Tempest: themes and literary analysis

¶ … Tempest

Caliban in Shakespeare's the Tempest

This essay takes as its subject William Shakespeare's famous play, the Tempest. In particular, I will focus on the character Caliban. Caliban represents the conflict between the natural world and the social values of civilization. This is attested to throughout Shakespeare's play, in that, despite his harsh treatment by the other characters, he is really a warm, feeling character deep down inside, as attested to by his frequent and moving monologues. This aspect of Caliban's character was richly affirmed by Michael Stewart Allen's performance of the role in the Acting Company's production of the play on March 4th.

Caliban, a character who is meant to be half-man and half-beast, really falls at the bottom of the social hierarchy - particularly that of the time that Shakespeare's play was written. As such, Caliban represents the clash between civilization and wild nature - a key historical moment in time that many scholars today would regard as the colonial moment. This is dramatized in the course of Shakespeare's text by the fact that Caliban, despite his inherently beastly nature, is also one of the more poetic characters; he speaks of his existence as being situated somewhere between dream and reality:

Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,

Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.

Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments

Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices

That, if I then had waked after long sleep,

Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming,

The clouds methought would open and show riches

Ready to drop upon me; that, when I waked, cried to dream again.

Act 3, Scene 2

Such an "in-between" position as expressed by Caliban is indeed emblematic of the position that many of the oppressed victims of colonialism found themselves in.

While Prospero is truly meant to be the main character in the Tempest, seeing the play performed live reminds us that it is actually Caliban who is most important. Michael Stewart Allen's performance of Caliban brought out the richness and complexity of the character, without reducing him to a crude stereotype - which is a direction that other, less talented actors may have chosen to go in. Rather than overacting, Allen's subtle approach effectively affirms the many ambiguities of Caliban's character that Shakespeare leaves open in his text. Despite the rich poetic lines and monologues that Shakespeare has given Caliban, the fact remains that he does not get to speak very often in the course of the play - especially when compared to Prospero, who seems to be speaking all the time. This ambiguity is exploited in the scene when Caliban affirms that he indeed attempted to rape Miranda, and would have if he had been able to, in order to populate the island with a race of Calibans. Allen does not allow for Caliban to seem sympathetic to the audience, as indeed he should not. At the same time, in his wonderful rendering of Caliban's monologues, he makes it clear to us that Caliban is more than simply a mere beast.