મને ડર લાગે છે...
કુદરત પોતાની સુંદરતા છોડતી નથી,
માણસ પોતાનો સ્વાર્થ છોડતો નથી;
જોઉં છું જ્યારે સચ્ચાઈ આ બેરહેમ દુનિયાની,
ત્યારે મને ડર લાગે છે.
કહે છે અંધારામાં પણ અંજવાળાની કિરણ હોય છે,
પણ તે જ અંધારું જ્યારે માણસને ભરખે છે,
ત્યારે મને ડર લાગે છે.
રંગીન કાગળ કેરી આ દુનિયામાં,
જોઈ છે સંબંધોની અનેરી ગૂંચવણ;
પરંતુ તે જ સંબંધ જ્યારે પોતાની હદ વટાવે છે,
ત્યારે મને ડર લાગે છે.
લોકશાહીની આ માયાજાળમાં,
રાજનીતિને આરે મૂકીને;
લોકોની ભાવના સાથે જ્યારે રમવામાં આવે છે,
ત્યારે આ દુનિયાનો મને ડર લાગે છે.
ASSIGNMENT
Post colonial literature
💠Comparison of Shakespeare's "The Tempest and Cesaire's A Tempest"
💠 Introduction :
"A Tempest" is a play by Aimé Césaire (26 June 1913 – 17 April 2008) . It was published in 1969. It is an attempt to confront and rewrite the idea of colonialism as presented in Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest'. The play was first performed at the Festival d'Hammamet in Tunisia under the direction of Jean-Marie Serreau. It later played in Avignon and Paris. Aimé Césaire uses all of the characters from Shakespeare's version, but he specifies that Prospero is a white master, while Ariel is a mulatto and Caliban is a black slave. These characters are the focus of the play as Césaire foregrounds issues of race, power, and decolonization. So, in this play, we are going to discuss about the discourse in characters, cultural conflict, construction of this play and also the relationship between the master and slave.
💠 "A Tempest" by Aimé Césaire :-
"When the work was done, I realized there was not much Shakespeare left."
~ Aime Cesaire
Aimé Césaire was a Martinican activist, politician, and author who was also founder of the Negritude movement in the1930s. Protesting assimilation, Negritude fought against French colonial rule and colonialism generally. His anti-colonial literature can be exemplified by his fourth and final play, A Tempest. Aimé Césaire was able to use Shakespeare’s societal recognition in order to publish A Tempest through an anti-colonial lens. Aimé Césaire chose Shakespeare’s The Tempest to rewrite in a post-colonial light to confront the western ideologies as well as change the audience from the aristocracy to the low to middle class.
◾'A Tempes't is a postcolonial revision of William Shakespeare’s 'The Tempest :-
A Tempest is a postcolonial revision of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest and draws heavily on the original play—the cast of characters is, for the most part, the same, and the foundation of the plot follows the same basic premise.Prospero has been exiled and lives on a secluded island, and he drums up a violent storm to drive his daughter’s ship ashore. The island, however, is somewhere in the Caribbean, Ariel is a mulatto slave rather than a sprite, and Caliban is a black slave. A Tempest focuses on the plight of Ariel and Caliban—the never-ending quest to gain freedom from Prospero and his rule over the island. Ariel, dutiful to Prospero, follows all orders given to him and sincerely believes that Prospero will honor his promise of emancipation. Caliban, on the other hand, slights Prospero at every opportunity: upon entering the first act, Caliban greets Prospero by saying “Uhuru!”, the Swahili word for “freedom.” Prospero complains that Caliban often speaks in his native language which Prospero has forbidden. This prompts Caliban to attempt to claim birthrights to the island, angering Prospero who threatens to whip Caliban. During their argument, Caliban tells Prospero that he no longer wants to be called Caliban,
“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.”
The allusion to Malcolm X cements the aura of cultural reclamation that serves as the foundational element of A Tempest. Cesaire has also included the character Eshu who in the play is cast as a black devil-god. Calling on the Yoruba mythological traditions of West Africa, Eshu assumes the archetypal role of the trickster and thwarts Prospero’s power and authority during assemblies. Near the end of the play, Prospero sends all the lieutenants off the island to procure a place in Naples for his daughter Miranda and her husband Ferdinand. When the fleet begs him to leave, Prospero refuses and claims that the island cannot stand without him; in the end, only he and Caliban remain. As Prospero continues to assert his hold on the island, Caliban’s freedom song can be heard in the background. Thus, Cesaire leaves his audience to consider the lasting effects of colonialism.
💠 A Comparison of Shakespeare's "The Tempest" and Cesaire's "A Tempest" :
William Shakespeare’s The Tempest possesses some ''European biases in the justification of colonization among the colonized countries while Aimé Césaire’s A Tempest is written as a postcolonial response to William Shakespeare’s 'The Tempest' and embodies the spirit of rebellion of the oppressed peoples against the European colonization''. So, Césaire's version of this play explores in further depth and studies thoroughly the original concepts and themes of colonialism and Negritude, which Césaire studied extensively. A Tempest addresses modernist issues and theories such as colonialism, racism and color discrimination through the utilization of a classic play most modern readers are familiar with (Césaire)
The Tempest is well known and one of William Shakespeare's final plays, written around the year 1610 and the play ' The Tempest' considered to represent the "culmination of his career". Centered around a deposed ruler, Prospero, the play takes place exclusively on a distant island after the ship carrying the King of Naples encounters a powerful storm and the crew is forced to abandon the vessel. We find out that this is caused by the spirit Ariel, a servant of Prospero's. This in fact marks the beginning of a series of actions by Prospero to manipulate the other characters in the play towards his own end.
After reassuring his daughter Miranda that no one on the ship was hurt, Prospero proceeds to inform her of how they ended up on the island, being betrayed by his brother Antonio who took his title as Duke of Milan. We then meet Caliban, a slave of Prospero's and the rightful owner of the island by his Mother Sycorax who owned it previously. Soon Ferdinand, the Kings son happens upon Miranda and the two instantly fall in love. Although this is just what Prospero expected and hoped to happen he plays the suspicious father and enslaves Ferdinand despite his daughters protest. The next characters we come across are Alonso, the King of Naples and his party, including his scheming brother Sebastian, Antonio and the good hearted Gonzalo. We find Sebastian and Antonio both plotting against the king despite the dire situation they appear to be in. The next scene has the jester Trinculo and Stephano, a drunk, come across Caliban as he hides from what he takes to be an agent of Prospero's. By the end of this scene Caliban has decided to swear his loyalty to Stephano and secure his aid in killing Prospero.
In act 3, scene 3 Prospero finally confronts his enemies as he presents them with a banquet only to snatch it away at the last minute. Ariel echoes his feelings towards them when calling them "three men of sin". Towards the end of the play Prospero again meets with the kings party and a remorseful Alonso. This meeting however is meant to reconcile their differences and bring his plan to a close. Alonso restores Prospero's dukedom during there meeting and in turn learns of his son's survival and betrothal to Miranda. He more or less calls out Antonio for the traitor that he is but forgives him nonetheless. The play itself ends with Prospero appealing to the audience to release him from the island through applause .
There are clear lines drawn between characters based on race and even the formerly neutral Gonzalo is condescending towards what he views as a rebellious Caliban obviously in need of Christianity . Caliban's race and subsequent treatment as a result of is quite obvious and the same with Ariel in his role as the willing servant. Better treated but still a captive, Cesaire's decision to make him a mulatto slave was probably an obvious one as they are traditionally viewed as better treated.
In The Tempest there are quite a few characters that might be easily identifiable as villains but the main figure, Prospero seems to play many roles, good and bad. All of the events in the play are more or less orchestrated by him in his attempt to get justice and return to Milan. It can even be argued that he is largely at fault for his current situation by neglecting his duties as Duke and passing off responsibility to his brother. Whether Prospero is a villain or not is not so difficult to figure out in Cesaire's work as that is his purpose as a oppressive European colonist.
💠To sum up :-
So, Aime Cesaire give impact on the play and as flourishing the play he explaining with expanding his idea or realism too. In centering Caliban, Césaire changes the tone of the play. Instead of a play about a magical island, Césaire uses the play to bring up real issues in the institution of colonialism. The Tempest is a play that can be and has been interpreted in many different ways, but Une Tempête is most specifically a critique of colonialism and an exploration of how it affects all those involved. Césaire successfully accomplishes this through giving voice to Caliban and Ariel. Caliban is able to resist Prospero with the very language (indeed rhetorical magic) that Prospero taught him. The power structure in the play is shown through different types of knowledge, specifically Prospero’s educational knowledge and Caliban’s practical knowledge.
💠 Work cited :
