This definitions covers Key Terms for Colonialism and Freedom within Theme: Colonialism & Freedom for GCSE English Literature. Revise Theme: Colonialism & Freedom in The Tempest for GCSE English Literature with 10 exam-style questions and 15 flashcards. This topic shows up very often in GCSE exams, so students should be able to explain it clearly, not just recognise the term. It is section 11 of 17 in this topic. Make sure you can use the exact wording confidently, because definition marks are often lost through vague language.
📜 Key Terms for Colonialism and Freedom
- Colonialism
- The practice of one group establishing control over another territory and its people — typically involving displacement, cultural suppression, and extraction of resources. The term as a critical category did not exist in 1611, but the practice did.
- Dispossession
- Being deprived of land, property, or rights. Caliban's opening speech is an articulation of dispossession — "which thou tak'st from me" names the ongoing act.
- Post-colonial reading
- An interpretation that applies awareness of colonial history (particularly from the 20th century onwards) to earlier texts. Valid as an interpretive lens, but must not be mistaken for the text's original meaning.
- Sibilance
- Repeated 's' sounds creating a soft, hissing effect. Shakespeare uses it in "sounds and sweet airs" to make the verse enact the peaceful quality it describes.
- Irony
- When language produces a meaning opposite to or more complex than its literal sense. Caliban's "profit" from language being only curses is bitterly ironic given the commercial vocabulary of colonial enterprise.
- "Cannibal" / Caliban
- "Cannibal" entered English from Spanish "Caríbal" (a Caribbean people). "Caliban" is widely understood as an anagram. The association would have primed a Jacobean audience to view Caliban as "savage".
Practice questions for Theme: Colonialism & Freedom
What does Prospero promise Ariel in return for loyal service?
How does Shakespeare use the idea of 'freedom through obedience' in The Tempest? In your answer, identify the technique Shakespeare uses and explain its effect. [2 marks]