| “Caliban, my slave” | Caliban is a ‘slave’ for Prospero. He explicitly uses this term and the repetition emphasises the harshness. |
| “whom now i keep in service” | He has no freedom |
| “This island’s mine by Sycorax my mother,Which thou tak’st from me” | idea of colonisation: taking over land. A key speech when examining the play as a colonial allegory. The defiant and confrontational tone is that of the colonised native, rebelling against his suppression. Essentially, he accuses Prospero of doing exactly what Prospero has criticised Antonio for; usurpation. In this case, ‘thou’ is used to intimate contempt. The trochaic stress on ‘tak’st’ emphasises Caliban’s anger and bitterness. |
| “I must eat my dinner” | Confident, rude. says this in a flippant way. Portrays that he didn’t care about what Prospero had to say. |
| “here you sty me” | refers to a pen, or being confined- lack of freedom. |
| “I am subject to a tyrant, a sorcerer, that/ by his cunning hath cheated me on the island” | Caliban represents the indigenous voice of the island, telling about the colonisation of the island- indigenous people would feel cheated out of their homeland and therefore this represents colonisation of this time. |
| “thou most lying slave” | Prospero referring to Caliban. Real attack on Caliban. |
| “Hag seed, hence!” | off spring of a witch (sycorax) |
| “Servant monster” | Stephano referring to Caliban and being derogatory towards him. Caliban- anagram for cannibal- monstrous nature/inhuman. |
| “Fish” | Stephano and Trinculo derogatory and prejudice towards Caliban. |
| “When they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar, they will lay out ten to see a dead Indian” | People won’t give money to a beggar but they’d give money to someone with racial difference. Self absorbed of Trinculo as he believes he can make money off him. We get the sense that the colonisers are profiting from showing racial differences of people. |
| “salvaged and deformed slave” | prejudice terms |
| “Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil himself” | Prospero stating that Caliban’s nature is toxic and that he is almost possessed. |
| “tortoise” | Prospero refers to Caliban as a “tortoise”. Could suggest Caliban is slow to attend to Prospero’s needs or that hr may not be quite human and perhaps he’s hiding under his shell. |
| “thou shalt have cramps” | Prospero’s threats |
| “i can disarm thee with this stick” | Prospero to Caliban |
| “thou didst seek to violateThe honour of my child”. | Prospero suggests that Caliban has tried to rape Miranda and that his intention is to seize control of the island by pro-creation. |
| “You taught me language, and my profit on’tIs, i know how to curse” | Caliban represents otherness, difference. |
| “Fetch us in fuel” | Sense of these menial tasks, needless things that Prospero is making Caliban do just to get him to work for the sake of it. |
| “I’ll rack thee with old cramps” | Caliban’s punishments if he doesn’t complete Prospero’s tasks. |
| “Fill all thy bones with aches, make thee roar” | Caliban’s punishments if he doesn’t complete Prospero’s tasks. |
| “No, pray thee. I must obey; his art is of such power” | terrified of this severe punishment. |
| “It would control my dam’s god Setebos” | Patagonian God that audience would not be familiar with, illustrates he’s from a different culture. |
| “Kiss the book” | Stephano to Caliban. The bottle of alcohol represents the bible. Religion would be key to the idea of colonialism as you’d force them to worship your God- here Stephano is forcing Caliban to drink. |
| “Thou wondrous man” | Caliban to Stephano. However Stephano is not impressive because he’s a drunk. Therefore suggests that Caliban is easily manipulated. |
| Whilst it’s “easy to demonise Prospero” it’s also easy to “sentimentalise Caliban” | STEPHEN GREENBLATT CRITIC |
Caliban- the tempest
July 3, 2019