“’This Thing of darkness I acknowledge mine’: The Tempest and the discourse of

colonialism.” By Paul Brown

SUMMARY
Jamestown & Shakespeare's 'The Tempest' - Virginia Humanities
�This Thing of Darkness I Acknowledge Mine�, Paul Brown The Tempest…: keizerbeth
— LiveJournal

Brown attempts to read The Tempest in the light of English Adventurer John Rolfe’s letter
(1614) seeking the permission to marry Pocahontas*. This letter by Rolfe serves to explain
the discourse of colonialism*, which operates through two areas:
 Masterlessness
 Savagism

Masterlessness

Masterlessness “analyses wandering or unfixed or unsupervised elements in the internal

margins of civil society. It constitutes the class discourse(Master/servant). In addition, it is
indicative of the hierarchy in society.
E.g. Rolfe’s subjective desire* and potential detractors with in the colony.*
Masterlessness reveals the mastered (submissive, observed, supervised, deferential*) and
masterful(powerful, observing, supervising).

Savagism

Savagism probes and categorizes alien cultures on the external margins of the expanding civil
power. It constitutes the race discourse (civil/savage, white/black, European/cannibal).
E.g. Amerindian cultures of Virginia. (There are nine Amerindian tribes’ settled across
the ten administrative Regions of South America. For Example Caribs).

Savagism reveals the necessity of psychic and institutional order and, direction in the civil
regime. This is manifest in The Tempest. For example, Prospero’s power to order and
supervise his colony is manifest in his capacity to control not his, but his subjects’ sexuality.
Eg. That of Caliban and Miranda, and Ferdinand and Miranda.

In Rolfe’s case, it suggests a relation with the civil* (Rolfe) and non-civil (Pocahontas)
which needs to be positioned in terms of ‘promulgation/resistance of fulfilling/destructive*
sexual desire.’ In Rolfe’s letter his “truant sexual desire’ is positioned “within the duly
ordered and supervised civil relationship.”

The civil (Rolfe) and the non-civil (Pocahontas) constitutes the race discourse. Rolfe
explains Pocahontas as native and savage, who has the chance to reform after his marriage to
her, and this denotes racial discrimination. Rolfe constitutes the civil that have the capability
of mastering and transforming the savage. The purpose of the letter written by Rolfe is to
seek permission from the authority to marry Pocahontas. This denotes Rolfe’s submissiveness
to the authority. This defines the class discourse. The ability of the coloniser (Rolfe) to
manifest the sexual association with the native Pocahontas as ‘ ... to labour in the lord’s
vineyard (female body), there to sow and plant, to nourish and increase the fruit….’
constitutes the sexual discourse. Each of these ideas is manifest in The Tempest, and they
serve to authorise the power of the coloniser over the colonised. In addition, this constitutes
the colonial discourse.

British Colonialism and The Tempest

The British colonialism (colonialism=discourse because it establishes colonizer/colonized

relationship) operated in three domains: core, semi-periphery and periphery. Immanuel
Wallerstein suggested this classification.

Core

It refers to the expansion of royal hegemony* in English-Welsh main lands.

Hayden White in his 'The Forms of Wildness: Archaeology of an Idea', speaks about the
antisocial man, masterless man, “the ungoverned, unsupervised man without the restraining
resources of social organization, an embodiment of directionlessness and indiscriminate
desire.” Richard Jonson in Look upon Me London (1613) speaks of the traps for the “sons of
the gentry” who might be lured by “dirt…of the body politic” such as brothel houses that are
beyond the control of the judiciary. Such places constitute the masterless. They are a threat to
the governing classes, who are forced to mobilize, to protect their class position against such
masterless elements. This is the reason why when John Rolfe expresses a desire to marry
Pocahontas it was questioned as his ‘carnall desire’ that is uncontrolled in nature.

In The Tempest, Trinculo, the jester, and Stephano, the drunken butler, represents the
masterlessmen whose alliance with the savage (Caliban) provides an antitype of order.The
aristocrats come to see the necessity for solidarity in face of such threat. This helps them to
take priority over any internecine struggles and constitute the hegemony. At the same time,
the anti-type of order serves to demonstrate the ‘good order-’ those holding hegemony (If
there is no servant there is no master).

Semi-periphery and periphery

Semi-periphery includes the British influence over Ireland and periphery refers to the ‘virgin
territory’ to where excursions were made.

The thrust into Ireland from the 1530s sought to consolidate and expand British political
control and economic exploitation of a strategic marginal area previously only partially under
British authority. Major policies of this expansion included,

 Plantation of British settlements in key areas

 The conversion of the savage customs to their ‘civil counterparts’ (British)
 The introduction of English as the sole official language

Ireland was seen as a savage land that might be made to flow with milk and honey. This
can be compared to the Pocahontas who is transformed into a civil subject indicating the
ability of the English to master the other.

But in1594 Dawtrey (David Beers Quinn, ‘The Elizabethans and the Irish’ (Ithaca: Cornell
University Press, I966) quoted about his opinion regarding the change in the Irish: ‘An ape
will be an ape though he were clad in cloth of gold.’ This sentiment reflects in The Tempest.
For instance, Stephano and Triculo’s masterless aping of the aristocrats in iv. i. were they
steal rich clothes off a line. They are punished by being hunted with dogs and this draws full
attention to their bestiality. They represent the wandering and unsupervised elements having
licentious desires(Stephano decides to take Miranda for his wife). They think themselves
‘half-exempted from law and obedience and having once tasted freedom’ behaves
uncontrolled (their decision to murder Prospero and marry Miranda off to Stephano, their
new lord).
There is another side to it. It explains those in the periphery. The Irish culture is represented
along the lines of the ‘negative formula’, in which the alien is afforded no positive terms but
merely displays the absence of those qualities that connote civility. That is, no law, no
government, no marriage, no social hierarchy, no visible mode of production, no permanent
settlement. There is a reiteration of such a strategy in The Tempest. Eg,. Gonzalo’s imagined
kingdom (II.i). It tends to provide a denigrating picture of the colonised.
The ‘negative formula’ aims at producing a tabula rasa or‘bare unpainted table’ of the
colonised that should be supplied with civilization.
However, this aspect has its problem. The mastering of the savage through the promotion of
civility disrupts the binary division* of civil and the other. When the savage becomes civil
there will not remain the ‘other’.
Again, Brown suggests that there is an analogy between Ireland and Prospero’s Island.
They are both marginally situated. Both places are described as ‘uninhabited.’ Uninhabited
connotes the absence of civility.
These ideas are grounded in Edward Said’s Orientalism. He views colonialism a discourse
wherein
 A disruptive ‘other’ is created in order to assert the superiority of the coloniser.
 Colonial discourse does not only assert a triumph of civility, but they have to
introduce it to the savage.
We can conclude: “colonialist discourse works rather as power for new historicism. Power
allows certain subversion in order to protect its own position; colonial discourse produces a
savage other so that it can affirm its own status as civilised.”

The colonial reading of The Tempest

Prospero as the colonial master

The play begins with a tempest which leads to the jeopardy of the courtly authority. The
hierarchy is disrupted in I.i. When Boatswain (masterless) makes a complete mockery of the
authority of Gonzalo, Gonzalo asks …‘yet remember thou hast abroad.’
 However, the reassertion of the ‘authority’ is made in I.i. when it is revealed that Prospero
is behind such a disruption. After the tempest the crew in the ship is dislocated and dispersed
into the two parts of the island under the power of Prospero- his ‘art.’ The tempest reveals
 …‘Prospero’s capacity to forge the Island in his own image’, the way he decides.
Hence, we can conclude that ‘power’ plays a major role in the play.
For Example, Prospero interpellates* the characters in the play ‘as subjects to his
discourse as beneficiaries of his generosity. Thus for Miranda he is a strong father who
educates and protects her; for Ariel he is a rescuer and task master; for Caliban he is a
coloniser whose refused offer of civilisation forces him to strict discipline; for the ship
wrecked he is a surrogate providence who corrects errant aristocrats and punishes plebeian*
revolt.”
For e.g. the second scene of Act 1 is a demonstration of the interpellation of Miranda, Ariel,
and Caliban by Prospero.

Interpellation: A term derived from the Marxist critic Louis Althusser, refers to the
‘rhetorical and ideological process by which people are constituted as the ‘subjects,’ who
have illusion of subjectivity (that is, of free individuality) but are in fact subjected within the
ideological* order.’

Prospero’s interpellation of Miranda

In the recitation to Miranda regarding her past, ‘he is forced to remember his past
forgetfulness.’ It was his devotion to private study that permitted his unsupervised brother
(masterless) to usurp his throne. However, as the narration proceeds the duke is presented as
helpless in exile, who cries to the sea for help, which charitably helps him to find shore
safely. Despite the fact that Miranda is made fully aware of their exile as responsible due to
her father’s irresponsibility, ultimately she is made to pity with him. She treats him as the
‘wronged Duke of Milan,’ who has preserved her through the sea.
Equally,Prospero attempts to regain his lost kingdom by making Miranda a pawn. Later his
power over Miranda slips over, as Prospero abjures his magic, the source of his coercive
power and Ferdinand takes her for his bride.
Prospero’s interpellation of Ariel

Prospero reminds Ariel of his indebtedness to his mater, which Prospero repeats every month.
He reiterates about the bondage of Sycorax from which he has freed Ariel. Moreover,
paradoxically, he constantly reminds Ariel of his gift of freedom to Ariel, in releasing him
from the imprisonment of the tree. Paradoxical because
 Both have kept Ariel under servitude.
The apparent distinction between both is ‘the distinction between black and white
regimes’. The latter seemed more powerful.

Prospero’s interpellation of Caliban

Caliban is enslaved to his master. The narrative provided by Prospeo in Act1 scene 2
legitimises this exercise of power by presenting Calibans resistance to colonisation as the
refusal of an educative project. Caliban is presented as a wild man, a savage, son of a devil
and a witch wanting in human attributes. He did not even have language before the arrival of
the exiles. Miranda, the civil virgin out of pity taught him to ‘know thine own meaning.’ This
gift of language denotes Caliban’s recognition with the master language. He describes
English as ‘your language.’ That is he constitutes a linguistic subject of the master language.
However, Caliban exerts his resistance. In addition, this provides a pretext for Prospero to
exercise his power over him. There are certain examples in the play itself.
 Caliban does not come when called that makes Prospero angry.
 He showers curses on colonial masters when called upon.
 He is described as ‘a born devil, on whose nature/ Nature can never stick.’
 His attempted rape of Miranda

Miranda and Caliban: A division according to race discourse

Both of them were brought up in the uninhabited island. They constitute the binary
division Miranda/Caliban. This is a major strategy employed in colonialist discourse.
 Miranda= miraculous courtly lady, the virgin
 Caliban= savage incarnate
 Such a division of the children is validated by Prospero’s account of Caliban’s rape of
Miranda. Caliban accepts this charge. The concept of the rapist and virgin is common in
colonialist discourse. In The Faerie Queene Ireland is presented as Irene, a courtly virgin
requiring protection from Grantorto.

Division according to class discourse

The shipwrecked courtiers are divided in the island into two groups: aristocrats and plebeians.
The usurping ‘men of sin’ in the group and the drunken servants both constitute the
‘unmastered’. Nevertheless, there remains a division among them in terms of hegemony.
That is the masterless aristocrats are reabsorbed into the governing class after they are
corrected. Whereas the plebeians are banished from the royal presence (Act 5). This
represents that they are subject to the class discourse manifest in hierarchy.
Again, Stephano and Trinculo who constitutes the plebeian reflect the main action of the plot.
Their plan, along with Caliban to murder Prospero runs parallel to Antonio and Sebastian’s
plot to murder Alonso and Gonzalo. In addition, Sebastian overthrowing Prospero is
implicitly mimicked through the act.Plebeians serve another function.They express the
colonialist project as avaricious and profiteering. Stephano for instance contemplates taming
and exhibiting Caliban for gain (II.ii.).

Role of music

By music’s power, Prospero is able to resolve his problems one by one and harmony is
restored. Eg.Caliban reveals that Island’s music has power over him. It sometimes makes him
dream of riches, which is unattainable for Caliban, as he is the colonized. E.g. 2: .(not in the
essay) Ferdinand is lured before Prospero’s cave by the power of Ariel’s music. The music
reminds him of the one that allayed the storm in the sea

Contradictory discourse

Nevertheless, there is a contradiction to the power exhibited by Prospero and therefore the
colonisers. In the marriage masqueof Act IV Prospero’s capacity to control the native spirits
is shown. That is, he is described as having enoromous magical powers. Even the spirits Ariel
and Caliban is under his control.
Prospero’s instruction before the masque begins is ‘No tongue! All eyes! Be silent!Yet the
plot is disrupted as he reminds of Caliban’s plot to murder him. This is significant in the
forging of colonialist discourse. Prospero considers the ‘inefffectual challenge a dire
threat.’The colonialist discourse needs the other and produces the other to create the
civilized/savage. It validates the colonialist discourse.
Eventually the play ends in harmony the characteristic operation of colonialist discourse
such as masterlessness and savagism stands as loose ends. Caliban is still treated a savage and
Triculo and Stephano are forgotten at the end. However, Prospero leaves the Island back to
the native; the master language will linguistically govern Caliban. The assertion of authority
by Prospero over Caliban compels the readers to pity the native than hate him.
These are the inconclusive elements that further compel the narrative into explaining and
questioning something more: Prospero as the hero of the narrative. This constitutes the
alternative discourse to colonialism.

Significance of the title

Prospero is conceived as the hero of the play. He gives certain evidences as to why the
colonized Caliban is treated as a slave: his nature, which is savage, his attempt to rape
Mianda etc. Caliban is portrayed as someone who cannot be civilized.
There is another side to it, and that is even though Caliban shows the potential to master
the colonizers language, he is still deemed as barbaric. Again, in the marriage masque scene
Caliban is treated as a dire threat, even though he does not possess such a great danger. All
this suggests the coloniser’s tendency to produce the savage native as epitomising darkness or
uncivilized elements. Moreover, the darkness is a construction of the civil.
It is not just the savage but also the masterless that comes under the aegis of darkness as
they are treated as having no respect of the law and live on their own terms.