‘A freckl’d whelp, hag-born not honour’d with
A human shape’
The fact that he is not appealing to look at would add to his evilness.
The way he is described tells the audience he is not an attractive character and also he is evil hence his parents. It also tells the audience that he has inherited these things from his parents. This is how Shakespeare reveals his characters in one way ; by appearance.
The first introduction to Caliban in Act 1 Scene 2 also portrays the dislike of this character.
‘Shake it off: come on,
We’ll visit Caliban, my slave, who never
Yields us kind answer.’
Prospero has lots of power and is treating Caliban as a possession. Caliban has been robbed of his island and been made a slave. This would create sympathy from the audience and make him seem like a victim. There is an almost love hate contrast in Caliban’s character because at points the audience feel sorry for him and at other points they repulse him.
‘Tis a villain sir,
I do not love to look on’
Miranda’s words again express the evilness of Caliban for she is usually sympathetic and kind. Shakespeare has used a gentle character here to emphasise Caliban’s savage and evil being.
As Caliban enters the scene he is cursing, like his mother would have done. Prospero calls him a ‘poisonous slave’ and the audience would be able to detect the hatred of his words.
‘For this be sure, to-night thou shalt have cramps,
Side-stitches, that shall pen thy breath up’
Prospero has the power to torture Caliban and uses his power to make him obey. The audience would feel sorry for Caliban in this instance because he is and unwilling slave who protests against Prospero. The audience must not forget that Caliban was once a master too.
‘This Island’s MINE’
This sentence is a short dramatic statement and it would be spoken angrily because Caliban is very passionate about his Island. The word ‘mine’ would be highly emphasised because he feels very strongly about his Island. Although he curses when he speaks, he always talks softly and passionately about his island and is usually poetic about it. He is the rightful owner of the island and has had it taken from him against his will. This creates sympathy form the audience.
When thou cam’st first
Thou strok’dst me, and made much of me’
Prospero treated Caliban as a pet when he first arrived on the Island and gave Caliban wine to make him drunk so he would show all the wonders of the island to Prosper. Caliban is a very gullible creature. The audience would recognise this because he received a small amount of kindness and let his guard down. This is one of the complexities of Caliban’s character. As a result of his vulnerability his Island was taken from him. This fact is extremely ironic because Prospero had his dukedom taken from him and he took away Caliban's island which again creates sympathy for Caliban’s character. Although vulnerable he is also venomous which creates a love/hate feeling from the audience.
When he speaks Caliban talks in verse which represents the civilised man in him but he also curses a lot which shows his venomous nature.
‘all the charms
Of Sycorax : toads, beetles, bats, light on you’
This way of speaking Caliban would have inherited from his mother again showing that he is evil.
Prospero declares that the breakdown in the relationship between him and Caliban was when Caliban attempted to rape Miranda.
‘till thou dist seek to violate
The honour of my child’
The language of the words here indicates the serenity of the action and the inhumane thing about this is Caliban is not apologetic for his actions. His wish was to ‘peopled else this island with Calibans’ The audience would now be disgusted by Caliban’s character and have no sympathy for him at all.
Caliban has been educated by Prospero but as he says
You taught me language and my profit on
‘t
Is, I know how to curse’
He is using his education to be evil and he is no doubt an evil character. he shows the contrast between the civilised and uncivilised man. This makes Caliban a very complex character, it is the battle between nature and nurture. Although he is educated he is superstitious and uses his education to do anything evil with it that is possible.
Although he is very poetic he is also a savage beast which symbolises the contrasts of people in the world. This is also a way of Shakespeare revealing his characters to the audience.
In Act 2 Scene 2 Caliban enters the scene carrying a pile of wood. This symbolises the heavy burden of his duties and his situation both mentally and physically ad might provoke a reaction of sympathy from the audience. He hides under a cloth afraid that prospero has sent someone to torture him for being to slow with the wood. He would sound bitter a hateful. Trinculo enters the stage here and is also afraid but of the storm and hides under the same cloth as Caliban. He identifies Caliban as a fish. This makes Caliban quite complex because although he is not attractive to look at he is educated and sometimes more civilised that the two supposed civilised men. This is also how Shakespeare reveals his characters, through their appearance ad also through the way they speak. For example Caliban speaks in verse but Stephano and Trincuo speak in prose. He sees ‘the fish’ and proclaims he could make some money out of him by letting people pay to see him. This is a rather evil and selfish thing to do. When Stephano enters the scene he is singing and is very drunk. Caliban thinks he is going to be tortured and begs for forgiveness.
‘Do not torment me prithee : I’ll bring my
wood home faster’
Stephano has the same idea about making money out of Caliban which shows that Trinculo and Stephano are both lowly characters and not very civilised. Stephano gives wine to Caliban and thinks he is a monster with two voices but soon discovers that it is Trinculo. Shakespeare, in this scene, reveals Stephano and Trinculo as lowly characters using language. Both characters speak on prose. The pair celebrate and Caliban thinks they are gods.
‘These be fine things, and if they be not sprites :
that’s a brave god, and bears celestial liquor: I will kneel
to him.’
Caliban is a very gullible character and this is one of his complexities. He receives a little kindness and makes the giver an instant god.
‘Hast thou not dropp’d from heaven?’
He is a primitive character and although he can speak in an intelligent way he is still very superstitious and believes in gods of the sky and moon. This is also a way that Shakespeare reveals Caliban's character, through his personality. In some sense he is stupid because he makes lowly people into great god’s and is prepared to worship Trinculor and Stephano. He misjudges these characters.
‘I will kiss thy foot: I prithee be my god.’
Caliban is called ‘a most ridiculous monster’
Which of course is true. During his stupidity he doesn’t forget his hatred for prosper and devises a plan to make Trinculo and Stephano the rulers of the Islands. he provokes humour but He is being laughed at not joining in with laughter.
He is making the same mistakes again.
Caliban is most likely better educated that Trinculo and Stephano. The two lowly characters are supposed to be civilised people yet they talk in prose compared to Caliban who talks in verse. This shows a contrast between the characters. Caliban is willing to worship people he is probably more civilised then.
I agree that Caliban is a complex character. This is shown by the contrast between his vunerabilty and his venomous nature. Shakespeare reveals this through the appearance of Caliban, his language and the way he delivers his speech. He is a complex character as he can be venomous one moment and then talk about his island and be very poetic and delicate.
