Given that these clues can be under any rock or etched onto any tree, this open-world puzzle game grants the player complete freedom to explore every corner of the Island. Once the player finds a clue, they can keep it in their inventory to read at any time. However, the player cannot allow Prospero or Miranda to stumble upon them reading or acquiring a clue, as they will claim it is one of Sycorax’s dark spells, destroy it, and use magic to punish them, resulting in a “game over.” Thus, the player must listen for unfamiliar footsteps interrupting a soundtrack of twangling instruments when searching for clues, while also continuing to fetch wood every morning to avoid suspicion. Eventually, the clues will lead the player to a manuscript with instructions on how to rebuild the small ship that delivered Sycorax to the Island years ago, using tools and materials found with previous clues. Having built the ship, and thus having become fluent in nation language, Caliban can regain his agency by removing the physical and cultural apparatus of Prospero’s power.
Example of a clue:
“Caliban yu nee da fine de nexs clu
in de ca.ve by de.sya shor
wid de crabs n is.
mar.ks de spott”
Analysis:
When I read Brathwaite’s character study of Caliban outside of the play’s universe, I naturally wondered how Caliban could harness language to gain agency on the Island and ultimately realize independence from Prospero. Additionally, Brathwaite’s poem does not explicitly reveal the fate of Sycorax, making me wonder if she could help her son overcome his described struggles by responding with her own “Letter Caliban.” Thus, in a sense, my video game concept is a thought experiment where I try to imagine how reintroduction to Caliban’s own native culture and recent contact with his mother would affect the character. I initially considered using this premise to write a short story, as it is difficult to build engaging video game mechanics around the politics of language. In this story, Caliban would have been alone on the Island, but still finding himself tethered to Prospero’s linguistic structures and using the cultural artifacts his mother left behind to break those chains. However, I thought that a medium centered on active audience engagement better suited these themes, as the true power of Braithwaite’s work derives from its ability to force one to actively negotiate with Caliban as an equal by translating his words and entering his linguistic structures. Thus, the video game also compels you to engage with the dialect and actually discover "X," leading one to think like an independent version of Caliban, and thus see the Island through an entirely new lens detached from Shakespeare’s verse or European culture. Moreover, the video game emphasizes the resulting agency by rewarding immersion in the “native” culture with a ship, which is physical to promote convenient gameplay, but is truly a metaphor for a newfound path to freedom that reverses the means of subjugation.
Additionally, while my adaptation transforms Caliban into a blank slate onto which the player can project their personality, it ultimately retains a central component of his character; namely, his position at the losing end of an asymmetrical power dynamic which he seeks to reverse. In my adaptation, Caliban merely gains the means to tangibly realize this goal. However, the character into which the reader is given the most insight is Sycorax, who is transformed from a mere distant object of love or hate into a morally complex person. While Sycorax’s conflict with the natural spirits of the Island prevents her from leaving behind clearer directions, she genuinely cares for her child, returning the affection given by Brathwaite’s Caliban. Additionally, she not only has magical powers comparable to Prospero’s, but also emerges as an equal cultural force on the Island that gives Caliban a viable alternative to the West.
While this video game was not wholly inspired by any quote in particular, its underlying stance on the politics of language in The Tempest is encapsulated when Caliban states “You taught me language, and my profit on’t / Is I know how to curse. The red plague rid you / For learning me your language” (Shakespeare 1.2.364-66). Its solution to the dilemma is echoed when Caliban states “is like what I try. / in to sen/seh & / seh about muse. / in computer / & mouse & / learn. / in prospero lin. / go & ting not fe dem/ not fe dem de way caliban done but fe we / fe a-we / for nat one a we shd response if prospero get curse wid im own curser” (Brathwaite 106-107). Importantly, my adaptation preserves the subtlety of Brathwaite’s rebellion against a dominant culture, as the player’s Caliban never uses violence or a disruption of daily life to free himself, rather he does so by creating a sphere of independent thought and action right under Prospero’s nose. Moreover, just like “de mahn,” Prospero cannot be defeated by one coordinated keystroke, but he can be undone by the power of cultural structures distinct from his own. Thus, the player can curse him with his own cursor.
Works Cited
Brathwaite, Kamau. "Letter SycoraX." Middle Passages. New Directions Books, 1993, pp. 95-116. AP Literature. Stanford Online High School. Course Canvas Pages. Accessed 15 Nov. 2019.
Shakespeare, William, et al. The Tempest. Revised ed., 3rd series, Bloomsbury Arden Shakespeare, 2011.