When we first meet the play we find about Prospero’s coming to the island and his discovery of Caliban, like the colonisation going on in the 1600’s. At first we find that he is kind to the “creature” that he has found, teaching him how to speak properly and how to be a better person. In response Caliban showed Prospero all of the island and was pleased to have Prospero and Miranda around, “And then I loved thee, And showed thee all the qualities o’ th’ isle”.
Unfortunately the friendship doesn’t last and Caliban begins to feel sorry for himself and feel hatred towards Prospero. Caliban’s own savage desires and lack of values seems to be the cause of his unhappiness, as Prospero damns him because he attempted to “violate the honour of my[Prospero’s} child”. Many questions have been asked about why Caliban tried to rape Miranda and it seems to be one of the points where Shakespeare has represented natives as what they are seen as, savage. However the question is also asked whether it is not just Caliban doing what he believes he is supposed to, trying to mate in order to produce offspring. This animal characteristic is just one of a few that come up throughout the play, the physical characteristics of Caliban also seem to be representative of an animal figure. Caliban is described as a “tortoise”, “fish”, and a “beast”. Unfortunately all of these descriptions are spoken by characters who are unkind towards Caliban, and we never come across somebody who has something nice to say about him. Therefore the descriptions might be biased against him. However if these descriptions are really what he looks like, then he is likely to be very ugly and I believe hunch backed to represent a “tortoise”. He might also be deformed in the face to take the shape of a fish and all in all have a figure very dissimilar to a man’s. On the other hand if we don’t take any of these descriptions into consideration, then he might be represented just as a normal man. For a modern production Caliban could be presented as a black character, which would bring up the theme of racial discrimination and whether they are any different to white people.
Whatever way Caliban is presented physically, I believe that Shakespeare wanted to show that Caliban’s vicious characteristics are caused by the brutality that he receives from Prospero, it is self-defence. When Prospero talks to Caliban, Caliban is quick to come back with nasty comments like, “the red plague rid you”, and later “ All the infections that the sun sucks up From bogs, fens, flats, on Prosper fall, and make him by inch meal a disease.” These show very clearly the bitter hatred for Prospero that is within Caliban. But I believe that the only reason for his hatred of Prospero is because he has been usurped from his position as leader of the island, and wants his freedom back.
When Trinculo and Stephano come across Caliban, it looks like things are looking up for him and he sees an opportunity to get away from Prospero. Caliban, unfortunately does not become devoted to these new men for the right reason, he tries the “celestial liquor” that they have and is instantaneously devoted to them. Shakespeare is showing another problem of the colonisation that went on when he was writing his play: the natives were easily hooked on things they knew nothing of, one thing was alcohol. Caliban would never have tried anything like this liquor before and so he would immediately be devoted to its feeling and praise the people that gave it him. Caliban is weak and wants a way to get rid of Prospero, this seems like a perfect opportunity by using the “brave god” to defeat Prospero.
The big question that comes from this part of the play is why Caliban, who wants freedom from Prospero, says he will now devote himself to them and Stephano will become the new leader. I think that Shakespeare is pointing out that once these tribes have been controlled, they no longer know how to live in freedom.
So when Caliban believes he can defeat Prospero he suddenly gets much more confident…
