Case Study Of Caliban In The Tempest

The Case for Caliban What lies in the nature of man? Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest, the characters believe that they are fighting against nature. However, what they are really up against is a man with wrongs to right, both his own and that of others. The intricacies of Prospero’s plans depend on the depth of his understanding of the nature of the people he is manipulating, such that he can predict their actions to achieve his desired outcome. Of the many different characters, however, there is one he cannot seem to be able to control: Caliban. Caliban defies and curses Prospero, even as he suffers due to Prospero’s power. The most polarizing character in the play, Caliban has been said to represent a variety of ideologies from the colonizer’s

Except for his plot to kill Prospero, which can be explained as his vengeance for years of torment, the crime used to justify this torment is that Caliban had once sought “to violate / the honour” of Miranda (1.2.348-349). While this is indeed a heavy charge against him, this reaction can be traced to others’ visceral reaction to his form. Caliban justifies his attempt to rape Miranda as an effort to populate the island by revealing “Thou didst prevent me. I had peopled else/ the isle with Calibans” (1.2.350-351). The tone of this response does not show the beast’s inclination to propagate for propagation’s sake nor to violate for the sake of pure malice. Caliban wants to people the island, which he considers his own, with more of himself. It is a reaction to loneliness, a reaction that defies a cognition, not only that he is unique in his appearance, but also that his appearance makes him the “Other” in normal people’s eyes. This urge to reclaim his own, moreover, comes from the understanding that Prospero has disenfranchised him. One must note, moreover, whether his crime fits the punishment that has been bestowed upon him. While he tried to rape Miranda, the others had plotted to kill both Miranda and Prospero. Still, Prospero forgives the others, but not him. In fact, Prospero could have simply exiled Caliban from his presence and his daughter’s, given that he has the magic to do so. Instead, he enslaves Caliban and expends magic to torture him constantly. The only difference between Caliban and the others is that he does not bow down to Prospero’s