Hannah Staley
English 9
Mr. Hamilton Salsich
29 January 2009
Servitude vs. Confinment
An essay on the similarities and differences of servitude and confinement shown in characters Caliban and Ariel
Reflecting on “servitude and confinement”, pages 18 through 23 seem to be more about slavery and imprisonment. Describing Ariel and Caliban as servants does not seem harsh enough. The both are really slaves who are controlled by Sycorax and Prospero. Servitude seems like to kind a way to describe their predicament (FAST).
Being trapped in a “cloven pine” by Sycorax and threatened with 12 more years of confinement in an Oak tree by Prospero, tells us that Ariel is destined to a life of confinement and servitude. Arial is a shy and timid character who does not have the courage to fight back against her masters. This may be because she is hoping to be granted a year off. While ending up being in the possession of Sycorax, Ariel learned some lessons. She learned that punishment, like being limited to living in a “space” in a tree, is one way she can be controlled. She also makes the mistake of telling Prospero that she has “a spirit too delicate” for the work she was made to execute (FAST). It would have been smarter for her to be more cunning (FAST) by manipulating Sycorax and Prospero. Perhaps she will figure this out in future Acts. It would be in her best interest if she did.
Caliban is a much different character who similar to Ariel because they are both slaves, but different in how he communicates. He is visibly angry and will do anything to try to get back all that his family has lost to Prospero and Miranda. He even goes so far as to try and sexually assault Miranda in an effort to build his own little army of Calibans. His anger is also visible when he tells Prospero “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.” I don’t think Ariel would have come out with such a bold statement. This is why I think Ariel may be a woman. I doubt that women would speak out as Caliban did in that day and age.
Identifying similarities between Ariel and Caliban is interesting, but more difficult than identifying their differences. They deal with situations and people in different ways but their plights (FAST) are the same. It will be interesting to see if they end up the same way or if either one of them ever escapes servitude and confinement.
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3 comments:
Hannah,
NICE job on your essay. You clearly stated your points and wrote diligently and carefully, especially in the first paragraph. However I seemed to find the first sentence in the introduction a little confusing. After reading it over a few times I began to understand it's point, but perhaps you could make that a bit clearer. Also the first sentance of the second body paragraph needs a few more words to make sense, including an 'is' between who and similar, but apart from that you have a SWEET essay
~Eleanor~
Hannah,
i van distinctly notice wear each SD and CM start, which makes it easier to read. The most important thing is that I noticed a lot of spelling and punctuation mistakes. For example a couple of times you spelled Ariel differently. Also the opening paragraph is a little unclear and confusing. Maybe you could look at how the reader would read it, because you probably know what you're trying to say, but someone else might get confused.
Hannah,
I really enjoyed this essay; the point you are trying to communicate is clear and consistent through the entire essay. However,when you are describing Ariel being in the tree you only quote the word space which make the sentence look kind of funny, you should be able to rework that clause so you can use a longer, more powerful quote. You should also deleted the word "like" from the last sentence of the introduction and change it to "to be". You also used the wrong "to" there; you want "too".
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