William Shakespeare's The Tempest

William Shakespeare's The Tempest

‘The Tempest’ was Shakespeare’s last major play and is partly based on

a true story about a ship called ‘The Seaventure’ which set sail for

America in 1609. However, the ship was blown off course by a storm and

ended up in Bermuda. This was the time when people were just beginning

to explore the world and Bermuda was thought to be inhabited by

spirits, demons and monsters. Shakespeare used the disaster of ‘The

Seaventure’ as a starting point for his play and incorporated the

beliefs of the people in his play.

‘The Tempest’ explores the 17th Century myths and colonisation.

Caliban is a character in the play and resembles both of these ideas,

he represents the new ethnic groups, with his mother being a witch and

worshipping a Patagonian God, which also resembles new religion.

Caliban also represents the way natives were treated; he is treated

badly throughout the play. This represents the way natives were

treated by the conquering. Westerners. This essay will explore how

Shakespeare presents Caliban and whether he is merely just a savage or

whether he is a noble savage.

One way in which Caliban shows he may be just a savage is through his

poor response to education. He tells Miranda that his only “profit”

from his learning is that he “know(s) how to curse.” Caliban sees no

useful point in an education. This contrasts to the ‘civilised’ idea

that an education is an important part of life to a person. Another

way in which Caliban shows he may be just a savage is through his

attempt to rape Miranda. Prospero says to Caliban “thou didst seek to

violate the honour of my child.” Civilised people wou...

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...ic speeches, such as his “isle is

full of noises” speech shows that he has learned to use language

properly and that he knows when and how to use it correctly and this

shows that Caliban may have aspects of nobility within him.

To conclude, there is no easy answer to the question as to whether

Caliban is a noble savage or just a savage. Caliban shows aspects of

savagery, with his attempt to rape Miranda and the fact that he curses

a lot. He also shows that he is noble through his poetic speeches and

self-awareness. I don’t think Shakespeare makes it simple to chose

between the two types of savage because he is trying to say that

although foreigners seem like bad people, on the inside they are

actually nice people that are noble. In my opinion I think that

Caliban is a savage but also shows some aspects of nobility.