Global Literature Essay: Colonialism, Paralysis, and Epiphanies

This essay provides an analysis of three literary works: Shakespeare's *The Tempest*, Conrad's *Heart of Darkness*, and Joyce's *The Dead*. The essay explores the theme of colonialism in *The Tempest*, examining Prospero's actions and their colonial implications, and Caliban's treatment. It then delves into *Heart of Darkness*, interpreting the significance of Marlow's journey as an adventure and a psychological exploration of the human condition, and the darkness within. Finally, the essay analyzes the paralysis of the Irish people in *The Dead*, focusing on the character of Gabriel Conroy and how he embodies this paralysis through his self-consciousness and inability to connect with others. The essay uses textual evidence and critical analysis to support its arguments, providing a comprehensive overview of the selected themes and characters in the chosen literary works.

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Global Literature
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1) One of the themes in Shakespeare’s The Tempest is colonialism. Write an essay briefly
discussing at least four aspects of colonialism found in the play, explaining what or who the
characters in the play represent(s).
Colonialism is often described as the burden of the white men as the culture of the
colonizer is being imposed on the native when new land was being conquered. (Murrey-Ndewa)
The treatment of Prospero on the natives after forcefully capturing the land of Sycorax have
impelled to interpret Shakespeare’s play ‘The Tempest’ a play of colonialism.
Authorized and administrative domination over an alien society is one of the aspects of
colonialism. This feature is also found in the Shakespeare’s play of ‘The Tempest’ Prospero
comes to the land of Syrorax’s , mollifies her, rules the land and implements his own set of
culture on the people of the land (Nimavat and Sunita) Like a colonizer with full of superiority,
Prospero has full control over everything in the land.
The second aspect of colonialism is that the colonizers tend to look down upon the
colonized. In the play Tempest, Caliban is treated as somebody inferior (Shakespeare) He even
makes Caliban work for him as a servant and addresses him as a thing belonging to the darkness.
Caliban in the play is being dehumanised and even treated like that of a subhuman. Similar to
the Europeans who regard ‘others’ as wild, Prospero addresses Caliban as distorted, deceitful,
ferocious, and savage. He dislocates the mother of Caliban and treats her like that of a beast.
Fear and opportunities are the third aspect of colonialism, which Shakespeare has shown
in the play with Caliban’s refusal to recite when Prospero attempts to teach him. Prospero here
like other white men believes that he is working for the development of opportunities of the

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colonized (Royanian, Shamsoddin, and Zahra) It is because of this, Prospero believes that
Caliban must feel grateful towards him for lifting him up from the state of “savagery” into a state
of development and progress.
Misunderstandings between the colonizer and the colonized are one of the features of the
colonialism which Shakespeare has shown it in his play ‘Tempest’ through the description of the
relationship between Prospero and that of Caliban. In such relationshis, both feels the other to be
wrong. (Tiffin) Prospero cannot think himself to be guilty of taking away the ruling power from
Caliban assuming him to be unfit for being the ruler (Shakespeare). On the other hand, Caliban
realizes that he has been robbed from his own leadership by the want of education from Prospero
who only regards him as an individual who is meant to serve and not to rule. This rises to more
conflicts and misunderstandings among them.
2. Conrad’s Heart of Darkness has been read over the past one hundred years variously as:
an adventure story; a racist text; a critique on King Leopold II’s atrocities in the Congo; a
postcolonial commentary; in support of white European superiority and African
inferiority; a feminist text; and other interpretations. What significance did the story have
on you as a person? Your response may include one or more interpretations as sketched
above, or you may give your own interpretation, fully explaining your opinion(s).
Joseph Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’ is a novel about the voyage that is taken by Marlow
through the heart of Africa (Jun) It has been interpreted variously, but the significance of the
novel for me is that of an adventure which will be further discussed below.
Joseph Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’ is regarded as the journey taken by a man through
the unknown depths of the Congolese jungle in search of the mad Kurtz. The journey that

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Marlow experiences can definitely be explained as an adventure as he faces various obstacles
and even witnesses various events and horrors, which were both shocking and unexpected. Apart
from the physical journey or adventure that Marlow goes through or experiences, he also
experiences a psychological adventure as he goes into the depths of the human hearts of the
Africans. The novel can, however, be considered to be the adventurous journey that the author
Conrad initiated in the year 1980 during the horrendous rule of King Leopold II. Marlow acts as
the mouthpiece for Conrad through whom the story is being narrated.
It is also an adventurous exploration of the mind and the soul of the trader of the white
ivory who lives in Congo and associates himself with the inhabitants of the place. Mr Kurtz
plays a figurative role in Africa and through the course of the action he loses his own identity
and inherits the superstition, values and cultures of the place. The novel is not just about the
adventurous physical journey but also the journey through the adventurous journey through the
darkness. Here, the western values of Mr Kurtz, which is being degraded in interaction with the
natives, is considered to the darkness, which Marlow discovered (Joseph)
It is considered to be the adventurous story because the setting of the journey that is being
taken is through dense and dark jungles where there is even no trace of sunlight. The settlements
of the human there even seem to be at danger. These are the factors which are also considered
‘dark’. However, like the dark jungle that lies outside, the dark powers like that of the lust and
other ruthless desire intimidates to possess the soul and mind of the enlightened man. Indeed, the
journey that is being taken by Marlow can be considered to be his self-discovery because he
calms that if he stays there for longer, he will be inheriting all the values and culture of
barbarism and become like that of Kurtz.

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During the time of the adventurous journey, Marlow observes that the French armies are
shooting their guns at the families of the natives without making any discrimination. (Joseph)
Marlow claims this incident to be very purposeless.
3) James Joyce’s “The Dead” shows the paralysis, political and social, of the Irish people.
Several of the guests at the Morkans’ dinner party represent, in different ways,
microcosms of this paralysis. Choose one character from “The Dead” and write a brief
essay about the paralysis s/he represents.
In “The Dead” the Irish society in being criticized by Joyce. The Irish inhabitants have
been seen by him as mentally and ethically paralyzed. Joyce describes the Irish people as
hypocrites (Pahor, Amalija) The character who is best for such description is the leading
character Gabriel itself.
Gabriel, who is the leading character of the ‘The dead’ only cares about himself. He
literally feels obsessive about the image that he has on others (Klipp) He is assumed to be more
of a dominating character who wants to control everything in his life without which he does not
know how to act. Having high education is a disadvantage for him, as he does not know how to
interact with people belonging to a different class of society and with people with lower
education than him. It is through these characteristics that it can be assumed that Gabriel’s own
sense of self-consciousness fully paralyzes him (Walzl and Florence) A feeling of
uncomfortableness dominates Gabriel when he do not have any idea of how to confront an
individual with an opposing attitude. In such a situation, when somebody is expected to defend
himself or herself diplomatically, Gabriel is seen running away from the situation or avoiding it
totally. Gabriel is an individual who is mentally dead as he is incapable of moving forward and
even have emotions, which are strong and deep (Dickerson) On knowing that he will never be

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able to love his wife Gretta like the way a young boy did in the youth, he was simply shattered.
He started to see his life in a completely different way (Pecora and Vincent ) He forgets or do not
understand what is the worth of his own life as he starts to see himself as a completely different
person.

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Notes
Dickerson, Noelle. "Annunciation, Crucifixion, Resurrection: Christian Symbolism in Joyce’s
“The Dead”." (2018).
Joseph, Conrad. Heart Of Darkness. Lerner Publishing Group, 2015. Print.
Jun, Ye. "On The Point of View in" Heart of Darkness"." 2018 3rd International Conference on
Humanities Science, Management and Education Technology (HSMET 2018). Atlantis
Press, 2018.
Klipp, Ron. "GABRIEL." (2019).
Murrey-Ndewa, A. "Colonialism." (2019).
Nimavat, Sunita B. "Colonial and postcolonial perspectives in'The Tempest'."
Pahor, Amalija. Paralysed by History: Irish Social and Political Life as Depicted by James
Joyce. Diss. 2018.
Pecora, Vincent P. "" The Dead" and the Generosity of the Word." Publications of the Modern
Language Association of America (1986): 233-245.
Royanian, Shamsoddin, and Zahra Sadeghi. "A colonial reading of Shakespeare’s The
Tempest." Analele Universității „Ovidius” din Constanța. Seria Filologie (2014).
Shakespeare, William. The tempest. Vol. 9. Classic Books Company, 2001.
Tiffin, Helen. "Post-colonial literatures and counter-discourse." Kunapipi 9.3 (1987): 4.
Walzl, Florence L. "Gabriel and Michael: The Conclusion of" The Dead"." James Joyce
Quarterly 4.1 (1966): 17-31.