From Ariel to Caliban: Latin American identity in José Enrique Rodó and Roberto Fernández Retamar

Abstract

The use of characters from The Tempest as symbols of Latin American identity has become part of the history of political and social thought in the subcontinent. In this article, two central works for the appropriation of these figures in Shakespeare's play from the early 17th century were analyzed: Ariel (1900), by Uruguayan publicist José Enrique Rodó and Caliban (1971), by Cuban writer Roberto Fernández Retamar. Although deeply connected to their writing contexts, both contributions went beyond their time and became central to the debate on the construction of a Latin American identity. In order to understand how this process took place, we examined Rodó's and later Retamar's works, seeking to indicate their differences and similarities. From this, it was observed how the conception of this Latin American identity was understood first as a synthesis of spiritualism with utilitarianism to be carried forward by the youth guided by the intellectuals, and later as an irreconcilable opposition between oppressor and oppressed, before which this intellectuality should take a stand.