Cultural Differences :: essays research papers

I Know I Am moreover What Are You?Cultural Differences in The Tempest, Montaignes Essays, and In Defense of the Indians                     newspaper publisher 2The Tempest, In Defense of the Indians, and Montaignes essays each illustrate what happens when dickens very different worlds collide. As Europe begins to saturate New universe of discourse soil, the three authors offer their accounts of the dynamic between the European invader and intrinsic other. Though each work is unique in its details, they all cope a common bond Shakespeare, de Las Casas, and Montaigne show the reader how European colonialists character differences in appearance and language to justify theft and slavery.     The Tempests Caliban serves as an instrument to highlight the colonialist nonion of the other. Caliban is the original inhabitant of the island it is his infixed land. But Caliban is ugly. P rospero claims that he is "not honored with human shape" (p. 17), and so the new European inhabitants never think of him as a belike equal- they see him as their inferior. This initial incongruity between characters supports further dehumanization of the native for the remainder of the play.     Calibans appearance does not only take to the Europeans poor estimation of him, but it also serves as the justification of his slavery. When Trinculo says, " wilt disease metre tell a monstrous lie, being but half(prenominal) a fish and half a monster" (p. 55), he evanesces cardinal important concepts. First, Trinculo reinforces the idea that Caliban is more animal than man. Next, he assumes that Calibans out(prenominal) mirrors Calibans interior. Calibans physical deformities, according to Trinculo, also indicate taint of character. Together, these faults aid Prosperos justification of forcing Caliban to "serve in offices that profit us" (p. 18).     A second factor of Calibans oppression is language. The ability to communicate that ends mans isolation from others and leads to civilization. When Prospero discovers Caliban, the native has no knowledge of Europe, a good deal less its tongue. Miranda and Prospero take it upon themselves to educate Caliban in "civilized" language. Miranda says"I pitied thee, took pain to make thee speak, taught thee each hour one thing or other, When thou didst not, savage, know thine own meaning, but wouldst gabble, like a thing most brutish, I endowed thy purposes with words that made them known." (p. 20)Miranda believes that communication indicates that one is civilized. She does not for a moment consider that Calibans "gabble" was most likely his own language, the language he used to with Sycorax.