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
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
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.
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.
Ariel, he sees more as a companion, and someone that can help him reach his goals. For this reason, Prospero treats Ariel better than he would Caliban. Caliban is very rebellious when is comes to dealing with Prospero. Prospero sees Caliban as a lowly beast and not even human. This is a recurring theme throughout the play. This is also how Native Americans were seen but the colonists. Prospero tortures Caliban whenever he does something wrong. For example, Caliban tried to rape his daughter Miranda. Prospero tortures him because of this and this can represent how the colonists treated Native Americans. Prospero does not want more Calibans, and the colonist felt the same way towards Native Americans. They did not want them to have children. This would only lead to more problems and would benefit anyone. They were also concerned they would lose their power. Prospero and the colonists both want to ward from reproducing so they can keep their power over Caliban and the Native Americans. The treatment of Ariel can be seen as the Native Americans that accepted the culture of the colonists and they were able to use the Native Americans in a useful manner. Ariel and the Native Americans that had accepted the colonists’ culture complied to whatever restrictions they were given. They did this to survive the colonization of their
Prospero tries to justify enslaving Caliban, but all he really does is place Caliban into a category of bestial and uncivilized and as a result enslaves him. 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 [. ]”
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...
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.
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...
During the first encounter, Caliban comes across very bestial and immoral. While approaching Caliban’s cave, Prospero derogatorily says, "…[he] never/Yields us kind answer," meaning Caliban never answers respectfully. When Prospero reaches the cave, he calls to Caliban. Caliban abruptly responds, "There’s wood enough within." His short, snappy reply and his odious tone, reveal the bitterness he feels from leading a servile life. Caliban’s rudeness makes him seem like an unworthy and despicable slave. Also, Caliban displays an extreme anger toward Prospero. When Caliban is asked to come forth he speaks corruptly, "As wicked dew as e’er my mother brushed/With raven’s feather from unwholesome fen/Drop on you both!…And blister you all o’er!" Caliban’s attitude and disrespect is unfitting for a servant. However, his actions are justified.
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.
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.
Prospero appears to be a ruthless tyrant that strikes fear into Caliban to make him work but further on in the text we learn that this is not the case. Caliban's foul-mouthed insults,
Ariel and Caliban are both servants but this doesn’t mean that they wont have any differences. The most major difference between them is their relationship and attitude towards Prospero. Also they have different characteristics, and in the book they represent two different and opposite things. These differences between the two servants may affect people’s thoughts and feelings about the two characters.
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.
Caliban whom we are told is “not honour’d with a human shape,” (1.2.419) is the son of Sycorax who inhabited the island Prospero was banished to. After the death of his mother, Sycorax, Caliban falls under the rule of Prospero and becomes one his servants. Caliban is very different from Ariel in the fact that while Ariel is pleased to serve under Prospero’s rule, Caliban is not. In fact, we find out that Caliban is far from happy to be Prospero’s servant and even plots with two other men to end Prospero’s life. As we discussed in class Caliban is also more of an angry individual than what Ariel seems to be and this comes from the fact that Caliban believes he is the rightful king of the island and that Prospero had robbed him of what was his, which we find out when he says that he is “subject to a tyrant, a sorcerer, that by his cunning hath cheated me of the island” (3.2.40-41). Ariel, who we are told in act one, scene two was the old servant of Caliban’s mother Syco...