Lecture Intention today: finish The Tempest and start on Discourse on Method, by Rene Descartes. CALIBAN and THE STATE of NATURE Caliban is, in almost every respect, one of the central problems of the play. 2 nd largest number of lines, and some of Shakespeare’s best writing. He appears in the same number of scenes as Prospero, and is juxtaposed with him throughout.

Gonzalo & Montaigne GONZALO Had I plantation of this isle, my lord,-- ANTONIO He'ld sow't with nettle-seed. SEBASTIAN Or docks, or mallows. GONZALO And were the king on't, what would I do? SEBASTIAN 'Scape being drunk for want of wine. GONZALO I' the commonwealth I would by contraries Execute all things; for no kind of traffic Would I admit; no name of magistrate; Letters should not be known; riches, poverty, And use of service, none; contract, succession, Bourn, bound of land, tilth, vineyard, none; No use of metal, corn, or wine, or oil; No occupation; all men idle, all; And women too, but innocent and pure; No sovereignty;-- SEBASTIAN Yet he would be king on't. ANTONIO The latter end of his commonwealth forgets the beginning. GONZALO All things in common nature should produce Without sweat or endeavour: treason, felony, Sword, pike, knife, gun, or need of any engine, Would I not have; but nature should bring forth, Of its own kind, all foison, all abundance, To feed my innocent people. SEBASTIAN No marrying 'mong his subjects? ANTONIO None, man; all idle: whores and knaves. GONZALO I would with such perfection govern, sir, To excel the golden age. SEBASTIAN God save his majesty! ANTONIO Long live Gonzalo! Montaigne: I should tell Plato, that it is a nation wherein there is no manner of traffic, no knowledge of letters, no science of numbers, no name of magistrate or political superiority; no use of service, riches or poverty, no contracts, no successions, no dividends, no properties, no mployments, but those of leisure, no respect of kindred, but common, no clothing, no agriculture, no metal, no use of corn or wine; the very words that signify lying, treachery, dissimulation, avarice, envy, detraction, pardon, never heard of. How much would he find his imaginary republic short of his perfection?

Caliban The debate over the state of nature was already ancient, but this play provides a severe critique of Montaigne—as of Rousseau in the late Enlightenment. What, actually, should we expect of a feral child, in the ‘state of nature’ except Caliban? The sharp issue is power: why should Prospero have it? Does Caliban’s view of the matter, however, mirrors the political commonplaces of the Renaissance: 1.One should inherit from one’s progenitors: This island’s mine from Sycorax my mother. 2.Power is force; legitimacy or authority follows from one’s blood line—either family, clan, or race 3.None should question the sovereignty of the ruler—who originally acquires it or seizes it by force. And it if is a single individual, the rule is: give me what I want (or I will subjugate you or kill you.) But is the nature of Caliban something restricted to him? He follows the principles inherent in the Human Tribe.– And Shakespeare shows us exactly that. Caliban, that is to say, appears as the ground for all these characters: Alonso, Antonio, Sebastian, Stephano, Trinculo—and includes Prospero, Ferdinand, and Miranda. The evident difference is in nurture.

Nurture BUT: Prospero: A devil, a born devil, on whose nature Nurture can never stick; on whom my pains, Humanely taken, all, all lost, quite lost; And as with age his body uglier grows, So his mind cankers. I will plague them all, Even to roaring. YET: on whom did conventional nurture stick? On Alonso? On Antonio and Sebastian? On Stephano and Trinculo? Consider as well who actually learns anything in this play? Not a sign of learning from Antonio and Sebastian; possibly from Alonso; definitately from CALIBAN.

Being ‘yourself’ : fury and noble reason Which self is it that will step forth? And what judgment should be rendered? Ariel, at the end: The final scene: The game of chess: Here PROSPERO discovers FERDINAND and MIRANDA playing at chess MIRANDA Sweet lord, you play me false. FERDINAND No, my dear'st love, I would not for the world. MIRANDA Yes, for a score of kingdoms you should wrangle, And I would call it, fair play. Your charm so strongly works 'em That if you now beheld them, your affections Would become tender. PROSPERO Dost thou think so, spirit? ARIEL Mine would, sir, were I human. PROSPERO And mine shall. Hast thou, which art but air, a touch, a feeling Of their afflictions, and shall not myself, One of their kind, that relish all as sharply, Passion as they, be kindlier moved than thou art? Though with their high wrongs I am struck to the quick, Yet with my nobler reason 'gaitist my fury Do I take part: the rarer action is In virtue than in vengeance: they being penitent, The sole drift of my purpose doth extend Not a frown further. Go release them, Ariel: My charms I'll break, their senses I'll restore, And they shall be themselves.

Descartes Discourse on Method (1637; Latin translation, 1656) Meditations on First Philosophy (1641, in Latin)