An analysis of the relationship between Prospero, Ariel and Caliban in William Shakespeare's "The Tempest" in the light of competing critical interpretations of the play.
Abstract This paper examines how "The Tempest" has attracted a vast array of critical attention, possibly because of its intriguingly ambiguous message which naturally invites conjecture. It looks at how it is a text loaded with nuances and ambiguities which make it impossible to pin down Shakespeare's original motivation or world view. By contemplating the relationship between Prospero, Ariel and Caliban it considers the author's views of their relationship in comparison with those of major critics.
From the Paper "Caliban's attitude to Prospero is one of absolute terror of his power rather than mere subservience. Mannnoni's argument of a "predisposition to dependency ", supported by Caliban's quick acceptance of Trinculo as "... a new master whose 'footlicker' he can become..." (quoted in Reader, p. 284) is hard to accept. Shakespeare's text is surely more light-hearted than this. Caliban's comic simplicity leads him to believe that Stephano and Trinculo are gods to be worshipped, not just men to be obeyed. In the magical surrounding of the island where the fantastic often happens, the naive Caliban can surely be forgiven for believing that Stephano and Trinculo are "...dropped from heaven" (2.2.134) or "Out o'th'moon" (2.2.135)."
Abstract This paper discusses how, by ultimately giving the character Caliban, in "The Tempest", repentant language and showing he is an intelligent creature, Shakespeare has given Caliban his approval and recognised that despite the fact he cannot be civilised, he is a creature of sensitivity deserving sympathy. The paper also argues that, by writing "The Tempest", Shakespeare wanted to make a philosophical and moral point about the taming of people who were considered to be savage and in need of civilisation. It also contends that Shakespeare had a humanitarian view towards undeveloped people and therefore created Caliban to represent an uncivilised creature being controlled and oppressed by people from society, represented by Prospero, who consider themselves to be superior.
From the Paper "However, it is not only Caliban who has an uncontrollable and bestial side. Sebastian and Antonio, educated and civilised members of the Kings court, plot to kill the king while he is sleeping in order to take the throne. This raises Shakespeare's argument of nature versus nurture, which influences the play significantly. For example, the reader might take Shakespeare's descriptions of Caliban's instinctive behaviour and interpret him as an evil creature, but he is not as insensitive as characters such as Sebastian and Antonio. Both men are from an educated and civilised society but they still produce corruption and evil even though they know better, whereas Caliban does not have a clear concept of right and wrong and does not realise his actions are inappropriate. Fundamentally, Caliban's behaviour is horrifying in the eyes of civilized people; nevertheless, his background and the environment in which he grew up in justify his acts."
Abstract This paper is about how the characters in Shakespeare's "The Tempest" see Caliban as a monster. The writer examines the character and proceeds to compare and contrast him to each of the other characters in the play.. The writer also debates about whether or not their treatment of Caliban is justified.
From the Paper "William Shakespeare?s, ?The Tempest,? provides insight into the hierarchy of command and servitude by order of nature. This play uses the relationship between its characters to display the control of the conqueror over the conquered. It also shows how society usually places the undesirable members at the bottom of the chain of command, even though they may be entitled to a higher social status. For example, the beginning of the play opens with a scene on a boat in the midst of a terrible storm. The boatswain, who is under the command of the royal party, attempts to keep the boat from sinking. Members of the royal party, however, persist in interfering with his duties. The boatswain retorts, "What cares these roarers for the name of the king" To cabin! Silence! Trouble us not?(I, I, 16-18). He is trying to warn his superiors that if he does not let him do his job, everyone will die, and it will not matter who has power over whom. The superiors, however, still take offense to this comment and label him a blasphemer. Caliban, an unfortunate character in this play, suffers from similar constant abuse because he is of the lowest social rank in his community. Critic John W. Draper describes Caliban's position in relation to the other characters when he says, ?Of all the characters in Shakespeare, Caliban is the most fully and repeatedly/ described, though not always consistently; and his bodily parts seem to show little/ relation to his humor or his character except that both are monstrous. Monsters/ were popular; and, as Trinculo remarks, any "holiday fool" in England would pay out/ "silver" for the sight of one. Caliban's monstrosity, however, out-Herods Herod?(Draper 89). According to the other inhabitants of the island, Caliban is a monster. He is a symbol of what they never want to become. Caliban reminds them to act as though they are worthy of their high social status. He is the painfully realistic entity around whom the other rulers on the island silently rally in order to maintain a social balance. They abhor him but desperately desire to possess at the same time. On a narrower scale, the oppression of the underdog is obvious in the undesirable Caliban and his relationship to Prospero, Miranda, Ariel and Ferdinand. "
Tags: character, play, opression, monster, Prospero, Ferdinand, Miranda
Abstract The actions of Prospero in relation to his two servants, Ariel and Caliban, very much contradict his motivations and goals throughout the play, "The Tempest," by William Shakespeare. The paper shows that, while Prospero is trying to fight injustice and restore his own life, he is, in a sense, stealing the power and lives of his servants.
From the Paper "In Shakespeare's The Tempest, one of the main characters in the play, Prospero, has been exiled to an island. While living there he encounters two inhabitants of the island and makes them his servants. Caliban, one of Prospero's servants, has lived his whole life on the island after being left there by sailors with his mother, Sycorax. The other servant is Ariel, a mischievous spirit who Prospero found trapped in tree by a spell cast many years ago by Sycorax. The relationships between Prospero and his two servants are very different, although he maintains his control over both of them through his use of words. Prospero promises Ariel his freedom after he is done serving Prospero's desires, but Caliban is treated very differently. He is looked down upon and treated cruelly with no promise of ever being free. Unlike Ariel, Caliban is not content to serve Prospero and attempts to remove him of his power in order to restore his own life and rule over the island, but in his attempt to do so he offers to become a servant of Stephano. Throughout the play Prospero is attempting to fight the injustice of losing his power as Duke of Milan, but the way he treats his servants and steals their power is unjust."
Abstract This paper examines William Shakespeare's "The Tempest" and Aphra Behn's "Oroonoko" . In particular, it looks at the concepts of slavery and freedom as perceived in each story. It discusses how Caliban believes that Prospero, as a human man, has no right to control and dominate the island any more than the protagonists of "Oroonoko" have to be dominated as slaves. It looks at how Oroonoko shares with Caliban a royal status conferred by birth and how, unlike his fictional counterpart, he uses his justification of birth to win respect and dignity in the eyes of his people and even his enemies, despite the fact that his rebellion ultimately results in execution.
From the Paper "Caliban is so intoxicated, not only upon alcohol, but also because of the slave mentality?instituted by Prospero, a modern observer might say, or "natural" to a heathen savage, an Elizabethan audience might infer?that he calls the two men master. All while he cries out in celebration for freedom, his cries are undercut by his needless, slave-like abasement before Stephano and Trinculo, who take advantage of him at every turn. Although Caliban makes a convincing argument for his rebellion, given his lineage and previous treatment, and current imprisonment, his easily abased and credulous character and immoral sexual conduct, to say nothing of his intoxication, undercuts the rational nature of his claims."
Abstract This paper examines how "The Tempest" is, perhaps, Shakespeare's most universally appropriate play in that its multicultural and colonial themes have attracted substantial study from all over the world and its characters have been employed as models for both further literary work. In particular it discusses how Caliban is, without question, a slave and how enslavement is a theme that pervades the play as a whole. It investigates this theme, not only in relation to Caliban, but also to the spirit Ariel and, to some extent, Prospero's daughter Miranda.
From the Paper "It would not be insensible to argue that any audience of The Tempest finds itself subject to Prospero's rule. Knowledge of all action previous to the events which take place on stage is presented in the most part through Prospero. Indeed, all of the other characters, once upon the island, are only able to perform what is permitted them by Prospero. Caliban enters on his command, Ariel begins the play in creating a storm at his order, and the passengers of the King's ship are lured into neat groups around the island in preparation for his plan for the recovery of his Dukedom. Most significantly, however, is the position of Prospero's daughter, Miranda. She has lived on the island for nearly all of her cognizant life, taking all of her knowledge of human society from her father."
Abstract This paper compares the stereotypes of indigenous people using Caliban in "The Tempest," then contrasts it with a real life narrative from Olaudah Equiano's "The Life of Gustavas Vassa, the African."
From the Paper "In Shakespeare's "The Tempest", Caliban is reflected as an abhorred slave (19), who is tricky, savage-like and has monstrous mannerisms. Caliban is an indigenous portrait that is supported by that time periods stereotypes of non-European persons. Caliban is also shown as uneducated, foul-mouthed, and barbaric; both in nature and physical appearance. Sixteenth-century Europeans believed that natives of another land were composed of these things and more. This including that these people were wild men and beast-like. Olaudah Equiano's The Life of Gustavas Vassa, the African, paints a very different picture from that of the stereotypes mentioned. Olaudah is educated, well versed, and has pleasant mannerisms. He is also an honest slave, whose intelligence and patience buys him the freedom from his bound life."
Abstract The writer of this paper explains that one of the fundamental themes of the play is the transmission of learning through the process of education and the aims and outcomes of that process, both intended and unforeseen. The paper notes that if the island of "The Tempest" can be read as a microcosm of human society, one of the key aspects of Prospero's character is as an archetype of the teacher who, in terms of Renaissance educational thought and practice, is charged with forming character as much as imparting knowledge, while Miranda and Caliban serve as contrasting images of the effects of education upon its recipients.
From the Paper "The Tempest? respects the dramatic principle of the unity of time: the action of the play takes place over the course of a single afternoon. Everything that occurs during that limited period of time, however, is profoundly an outcome of events that stretch back twelve years previously. It was twelve years earlier that Prospero, Duke of Milan, entrusted the government of his city to his brother Antonio, in order that he might devote himself entirely to the pursuit of learning in ?the liberal arts ? those being all my study, / The government I cast upon my brother? [1.2: 73-5]. The "liberal arts" referred to here are those aspects of learning seen in Renaissance humanism as worthy of a free man of high social status: the study of grammar, logic and rhetoric (the "trivium") and arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy (the "quadrivium"). It was this decision to seclude himself in study that has led to Prospero's enforced seclusion on his desert island, for Antonio did not follow his brother's love of learning, but was rather in love with power ? as a Renaissance ruler he is in the cast of Machiavelli's "Prince" rather than Castiglione's "Courtier" and "needs will be / Absolute Milan" [1.2: 109]."
Abstract This paper relates that William Shakespeare's "The Tempest"
builds its suspense through the interplay of intricate characters. The protagonist Prospero must elude the treacherous Caliban who wants to usurp his bother's throne. There are those who claim that Prospero is just acting on the outside and that on the inside, he is a warm-hearted person. This paper supports the opinion that there is sufficient evidence in the play to suggest that Prospero is not hiding anything and is a selfish and uncaring as he appears on the outside.
From the Paper "We learn of Caliban's physical appearance from other characters. The audience first learns of Caliban from Prospero's description to Ariel. We learn that Caliban is the child of the witch, Sycorax. Caliban's witch/mother is described as "A freckled whelp, hag-born--not honoured with / A human shape". Trinculo and Stefano describe Caliban as less than human. Trinculo asks if Caliban is "a man or a fish?". Stefano describes Caliban as a "moon-calf". A moon-calf is a medieval expression that refers to a deformed creature."
Abstract This paper is dedicated to proving a critique of Shakespeare's "The Tempest" from a colonial/imperial viewpoint. It details the subjugation of the savage Caliban at the hands of the mainstream European characters, primarily Prospero. It briefly examines the rape of Miranda by Caliban and discusses several points from the play that strongly suggest that Shakespeare was writing a concise social commentary on the morality of imperialistic tendencies at the time.
From the Paper ""The Tempest,? precisely because of its compact nature, has become one of the most widely criticized plays that Shakespeare ever wrote. Unlike his more grandiose tragedies, or even his longer comedies, "The Tempest" is concise, and very often leaves the reader wondering what exactly IS the thrust of the play. It can adequately be argued that the play is a precursor to future naturalist novels (i.e. Goldings "Lord of the Flies", or Conrad's "Heart of Darkness"), or it can be viewed as one of the few Shakespearean works that walks the categorical tightrope between tragedy and comedy. Indeed, "The Tempest" is not so easily categorized because it contains elements of both a tragedy and a comedy, is short, quickly resolved, and has no "real" moral or motif."
Abstract This paper chronicles the journeys of self-discovery taken by the title books' protagonists and their different approaches to them. Touched-on, is whether the illumination gained is worth the price paid, and whether the ends of discovery justify the means taken to discover.
From the Paper "Self-discovery is often an important theme in western literature. There is something about watching characters figure out the workings of their souls through a torturous story that appeals to readers who perhaps wish they knew their own inner needs as well as the characters they read about know theirs. African-American literature in particular deals with the issue of self-discovery"or, more correctly, self-revelation. W.E.B. DuBoise spoke of the double-consciousness of the Negro, and all of the books read this semester have focused, in one way or another, on penetrating into the double-consciousness and releasing the caged portion of it, the portion that society never gets to see"the portion that is the most human. "
From the Paper "A man who was cheated of his royal title by his brother and set adrift with his infant daughter, happens upon a deserted island. He defeats the evil master of the island and takes over as ruler. The man feels sorry for the son of the previous master, teaching him his language and housing him. This continues until the man catches him molesting his daughter. As retribution, the man enslaves him."
Abstract This paper analyzes the character Miranda's education. Her education is the result of her father's teaching, her experiences with Caliban and her relationship with Ferdinand. Despite the unconventional setting for this play, Miranda is portrayed as being the perfect European lady of that time.
From the Paper "What we call education and culture is for the most part nothing but the substitution of reading for experience, of literature for life…of obsolete fictions for contemporary experience" (Evans, 193). Shakespeare's The Tempest focuses on the theme of education. Throughout the play characters are each educated in some form. Miranda's education is particular is central to the play's plot, and reflects the period in which Shakespeare was writing. She is educated in the ways of being a "proper" woman despite the uncivilized setting. How she learns and what she is taught is directly influenced by the culture of the Elizabethan era, and the attitudes towards women at the time. Her education is divided into the direct and indirect teachings of Prospero, what is learned from her relationship with Caliban, her love of Ferdinand, and the messages in the masque."
Tags: drama, education, learning, literature, miranda, play, shakespeare, tempest, women
A paper which compares and discusses setting as a reflection of character in "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allen Poe, and "The Tempest" by William Shakespeare.
Abstract The author of this paper shows how the setting and atmosphere of the two works "The Fall of the House of Usher" (Edgar Allen Poe) and "The Tempest" (Shakespeare), are a reflection of the characters. Each work is analyzed individually.
From the Paper "Again, the setting is defining the characters and their moods. "Extensive decay" could just as well describe Roderick and Madeline after she returns from the tomb. It could also describe the family itself, who, through intermarriage and interbreeding, weakened its bloodlines until only the sickly Roderick and Madeline are left to carry on the name."
Abstract The paper analyzes images, metaphors and symbolism of illusion in Shakespeare's "The Tempest" and explains how he attempts to send messages and morals across to his audience through the use of illusion. It shows, too, how Shakespeare uses Prospero, the magician, to create these illusions.
From the Paper "In The Tempest, Shakespeare creates the magician Prospero to explore and exploit the power of illusion. Prospero calls his spirits ?actors,? and thus conveys a sense that everything about a drama, including the appearance and the speeches of the characters, is an illusion. Simultaneously, Shakespeare tries to engage the audience in the fantasy of this drama in order to entertain them and to be able to send them various messages regarding morals, truth, and illusion. He achieves these goals by using Prospero to influence the minds of the audience, in the same manner that the magician uses his spirits to delude the minds of the characters in the play."
