Postcolonial reading

An interpretation that examines colonial power, its effects and the resistance of colonised people.

An interpretation that examines how a text represents colonial power, including the control of land, labour and culture.

A postcolonial reading considers Prospero as a European who takes control of an island and exploits its inhabitant’s labour. Caliban claims that the island belonged to him through his mother and describes sharing its resources with Prospero before losing his freedom. This creates an uncomfortable parallel: Prospero condemns the seizure of his own dukedom while ruling land that Caliban claims has been taken from him.

An interpretation that examines colonial power, its consequences and the voices of people subjected to it.

Link context to the moment you are analysing. Present a postcolonial reading as an interpretation, not proof of Shakespeare's single intended message.

Treat later feminist and postcolonial readings as interpretations, not as proof of Brontë’s intentions.

An approach to literature that examines colonial power, racial representation and whose experiences are given a voice.

An interpretation that examines colonial power and its effects on identity, representation and whose voice is heard.

An interpretation that examines colonial power and its effects, including the perspectives and resistance of people placed under colonial rule.

Postcolonial readings became increasingly influential from about 1950, examining Prospero as coloniser and Caliban as colonised. Such readings can explain Caliban’s resentment and resistance, and why his claim to the island has appealed to later audiences affected by colonial rule.

An interpretation examining how a text represents colonial power, domination and the experiences or resistance of those subjected to it.

An interpretation that examines colonial domination, its effects and the perspectives of people subjected to it.

A way of interpreting literature that examines empire, colonial power and the representation of colonised peoples and places.

A reading that examines how colonial power, exploitation and ideas about cultural or racial difference shape a text.

An interpretation examining how colonial power and its legacies shape a text’s representation of people, places and identities.

A postcolonial reading examines how Bertha is made an outsider through her colonial origins and frightening, dehumanising representation. “Creole” could refer to Caribbean-born people of European descent as well as other colonial identities. It does not establish Bertha’s exact ancestry: the important interpretative issue is how her origins are used to mark her as different.

A way of interpreting literature that examines colonial power, its consequences and the representation of colonised people and places.

A way of interpreting literature that examines how colonial power and assumptions about cultural or racial difference shape its representation of people.

Definition

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AQA GCSE English Literature · 8702

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Edexcel GCSE English Literature · 1ET0

Eduqas GCSE English Literature · C720