Comparison of Shakespeare and Coates+DuBois
When comparing Shakespeare’s The Tempest with W.E.B. Du Bois's The Souls of Black Folks and Ta-Nehisi Coates Between the World and Me, there are many similarities.Shakespeare wrote the Tempest nearly 300 years before The Souls of Black Folks, and over 400 years before Between the World and Me. This goes to show that racial bigotry and abuse of power have remained relevant for quite some time.
In The Tempest Caliban is enslaved and degraded because of his appearance. Even though Caliban is native to the island, Prospero comes and enslaves him. It is apparent that Caliban does not want to be a slave when he says things such as “The island's mine by Sycorax, my mother, which thou tak’st from me. When …show more content…
In Act I of The Tempest, Prospero abuses his power to manipulate the sea and create a storm that causes a shipwreck for the king and his men. Prospero knows what he is doing is wrong, and his daughter, Miranda, tries to act as the voice of reason when she says to him, “O, I have suffered / With those that I saw suffer” (1.2.5-6). This compares to how cops abuse their power. Prince Jones was killed by a cop for no reason and the cop got away with it. Coates is like Miranda because he sees how the Prince family suffers and he suffers with them. In Act V, Prospero relinquishes his power when he breaks his staff and throws his books in the sea. Prospero feels as though he no longer needs them and no longer wants to use them for his own personal gain. He calls his powers “rough magic” because he knows that it is an abusive magic (5.1.59). Symbolically, the breaking of the staff can be compared to activists and powerful voices such as Malcolm X and Booker T. Washington. People like Malcolm X and Washington were trying to break the staff of society that keeps them held down through truth-telling and making people uncomfortable. By “breaking the staff”, Washington and Malcolm X helped progress black rights and made the world a better place for many. When Prospero breaks the staff, he is giving more rights to Ariel and Caliban, hoping that it will make the world a better place for
When comparing Shakespeare’s The Tempest with W.E.B. Du Bois's The Souls of Black Folks and Ta-Nehisi Coates Between the World and Me, there are many similarities.Shakespeare wrote the Tempest nearly 300 years before The Souls of Black Folks, and over 400 years before Between the World and Me. This goes to show that racial bigotry and abuse of power have remained relevant for quite some time.
In The Tempest Caliban is enslaved and degraded because of his appearance. Even though Caliban is native to the island, Prospero comes and enslaves him. It is apparent that Caliban does not want to be a slave when he says things such as “The island's mine by Sycorax, my mother, which thou tak’st from me. When …show more content…
In Act I of The Tempest, Prospero abuses his power to manipulate the sea and create a storm that causes a shipwreck for the king and his men. Prospero knows what he is doing is wrong, and his daughter, Miranda, tries to act as the voice of reason when she says to him, “O, I have suffered / With those that I saw suffer” (1.2.5-6). This compares to how cops abuse their power. Prince Jones was killed by a cop for no reason and the cop got away with it. Coates is like Miranda because he sees how the Prince family suffers and he suffers with them. In Act V, Prospero relinquishes his power when he breaks his staff and throws his books in the sea. Prospero feels as though he no longer needs them and no longer wants to use them for his own personal gain. He calls his powers “rough magic” because he knows that it is an abusive magic (5.1.59). Symbolically, the breaking of the staff can be compared to activists and powerful voices such as Malcolm X and Booker T. Washington. People like Malcolm X and Washington were trying to break the staff of society that keeps them held down through truth-telling and making people uncomfortable. By “breaking the staff”, Washington and Malcolm X helped progress black rights and made the world a better place for many. When Prospero breaks the staff, he is giving more rights to Ariel and Caliban, hoping that it will make the world a better place for