Prospero decared that he had been thrust forth from Milan and had landed on the shore of Caliban’s island “to be the lord on’t” (36).

Prospero is another interesting character from Shakespeare’s Tempest that is found in Takaki’s book.

The English perception was that Caliban represented africans and/or native americans who were uncivilized and only capable of manual labor. Caliban’s skin was dark which allegedly made him the devils incarnate (50). Like the natives, African people had an unfamiliar color to their skin and were thought to be unintelligent and savage by the Europeans. This can be interpreted as an indirect depiction of what was then believed about native americans.Īccording to Takaki, the Caliban character could have just as easily represented Africans that had began migrating to the new land. Shakespeare introduced the character Caliban in “The Tempest” and depicted him as a barbarian and a savage incapable of nurture (37). They did have tools and means of hunting and gathering food but it was all quite unsophisticated compared to european advancements. It never occurred to them that the natives had never been exposed to their european “civilized” ways and did not have knowledge of sophisticated weaponry as their culture did not need such devices of destruction. According to Takaki, the early settlers judged native americans as lacking everything identifiable in a civilized society. Beginning with the early colonists and their treatment of the natives, there is a pattern of ruthless acquisition of land and goods. In the first chapter of “A Different Mirror” by Ronald Takaki, he explains stereotypes and biases of white, Eurocentric attitudes that have been with us since the earliest days of the colonies and settlements here. A Different Mirror: Takaki’s Use of the Tempest Short Summary

Takaki a different mirror sparknotes