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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 3 page essay that analyzes the role of Caliban in Shakespeare's The Tempest. Throughout the play, Caliban is relegated to sub-human status in the European perspective. Examination of Shakespeare's use of Caliban provides insight into the European mindset of this period, while also showing that while Shakespeare was a product of his era--in that he consistently portrays Caliban as sub-human --he also accurately predicted that native peoples would not share this evaluation, and would rebel against imposed European rule. Bibliography lists 3 sources.
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khtemcal.rtf
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comments that this "monster" would "make a man" in England, as "any strange beast there makes a man." As this comment indicates, throughout the play, Caliban is relegated to sub-human
status in the European perspective. Examination of Shakespeares use of Caliban provides insight into the European mindset of this period, while also showing that while Shakespeare was a product of
his era--in that he consistently portrays Caliban as sub-human --he also accurately predicted that native peoples would not share this evaluation, and would rebel against imposed European rule. Written
around 1610, just as Europeans were embarking on the age of discovery, Shakespeares attitude toward Caliban reflects the human tendency to judge others according to a standard set strictly by
ones culture and society. In other words, those who are not like us are "other"--foreign, alien, certainly not fully human. This attitude, of course, is used to rationalize the morality
of subjugation. By imposing rule over such "creatures," Europeans magnanimously "improve" their lot, by sharing the supposed "benefit" of European language. In Act I, Mirada chides Caliban for his ingratitude,
"Abhorred slave/...I pitied thee,/Took pains to make thee speak, taught thee each hour/ One thing or other" (I.2.353-57). In other words, Miranda feels that Caliban should be grateful that she
took the time to teach him a "proper" language, and not the "gabble" that he spoke when she and her father first arrived. Calibans perspective is, of course, completely
different. He indicates that he has had little "profit" from such language instruction, as it was designed to indoctrinate him to the process of following the various orders that are
inherent to his duties as a domestic slave laborer (Smith 252). The first act makes it clear that neither Miranda nor Prospero consider that Calibans native tongue even constitutes
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