Morten Oddvik, E-202 Marginalized Whiteness, 14.05.

2009

Prospero & Paternal Power

In this essay I will examine Prospero’s use of paternal power, more specifically in his

relationship to Miranda and Caliban. Linguistic power is central in these relationships, and there

exists a parallel between the relationship of Prospero and Miranda and the relationship between

Prospero and Caliban. I will look closely at linguistic power and the use of language, and

especially how Prospero uses this towards Miranda and Caliban. I will use the expression linguistic

power as Stephen Greenblatt has used it in his article “Learning to Curse: Aspects of Linguistic

Colonialism in the Sixteenth Century”, where language is presented as an essential tool when

establishing power over an environment in order to control it and its inhabitants.

In Scene 2 of Act 1 of The Tempest Prospero and Miranda speak of the twelve years that

have passed since he was the Duke of Milan. Prospero appears to have been a caring father, or as

he assures Miranda that she; “Art ignorant of what thou art” (14, Act 1, Scene 2), and that he has

taken full responsibility for her, as a proper father ought to do. On the other hand, Prospero has

apparently been cautious with giving Miranda information about her past. In response to

Miranda’s inquires concerning herself Prospero answers; “Stay, not yet” (14, Act 1, Scene 2). He

has had full control over her upbringing and has formed her into his image. He is to some extent in

control over her sexuality and her thoughts. “Obey, and be attentive” (15, Act 1, Scene 2), he

exclaims to her in the same scene.

Miranda sympathizes with her father when Prospero explains his misery of being marooned

upon the island. The teenaged girl, in her naivety, fully believes what her father is telling her, as

children usually do - until they get new impulses from outsiders. Obviously she does not have any

choice since Prospero has taught her everything she knows. Perhaps Prospero has taught her too

much? The answer will nevertheless concern the importance of language, which I will examine in

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this essay. I will look at how language works as a means of control and power in relation to

Prospero’s paternalism.

In his article Greenblatt coins the expression «linguistic colonialism» in terms of colonial

power claimed by the colonizer. It is a known fact that language is considered as a means of acting

out power, and in the case of Prospero’s power over Caliban it is essentially a question of

linguistic colonialism. As Miranda has been an unspoiled mind of a child, Caliban is viewed by

Prospero as a “tabula rasa” (17) in the words of Peter Martyr in Greenblatt’s essay. Prospero

assumes that Caliban is “ready to take the imprint of European civilization” (17), and that he has

the perfect right to take this colonial responsibility, sort of speak. This responsibility and right is

justified by the colonial view that indigenous people were “culturally naked” (17). Indigenous

people were far behind the glorious civilization of Europe, or as Martyr suggests; “Wild men live

beyond the pale of civilized life, outside all institutions, untouched by the long, slow development

of human culture” (22). In other words, the colonial powers saw it as a kind gesture to help these

`noble savages` to a higher civilization, or at least use them, in the utilitarian sense, in their image

of modern civilization. Since the “ruling class (was) obsessed with the symbolism of dress” (17)

and the indigenous people were regarded as “culturally naked” the colonizers, like Prospero,

claims his right to educate Caliban and teach him to be a good servant through teaching him ways

of obedience through language and knowledge.

There is an interesting parallel between these two relationships I have described above,

which I already have presented. Interestingly, Greenblatt cites Terence Hawkes, who suggests that;

“A colonist acts essentially as a dramatist. He imposes the `shape` of his own culture, embodied in

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his speech, on the new world, and makes that world recognizable, habitable, `natural`, able to

speak his language” (24).

In the same way Prospero imposes his `shape` upon Miranda. His paternal power justifies

this, and nothing is more normal than parents raising their children in their image, but as there is a

lack of outside impulses, Prospero has all power in his hands until Miranda encounters new

people, like Ferdinand and Caliban. Prospero’s paternalism is seen in his relationship with Caliban

as well, this sense that he is inferior and does not know what is best for him. Prospero claims this

paternal responsibility as rightful due to his knowledge and wisdom. Like a dramatist he takes

command and “imposes” his scheme on all the people that are on the island, and by doing this he is

in full control, as a dramatist. Prospero’s relationship to his daughter is especially interesting, as he

raises her within this dramatic image and tries to control her.

Miranda is an interesting character because she attains knowledge from her father, which I

argue that she uses in order to rebel against her father. Prospero wants to control her sexuality and

desire for Ferdinand. He wants to protect her in the traditional paternal sense, as he does when he

scolds Caliban for trying to rape his daughter. Miranda feels that Prospero interferes in the passage

where Miranda and Ferdinand first meet and start to develop an amorous interest in each other.

Why speaks my father so urgently? This

is the third man e`er I saw, the first
That e`r I sighed for. Pity move my father
To be inclined my way!
(Act 1, Scene 2)

In the same way as Prospero regarded Caliban as a threat to Miranda with his sexuality, he

is afraid that Ferdinand poses a similar threat. Prospero is afraid of men’s desire for his daughter.

Prospero wants to be in full control of Miranda and her emotions and sexuality and both Caliban

and Ferdinand are threats to this paternal power. Again, Prospero justifies his use of magic to

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control Ferdinand as part of his paternal power. Ferdinand may very well be a more attractive

partner for Miranda than Caliban, but Prospero want to be absolutely sure that he directs the

action. In the passage quoted above Miranda maturely sees how her father tries to control her.

Ferdinand is only the third man she has encountered in her life, after her own father and Caliban,

and she feels frustrated by Prospero’s almost obsessive paternal need for keeping her a delicate

creature. Prospero wants her to stay virginal and unspoiled until he sees it fit for her to enter a

relationship with Ferdinand. Caliban on the other hand poses only a threat to Miranda, as he

embodies wild nature.

He is portrayed as a wild man, a savage, a beast of uncontrollable lust and desire, in

Prospero’s view, or constructed image. Greenblatt writes that the perception of the savage in the

Christian Middle Ages were that “the Wild Man (was) the distillation of the specifically Christian

institutions of civilized life: the securities of sex (as organized by the institutions of the family,

sustance (as provided by the political, social, and economic institutions), and salvation (as

provided by the Church)” (21).

Not until Act 2 of the play is Caliban seen in interaction with others than Prospero and

Miranda. Until the point where Caliban encounters Trinculo, Prospero has only victimized Caliban

within his constructed image of the hierarchical structure on the island. In the passages between

Trinculo and Caliban he displays sides of human features like abstract thinking and conversation.

“Language is, after all, one of the crucial ways of distinguishing between men and beasts” (23),

writes Greenblatt, and in this scene Caliban reveals human features of knowledge and language as

well as greed and revenge.

The victimization of Caliban is somewhat one-dimensional. In this scene he displays a

knowledgeable side of himself that humanizes him. He has considerable knowledge of the island,

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of its fertility and its secrets. Additionally Caliban displays a cunning knowledge of how Stephano

and Trinculo can conspire against Prospero, as Caliban tells them:

Remember
First to possess his books, for without them
He`s but a sot, as I am, nor hath not
One spirit to command. They all do hate him
As rootedly as I. Burn but his books.
(Act 3, Scene 2)

Caliban reveals knowledge of how to get revenge on Prospero because he is familiar with

the linguistic colonialism that Prospero exercises on the island. Caliban is cunning and not as

inferior and savage as Prospero reckons since he knows that Prospero is relying his paternal power

upon his knowledge and magic of his books. Caliban is conscious of Prospero’s weak point.

Shakespeare portrays Caliban in another light than the image Prospero offers, where he is

only a beast without language. Ironically, Prospero himself has taught Caliban language, a

language that is not his, and because of this he now knows how to conspire against him.

Consequently, Caliban knows more about “the island” than Prospero does, and since Caliban knew

freedom prior to Prospero colonized the island he should know language, his language. As

Greenblatt suggests; “In the poisoned relationship between master and slave, Caliban can only

curse, but we know that Caliban`s consciousness is not simply a warped negation of Prospero’s”

(31). In the same fashion we can consider Miranda in the same way. She is presented in another

light when she interacts with Ferdinand, where she displays sides of individualism and affection

towards another man than her father, features not encouraged by Prospero. This could also be

viewed as evidence of her awareness of her father’s obsessive paternalism, as shown in her

frustration over his interference in her relationship to Ferdinand.

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The parallel between the paternal powers Prospero exercises in his relation to his daughter

and his slave is an example of the abuse of power. Conclusively, Prospero`s image, in which he has

tried to create and maintain is in essence an attempt to contain both Miranda and Caliban in his

grip of power. This construction is threatened by Miranda and Caliban’s consciousness of its very

existence. As Greenblatt writes, “(...) reality for each society is constructed to a significant degree

out of the specific qualities of its language and symbols. Discard the particular words and you

have discarded the particular men” (32). This is what Prospero has done, but throughout the play

there are signs of awareness in both of the characters of Miranda and Caliban.

Works cited:

Shakespeare, William. The Tempest in The Tempest A Case Study, Eds. Graff, Gerald and James

Phelan, Bedford/St. Martin`s, Boston, 2000

Greenblatt. «Learning to Curse: Aspects of Linguistic Colonialism in the Sixteenth Century»