Caliban Imperialism

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Throughout the play ‘The Tempest”, Caliban is one of the most problematic and debated characters of Shakespeare’s. He is could be interpreted as both a ‘Treacherous brute’ and a ‘Noble Savage’. Audiences today may respond to the ambiguity of figure in different ways to Shakespeare’s contemporaries and therefore we are given lots of different insights on this character. As the audience it is open to us to decide whether we feel Caliban is a monster, a victim of colonialism, or whether he represents a disadvantaged element of society. The interpretation of Caliban can vary on the social and cultural class and interests of the reader or audience. William Shakespeare's, "The Tempest," provides insight into the hierarchy of command and servitude by the natural order. The control of the conqueror over the conquered is displayed through the characters relationships. It also shows how society, in the order of nature, the undesirable members at the bottom, overpowered and often enslaved, even though they may be entitled to a higher social status. Caliban throughout ‘The Tempest’ is described both physically and emotionally. Within the play, the characters behave…show more content…
This was viewed as a person who was not morally corrupted by oppression and evil. On the one hand, we are told Caliban lived happily by himself in natural freedom, until Prospero and Miranda arrived, allowing him to be considered a noble savage. However, it becomes apparent, through how Miranda and Prospero treat him, that there is something inherently violent and brutal about. This though does not match up with Rousseau's idea of the noble savage. According to Prospero, Caliban tried to rape Miranda, despite how Prospero taught him and showed him kindness, as he explains in Act I Scene 2, I have used thee, /Filth as thou art, with human care, and lodged thee / In mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate / The honour of my
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