Ariel and Caliban, are two of the main characters in the famous play The Tempest, written by William Shakespeare. They both serve the function of being enslaved to the same master known as Prospero. While they are servants to Prospero they are different in the way they obey him. For example Ariel is much obedient and sensitive. He believes that the ultimate goal is to serve and that true freedom comes in the service of others, therefore he complies with everything that Prospero wants of him. However, Caliban is a very different type of character. Caliban actually hates Prospero and serves him begrudgingly. Although he is his servant, he also plots to kill Caliban. Therefore he is very different from Ariel. Although both Ariel and Caliban serve the same master, they have very distinct personality traits at the core. …show more content…
Caliban is the exact opposite and more of a hot head and harsh character at the core. Ariel is much more light hearted since he doesn't harbor the same resentment towards his master Prospero. They are like the ying and yang of the other since Ariel is pure goodness and in many ways Caliban represents darkness and evil. This stands true since Caliban tried to violate another character named Miranda.
An example that can highlight how different their personalities are is when Caliban tells Stephano that Prospero actually stole the island from him. He was encouraging Stephano to murder Prospero while he was asleep. Furthermore he was strongly supporting that Stephano marry Prospero's wife Miranda and then take the island to rule over it himself. Ariel, actually became aware of this plot and instead of joining in the conspiracy, he did something very good natured. Ariel warned Prospero of the plan to murder him and help to avoid this tragedy. This points to the very point that Ariel is good and Caliban is
Even Miranda, Prospero’s daughter, speaks in a way that categorizes Caliban as an uneducated and uncivilized savage. “I pitied thee, Took pains to make thee speak, taught thee each hour […] When thou didst not, savage, know thine own meaning […]” (1.2.356-359) Miranda doesn’t stop there; she continues labeling Caliban, “But thy vile race, though thou didst learn, had that in’t which good natures could not abide to be with; therefore wast though deservedly confined into this rock […]” (1.2.361-364). Exactly this kind of discourse turns Caliban into a subject. If Caliban had not been alone on the island, then Prospero and Miranda would have categorized a whole group of human beings rather than just one.
In the comedic, yet thrilling play, The Tempest, William Shakespeare uses characters such as Caliban, Alonso, and Ariel to show Prospero’s immense cruelness and pure monstrosity. Moreover, these Shakespearean characters are also used to highlight Prospero’s change in character into a kinder and more forgiving person. Prospero starts the play out as a vengeful monster, after an illuminating moment however, his persona transforms into his true identity of a compassionate man.
Characters in The Tempest see Caliban as rude, while in the poem he sees himself as damaged by his past. People around Caliban see him as rude because he is never nice to them, but in the poem, he says his past is the reason he’s rude. On page
They are also alike in that both are misunderstood and mistreated by everyone, but most importantly by the person that is closest to them. For example, Prospero keeps Caliban as his slave, while Victor resents his creation.
Caliban is rude, crude, ugly and lazy. Speaking in a psychoanalytic manner, Caliban is going to be remembered as bitter and obsessed with sex. This sexual desire is going to be coincided first with thoughts of his mutation-- a feeling of inadequacy-- and then more significantly with the absence of his mother. That he had no parents on which to form an Oedipal complex and knows only who his mother was (nothing is mentioned of his father) makes for interesting observations on how he deals with sexuality. We learn that he does not deny that Prospero is the only barrier between him and the rape of Miranda. It is clear that he has developed only so far as Freud’s theory of id, with small touches of the superego. Caliban’s development of the superego is evident only when he does not wish to receive Prospero’s pinches and cramps. He is otherwise all for anything that will bring him pleasure. Being free of Prospero, fulfilling his sexual desires with Miranda and drinking liquor are all on his menu.
The Tempest reflects Shakespeare's society through the relationship between characters, especially between Prospero and Caliban. Caliban, who was the previous king of the island, is taught how to be "civilized" by Prospero and his daughter Miranda. Then he is forced to be their servant. Caliban explains "Thou strok'st me and make much of me; wo...
In this whimsical play, Prospero, the former Duke of Milan, after being supplanted of his dukedom by his brother, arrives on an island. He frees a spirit named Ariel from a spell and in turn makes the spirit his slave. He also enslaves a native monster named Caliban. These two slaves, Caliban and Ariel, symbolize the theme of nature versus nurture. Caliban is regarded as the representation of the wild; the side that is usually looked down upon. Although from his repulsive behavior, Caliban can be viewed as a detestable beast of nature, it can be reasonably inferred that Shakespeare’s intent was to make Caliban a sympathetic character.
The article argues that they have parallels even though Miranda and Caliban are unlike each other by saying, “Why should there not be likeness between Miranda and Caliban? Both have been brought up on the island without knowledge of the ways of the world, and both have been pupils of Prospero…” (71). Another quote from the article that shows they have parallels states, “Miranda and Caliban are both amazed at the appearance of strangers who come to the island; but how different are their expressions of wonder” (74). This parallel argument, although very odd, is very convincing due to the authors style of writing, and the quotes from The Tempest, and other scholarly works.
When Caliban is first introduced in the play it is as an animal, a lazy beast that tried to rape Prospero’s daughter, Miranda. Prospero wastes no time referring to him as, “Thou poisonous slave, got by the de...
Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest is set on a mysterious island surrounded by the ocean. Here the magician Prospero is ruler of the isle with his two servants Caliban and Ariel. Caliban is the abrasive, foul-mouthed son of the evil witch Sycorax. When Prospero was shipwrecked on the island Prospero treated him kindly but their relationship changed when Caliban tried to rape Prospero's daughter, Miranda. Caliban then became Prospero's unwilling servant. Caliban serves his master out of fear Prospero's wrath. Prospero's other servant Ariel is a graceful spirit who has courtesy and charm. Ariel has put her services at Prospero's disposal out of gratitude for his kind actions towards her. Prospero saved Ariel from the confinement of Sycorax who held her prisoner.
Caliban is described as “naturally evil”. Despite any efforts, his nature cannot be changed. His natural evil in The Tempest will always triumph any attempts to change him. His relationship to an evil witch made him naturally evil and will forever be who he truly is.
Caliban is evil is the fact that he tried to rape Miranda, Prospero’s daughter as states by Barbara Fuchs in her article Conquering Islands: Contextualizing the Tempest where it says, “Caliban’s attack on Prospero’s daughter once more genders the colonizing impulses” (61). This suggests rape and it is not inhuman and it shows that Miranda is not the first woman who this has happen to. It not right, it’s evil. Caliban’s character in this book is horrible in the things that he does, he starting off has an evil monster that was born from an evil parents and he goes around causing trouble wherever he goes. As a servant, he does evil deed and by himself he is evil.
Overall, the two characters Caliban and Ariel both play major parts in The Tempest. However, they could not be more unalike. They are treated in completely different ways by their master Prospero, they are required to take on different types of tasks, and the only similarity that seems to link the two of them together is the fact that the both desire to gain their freedom from his rule. Also the personalities of the two characters differ greatly. While Ariel seems to be more naïve, Caliban seems to realize the true intentions of Prospero and his quest for power over the island during the play.
...ferences of the two servants, Ariel can be seen more like a positive character and unlike him Caliban can be seen more like a negative character. Because of these reasons, it can be thought that Ariel is a loved character but Caliban is an unliked character. But this is only one point of view. Others may love Caliban more than Ariel because they can find some of the same characteristics that they also have such as rebelling or complaining about things so in other words some people may find things from themselves in that character. People also may not like Ariel because they can think that his attitude towards Prospero is fake and he is only trying to be king to be free. So, the characteristics of the two servants and the differences between them may change people’s point of views and thoughts about the characters which can be both in a positive or a negative way.
A master servant theme can be seen throughout the whole play. Prospero has a this relationship with both Ariel and Caliban clearly, but it is the way he goes about the relationship. He prefers Ariel because he is more compliant than Caliban and has more uses. Prospero’s relationship with Caliban is more toxic. These show what kind of person Prospero really is. He is a manipulative person that is willing to whatever he needs to get what he wants. This is compared to how the colonists interacted with the Native Americans. They would trade and help each, and were able to tolerate them. Eventually the colonist learned what they needed and then turned their backs on