The Tempest, considered by many to be Shakespeare’s farewell to the theatre, has of all his plays the most remarkable interpretive richness. The exceptional flexibility of Shakespeare’s stage is given particular prominence in The Tempest due to its originality and analytic potential, in particular in the presentation of one of his most renowned and disputed characters, Caliban. Superficially portrayed in the play as a most detestable monster, Caliban does not evoke much sympathy. However, on further examination Caliban presents himself as an extremely complex character and soon his apparent monstrosity is not so obviously transparent. The diverse range of presentations of him on stage exemplifies Caliban’s multifarious character.
Although Caliban attempts to rape Miranda, appearing initially to be nothing more complex than a degenerate beast and so should be presented as such, Caliban is in fact a human being and not a monster, misunderstood only because Prospero, the colonizer, has unjustly depicted him as being merely a primitive native.
At the time of The Tempest, settlers began moving out of Britain to colonize America, Africa and parts of Asia. Laying a claim to overseas territory was becoming increasingly important to national identity and power. The voyages of Christopher Columbus and Vasco da Gama sparked what has come to be known as the age of European Expansion, when England and the rest of Europe began devoting their energies to exploring and developing markets overseas. When The Tempest was written, these immensely important social events were on the top of everyone’s mind, including, presumably, Shakespeare’s. It is for this reason that the play is often considered an allegory of European discovery and i...
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...ual intentions behind the creation of the play can never be revealed. However the bulk of the evidence points towards a Caliban who is, despite his possible demonic parentage and unspecified deformity, a human, and it often appears that Shakespeare wished him to be presented as such. This view is not unfounded, as it was known that Shakespeare had read, and indeed quoted from Michel de Montaigne’s ‘Of Cannibals’ where it is argued that the customs of natives were not barbarous or uncivilised, merely different. Post – colonial interpretations of The Tempest appear to view Caliban in a similar light. Caliban’s wonderful grasp and description of his surroundings does not suggest evil, rather his words imply a true innocence. Caliban is not a monster and so should not be presented as such, he is simply bare, unimproved nature, an example of humanity at its rawest form.
Vaughan, Alden T. & Virginia Mason. "Shakespeare's Caliban: A Cultural History." New York: University Press, 1991.
Throughout The Tempest, Caliban’s actions seem childish, primitive, and immature. When his actions are analyzed through the lense of developmental stages, it can be determined that he is, mentally, a 2-7 year old. This gives the reader a new perspective on Caliban, and allows them to see him through a different light: as less of a savage, and more of an underdeveloped, miscared-for child.
The Tempest by William Shakespeare is one of the most relevant and studied plays of the Elizabethan period among scholars, from both, ancient and actual times. One of the many readings that have prevailed suggests that the play’s protagonist, Prospero, and his two su-pernatural servants, Ariel and Caliban, can work as a single psychological unit is constantly discussed by the academics. This reading is not new; it has been considered for longer than the idea of The Tempest as an autobiographical allegory, being first proposed by Thomas Campbell in 1838 (Yachnin).
In this brief examination of the Tempest, it becomes obvious that the play is a mirror image of the progression of events in the Bible. This use of Christian elements in the play is not obvious upon first reading the play, but becomes undeniable as the action progresses. The motif of Christianity in other Shakespearean works is not as structured and in-depth as the motif found in the Tempest.
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.
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...
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.
Shakespeare was intending to represent several different groups of people in society through his plays and “The Tempest” was no exception to the rule. I aim to show how the “human” relationships in the play reflect real life relationships within Shakespeare’s own society (as well as his future audience), for which his plays were written and performed.
The temptation to regard The Tempest as an allegory has proved irresistible to critics, although opinions differ on what it might be an allegory of, and what the principal figures might represent. In this essay I wish to discuss the character of Ariel, who has received less attention than either Caliban or Prospero. If The Tempest is an allegory then each of its characters should fulfil some representative function. Prospero is generally associated with the playwright (or even, which amounts to much the same thing in some views, with God) as he controls the action on stage. Caliban is taken to represent the physical aspect of humanity, or the 'will', his uncivilised condition making him close to the beasts. In this view, Prospero represents intellect (in seventeenth-century terms 'wit', or 'reason'). The opposition of 'infected will' and 'perfected wit' is a common trope of Protestant discourse, as in Sir Philip Sidney's 'Defense of Poesie'. FN1 Ariel, then, ('an airy spirit' in the 'Names of the Actors') might represent a third part of the self, the soul or spirit, but at this point the allegory seems to break down, in that Ariel is clearly not Prospero's immortal soul, or the divine part in man, as he is under the control of Prospero as intellect, and in fact performs the action of the play just as Prospero directs it.
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.
The Tempest. Arden Shakespeare, 1997. Print. Third Series Smith, Hallet Darius. Twentieth Century Interpretations of The Tempest; A Collection of Critical Essays, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1969.
Shakespeare, William, and Robert Woodrow Langbaum. The Tempest: With New and Updated Critical Essays and A Revised Bibliography. New York, NY, USA: Signet Classic, 1998. Print.
...our understanding of Caliban and The Tempest as a play is therefore one of great importance.
The Importance of Caliban in William Shakespeare's The Tempest. This thing of darkness, I must acknowledge mine. Although many seem baffled by Shakespeare's The Tempest, the plot is not the target of deciphering. We understand The Tempest through understanding the character of Caliban.