The Role of Language in Shakespeares Play The Tempest Essay -- The Te

The Role of Language in Shakespeare's Play The Tempest 1 The role of language in Shakespeare’s play â€Å"The Tempest† is quite significant. To Miranda and Prospero the use of language is a means to knowing oneself. Caliban does not view language in the same light. Prospero taught Caliban to speak, but instead of creating the feeling of empowerment from language, Caliban reacts in insurrectionary manner. Language reminds him how different he is from Miranda and Prospero, and also how they have changed him. It also reminds him of how he was when he wasn’t a slave. He resents Prospero for â€Å"Civilising† him, because in doing so he took away his freedom. Language and knowledge is the key to power on the island. Prospero is a well educated man, and has many books, which gives him his magical power. Prospero rules the island and has many creatures under his command. He possesses so much power that he can even cause weather to change and indirectly the fate of the people who were shipwrecked on the island. William Sherman has the opinion â€Å"Knowledge was magical, and sometimes even entailed magic. But the attacks on libraries, the condemnations for conjuring, and the polemical complaints betray a deeper and more significant phenomenon: there were in early modern England dramatic uncertainties about the power of information and those who possessed it. (Cited in Jardine 1996: 105) Throughout the whole play there is evidence of power, someone in possession of it and another subordinate to the person with the power. Mostly this happens in the scenes with prospero, as he is almost an omniscient and omnipotent character, with god-like qualities. He has the means to change many things not possible for humans, because of his magic and his power over magical creatures such as Ariel. Caliban also does the will of Prospero; But, as ‘tis, We cannot miss him: he does make our fire, Fetch in our wood, and serves in offices That profit us. What, ho! Slave! Caliban! (I.ii.351-53) The shipwrecked people also play into Prospero’s hand, but they don’t even realize this. Even Miranda is dutiful to her father, and does what he says with little complaint. There is a hierarchy on the island, with Prospero on top of the list. Lorie Jerrell Leininger writes in her article â€Å"Miranda is given to understand that she is the foot in the family ... ...epresents every person that has been colonized by Europe, and their attempt to civilize the savages. Their method of civilizing and to maintain a firm grip on their savage labourers was language. It was their means to communicate and control the people who they didn’t consider as themselves and a means to discriminate against it. This is reason why Caliban resists and rebels against Prospero and disparage the language he has been taught. To him it is the loss of freedom and the agency through which he is being discriminated against. References: Knight,G.Wilson. â€Å"The Shakespearean Superman: An essay on The Tempest.† The Crown of life: Essays in Interpretation of Shakespeare’s Final Plays. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1947. 203-255 Leininger, Lorie Jerrel. â€Å"The Miranda Trap: Sexism and Racism in Shakespeare’s Tempest.† The Woman’s Part: Feminist Criticism of Shakespeare. Eds Carolyn Ruth Swift Lenz et al. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1983. 285-294 Smith, Ian. "When we were capital, or lessons in language: Finding Caliban's roots." Shakespeare Studies 28 (2000): 252-256 Tomlinson, Gary. "The matter of sounds." Shakespeare Studies 28(2000):236-239