Caliban And The Witch Quotes

Ronnie Mukhopadhyay
Philosophy 62 Essay
3/9/11

“Caliban and the Witch”

“Caliban and the Witch” is a wonderful book written by Silvia Federici. This book consists the basis and the importance of labor power, the history, and the concepts of the body, and also about Capitalism. Federici got the name Caliban from Shakespeare’s book “The Tempest”. Federici has many details that I find much tensed, of what many people went through. “Caliban and the Witch” is about the transition to Capitalism, and also about the peasant revolts in the middle ages. As I started to read the book, I noticed that Federici analyzed the history that took place in Medieval Europe, and what I found interesting was the part about the basic role of women in
the 12th and 13th centuries. The heretics, a social movement, made a creation of the liberation theology. The peasants that didn’t have much, and that were poor were impoverished, as the growth of the Cities started to go away in the feudal order. The peasants and artisans struggled against merchants, nobility, and the craft masters during the 14thcentury. Later on, the feudal economy was not there. A crisis took place for land owners, and merchants. The elites that started to rule started to begin to carry out the new mode of production, for example, the expropriation of peasantry from their land. Silvia Federici’s book reminds me of Marx, because I remember reading Marx’ book and he also had many point of views about alienation, and Capitalism. A quote that I found in “Caliban and the Witch”, stated on p.135, “Marx too sees the alienation from the body as a distinguishing trait of the Capitalist work relation”. This quote shows Marx’ thoughts of Capitalism, and I specifically find this interesting because Marx’ book had many aspects of the way people had struggled. Workplaces were not safe, and the conditions were not good. Those who were working were deprived of education. Another quote that shows how Federici, and Marx viewed their points in the same way which I noticed is stated on p.75, where Federici states in “Caliban and the Witch”, “The separation of commodity production from the reproduction of labor power also made possible the development of the wage and of the markets as means for the accumulation of unpaid labor” Marx explained about Capitalism, and how it has been rough, especially in the 19th century Federici, and Marx view things in a common manner. When Federici indicates the ruling elites in her book, it reminds me of Marx, where the labor was being done was creating a separation between the workers, and the elite in the society. There were many struggles in the time period between 1580’s, and the 1630’s. The reason there many problems was because of the population had declined, markets shrunk, the trades stopped, and that was the first international crisis. In the Europe’s Middle Ages, the lowliest of those that were serfs had their plot of their land. There was land that acted as buffer that had given security to peasants. Those connections to commons had given territory to peasants which gave resistant movements. In Europe; the movements against feudalism were offering an egalitarian society. The heretics had denounced the private properties, and also social hierarchies, the conception that took place at the middle ages. A quote that I find interesting in “Caliban and the Witch is where Federici states on p.74, “Women were also more negatively impacted by the enclosures”.
A difficult time that took place was during he 16th, and 17th century Europe. During that time, pregnancies were required to be registered with the authorities, and marriage was an important part. It was very difficult for the women that were deprived from their means in tradition of Contraception, and abortion. The work that was being done by females was described as housekeeping. It was assumed that people should have not been working outside of their home. In the 16th century, people lived in a sexist society, where European females had retained economic independence from males that usually don’t underneath Capitalism, where genders are very important. In the medieval society, females had many tasks like washing, and harvesting. The Witch hunt was like a time period, where the females had to become servants to the men’s work force. The writer Silvia Federici explains in this particular book, about the sexuality of a female, which is type of female’s power over males. The object of mystery, and suspicion, was coming under attack by authorities. There were new laws that was taking away the female’s control over reproductive process, for example, banning the birth control measures, and also not having midwives instead replacing them with male doctors, and also the abortion being
outlawed. Silvia Federici also explained about homosexuality, and also the sex between people of different classes.
Things like that prevailed during the middle ages, in the 16th century which was celebrated in Europe”. Witch hunt did not just target the sexuality of a female, but also homosexuality that crafted the boundaries that take place in the society. The politics of gender was part of the feudal system which was in Crisis. As the movements were increasing, the revolutionary was increasing also. Those that were elite European nobles, in the working class were destroying, and also threatened rule The Witch hunt was like a Capitalist paradigm. The Capitalism was known as a counter-revolution which ruined the parts of the anti-feudal problem. In the book, Federici had concepts about witch burning, and she compared it to the 21st century, “War on terrorism”, which crushed the peasant women. It showed how women took part as leaders of peasant rebellions. Federici’s book reminded me of the article that Jeanne Theoharris wrote. This article was very stressful, which was mainly about Syed Hashmi who was sent to jail. I find it very painful for one to go through that pain, and that is not right, how can a human being be treated for something like that. Syed Hashmi had no access to anything, he was not allowed to contact anyone. Syed’s family misses him, and one can tell that Syed is well educated who attended Brooklyn
College. By reading the article, I was able to notice that the Jeanne and Syed had a good relation where the professor found the student to be very intelligent. Jeanne was there for Syed, for example, when he asked her for a recommendation letter, Jeanne without thinking was there for him. Syed showed his best interest in her class. It is sad that one cannot express the way that a person might feel because that can lead to a misunderstanding. Federici’s book also talked about the terrorizing of the poor females, and about the gender ideology which was being transformed was element that was harsh to the destruction of the Solidarity to European Peasantry. In Conclusion, the article about Syed Hashmi is similar to what Federici is referring to because Federici’s book was about how women were impoverished by the enclosures, which had lost the economic security in the open field system, who were forced of stealing. Both Federci, and Jeanne’s thoughts reminds me of the changes in the world. Things are very different, and things are seen differently by others. A quote that I found very interesting in Jeanne’s article was where it said, “If you see something, say something”. This quote shows how there are so many restrictions now a days. People think differently, and may be judgmental. It is not good to mistreat others; I think that people should be treated equally. I can’t believe the torcher that Syed is going through, it is ridiculous, and unbelievable. Both Federici and Marx view their ideas in the same way as well, their ideas on Capitalism are the same. I found this book to be very interesting, and it shows what people went through long time back. This book is very artistic in a way because people can think about that time period, and the history of the body.