William Shakespeares The Tempest and Aimé Césaires postcolonial response to it, A Tempest. Césaire and Shakespeare are separated by more than three hundred years. Yet they are occupied with many of the same themes and questions: what is freedom? what is legitimate political authorityand how is it possible? How should one resist unjust political authority?
Likewise, both Césaire and Shakespeare use the play as an occasion to reflect on colonialism, treating the relationships between Caliban, Ariel, and Prospero as representatives of for colonial relationshipsfor instance between colonizing Europeans and indigenous populations. Césaires text is not only highly critical of colonialism: it also critiques the ways in which Shakespeares play is implicated in, complicit with, the development of colonialism. But Césaires text also remains closely bound to Shakespeares: he articulates his critique of colonialism and of Shakespeare through materials and possibilities that Shakespeare himself offers.
For this reason, one cannot study Césaires play alone: one has to read it through and alongside Shakespeares. A Tempest challenges the idea that a play, a poem, a work of literature is singular, complete in itself: it suggests, instead, that works of literature are bound up in each other. That writers are not solitary geniuses, but rather collaborators, working with and against other writers. How do we study a play like A Tempesta play which is embedded in another play?
In your second paper for this class, I want you to think about the relationship between The Tempest and A Tempest: the way that Césaire is simultaneously collaborating with and resisting Shakespeares play. Pick a specific scene or relationship present in both plays and analyze it in detail. Your analysis should involve three steps: first, carefully study the dynamics of the scene or relationship in Shakespeare. What are the implications of the way Shakespeare portrays this scene or relationship? Second, examine Césaires version of the same scene or relationship. How does Césaire portray it? What implications are present in his version? Third, compare and contrast the two versions of the same scene or relationship. How and why does Césaire change the dynamics, the implicationsand, most importantly, the politicsof Shakespeares text? In a paper of four to five pages, answer this question in detail.
A good paper will be limited and specific. Instead of trying to explain all of the differences between the two plays, focus as tightly as you can on small moments of continuity and change between them. Pay attention to minor differences in language, staging, characterization, etc. Work from these small differences to larger claimsinstead of making big claims and trying to prove them by summarizing the plays as a whole.
Note: If you wish, you may substitute either of the Brathwaite poems for Césaires A Tempestor you may read all three authors together. If you decide to do all three, please see me to make sure you arent taking on more than you can chew.
Requirements:
Your paper must be at least four full pages. (Three and a half pages doesnt counteven if its technically on the third page!). 12 pt font and normal margins please.
Your paper must pose a limited and specific problem in your introduction. No Since the beginning of time
type intros. Your thesis statement should then solve this problem or answer the question your raise.
Your paper must have an argumentative thesis statement (see thesis statement checklist). Your thesis statement should also provide a comprehensive map to the claims you make in your paper: each body paragraph should emerge a claim that appears in your thesis statement.
Your paper must have an introduction, conclusion, and at least four body paragraphs. Your body paragraphs should (1) each make a different point which (2) builds on previous points, creating a logical flow from one point to another as your paper proceeds and (3) each point in each of your body paragraphs must be fully anticipated in your introduction. Finally, each paragraph should directly cite evidence from at least one of the plays.
Your paper must analyze both The Tempest and A Tempest, quoting directly from both texts, and thinking about the relationship between the two. A good paper will rely on evidence from the plays, carefully analyzed and explained.
