Shaman-Caliban: Shakespeare's The Tempest as a Shamanic Quest for Partnership

In this essay I propose an unconventional reading of Caliban in Shakespeare's The Tempest. Drawing from the decolonial perspective (Quijano 2007; Mignolo 2012; Mignolo & Walsh 2018) and the biocultural partnership-dominator approach propounded by the social thinker Riane Eisler (Eisler 1987; Eisler & Fry 2019), I intend to interpret Caliban as a shaman-guide or custodian of an-Other world. This id-entity epitomises the clash and encounter between rational and irrational instincts or 'natures' in the play. My essay also highlights other salient features connected to the spiritual and cosmological dis-order of shamanic or native cultures, such as the apparent dis-location of the island in which the play takes place, the invisible and magical character of Ariel, and the quintessential relationship that all protagonists establish with the environment and the natural surroundings. In my conclusions, I underline how Prospero's actions and monologues are meant to show the importance of rational and also 'irrational' or intuitive and imaginative powers of life, so as to be able to imagine and build a more caring, equitable and yet magical future.