POST COLONIAL DISCOURSES OF SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS - Gifty Rose K B

 

Post-colonial examines the effect colonialism had on literature and literary studies within the historical boundaries and outside the geographical boundaries of England and Britain. The plays which are considered to be the post-colonial plays of Shakespeare are Antony and Cleopatra, Othello, Merchant of Venice and Tempest. After the post-colonial theory got introduced, they got different interpretations. Mind and wealth of the people were colonized by the Colonizers.

 In India, Mughals became Indianized and Westerners didn’t undergo that transformation. The religious agenda of the English started with the Pious Clause in India. Macaulay’s Minutes introduced an Education policy by the British for the education of Indians. This education aimed to produce interpreters between colonial people and local people. Indians mastered the English Language and started to speak back to Britishers. This instance can also be seen in The Tempest when Caliban talks back to Prospero and tells him that the only use of teaching him the language is that it helped him curse Prospero in his language. The White man’s burden is also seen when Prospero finds it that teaching his language which he felt superior to others is his duty in a way to civilize them. But within ninety years after the English language was introduced in India, the collapse of the empire is seen. Indians used this language as a means of decolonizing.

   A strong connection is seen in how post-colonial theory examines the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized. It finds out how the colonized responded to the dominance. In the Tempest, Caliban and Ariel are slaves of Prospero. Caliban was the one who showed around the island, the beauty of the island when Prospero and Miranda first reached the island. But then he was enslaved. The guest became the master and the original owner lost his superiority over the land. It is Prospero’s magic that enslaved Caliban. The magic symbolizes the power and wealth owned by the Colonizers. Prospero tells that at first, he treated Caliban with human love and care and what he did in return was try to rape Miranda. Caliban is unapologetic in his action but he then turns to do what Prospero says because he is aware of Prospero’s power. Prospero also boasts that it was he who gave words to Caliban’s thoughts by teaching him the language. But Caliban and his mother Sycorax ruled that island before he arrived on their way without the language.

  Capitalism leads to Colonialism to an extent. It is significant as it produced the early days of Colonialism. When Stephano and Trinculo arrive and give booze to Caliban, he thinks of them as God. He is then ready to accept the servitude to them, thus he is ready to change the master without changing his condition. When Stephano and Trinculo thought of Caliban as an exotic fish when they first saw him, they thought of selling it in Europe. It shows the capitalist effects of the Colonizer.

 Othering in Shakespeare gives the first glimpse of the Colonialist idea. Othello is a black man. He is a moor and could be referred to as Muslims from Turkey, Ethiopia, and Africa. Muslims are treated as enemies of Christians. Thus, religion is used as a proxy to attract people to war. Shylock is a Jew and is considered another in the play. Colonizers are Christians and the others are non–believers as they considered. Black in Shakespeare is also such a term which stands for Arabs and Negros or who don’t have a European identity. In Antony and Cleopatra, the fictional Cleopatra is portrayed as a seductress but in reality, she was the best among the rulers.  European Moral superiority is prominent in these plays when read through the post-colonial lenses. Post-colonialism reads subaltern through the narratives of gender, class, nation, and race.

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                                                                                      GIFTY ROSE K B

                                                                                       LEC052122

 

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