The Carnivalesque in The
Tempest and The Room on the Roof
Dr. Arup Pal
ABSTRACT
This essay examines Mikhail Bakhtin’s concept of
the carnivalesque as a subversive, regenerative force in William
Shakespeare’s The Tempest (1623) and Ruskin Bond’s The Room on the
Roof (1956). Far from mere festive spectacle, Bakhtinian carnival
temporarily withholds hierarchical order, commemorates grotesque
realism, and asserts renewal through degradation, laughter, and
bodily excess. In The Tempest, the storm, Caliban’s grotesque
rebellion, the mock-kingdom of Stephano-Trinculo-Caliban, and
Prospero’s final plea for release effectuate crowning/de-crowning,
leveling master and slave, and critiquing civilized authority.
Likewise, in Ruskin Bond’s semi-autobiographical text, Rusty’s
participation in Holi, his physical assault on his guardian Mr.
Harrison, and his immersion in the Indian bazaar and chaat-shop
camaraderie overturn colonial hierarchies and Anglo-Indian
propriety, transforming the adolescent protagonist through
carnivalesque autonomy. Both texts, separated by centuries and
cultures, reveal carnival as a universal spirit of renewal that
challenges officialdom, embraces the incomplete body, and affirms
life’s regenerative potential.
Keywords: Carnivalesque, Bakhtin, grotesque realism, hierarchical
subversion, renewal
