Caliban and Prospero in The Tempest Essay

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Caliban



One of the most striking characters in The Tempest is that of Caliban, the other mythical being in the play who plays a dominant role in its narrative. Unlike Prospero's servant Ariel, Caliban is portrayed as a savage and adversarial figure. On the other hand, he is capable of speaking some of the most beautiful and stirring poetry of the entire play. Caliban thus illustrates many of the ambiguities of colonization. On one hand, the island is more rightfully his than Prospero's, yet the play conspires to suggest that because of Prospero's more civilized, European behavior, Prospero somehow has a greater right to govern the island.
The paradox of Caliban is illustrated early on in the play when Prospero summons him. Caliban admits that he attempted to rape Miranda, to people the island with monstrous beings like himself. Thus, he is depicted as embodying many of the stereotypes commonly held about non-white, colonized people -- in other words, that they desire European women and that they are savage and ungovernable. Miranda is portrayed as shrinking from Caliban in fear and it is only because of Prospero's control over Caliban that the monster does not act in horrible and savage ways towards her and other European women. On the other hand, the play is also clear that Caliban has a greater right to the island than does Prospero, in many ways. Caliban reproaches Prospero that the island is rightfully his, given that it belonged to Sycorax before it belonged to Prospero.



There is a great deal of irony in Prospero's domination over Caliban, given that Prospero himself was fleeing domination by those who usurped him unfairly. In other words, Prospero does to Caliban what others did to him. However, the play does its best to portray Prospero's actions in a positive light. The first time the audience sees Caliban, he admits that Prospero taught him language, although he says that the only benefit he sees in language is that it enables him to curse. He also says that Prospero taught him how to identify the sun and moon and to name different things, almost in a godlike way. Caliban is portrayed as being ungrateful for rejecting civilization and education, even though Prospero had no right to his island. Even when Caliban attempts to regain control over the island, he does so in a foolish way, aligning himself with the least intelligent members of the Europeans shipwrecked on the island. In other words, the play implicitly tries to justify Prospero's control over the island, although Prospero really has no right to exert such influence, other than the fact that he found it by accident.



Yet Caliban does emerge as a sympathetic character in some respects. For example, when he speaks of the island, he uses heart-stirring poetry, underlining the deep emotions he feels for the place. The play also suggests that not all of the inhabitants of the island are like Caliban. Ariel, for example, was said to have been imprisoned by Sycorax because he was unwilling to do her bidding.

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On the other hand, the only reason that Ariel is portrayed as a good character is the fact that he obeys Prospero, regardless of what Prospero requests. He is not an independent creature in and of himself and although he begs for his freedom, overall his obedience to Prospero is what distinguishes him from Caliban. He also never challenges Prospero's domination of the island.
Overall, The Tempest is a play that validates colonialism in the persona of Caliban. Even though it allows the audience to feel some sympathy towards Caliban, by making Caliban such a terrible figure, including his attempts to rape Miranda, it is difficult for the audience to accept him completely. By making Prospero sympathetic, despite Prospero's actions towards Ariel and the fact he imprisons Caliban, the audience is inclined to accept Prospero's conquest of the island.

Prospero



One of the most unusual aspects of The Tempest is the ways in which Prospero acts as a stand-in for the playwright himself. In many ways, Prospero acts as a powerful figure who creates his own play over the course of the narrative. Prospero orchestrates the falling-in love of one of his daughters, Miranda, as well as the tempest itself that sets the narrative into motion. The power he gains through the magic in his books gives him godlike control over others throughout the course of the narrative, making him more like a playwright then a central protagonist.



This control is illustrated early on when his daughter Miranda begs him to make the tempest cease. Miranda automatically knows that her father can stop the tempest by the sheer force of his will. The fact that this is the first the viewer sees of the daughter and her father immediately establishes the fact that Prospero controls the island and everyone else around him. Although Miranda clearly loves her father, she also fears him because of his tremendous power. Prospero exerts similar control over the native inhabitants of the island, Caliban and Ariel. Although these characters, unlike Miranda, were born there, again because of Prospero's book-based knowledge, he can do with them whatever he wishes.



The story's central premise is that Prospero was usurped of his rightful position as Duke. But although Prospero might seem relatively powerless because of that situation, most of the actual facts of the play suggest that he is supremely powerful, thanks to the knowledge he has gained. As soon as Prospero is aware of the fact that the man who deprived him of his rightful position is near, Prospero is able to disable the ship, bring the usurper near, and even orchestrate a scenario to ensure that the man's son Ferdinand will fall in love with Miranda, creating an alliance….....

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