An aphorism is a concise and memorable expression of a general truth or principle that is often handed down by tradition from generation to generation. One of the most well-known aphorisms around the world that has broken through every kind of cultures and societies is, by excellence, “all that glitters is not gold”. This expression has been repeated steadily throughout the history of humanity to recall that not everything is what it seems like, not every shiny thing should be mistaken as gold. This implies, at the same time, that things should not only be judged for what they look like, but also for what they truly are.
This phrase, along with thousands of aphorisms that are repeated every day, has found its way into the world of language and culture thanks in part to The Merchant of Venice, another famous piece of literature written by William Shakespeare during the Elizabethan era, such as Hamlet and The Tempest. The truth is that, when it comes to demonstrating that “all that glitters is not gold” William Shakespeare does an excellent job, especially in The Tempest. This short tragicomic play proves that not every character acts as the reader would expect them to because of what they should be doing, but instead they act as who they truly are.
Because of these interesting ideas, The Tempest has been used as a source to study all kinds of worldwide problems, including racism in the United States of America. In Caliban at the Stadium: Shakespeare and the Making of Americans (2000), by Coppelia Kahn, the author associates the character Caliban, from William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, with the immigrants that arrived at America on the 20th century in order to explore the ideals on which the American identity is based. Her text demonstrates that, in order to be able to belong to the American identity, the foreigners need to leave behind their origins and melt into the process of Americanization, otherwise they won’t be accepted. However, it can be seen (both with Caliban and the American culture) that even though they leave their origins behind and melt into the Americanization, they aren’t always going to be welcomed into it.
When comparing Caliban with the immigrants that get to America, Kahn states that “those who arrive in the new nation leave behind the mores and mindsets of their (European) origins, which disappear in the melting process of Americanization”, understanding that, by arriving to this new culture, they must surrender their “cultural specificity, their difference, in order to blend into a homogeneous new race” (Kahn, 2000: 259). Something similar happens to Caliban in The Tempest, who is seen as the immigrant even though he was the first character that set foot on the island, who is then required to meet the specific demands of the dominant culture, such as learning their language, in order to be able to communicate properly.
To understand this idea, it is important to go back to the basics of what being part of the American culture is: to become an American, a person needs to leave behind their ancient prejudices and manners, receive new ones from the new mode of life they had embraced, the new government they obey, and the new rank they hold. This is exactly what Caliban is asked to do by Prospero, while also having to resign all the knowledge that he had about himself in order to be melted into a race of man that will follow the new logic that ruled the island. In Kahn’s words, both Caliban and the immigrants that arrive to America have to “surrender their difference in order to blend”, giving up their prejudices and manners of their current way of living for an American one (Kahn, 2000: 259).
Another topic that the author brings to the light happens when it is time to comprehend why Caliban acts like he does: as the majority of the immigrants, he understands he is not equal, he is not as worthy as other characters, and he doesn’t have the same opportunities. During the acts of The Tempest, Caliban sees himself in a lower level than Prospero and Miranda, and even Stephano and Trinculo, who are also not well positioned when it comes to equality. This happens because people that are on that side of the line suffer a “fundamental separation of political and cultural identities” by having to meet the specific demands of the dominant, English-speaking culture and learn everything about it (Kahn, 2000: 260).
Following this logic, Kahn explains that during the second phase of immigration the nativists of America decided that it was needed to make a “distinction between people like themselves (who were once immigrants but now call themselves natives) and the newly arrived citizens called foreigners”. They began to speak of “old” and “new” immigrants, the old ones being those that immigrated “from northern and western Europe and belonged to the same racial stock that founded America”, therefore were a real part of it. The new ones, however, were unassimilable because they were coming from southern and eastern Europe – the worst parts of the continent – and it is in this group in which Caliban can be seen to belong. These immigrants, the author explains, were the “weak, the broken, and the mentally crippled”, just like Caliban feels in comparison with others in The Tempest (Kahn, 2000: 261).
Some people might argue with the importance of the immigrant population in America as they can claim that those others that look different might take away what belongs to Americans by right. As the author explains, there are nativists that think that “these immigrants that adopt the language of the native American, wear his clothes, steal his name, and are beginning to take his women, soon will exterminate him” (Kahn, 2000: 261). With this idea, it is easy for nativists to argue that it is hard to keep the wellbeing of the American civilization with all these foreigners that infect Americanism. However, this can be refuted by the fact that, if we think about it, the story is actually the opposite, as it is not Caliban the one taking belongings away, but Prospero; and the same thing has happened throughout history looking at how American is really positioned. Following this logic, the idea of both Caliban and the immigrants in question is not to overcome the American culture, but to blend in and be recognized as a part of it.
Despite the fact that it is arguable that Caliban from The Tempest by William Shakespeare might not be the best example when it comes to illustrate the idea of a foreigner, the way he is treated in the play aligns perfectly with the common conception of the immigrants in America. This happens because, as a result of interacting with another culture that can be considered dominant, their own ideas get somehow melted into the new environment creating a hybrid one that won’t fit under any of the existing labels.
However, it can be seen (both with Caliban and the immigrants) that even though they leave their origins behind and melt into the Americanization, it is not necessary to have these origins completely erased, but blended. In the same way that we now understand that not everything that glitters is gold, not every new culture is necessarily a threat to the American way of living just because it looks different to what they are used to. At the end of the day, when a piece of American culture doesn’t speak English, is it still a part of the American tradition? When a piece of ordinary metal has been polished by thousands of hands that had to learn the right way of things in order to belong to a new culture, can it still be mistaken with gold?
Works Cited
Kahn, Coppelia. Caliban at the Stadium: Shakespeare and the Making of Americans. Second Norton Critical Edition, 2000.
Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. Edited by Peter Hulme and William H. Sherman, W.W. Norton &Company. New York. London 2019.