The Relation Between Caliban and The Natives in the Tempest

William Shakespeare’s last play, The Tempest, was published after the establishment of the English colonies in the New World, on the continent of America. Thanks to the accounts written by travellers who went to the New World, Europeans had an overall view of the continent's natives during the Elizabethan Era, when the English colonies were first beginning to be built. These perspectives varied greatly depending on the various impressions conveyed through the text. The most widely held belief, however, was that the Native Americans were an uncivilised and barbarian society. According to the other experiences, they were tame, submissive, and childlike. Many works of art from the time reflected these two ends of the spectrum. One of these works belongs to the famous playwright William Shakespeare. Shakespeare used two of his characters in The Tempest to echo general representations of Indigenous people: Ariel and Caliban. Ariel was the perfect depiction of a submissive native with a kind nature. Caliban, on the other hand, was the real issue in the play as a portrayal of savage and barbarian natives. He embodies the familiar image of a native American for the English. In other words, the character Caliban in Shakespeare’s The Tempest is a depiction of what English society knew and thought about the American natives.

Caliban, when Prospero first arrives on the island, shows him around and exhibits hospitable and enthusiastic behaviour that can be interpreted as a willingness to deliver the island to a "superior" European man. Caliban indicates this as the following:  

  CALIBAN. […] When thou cam’st first

    Thou stroke’st me and made much of me; wouldst give

      me

    Water with berries in’t, and teach me how

    To name bigger light and how the less

    That burn by day and night. And then I loved thee

    And showed thee all the qualities o’th’isle:

    The fresh springs, brine pits, barren place and fertile.

    Cursed be I that did so! […] (1.2.332-339)

As it can be understood from the quote above, Caliban’s gesture to show gratitude for Prospero's kind and sincere attitude towards him resulted in his enslavement and the seizure of his island. In the colonies and among the colonizers, this was a common judgement towards the Natives’ kind gestures. In many cases, their hospitality was clarified as a desire for subjugation. It is the same in the case of Prospero. He takes over the island and its inhabitants, including Caliban, after his interaction with him. In addition to this fact, he and Miranda believe that Caliban owes them a debt for bringing him civilization, which, in this instance, is their language. Miranda uses this quote to explain why Caliban should be grateful to her and her father:

  MIRANDA.    Abhorred slave,

    Which any print of goodness wilt not take,

    Being capable of all ill; I pitied thee,

    Took pains to make thee speak, taught thee each hour

    One thing or other. When thou didst nor, savage,

    Know thine own meaning, but wouldst gabble like

    A thing most brutish, I endowed thy purposes

    With words that made them known. But thy vile race

    (Though thou didst learn) had in’t which good

      natures

    Could not abide to be with… (1.2.353-361)

According to these two Europeans, Caliban owes them gratitude for teaching him "how to talk" and making him a part of the civilised world.

Prospero believed that he was superior to Caliban, just as the Europeans and colonisers believed that they were superior to the Natives. According to Gary B. Nash states, "On the one hand they had reason to believe that the Indians were savage, hostile, beastlike men, whose proximity in appearance and behaviour was closer to the animal kingdom than the kingdom of men, as western Europeans employed that term to describe themselves" (199). Thus, when Caliban’s physical and behavioural state is taken into consideration, Prospero and other European characters’ attitude towards him becomes understandable. After all, this was the real thought of the English people, who were the main audience of this play. So, Caliban was the reflection of the native Americans with his beat-like appearance and wild and violent approach towards "his master."

Another thing that proves the theory of Caliban’s being the embodiment of the negative side of the Natives is the contrast between him and Ferdinand. Both Caliban and Ferdinand have feelings for Miranda; however, the way these feelings are delivered by these two men differs from each other. Caliban the Native’s advances consist of animal-like behaviour and a rape attempt to impregnate Miranda. This event is conveyed through the following dialogue between Prospero and Caliban:

  PROSPERO.      Thou most lying slave,

    Whom stripes may move, not kindness; I have used thee

    (Filth as thou art) with humane care and lodged thee

    In mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate

    The honour of my child. 

  CALIBAN. 

    O ho, O ho! Would’t had been done;

    Thou didst prevent me, I had peopled else

    This isle with Calibans. (1.2.345-352)

While depicting how the Natives were viewed by the English people in his article, Gary B. Nash again quotes: "In all of these works Englishmen of the day could read accounts which suggested that the people of the New World were not only primitive – simply by not being English one was that – but bestial, cannibalistic, sexually abandoned, and, in general, moved entirely by passion rather than reason" (201). So it is clear that this viewpoint, which holds that Native Americans are more like animals than humans, acting on instincts rather than reasoning, is transferred to Shakespeare's savage monster Caliban. For Ferdinand, the situation is more complex. Ferdinand declares his affection for Miranda directly and verbally, and in a more civilised manner, if that is the proper way to put it. 

  FERDINAND.    O, if a virgin,

    And your affection not gone forth, I’ll make you

    The Queen of Naples. (1.2.447-449)

In addition to his manners, Ferdinand has the advantage of being European, which naturally leaves the impression of goodness and innocence on Miranda. 

  MIRANDA. 

    There’s nothing ill can dwell in such a temple.

    If the ill spirit have so fair a house,

    Good things will strive to dwell with’t. (1.2.457-459)

Miranda’s perception of one’s goodness is apparently affected by their race, as can be detected in the contrast between her words about Caliban and Ferdinand's good natures. While she believes Caliban is incapable of goodness due to his race, she believes Ferdinand is incapable of evil because he resembles her and her father, implying that he is more human-like than Caliban. To emphasise the barbarian, savage, and animal-like nature of a native in Caliban’s character, Shakespeare used the contrast he created between him and Ferdinand.

To conclude, affected by the accounts and other written works of the travellers and colonizers, Shakespeare reflected his and other Europeans’, primarily English people's, thoughts on his savage character Caliban in his last play, The Tempest. To emphasise his points, he used analogies between the travellers' real-life experiences and the English impressions, as well as the contrasting appearance and attitude of a European and a Native American. He depicted Caliban as savage, animal-like, bestial, and uncivilised while doing the exact opposite for the European characters in the play.