Decolonizing Shakespeare in ”The Tempest” | ArtiFact 53: Keith Jackewicz, Alex Sheremet

In light of decolonization and postcolonial theory, William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” has received new interest. Although Caliban is often thought of as the play’s centerpiece, Prospero remains its best-sketched character, as he has complex relationships and contradictory beliefs. His subjects, Ariel and Caliban, both demand freedom, while the stories told of their unnamed island are only second-hand accounts that feed into Prospero’s own self-conception. In ArtiFact 53, literary critics Alex Sheremet and Keith Jackewicz assess Shakespeare’s mysterious play, touching on questions of decolonization, imperialism, gender roles, Orientalism, Italian politics, and much more.

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B Side topics: more connections between Shylock and Caliban; how Shakespeare plays with audience expectations; how Shakespeare signals he’s about to write something bad; Alex's falafel over rice; the Daniel Defoe / Robinson Crusoe connection; William Shakespeare vs. Mark Twain; Leo Strauss; how politics had to be occluded in Shakespeare's day; Caliban's god vs. Prospero; the meaning of magic; why didn't Prospero cast the "reason" spell on Caliban; the meaning of reason & logic in the play; why lesser characters are poorly sketched; disappointments with The Tempest; the Harold Bloom problem; how Shakespeare's reach exceeded his grasp; why the Beatles were necessarily overrated; how Shakespeare critics do a disservice to Shakespeare; Joseph Conrad's Henry James phase; Frank Herbert's Dune vs. the Dune 2 videogame universe; how voice acting destroyed game writing; does Israeli society crave images of war crimes; is Israeli targeting journalists; the university hearings on anti-Semitism; Alex goes to a POC-only Palestinian protest; how the Joe Biden coalition is fracturing; the Right is better positioned for 2024-28 than in 2016; Keith boasts of getting Trump's presidency correct

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Timestamps:

0:24 – Alex grows taller, Keith shrinks in size; analyzing William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”; no character goes unscathed; ranking “The Tempest” in the Shakespeare pantheon

3:08 – how Keith read all of Shakespeare’s plays over a month; Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth; ranking Romeo and Juliet as tragedy; why Shakespeare’s comedies are often weak; Shakespeare & class politics

9:15 – passage of time in “The Tempest”; Shakespeare overuses plot-driven techniques; some more daring parts in “The Tempest”; Prospero as the absent-minded king; is Prospero blameless; why Prospero was overthrown in Milan; the metaphor of Prospero’s island; Prospero is “The Tempest’s” only character of depth; overthrow & rebellion in the 15th century; Duke of Milan, King of Naples; political logic in Shakespeare’s era

21:03 - Miranda as an archetype; Prospero seems aware of his own flaws; dialogue vs. stage directions; Ariel is having the same argument every month; why early Shakespeare criticism was bad; the implications of Miranda’s virginity

30:42 – dissecting Caliban; Aime Cesaire & The Tempest; Prospero suggests the same punishment for Caliban as to Miranda and Ferdinand; how biological imperatives change; does Prospero have anything without magic; the victors are more or less writing the play; decolonization and postcolonial theory in Shakespeare; why was Sycorax REALLY banished

46:00 – the Algiers Connection; Prospero’s “white magic” is ultimately conflated, and on par with, the Orientalist “black magic”; how Shakespeare makes fun of Gonzalo’s ideas; Caliban’s speeches in “The Tempest”; Prospero has different standards of punishment for identical crimes; Caliban never gets the Shylock / Merchant of Venice treatment; did Shakespeare get bored with The Tempest?

Tags: #shakespeare #decolonization #booktube #postcolonialism