Caliban in Shakespeare's The Tempest Essay Example

Through Shakespeare’s portrayal of Caliban as a monster and his symbolization of Caliban as a native of the new world, Caliban is unable to receive the justice that the rest of the characters come by. When Shakespeare introduces us to Caliban, he emphasizes Caliban’s most abhorrent qualities: his lack of human attributes, his attempted rape of Miranda, and his plot agaisnt Prospero. Furthermore, as the play progresses, Shakespeare’s views on colonialism are revealed through Caliban’s toxic relationship with Prospero and the other characters in the play. It is clear that Caliban is being seen as lesser, considering that his land has been stolen, he is forced into slavery, and his constant belittlement by the rest of the characters.    

Throughout the entire play, Caliban is depicted as a horrid monster whose violence and intemperance juxtaposes the attributes of the other humans who have been shipwrecked on the island. Caliban is constantly ridiculed for his appearance, being referred to as a “Mooncalf” (3.2., 99),  “...thou tortoise.” (1.2., 316), and “...some monster of the isle with four legs…”(2.2., 61). The other characters refer to him as everything other than a man, suggesting that they see him as a creature not a human. Similarly, Julia Reinhard Lupton’s interpretation of Caliban in her essay, Creature Caliban, illustrates that, “Although...the word creature appears nowhere in conjunction with Caliban himself, his character is everywhere hedged in…[the] category of the creaturely.” (Lupton). Lupton’s view of Caliban comes from the subtext surrounding Caliban’s character rather than his description. Through both the text and the subtext it is clear that Caliban’s humanity has been diminished. Although Caliban is consistently condemned from the start of the play, he was initially embraced by Prospero and Miranda when they were exiled to the island. They taught him english and provided him shelter. However, instead of appreciating their efforts in cohabitation, Caliban attempts to rape Miranda in hopes to “...[people] this isle with Calibans” (1.2., 355-356). In turn, Prospero punishes him with torture and slavitude, in which Caliban continues to curse his now captors. In addition, in act 3 scene 2 of The Tempest, Caliban conspires to overthrow Prospero with the help of two drunken servants, Trinculo and Stefano. While convincing the two, Caliban reiterates his unsavoury views on Miranda, selling the idea of her to Stephano, telling him to “...most deeply...consider...the beauty of his daughter” (3.2., 92-93). Ultimately, through his actions, Caliban is seen as the definition of monstrosity and is not worthy of forgiveness. 

Shakespeare successfully depicts Caliban as a monster; however, this opens up discussions on why Shakespeare chose to represent Caliban this way. Shakespeare’s The Tempest pulls direct parallels from the colonization of the new world as he explores the complex and problematic relationship between the European colonizer, seen to be Prospero, and the native colonized people, seen to be Caliban. When they first encountered each other, Prospero and Caliban engaged in a symbiotic relationship where Caliban taught Prospero how to live on his island; he taught Prospero where to obtain clean water, and which lands were the most fertile. In return, Prospero and Miranda shared their knowledge with Caliban and allowed him to live with them harmoniously. This is a direct parallel to the colonialism in Jamestown that Samual Purchas describes in his essay: Virginia’s Verger. He reveals that, “The barbarians...gave our people kind entertainments in mutual cohabitation and commerce…”(Purchas), implying that both the natives of Jamestown and the European colonizers both benefited from each other. However, Caliban’s relationship with Prospero turns negative as Prospero views Caliban as a lesser being than himself. Prospero believes that Caliban should show him gratitude for educating Caliban and lifting him out of ‘savagery’. Furthermore, to build on the parallelisms between Purchas and Shakspeare, Prospero does not believe that he has stolen the island from Caliban, because Prospero can not imagine Caliban as being fit to rule anything. Similarly, in Purchas’ essay he rationalizes the stolen land by arguing that the first inhabitants were “not worthy of the name of a nation, being wild and savage” (Purchas). On the other hand, Caliban realizes that renouncing his rule over the island in exchange for his education was not worth it, since Prospero does not see him as equal. This results in Caliban retaliating through violence, which only reinforces how Prospero views him: a savage. Shakespeare uses the relationship between Prospero and Caliban to demonstrate how the cohabitation of colonizers and the colonized lead to conflict with only one side winning. In Shakespeare’s The Tempest, the winner, Prospero, prospered in the end, and the loser, Caliban, was punished for the rest of his life. 

It is unclear when The Tempest ends whether or not Caliban is set free or not; however, we can infer that he was not. Shakespeare illustrates Caliban as a brute, scapegoating his life and thus predicting his demise. He was the antagonist of the story: he assaulted Miranda and attempted a coup. Generally, ‘bad guys’ do not get happy endings and Shakespeare’s view on the colonialism of the new word enforces this idea that the winners should be rewarded and the losers should be punished. Shakespeare’s views on colonialism was that of it’s time: he believed that Europeans were in all ways superior and always winners, entitled to all that they found without care of who encountered it first. In conclusion, Shakespeare did everything he could to create a villain out of Caliban; thus, sealing his fate and making freedom impossible.