Additionally, in the start of the letter, he says that he has joined the mercantilists (4) and mentions Prospero’s cursor with the meaning of “curse” as in magic and “cursor” as in computer. For this reason, I chose to add cursors on the graphic pointing up and down the staircase. The red cursors are meant to represent the forces that go against him as he calls out to his Mamma and begins finding his voice in the nation language, explaining how his way out of this nightmare of a staircase is shown through the gray cursors and the gray sound waves (representing his voice). The pixelated rendition of “The Scream” is meant to represent Caliban in a state of panic and desperation, while also pointing to the new world of language learning he enters: the computer “ling. / go” (144-145). Through depicting Caliban’s letter in this way, I feel as though he is able to be read as more relatable than before. While it is true that Caliban makes mistakes in The Tempest, it is also true that he was robbed from his mother, home, language, and freedom. Regardless of losing your home and becoming enslaved as Caliban has, finding your voice and needing your mother or guardian, feeling forces pointing you down as you try to run up your personal staircase tends to be a universal experience, which is what makes this depiction relatable beyond what we know about Caliban through The Tempest, which is what I imagine Brathwaite was trying to do through writing “Letter SycoraX.”
For this creative project, I decided to visually represent a scene in Kamau Brathwaite’s “Letter SycoraX.” During SycoraX’s life and subsequently Caliban’s life, after Prospero robs their island from them, are overall both depicted as evil creatures. How I imagine Caliban’s letter is a reaction to the love from Prospero that was stripped from him after his attempted rape of Miranda, craving love and acknowledgement from his “Mamma.” This is not in any way defending Caliban for his actions, however in this graphic, I wanted to capture the vulnerable side of Caliban that is present in the letter, from his point of view. The letter, in certain parts, is desperate, almost in a childish way. One thing that I learned through working with children ages 4 and up is that they will repeat their sentences until they can think of a new one: “yu cyaan nevva turn / back / nor walk back up / nor / even back / up… down down down…runnin up runnin up runnin up runnin up / goin down / goin down / goin down / goin down” (Brathwaite 210 - 237). Here and everywhere, Brathwaite is seen repeating himself and overall, speaking in code that is not always easily understood.
Additionally, in the start of the letter, he says that he has joined the mercantilists (4) and mentions Prospero’s cursor with the meaning of “curse” as in magic and “cursor” as in computer. For this reason, I chose to add cursors on the graphic pointing up and down the staircase. The red cursors are meant to represent the forces that go against him as he calls out to his Mamma and begins finding his voice in the nation language, explaining how his way out of this nightmare of a staircase is shown through the gray cursors and the gray sound waves (representing his voice). The pixelated rendition of “The Scream” is meant to represent Caliban in a state of panic and desperation, while also pointing to the new world of language learning he enters: the computer “ling. / go” (144-145). Through depicting Caliban’s letter in this way, I feel as though he is able to be read as more relatable than before. While it is true that Caliban makes mistakes in The Tempest, it is also true that he was robbed from his mother, home, language, and freedom. Regardless of losing your home and becoming enslaved as Caliban has, finding your voice and needing your mother or guardian, feeling forces pointing you down as you try to run up your personal staircase tends to be a universal experience, which is what makes this depiction relatable beyond what we know about Caliban through The Tempest, which is what I imagine Brathwaite was trying to do through writing “Letter SycoraX.”
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Fuseli's The Tempest: Act I Scene II: |
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