Question

Read the excerpt from Midsummer by Derek Walcott.

Answer 1

The allusion to the character Caliban creates a clearer picture of the setting and the location of the excerpt. In Shakespeare's The Tempest, Caliban was the son of a witch and was a slave to Prospero. He was a frustrated rap*st which would provide us with the state of morality of the empire in described in Midsummer.

Answer 2

The answer is:

It draws a comparison between the rioters and the character.

In the excerpt from "Midsummer," by Derek Walcott, the speaker feels that the rioters are similar to Shakespearean character Caliban in "The Tempest." Half human and half beast, Caliban represents an exploited subject of colonialism, as he rebelled his master, Prosperous. As a consequence, Walcott considers the rioters are uprising similarly in search of equality.