The Tempest Comparative Essay

Aimé Césaire’s postcolonial revision of Shakespeare’s The Tempest draws specifically upon the relationship between Prospero and his servants Ariel and Caliban. The scenario that A Tempest focuses on is similar to Act I, Scene II of The Tempest. In contrast to The Tempest, the issue of race is elucidated as both servants are portrayed to be of African descent. Prospero treats Ariel differently from Caliban, perhaps because of Caliban’s blackness as opposed to Ariel’s mixed ancestry. This idea correlates to slavery because mulatto slaves were treated to a higher standard than black slaves, and often times mixed slaves were the offspring of their slave masters.
There are some distinct differences in some character traits from Shakespeare's original play to Cesaire’s adaptation. Most notably Caliban, who appears to be more intelligent and less of a savage than he does in Shakespeare’s play. This is made evident to the reader by the language that Caliban uses in his conversation with Prospero and Prospero even
He refuses to answer to Caliban, his slave name given to him by Prospero “Call me X. That would be best. Like a man without a name. Or, to be more precise, a man whose name has been stolen. You talk about history… well, that’s history, and everyone knows it! Every time you call me it reminds me of a basic fact, the fact that you’ve stolen everything from me, even my identity! Uhuru!” (1723) Caliban uses the word Uhuru to provoke Prospero regardless of the fact that Prospero has forbidden him from speaking in his native language. The name X, which he chooses to adopt could be an allusion to Malcolm X, who spurned the name Malcolm Little because it was a slave name. The allusion also corresponds to the number of African-American who rejected their slave names and adopted African