The Tempest Research Paper

     In the world of The Tempest , Ariel, the airy spirit, and Caliban, the earthy monster, can be described as character foils. Unlike and contrasted as they are, they have some traits in common. They both have an aversion to labor and a longing for liberty. Also, they have a primitive sense of humor, a fondness for tricks and pranks, and a spontaneous and unsophisticated love of nature. Furthermore, deeper inside them, one has a fear of a higher power and the other a craving for affection and approbation. Thus, the contrast between them is heightened.

In the play, The Tempest, by William Shakespeare, Caliban is an important character. Caliban is a character who plays as a victim to be pitied, as well as a villain to watch out for. In this essay, I will show clearly how Caliban is a victim and villain by exploring his relationship with Prospero, Miranda, and the island.

Caliban’s character in A Tempest is more outspoken and vocal about Prospero’s maltreatment of him. In Act I, Caliban’s entrance into the play is depicted very differently between The Tempest and A Tempest. In The Tempest Caliban succumbs to Prospero’s wishes much more willingly than in A Tempest. In The Tempest, Caliban’s first lines are answering to Prospero: “There’s wood enough within” (1.2.315). He follows Prospero’s orders willingly and does as he is told. In the context of the civil rights movement, this can be interpreted as he accepts the social injustice without much defiance, because it is the social norm. However, in A Tempest, his first line in the play is “Uhuru!” (pg 11). Caliban directly disobeys Prospero here, as “Uhuru” means “freedom” in his native language (Swahili). This change is very significant, especially in the time of the civil rights movement. I think that Cesaire makes this change as a statement for the need for self-advocacy and defiance of discrimination and segregation in the 1960s. It encourages minorities to accept Caliban’s role in the real world take a stand against the social injustices that plagued the

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

In the Tempest, by William Shakespeare a wizard, his daughter, and Caliban live on a deserted island, where a king and his men have crashed. The wizard of the island is seen making fun of Caliban, a native of the island. In addition, the kings’ men are also making fun of Caliban. Shakespeare might have included Caliban into the story because he is making fun of the Native Americans in the New World and is perhaps making fun of the Europeans who have moved there.

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, 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

       The Tempest is a classic example of Shakespeare’s dichotomized notions of right and wrong within the context of racial inherencies, a social commentary of the colonialism of the New World. An important theme in the play is the racial differentiation between Caliban and the other antagonists, primarily, Prospero, who comes to the island and enslaves Caliban to enforce his own rule. This relationship, as portrayed through the play, is a reflection of the historical social and racial tensions that existed between the colonizers of New Europe and the Native Americans and is illustrated through the language employed by Shakespeare and the interactions that take place between the characters. The Tempest

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

    One of the indispensable themes displayed in The Tempest is the duality of nature and society.  This is made apparent through the character of Caliban.  Caliban is a dis-figured fish-like creature that inhabits the island where the play The Tempest, takes place.

Caliban, a confusing and intriguing character in The Tempest, can be debated between monster and man. Being son of the malevolent Sycorax, Caliban was born into his twisted lifestyle, but does that automatically make him a monster? I think Caliban is a monster and a man because he was forced into servitude and tortured turning him sour, and he is capable of heartfelt human emotion, but he tried to do awful things to Prospero and Miranda.

“They have left me out,” Suniti Namjoshi gives a voice to Caliban in her poem, “Snapshots of Caliban”, that reimagines William Shakespeare's play, The Tempest. She is able to extend Caliban’s perspective through journal entries written in his voice. In the original work, the portrayal of Caliban is based primarily on how he reacts to how Miranda and Prospero treat him. Because The Tempest is written as a play, it has limitations in providing a perspective of Caliban outside of his dialogue with other characters, but in Namjoshi’s “Snapshots of Caliban”, she extends the perspective of Caliban through the medium of poetry to highlight his power struggle, and further extend that he is oppressed not just structurally or materially, but in his interiority. This

His mother, Sycorax, was banished there by sailors for no known reason; “This blue-eyed hag was hither brought with child / And here was left by th’ sailors” (I.II.322-323). Sycorax is an African with blue eyes which is unusual and so people thought she was magic because of it, hence the name she was referred to in the quote, ‘blue-eyed hag’. Trapping Ariel in the oak tree also emphasized the magic people thought she had. They assumed she used magic to do it; “By help of her more potent ministers / And in her most unmitigable rage, / Into a cloven pine, within which rift / Imprisoned thou didst painfully remain”(I.II.328-331). I chose this quote because it expressed how she trapped Ariel. Sycorax died soon after and her son was left alone on the island until Prospero found him. Since sycorax might have had power, then theoretically Caliban was also suspected to possess the same power. This could have threatened Prospero, so he belittled Caliban and turned him into a slave. Prospero would tell Ariel stories of how Caliban was not human, but a monster; “Then was this island / (Save for the son that she did litter here, / A freckled whelp, hag-born) not honored with / A human shape” (I.II.334-337). In this quote, Prospero is belittling Caliban in order to gain more control over him and Ariel. Caliban is mentally weak so he succumbs to Prospero, but he is physically strong and still poses a

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

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