Why is Caliban such an interesting an important character in 'The Tempest' and how should a director present this character in

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Why is Caliban such an interesting an important character in ‘The Tempest’ and how should a director present this character in order to make the most of the issues that he raises?

‘The Tempest’ is the magical story of the ship-wrecked inhabitants of an island. It deals with many serious themes such as; nature/nurture, power, magic and treachery but ‘the seriousness is never allowed to cause disquiet in the audience’. Many of these themes are still relevant today. The Tempest is, in effect, ‘a fairytale complete with magical occurrences, suspension of the laws of nature and a happy ending’.

Caliban is an interesting an important character in ‘The Tempest’. He brings to the play issues that have a humorous side but are also serious, for example the treatment of inferiors. Prospero’s treatment of Caliban is portrayed as being amusing, with over-the-top curses, but it reflects the poor treatment of servants (or slaves) in Shakespeare’s time.

From act one scene two we learn about Caliban’s history and how he came to be on the island and in service to Prospero. We know this from, ‘This island is mine, by Sycorax my mother . . . the rest o’ th’ island’. From Miranda saying, ‘‘Tis a villain, sir, that I do not love to look upon,’ we assume that Caliban must be truly bad if someone as sympathetic and loving as Miranda thinks so badly of him. We also know that he is resentful of Prospero and Miranda being his masters because when they call him out to chop wood he says, ‘There’s wood enough within.’ A director would tell Caliban to say this bitterly and grumpily. From this scene we also know that Caliban is bitter that Prospero and Miranda have taken over ‘his’ island, ‘This island’s mine by Sycorax, my mother, which thou tak’st from me.’ This scene doesn’t really tell you how Caliban appears, but from the reaction of others we can tell he is grotesquely ugly, ‘Hag-seed’. From this scene we also learn that Caliban cannot control his animal urges, like when we hear that he tried to rape Miranda, ‘ . .  . thou didst seek to violate the honour of my child.’ Another example of this is, ‘I must eat my dinner’, which shows that the thought that he is hungry has come into his head and he cannot think of anything else. This also proves he is child-like in his thinking.

From a director’s point of view, Caliban would be bitter, loud and slow in this scene. He enters saying a curse on Prospero, so he should burst out of his cave shouting these lines at Prospero with real feeling as though he has spent time in his cave thinking about the curse. He would speak in a loud, forceful voice and get into his curse. The audience would probably be shocked, slightly frightened and mildly disgusted with Caliban’s appearance and demeanour.

Caliban is used in this scene to raise the issue of the treatment of servants and the master/servant relationship. Although the audience know by know that Caliban tried to rape Miranda, Prospero treats him very harshly which reflects the poor treatment of servants in Prospero’s time. For example, when Prospero tells Caliban to come and chop wood, he replies, ‘There’s wood enough within.’ This shows a sense of bitterness on Caliban’s part, showing that he resents being Prospero’s servant, when he was once master of his own island. In this scene Caliban uses quite basic, crude language as he is being introduced as a character. This gives us an impression of his monstrousness and gives us an idea of what to expect from his character.

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After Caliban’s opening soliloquy in act two scene one, you think of him slightly more as a human than a monster as he shows human emotion, for example, ‘Fright me’, when the spirits taunt him. You also get a sense of sympathy for him when he talks about how Prospero’s spirits taunt and tease him, although he is saying a curse on Prospero at the time. The curse is ironic because he is using language that Prospero and Miranda taught him to curse with. Shakespeare gives Caliban this soliloquy because it is a good opening to a scene and it ...

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