“but is like what I try.
in to sen/seh &
seh about muse.
in computer
& mouse &
learn.
in prospero ling.
go
not fe dem/not fe dem
de way caliban
done
but fe we
fe a-we” (Brathwaite, 106)
For my creative project I chose to represent through visual art a contrast between the original Caliban of The Tempestand the one narrating the piece “Letter SycoraX” by Kamau Brathwaite. The “older panels,” or the ones that occur earlier, are towards the top of the page. Vague figures of Prospero and Miranda are shown to order around another figure. The original Caliban is depicted bearing a load (as he is described as doing often within the play) at the order of Prospero - I used images taken during performances of The Tempest for reference. I focused mainly on the monstrous elements of his physical appearance while leaving the rest of his traits ambiguous. These monstrous elements were hard to picture, as they are based only on Prospero’s words describing him. Similar to how Prospero's "lingo" restricts Caliban to a lowly position, his words also depict him as a lesser being.
As the viewer’s eye travels down the page, the shades of gray become gradually lighter, and Caliban’s power over this language increases as he diverges from the fate of the original Caliban. My visual interpretation of this transformation from one Caliban to the other attempts to show a reflection on Shakespeare’s work from a modern standpoint. In the lower panels, he is depicted as working in front of a computer with a copy of The Tempest in his other hand. I chose to have the modern version of Caliban writing his poem on an online platform, namely Google Docs, which was something I thought would be a comical contrast to the original work.(The font choice Caliban uses also happens to be a pun of the name of the other spirit under Prospero's control, Ariel.) Caliban remains faceless both in the panels representing The Tempest and in the modern standpoint from which he reflects on it. I thought this could perhaps symbolize how Caliban’s real power lies in how he can be used as a figure from which authors and oppressed individuals can voice themselves through. On the document Caliban is working on, I chose to have the original Caliban “viewing” this new piece. This could depict the ongoing connections that exist between The Tempest and those who write and create pieces that reflect on it, using Caliban as a representative or extension of themselves.