“The Child's Monstrousness”

Mixed-race children in Shakespeare are either murdered or enslaved, thus reinforcing the early modern belief that “blackness alone stipulates [a] child&s;s monstrousness” (Washington, 2009). These “monstrous” children are placed under the authority of characters responsible for their parents&s; deaths or banishments. Therefore, the oppositional gaze— as theorized by bell hooks—of the black parent is removed in order to reinforce the white colonial gaze wanting to kill or enslave the children&s;s Othered, black-presenting bodies. In Titus Andronicus , after the imprisonment, torture, and murder of his parents, the mixed-race child of Tamora and Aaron is left in the control of the Romans. Octavius views Cleopatra&s;s children in Antony and Cleopatra as an extension of Cleopatra&s;s black female body and subject to kidnapping and imprisonment. Although Cleopatra avoids this outcome for herself, her oppositional gaze and protection of her children are removed with her death. Lastly, The Tempest exemplifies the aftermath mixed-race children experience. After Sycorax and her oppositional gaze are banished, Prospero keeps Caliban as a slave. Shakespeare&s;s plays demonstrate the use of “monstrous forms” to eliminate the oppositional gazes of Aaron, Cleopatra, and Sycorax and reinforce the power of the white, colonial gaze to misrepresent, enslave, and kill mixed-race children.