Postcolonial Criticism

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Postcolonial Criticism
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A Brief Summary

• Postcolonial Criticism brings a focus to
  civilizations that were once under colonial rule.
  
• It also looks at the economic and cultural
  influences that permeate a society therefore
  colonizing different cultural aspects.

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Slightly more In-depth

• A society changes after the influence of colonial
  rule. This type of criticism while being
  applicable to many different pieces of literature
  (ex all American literature) it is slightly more
  specific than literature pertaining to a once
  colonized society. This approach brings more of a
  focus on the effects of colonial rule on a
  society, a widely used example of a piece of
  postcolonial literature is Chinua Achebes Things
  Fall Apart.

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What does this all really mean?

• Someone specializing in Postcolonial studies can
  focus on many different disciplines, like
  political science, cultural studies, and
  literature.
• For our purposes we are going to focus on the
  more intangible effects of a society after it is
  colonized

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The Tempest

• While it isnt necessarily considered a piece of
  postcolonial literature, it can be seen through a
  postcolonial perspective.
• There are some aspects to focus on
• Slave/ Master relations
• How the Native inhabitant s are affected by the
  invasion of the outsiders

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Master/Slave Relations

• Prospero and the others as his slaves
• He is the quintessential ruler of all on the
  island, living under the impression that he is
  creating the most ideal living conditions while
  being completely oblivious to the needs and
  desires of others
• Prospero and Caliban
• Caliban shows a slight resistance, showing that a
  rebellion against a self proclaimed power.

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The alienation of the natives

• Caliban and Sycorax
• Sycorax as a powerful native is elimnated, much
  like any colonization
• Caliban is young and impressionable therefore
  was enslaved and was expected to assimilate to
  the culture of Prospero.

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Works Cited

• http//www.wsu.edu/amerstu/tm/poco.html
• http//www.wsu.edu/brians/anglophone/postcolonial
  .html