From the Monster to the Oppressed: The Odyssey of Caliban

Caliban, the original monster and barbarian in The Tempest, has been far removed in both time and interpretations from the original one Shakespeare created four hundred years ago. Having been portrayed in literary criticism as a giant fish, a grotesque monster, an American Indian, an African slave, his incarnation changes from "a savage and a deformed slave¡± to the "quintessential colonial victim¡±. Especially in recent years, Caliban has been a major socio-political emblem throughout the world. This paper tries to summarize the various interpretation of Caliban and to demonstrate Caliban's long and erratic journey through different time.

Although no one knows what Shakespeare intended Caliban to be, it is clear that he used no single idea or figure as Caliban¡¯s model. It is extensively believed that a partial source of the model is the English wild man; however, other claims exist. Etymologically, since the words ¡°cannibal¡± was widely used in Shakespeare¡¯s day, many critics insist that this name suggests the savage¡¯s moral degradation. Some critics believe Caliban¡¯s name is kalebon, an Arabic word for ¡°vile dog¡±. Some argue that it depr

This opinion had persisted for a long time until a new codicil added that interpreted Prospero's gift of language as liberating rather than confining. Prospero's language, some critics argued, provided Caliban with a medium of expression for Caliban's culture. They hold that Caliban possessed "a culture Prospero did not create and cannot control, which he, Caliban, has recognized as his own¡±. And in the process of recognition the language was transformed, acquiring different meanings from the original one. Caliban became "bilingual" and broke out the prison of Prospero's language. This analysis elevated Caliban from a symbol of the political oppressed and culturally stunted native to a symbol of the temporarily inarticulate but culturally rich native. Whereas the former Caliban was inferior because Prospero destroyed his culture and never fully replaced it with another, this Caliban had a valuable heritage that found expression through Prospero's language. And the focus was shifted from despair over the deprivation of native culture to pride in its tenacity.

Some topics in this essay:
Indian African, Language-deprived Caliban, American Indian, World War, Caliban Prospero's, Latin Americans, American French, Third World, Latin American, Caliban Prospero, american indian, caliban¡¯s name, latin american, prospero's language, caliban american indian, view prevalent, tempest seen, caliban's image, sympathy caliban, day sympathy, dryden davenant¡¯s,