The Tempest: Caliban
As an actor, select one character from ‘The Tempest’ and discuss how you would create the role, bearing in mind its function in the plot and its relationship to other characters.
I have chosen Caliban to discuss, since, as an actor, I find him the most interesting character and thus the most enjoyable to discuss.
Caliban’s function in the plot is one that is difficult to define. He is not the key protagonist, since this title belongs to the treacherous Alonso in his usurpation of Prosporo. Infact he does not at all directly encourage the conclusion of the play.
Caliban has many small but essential functions; one of which is to create Shakespearean comic relief in his drunken trio with ...
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true love.
Miranda: Do you love me?
Ferdinand: ...I...do love, prize, honour you.
There are many suggestions in ‘The Tempest’ that give us clues into the character of Caliban such as being referred to continuously as a tortoise, fish, cat, monster and a misshapen knave, his very name has similarities to Cannibalism.
His mother being a witch does him no favours, but her treatment of Ariel (who we believe to be a "fine apparition" with his beautifully energetic language) certainly reflects badly on Caliban as a blood link, since she imprisoned Ariel in a "cloven pine...(for)...a dozen years". Then there is Caliban’s attempt to "violate the honour of" Miranda; and at present not to be filled with guilt at this event but to say "would’t had been done!...I had peopled else this island with Calibans". This certainly portrays Caliban as cold, evil and relentless that he would have repeated the rape.
Then when worshipping the drunken fool ...
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that portray a more emotional Caliban such as full, sweet, airs, give and delight. This emotional side also brings to light that Calibans hate for Miranda and Prosporo (ie, what portrays him as generally evil) is only to the fault of a building hatred by continual slavery and imprisonment. This is supported by a clear suggestion that before he was abused he also could appreciate emotion: "When thou cam’st first, thou strok’st me, and made much of me....And then I loved thee".
Never the less it is still essential for Caliban to be visually an animal, since he is described as "disproportioned in his manners as in his shape". Therefore I, playing Caliban, would twist my ...
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"The Tempest: Caliban." Essayworld.com. March 19, 2004. Accessed November 22, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Tempest-Caliban/4815.
"The Tempest: Caliban." Essayworld.com. March 19, 2004. Accessed November 22, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Tempest-Caliban/4815.
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