the low. He also poses athreat of contamination: faced
with his obduracy Prospero frequently resorts to foul language

reminiscent of Caliban's cursing: 'thou tortoise', 'poisonous save',

'hag-seed' (1.2.316, 319, 365)(His levelling impulse not only erodes
the graded distinctions of a social order
profitable to hierarchic
authority; his proximity engenders a topsyturvydom wherein figures
of authority discard their distinctive linguistic identity toadopt that
of the marginals.)
In a way, Caliban's downgrading of superior language is
complementary to the power-wielders' camouflaging of political
designs and situations by means of tropes associated with love.l4

Prospero's serious lapse of duty that cost him his dukedom is re

designated in his narrativeas the scholar's love for knowledge: he was

'transported/ And rapt in secretstudies'(1.2.76-77, emphasis added).
 CHAUDHUN,
SARBANI
dislocationthe exile from

and geographical on both levels asthe

fall,
a relocation
political This is made
The ensuins as a firtunate
new territory possible,
of a
sencoded
oerlord kind of love, the flial
bond
Milan
another that Se
power-warythrough 'cherubin' 'preserve(s]' him
She is the
more d
claims,
Prospero Miranda. what should ensue
Against
him and bear up/
to

benween him 'to (Brown 64) of

political
M
enables 'euphemisation' by situating it
and project
This elaborate the colonial di

(1.2152-58). validates
divine'
of f'Providence (1.2.159). in
simultaneously design
conquests regime on the island' is

wichin
theall-encompassing
'the colonialist (1

observes, acts' by nature (sea, winds) tr

Brown ofcharitable
As Paul product
asthe end of pityfor
the powerless exiles' atthe S1

construed done 'out P

(Gonzalo) emphasis added). And this
and humans (Brown 60,
of heavenly
authority
reinstallation
can justify the enslaving (1
behest and
rescue
of of the wrong kind ch
as an exorcising
grand blueprint like Caliban
(5
ofnative inhabitants
and rape.
lust the recovery lit
oflove, namely extended to incorporate
project is

The rhetoric of courtly love

m
The euphemizing as well.
world
in the real lady' and he fu
power Prospero's 'dear
"bountiful Fortune'
of
make 1n
to which, his 'fortunes/
Will
ever
operates
star' failing of
the 'auspicious love is the
the apotheosis of courtly
must 'court'

after droop' (1.2.

178-84). And Jac
transformnthe long-standing
Miranda:it will CO
union of Ferdinandand into a permanent
Milan and Naples
enmity between
political political status.
to Prospero his lost th
political alliance that willre-assign
resistance
apart from Caliban's ne
The only instance ofdemystification, endeavour to assess
is Trinculo and Stephano's air
to imposed language,
Trinculo thinks of
of colonial acquisition. op
the monetary benefits
to see a dead Indian'
capitalizing on the
English habit of paying 'ten cla

as a prize catch worthy of being ter

while Stephano perceives Caliban
return
gifted to an emperor and
of receiving due compensation in bo

(2.2.26-30, 63-65).But the comic

encoding of this critique severely stas

undermines its potency. ord

'ov
aco
KEY IssUES
are

The thematic concerns of The Tempest are presented as binaries:

wh
the
nature/nurture, order/disorder, freedom/bondage, joy/sorrow,
good/evil. It extends to relationships as well: father/daughter heg
(or
son), ruler/subject, master/slave, hac
colonizer/colonized, teacher/stu
 INTRODUCTION xlx

dent,civilised/savageetc. This
binary helps to focus on the key
of the play even as it stresses their
issues
complex interrelation.
Thus, as the
section on LANGUAGE demonstrates, Caliban's supposedly
irre
deemable nature, which is said to refuse
nurture, has been further dis
torted by the kind of
nurturing undertaken by
Prospero and
Miranda. In fact, Prospero's coercive
tactics repeatedly erode
the tra
ditional image of caring
sustenance associated with nurturing: he
inflicts 'cramps,/ Side-stitches', pinches
'thick as honey-comb'
(1.2.325-30) on Caliban, enjoys
unleashing hounds on the comic
trio (4.1.251-57),
threatens to imprison Ariel in an oak
at the least
sign of weariness (1.2.294-96).
Order likewise produces disorder
Prosperos'trust,/ Like a good parent''beget[s]'
Antonio's 'falsehood'
(1.2.93-95)-the role of the usurper and
the usurped are inter
changeable and the joy of reunion and
rediscovery of the self
(5.1.208-13) is mediated by sea-sorrow.The
pre-condition for Ariel's
liberty is his bondage to Prospero while
Caliban's desire for freedom
makes him voluntarily enslave himself to
foolish Stephano. Caliban
further problematizes the
master-servant relationship by responding
in poetry to Stephano and Trinculo'sprose
contrary to the tradition
of the inferior characters speaking in prose on the
Elizabethan and
Jacobean stage.The play closes with the sense ofbinaries being more
complementary than oppositional.
The invigorating airof the pristine island is in marked contrast to
the stifling, intrigue-ridden world of Milan and Naples. The old and
new arrivals be rejuvenated by its 'Sounds, and sweet
are meant to
airs,that give delight and hurt not'
(3.2.129) but the topological
openness of the terrain does nothing to dispel the strong
sense of
claustrophobia assailing most of the characters. The
spatial and
temporal confinement of the play's action-on a solitary water
bound landmass for precisely three hours -accentuates the
feeling of
stagnation. Ariel pines for release even as he faithfully
carries out the
orders of Prospero (1.2.243-50).
Caliban, who was previously his
'own king', is physically chained to a hard rock and kept from
accessing the 'rest o'th island' (1.2.342-44).
Ferdinand and Miranda
are chafed by Prospero's restraining strictures. Antonio and
Stephano,
who feel choked by Alonso's dominance, are in fact encouraged by
the opportunities provided by the isle to forcibly break this
hegemony. In attempting
this they re-enact the past where Antonio

had similarly challenged the oppressive ascendancy of his brother.

 SARBANI CHAUDHURY
suffocation
a generalI sense
of
for
conceals which
serenity
The slandš
esponsible.
isprimanly elaborated upon
Prpeconventional image of Prospero, by
several
governor who
The realigns
justice
ot an enlightened with
s chat
cnas, for the moral regeneration of
people and
pobtics
and is responsible
the most consistent and effective
is he
alike. Yet perpetrator
societies
He begins
by creating a storm that
in the play: causes a
of violence to recount and thereby re-live
Ariel
He forces. lolncein
shipweck. of being confined in an oak tree for
che painful experience
a month
co-operation (1.2.261-96). He manacles
to ensure his
ears
twelve
and enslaves Caliban
in ofñces that
profit' '
to light his 'fre,/ Fetch in... wood, and serve...
him (1.2.311-13, italics added). One unsuccess-
in the distant past provides all the
at rape justification he
ful attempt
his obligation to Caliban for his survival on
needs to disown the
to continuous ill-treatment. He
island and subject him positively rev-

in egging the dogs on to pursue Stephano, Trinculo and Caliban

els

and orders his goblins to

grind their joints

With dry convulsions, shorten up their sinews

With aged cramps, and more pinch-spotted make them
Than pard or cat o'mountain. (4.1.254-57)
The violence of his language is unmatched by any other character in

The Tempest. He blackmails Antonio and Sebastian into submission by

threatening to reveal their conspiracy against Alonso. Faced with the

exposure, Antonio must 'perforce...restore' Prospero's dukedonm to

him (5.1.132-34).
The other acts of violence by Antonio, Sebastian, Alonso, Caliban,

Stephano or Trinculo, either belong to the past or are abortive. Yet

their actions are designated as crimes that require punishment while
Prospero's endeavours are legitimized in the name ofjustice.The play

purports to assess the moral component ofactions by a neutral yard

stick but in efect prioritises the viewpoint of Prospero over that of
others and implicates the audience/reader in the scheme. Mirandas
iconic function in the play is similarly privileged. Her commodifica
tion to facilitate colonial and patriarchal enterprise has been already
commented upon in the sections COLONIALISM and GENDER,
but the construct of an ideal daughter/lover epitomizing mercy,

compassion and obedience also requires scrutiny. Prominent

 INTRODUCTION

instances of Miranda's naturally

sympathetic nature are her concern
over the storm-tossed aristocrats and Ferdinand's
enforced slavery.
But it is that Miranda's sympathies are directed
interesting
wholly at
the shipwrecked nobility whom she has
never seen; she is curnously
insensitive to the predicament of the islanders, including Caliban.
She
is also subject to a convenient amnesia
that enables her to fall in love
with the son of her father's enemy, moments
after she has wept over
Alonso's ill-treatment of Prospero.
Attention to such faultlines that abound in The Tempest will
enable
thereaders to view the play in ways that make sense in our own
con
text. We need to investigate the exorcising of matriarchal authority
and the objectificationof Miranda that legitimize the operations of
patriarchy, the mystification of the colonial regime as an
educative
and civilizing project, the construct of a master language and class
that relegates all alternatives to a subordinate position.The issue is
not what the play says,but why Unravelling the politics of the text and
the ideology that informs it will help us wrest meanings from the
play written by the leading playwright ofa nation that had colonized
Indians as well, for over three hundred years.That
these interpreta
tions might not coincide with mainstrearn readings will
only prove
that the empire can and does write /read back.