‘Othering Each Other’ in Shakespeare’s The Tempest

Abstract

This study includes Postcolonialism in Shakespeare’s The Tempest. It aims at examining Bhabha’s notions of ambivalence and hybridity that he estimates as to be great forms of resistance against the colonial agency. Ambivalence generates a controversial position and viewpoint both for Caliban and Prospero in the play. Caliban is a colonized other and unable to replicate himself accurately to the European colonizers. It inflames Caliban to be ‘turbulent for liberty’ that results in his resistance and insurgency against Prospero and the colonial authority. It confirms his hybrid nature that terrorizes Prospero to lose his exclusive authority on the island and challenges the ‘monolithic power’ of the invaders. Ariel is a subservient spirit unlike Caliban, though his craving for liberty brands him turbulent too. The paper explores the ambiguities of portraying the ambivalent non-European characters and investigates each non-European character in the play is figured within a given geopolitical context that relates to ambivalence, an outcome of hybridity. Hybridity enables the colonized to absorb and mimic the norms of the dominant culture and may result in psychological forms of coercion by backbiting and by othering each other. Consequently, the colonized turn out to be a blend of intricate individualities in a hybrid formation, that enables the others to fight back by othering the settler.