Sycorax

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A fictional character known as the witch and a powerful figure in Shakespeare's "The Tempest" who is the mother of Caliban
2. An embodiment of the supernatural and a narrative presence representing dark magic and chaos
3. A symbol of colonial and feminist themes in literature, often associated with the otherness and oppression of women

Etymology: Sycorax is a name that exists only because of a single play. In William Shakespeare's "The Tempest," she is the witch who once ruled the island where Prospero later arrives, and she is the mother of Caliban. The play never shows her on stage; she is spoken of as a figure of dark magic whose exile left Ariel imprisoned in a cloven pine until Prospero freed him. The name was Shakespeare's invention, and it has no earlier life in English that the source records. Its later use is almost entirely tied to the play and to readers who have taken up Caliban's side of the story. Because Sycorax exists mainly through what other characters say about her, the name carries a whole backstory that the audience must assemble from brief, hostile remarks.