Pinning the oppressed against their oppressor is by no means a new concept. Countless pieces of literature have explored the relationship between these tyrants and their rebellious servants. Two prime examples would be Prospero from The Tempest and Helmer from A Doll House, given their domineering and self-righteous demeanor as they fancy themselves the reinforcers of social justice. Naturally, their counterparts would be Caliban and Nils Krogstad, respectively, who don’t much care for the authority forced upon them. Both of these characters use their beliefs to actively subvert their oppressors’ power. First, we’ll begin with Caliban. He becomes the unwilling slave to Prospero, and he detests his situation. As the son of the hag-witch …show more content…
He also conspires with Stephano and Trinculo to kill Prospero so that he may finally win back his freedom. This poor judge of character juxtaposed with his signs of innocence depict Caliban’s animalistic tendencies; he is a product of nature, after all. Next, we move on to Krogstad. Similarly to Caliban, Krogstad takes some rather villainous actions in order to oppose Helmer’s oppression of him. Though it’s never explicitly stated why he did it, we know that Krogstad got involved in a forgery scheme in the past, and that one action ruined his entire reputation. Forgery is a relatively small crime to commit, but “the community turned its back on him, [which] forced [Krogstad] into the unsavory business of moneylending and blackmailing in order to support his family” (Schmoop Editorial Team). Krogstad does find a small ray of hope in building up his status again through his job at the bank. However, this job is put in jeopardy when Torvald Helmer is set to be the bank’s new boss. Helmer, whom is very conscious of people’s perceptions of him, narrow-mindedly intends to fire Krogstad simply because they are on a first-name basis and he cannot withstand the embarrassment of that. With his future for his family on the line, Krogstad turns to threatening and blackmailing Helmer’s wife, Nora, to have her convince her husband to let him keep his job. Krogstad continues his
Last but not least, Caliban had an unstable relationship with Prospero. Miranda wasn’t the only one that treated Caliban as a slave, Prospero did as well. “..What,ho! Slave! Caliban!”(1.2.375). Caliban would be called names, and numerous times he is treated as a slave, but Prospero felt no guilt to how he treats him. As mentioned before, Caliban is a villain as well, which means he is also evil to Prospero. “All the infections that the sun sucks up/ From bogs, fens, flats, on Prosper fall and make him/By inchmeal a disease!”(2.2.5). Caliban hoped that all the diseases that are in swamps and marches infect Prospero, in every inch of his body so he could become a walking disease. Not only did he wish for him to be infected, but he also wanted to severely hurt him. “I’ll yield him thee asleep, where thou mayst knock a nail into his head”(2.3.67-8) He tells Stephano that he will take him to where Prospero sleeps, so he could pound a nail into his head. After they were to put a nail into his head, he wanted to continue to do evil things to him. “Beat him enough. After a little time, I’ll beat him too”(3.2.92-3) As it shows in this quotation, Caliban wanted to beat Prospero.
Caliban’s strong emotional attachment to the island in The Tempest motivates him to actively respect nature. During Caliban 's first interaction with Prospero in the play, he states, “This Island’s mine, by Sycorax my mother.” This assertion of dominion by Caliban sparks a desire for him to protect the nature on the island. As a result, he values nature like it is an extension of himself and strives to maintain harmony with it. Caliban follows this up by reminding Prospero, “And then I loved thee and show 'd thee all the
Upon arrival to the new island, Prospero encounters the one inhabitant, the native Caliban. As Antonio usurped power from Prospero, Prospero usurps power from Caliban. Later we see Caliban plotting to recover what Prospero has taken.
On one level, it seems that Caliban is an evil character but on another level, Shakespeare tries to depict Caliban as a part of Prospero's character. This is shown when Prospero accepts responsibility for Caliban. Prospero understands that Caliban is the baser side of himself, even the baser side of humanity's baser instincts. Caliban shows many
Caliban, immediately introduced as "poisonous slave," "savage," "hag-seed," is a character often likened to the African- American slave. The ease and matter-of-factness with which Prospero and Miranda dismiss him is painfully obvious even before he enters the scene (Act 1, Scene 3). Through no fault of his own, Caliban is dehumanized by the authority of his day and dismissed by the important members of his society. He looks much different from the others on the island, so he is not seen as a true human being; in fact, his only redemption lies in the fact that he is able to learn the language in order to serve the master.
Prospero uses his language to minimize and blame Caliban. Prospero not only refers to Caliban as “filth,” but also accuses him of “lying” and “seek[ing] to violate / [t]he honour of my child” (i.ii. 348- 351). Prospero blames his treatment of Caliban to the actions of Caliban; the quote: “with human care, and lodged thee / [i]n my own cell, till thou didst seek to violate / [t]he honour of my child” illustrates how Prospero blames Caliban for how Prospero treats him (i.ii. 349-351). This is violent because it shifts the blame from Prospero to Caliban essentially blaming the
And Caliban himself is capable of making one of the finest speeches of the play, and of saying, when Prospero has thought better of punishing, and renounced his supernatural power
Prospero, the self-appointed king of the island upon which everyone eventually becomes shipwrecked, immediately oppresses Caliban and claims him as his slave, even though Caliban was the original inhabitant of the island. Prospero and his daughter are technically guests in Caliban's home. Caliban is the son of the devil and Sycorax, a witch. Prospero uses Caliban's unsavory origin as an excuse to enslave him. He claims that he is a bad seed, and he deserves a life of servitude. He never actually justifies the situation with a logical explanation, so he must use whatever information he can think of as a poor excuse to exploit Caliban for his own self-propagation. Prospero is even bold enough to suggest that by enslaving Caliban, he is actually extending charity towards him. He feels that
Prospero's relationship with Caliban differs from that of Prospero and Ariel's. Prospero does not view Caliban as a being who could be his equal. He is blinded by his prejudice against Caliban's appearance and manners. Caliban is portrayed in a negative light. He can be seen as the depiction of the victims of colonial expansion. Although Prospero seeks this righteousness, he both mistreats and insults Caliban, who ultimately attempts to kill Prospero. In comparison to Ariel who acts only when commanded by Prospero, Caliban is wild. He refuses to be colonized and tamed. This can be taken as a reference by Shakespeare towards those who were
Caliban turns hate and dislike into murderous and devious plans. Caliban had a plan to plot out Prospero's death. He informs the others that Prospero takes a nap, and that it would be best to kill him in his sleep. We also learn here that he is similar to Miranda. Miranda has never seen another man except her father, and Caliban has never seen another woman except his mother. In some ways this is ironic. (Act 3, scene 2 line 75-89)
Although the audience know by know that Caliban tried to rape Miranda, Prospero treats him very harshly which reflects the poor treatment of servants in Prospero’s time. For example, when Prospero tells Caliban to come and chop wood, he replies, ‘There’s wood enough within.’ This shows a sense of bitterness on Caliban’s part, showing that he resents being Prospero’s servant, when he was once master of his own island. In this scene
After having used Krogstad to get what she needed, yet another issue arose. Krogstad turned on Nora once his position at the bank was on the line, and used her borrowing against her for his own good. “Niles Krogstad is also Mrs. Linde’s former crush, and he tries to redeem himself of his crimes of forgery by raising his children” (Rosefeldt).
During his meeting with Stephano, Caliban is characterized as an unintelligent savage through his instant addiction to alcohol. This is meant to be a comedic element to the play, but when examined from the lens of the indigenous peoples’ plight, is an incredibly tragic situation. Caliban’s immediate reliance on alcohol is seen in a different light after understanding that he likely suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder from the taunting of Prospero’s spirits. Upon seeing Stephano, Caliban says, “Do not torment me, prithee; I’ll bring my wood home faster.” (2.2.70-71), evidencing how traumatized Caliban is due to the taunting of Prospero’s spirits. Caliban, when presented with Stephano’s wine, becomes addicted due to its ability to
Caliban is treated as a slave of Prospero’s who is constantly tortured with Prospero’s magic. He contends that, “This island’s mine by Sycorax, my mother, which thou tak’st from me,” (1.2.396-397) implying that Prospero had no rightful claim to the island. This was an oft used point against colonialism of the time, however it is swiftfully countered by Caliban’s own words of the good that Prospero brought to Caliban. Caliban claims Prospero, “Strok’st me and made much of me, wouldst give me water with berries in’t, and teach me how to name the bigger light and how the less, that burn by day and night. And then I loved thee, and showed thee all the qualities o’ th’ isle,” (1.2.398-403). What Shakespeare is conveying here is the classic reasoning of Europeans as the saviors of native people. With Prospero bringing comfort to Caliban in the beginning and saving him from the witch Sycorax, Caliban should feel lucky Prospero came to this island. Any punishment brought upon Caliban is deserved in the eyes of Prospero, Shakespeare, and the audience Shakespeare is writing
Within The Tempest, characters such as Prospero and Caliban share an intimate connection. Without some kind of malevolent force motivating the action of the play, none of the major characters would come into contact with each other. A violent storm, formed by Prospero's magic, subjects the foreign characters to the might of his mysterious power. Issues of control become a central part of The Tempest. One way in which this is highlighted is through the relationship between Prospero and Caliban, his bestial servant. Their relationship does not utilize the conventional imagery of those who hold power versus those who do not. Rather, Caliban comes to symbolize a physical