Are We Calibans?

After I read this article from Barnard College, I realized that behind the characters from Shakespeare's play, The Tempest, there is a deeper meaning. I came to believe that the play as a whole is a representation of the colonization in North and South America at the end of the sixteenth century. Caliban and cannibal can be easily be confused as being homophone, by sounding almost alike, however they are not as they do not sound exactly the same. Nevertheless, it is clear that there is a connection between them. Possibly being that "Caliban" originated from the word "Cannibal" and noting that Caliban is treated as he were an aborigine or a savage.

In the play, Prospero enslaves Caliban and is treated as a primitive person be being a native to the island. He is forced to work towards Prospero's own benefit without any chance of escaping. Caliban is constantly tortured by "Prospero's demons" and he is constantly afraid of not being submissive enough for Prospero and facing her magic. Caliban and Prospero can be translated to the Native Americans and the European colonizers. This case specially serves for the Indigenous cultures of Latin America, such as the Mayas, Incas, Muiscas or Aztecs who endured many hardships during colonization. Their land, culture, community and resources were stripped from them without much mercy. Just like Caliban, they were enslaved simply for being natives and seemingly inferior to their colonizers. They were forced to learn a new language and adapt to a completely strange culture. Prospero teaches her prisoners English, just like the Spaniards taught the natives Spanish. Nevertheless, being forced to a new culture as an adult is harsh and it made a new identity rise in the America's: "the mestizo" as it is most commonly known. Their own culture as simply forgotten and eliminated.

Colonization shaped the way our country is nowadays. The way we talk, the color of our people and even the widespread knowledge that without the colonization of Spaniards we would be in a completely different situation right now. Some claim there would be no violence and that we would be a much wealthier country right now. Many Latin Americans can connect with Caliban and feel their country's history identified with Caliban's situation. However, as harsh and barbaric as our country's history might be it formed our identities and made our country be what it is today. As Latin Americans we all share the same history and heritage. It is impossible to not compare, and relate our story to Shakespeare's last play, The Tempest.