Extricating Sycorax From the Tempest's Baseless Fabric

Abstract

Sycorax, although dead in The Tempest, continues to be disinterred like a centuries-old cold case. The intrigue that one dead witch generates has transcended time and scrutiny. This thesis examines the mental power struggle of the living, exiled Prospero, magician and usurped Duke of Milan with the dead African “witch,” Sycorax. It is with her threatening memory that Prospero shares the enchanted island. He damns that memory in sporadic outbursts in The Tempest, which actually gives her not only life, but also a forceful incorporeal presence. A study of the absent yet incorporeally powerful Sycorax is a study of historical, religious, and psycho-social norms of Shakespeare’s time; it is the study of patriarchy and racial attitudes that help create a culture ripe for the creation of a Sycorax character.

This thesis presents a non-Eurocentric view of Prospero, the critically esteemed wise, compassionate, and powerful wizard versus the North African woman who from a Eurocentric perspective is deemed wicked and ugly, yet powerful enough to control the moon. Understanding the vilification and restoration of Sycorax requires a study of general attitudes toward women and witches before and during Shakespeare’s day, and how those attitudes have transcended time. We will find that throughout history she is vilified by many men and is restored by some women. In this regard, the ambivalent nature of two poems by Ted Hughes and the restorative literature of two post-colonial fiction writers, Gloria Naylor and Marina Warner are examined. For women writers, the venture to put flesh on the bones of Sycorax seems personal. It seems that by restoring Sycorax, they restore a part of themselves that needs healing.