Colonial language in Shakespeare's The Tempest and Aime Cesaire's The TempestLanguage and literature are the most subtle and seductive instruments of domination. They gradually shape thoughts and attitudes at an almost subconscious level. Perhaps Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak states this condition most succinctly in her essay “The Burden of English” when she writes: “Literature buys your consent almost clandestinely… for better or for worse, as medicine or poison, perhaps always a little of both" (137). By examining Shakespeare's "The Tempest" and Cesaire's "A Tempest," it is possible to explore the diabolical and diagnostic functions of language and literature. Both plays place characters unfamiliar to each other in equally unfamiliar and foreign environments. Shakespeare allows Prospero the sorcerer to dominate his foreign environment and all who inhabit it, while Caliban in Cesaire's play uses the foreign language of his master, Prospero, to stage open revolt. Placed in a postcolonial context, Cesaire ultimately expands the actions and characters created by Shakespeare to posit a modern and plausible explanation for the role of language and literature in the progression from imaginary colonies to real, all-too-real ones. a central question in both comedies, especially in defining the relationship between Prospero and Caliban. Prospero, a European of high social and intellectual stature, finds himself placed in an unknown and hostile environment. Caliban befriends Prospero and gives him the skills needed to survive. In exchange, Prospero teaches Caliban a European language. Paradoxically, this knowledge of language forms the basis of both slavery and revolt. Although physically enslaved due to an attempt......middle of paper......it may be impossible for her to separate the poisonous properties of language and literature from the medicinal ones, Cesaire seems to attempt to identify the former and espouse the latter 'last. While the reach and influence of language and literature may be broader than that of colonialism, the same essential paradox, painful and hopeful, remains at the heart of every concept. Works CitedCesaire, Aime. A storm. Trans Richard Miller, New York: Ubu Repertory Theater Publications, 1992. Shakespeare, William. "The Storm." Rpt in William Shakespeare: The Complete Works. Ed. Peter Alexander, London: Collins Clear Type Press, 1989. Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. “The Burden of English.” Orientalism and the Postcolonial Situation: Perspectives on South Asia. Carol A. Breckinridge and Peter van der Veer Eds. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993. 134-57.