Caliban

In brief...

A very earthy character.
Physically strong.
Although unintelligent, he is not stupid.
Acts on instinct, both for food and has sexual desires as he tried to rape Miranda.
He is ugly and described as such throughout “freckled whelp”, “strange fish”, “savage”, “abnormal”, “slave”.
Educated by Prospero.
He has to obey Prospero because of Prospero’s power.
Needs to follow others and falls in with Trinculo and Stephano to overthrow Prospero.
He speaks aggressively throughout, but some sensitivity is shown “be not afeared, the isle is full of strange noises” when calming Stephano and Trinculo.
Learns from his stupidity in the end.

In depth...

What is the role of Caliban in “The Tempest?”

Caliban shows intelligence. He knows that he cannot fight against Prospero’s power.
He is also shown to have a better set of values than Stephano and Trinculo.
His motive for murder is nobler than Antonio’s and Sebastian’s as they are killing for greed, whereas Caliban wants his island back.
He is sensitive to beauty. III.ii. 133 – 41
It is difficult not to sympathise with Caliban.
Prospero has usurped Caliban’s island.
He and Prospero were once friends.
Caliban showed Prospero around the island.
This gives us an idea of the Elizabethan treatment of difference.
This is reflected in Prospero’s prejudiced view. Elizabethans believed in hierarchy with God at the apex.
They view “uncivilized” cultures as being below their European counterparts.
He is referred to as a “tortoise”, a “beast” and a “misshaped knave” (Animal Imagery).
Caliban is an anagram of “cannibal” (old spelling).
Raises colonial issues. “You taught me my language, and my profit on’t/Is, I know how to curse”. I. ii. 363 -4.
Caliban resents being forced to conform to colonial ideas.
He tries to fight the colonisers with the only tool he has; language.

Act 1. Scene 2

Prospero, calling him a ‘dull thing’ reduces Caliban from a person to an inanimate object. Caliban stands up to Prospero; shows character.

Act 2

Caliban’s willingness to serve Stephano and show him the natural riches of the island echoes his relationship to Prospero when he first came to the island.
Trinculo is persistently contemptuous of Caliban, repeatedly calling him ‘monster’.
Neither he nor Stephano see Caliban as a person, but as a thing to be used. Trinculo dislikes and fears Caliban.
Caliban’s drunken cry of ‘freedom’ at the end of the scene is ironic; he has merely become another master’s slave.
Caliban’s unfamiliarity with Europeans other than Prospero and Miranda causes him to be easily impressed by Stephano and his ‘celestial liquor’.
To King Alonso’s servants, Caliban is merely a ‘monster’; an exploitable savage; to Caliban, these strangers might have ‘dropp’d from heaven’ and he foolishly believes they can free him from his servitude.

Act 4

Ironically, it is Stephano and Trinculo who end up looking more foolish than the ‘monster’ Caliban.

Act 5

Caliban’s natural intelligence makes him quick to see how he has misjudged Stephano and Trinculo; ‘what a thrice double ass was I’.

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