This document provides a summary of Aime Cesaire's play A Tempest and its relationship to William Shakespeare's play The Tempest. A Tempest is a post-colonial adaptation and revision of The Tempest written in 1969. It draws heavily from The Tempest but looks more closely at the lasting effects of colonialism from the perspective of the colonized. Some of the key themes explored in both plays include colonialism, freedom and confinement, and the supernatural. The characters are largely the same between the plays, with Caliban's character being most significantly appropriated and reshaped.

1. • Name: Rupa Bambhaniya
• Paper No: 10 The Postcolonial literature
• Enrollment no: 2069108420200002
• Class: M.A sem 3
• Roll no : 21
• Submitted by: Smt.S.B.Gardhi, Department of English
• Email I’d rupabambhniya166@gmail.com

2. A TEMPEST OR THE TEMPEST

3. A TEMPEST OR THE TEMPEST
• A Tempest-Aime Cesaire Written in 1969.
• The play takes place in the Caribbean
• Post colonial revision of The Tempest
Draws heavily on The Tempest Adaption
for black theatre,
• looking closely at the lasting effects of
colonialism
• Language is very modern and often
profane, the opposite to Shakespearnean
English of the 17th century in A Tempest.
• The Tempest-William Shakespeare Written
in 1610-11 Colonial play.
• The play takes place on a Mediterranean
island in renaissance Europe.
• During a period of great geographical
exploration and discovery, with voyages
widely reported in newspapers, journals
and by word of mouth.
• Thought by many critics to be the last play
Shakespeare wrote alone.

4. HISTORICAL CONTEXT
• Cesaire’s primary intent in the play is to highlight the
clash between Prospero and Caliban
• Césaire’s rich and insightful adaptation of The Tempest
draws on contemporary Caribbean society, the African-
American experience and African mythology to raise
questions about colonialism, racism and their lasting
effects.

5. HISTORICAL CONTEXT
A Tempest
• Written in 1969 in French prose
• An historical perspective on the European powers
in the Americas providing context for the colonial
/ post colonial dialogue.
• Draws on contemporary Caribbean society, the
African-American experience and African
mythology to raise questions about colonialism
and racism.
• Draws on slavery and discrimination during the
period of English Colonialism.
• The Tempest
• The English colonial project greatly influenced
Shakespeare’ in writing The Tempest, as almost
every character, from the lord Gonzalo to the
drunk Stephano, ponders how he would rule the
island on which the play is set if he were its king.
• The opening of new frontiers and the domination
of new lands ,Colonial play,
• During Shakespeare’s times and the writing of The
Tempest, “The First British Empire” was
happening, in which most of the colonization of
America and Africa and the slave trade occurred.

6. CHARACTER APPROPRIATION
• The characters for the most part of both plays are the same.
• The characters of A Tempest being closely appropriated from The Tempest
• The most evident example of appropriation is that of the character of Caliban.
• Appropriation, the most prevalent form of intertextuality used by Aime Cesaire in
A Tempest
• Cesaire takes the characters and the general plot of The Tempest to create a
unique text in it’s own right.
• An important literary skill used by authors and is common in many written texts.

7. CENTRAL THEMES
• A Tempest deals with the story from the point of view of Caliban and Arial oposed to Prospero being the
main protagonist in The Tempest.
• A Tempest simplifies and shortens the original, The Tempest consisting of 5 acts and A Tempest of 3.
• The dialogue on Caliban’s part is harsher and his aggression towards is more evident.
• Colonialism, both texts draw heavily on colonisation as they are written from colonial and post colonial
views.
• The Tempest draws heavily on the tradition of the romance. Evident between Ferdinand and Miranda.
• The Supernatural , Art and Culture , Contrasting Regions ,Freedom and Confinement ,Man and the
Natural, World ,Betrayal ,Compassion and Forgiveness ,The Divine.

8. WORK CITATION
• Césaire, Aimé. A Tempest : Based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Adaptation for a Black Theatre. New
York :TCG Translations, 2002.
• Hulme, Peter; Sherman, William H. ‘The Tempest’ and Its Travels London: Reaktion Books, 2006.
• Césaire, Aimé, and William Shakespeare. A Tempest: Based on Shakeskpeare’s the Tempest : Adaptation
for a Black Theatre. London: Oberon, 2000. Print.