Caliban Explained

Caliban should not be confused with Taliban.

Series:	The Tempest
Creator:	William Shakespeare
Family:	Sycorax (Mother)

Caliban, son of the witch Sycorax, is an important character in William Shakespeare's play The Tempest.

His character is one of the few Shakespearean figures to take on a life of its own "outside" Shakespeare's own work:^[1] as Russell Hoban put it, "Caliban is one of the hungry ideas, he's always looking for someone to word him into being ... Caliban is a necessary idea".^[2]

Character

Caliban is half human, half monster. After his island becomes occupied by Prospero and his daughter Miranda, Caliban is forced into slavery.^[3] While he is referred to as a calvaluna or mooncalf, a freckled monster, he is the only human inhabitant of the island that is otherwise "not honour'd with a human shape" (Prospero, I.2.283).^[4] In some traditions, he is depicted as a wild man, or a deformed man, or a beast man, or sometimes a mix of fish and man, a dwarf or even a tortoise.^[5]

Banished from Algiers, Sycorax was left on the isle, pregnant with Caliban, and died before Prospero's arrival. Caliban, despite his inhuman nature, clearly loved and worshipped his mother, referring to Setebos as his mother's god, and appealing to her powers against Prospero.^[6] Prospero explains his harsh treatment of Caliban by claiming that after initially befriending him, Caliban attempted to rape Miranda. Caliban confirms this gleefully, saying that if he had not been stopped, he would have peopled the island with a race of Calibans^[7] – "Thou didst prevent me, I had peopled else this isle with Calibans" (Act I:ii). Prospero then entraps Caliban and torments him with harmful magic if Caliban does not obey his orders. Resentful of Prospero, Caliban takes Stephano, one of the shipwrecked servants, as a god and as his new master. Caliban learns that Stephano is neither a god nor Prospero's equal in the conclusion of the play, however, and Caliban agrees to obey Prospero again.

Be not afeard; the isle is full of noisesSounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.Sometimes a thousand twangling instrumentsWill hum about mine ears; and sometime voicesThat, if I then had waked after long sleep,Will make me sleep again; and then in dreaming,The clouds me thought would open, and show richesReady to drop upon me, that when I wakedI cried to dream again.

Name

There is a long history of enthusiastic speculation on the name's origin or derivation.

One of the most prominent suggestions concerns Caliban being an anagram of the Spanish word (Carib people), the source of cannibal in English. The character may be seen as a satire on "Noble cannibal" from Montaigne's Essays (A.30, "Of Cannibals").^[8] Also popular has been comparison to or in the Romani language, which mean black or with blackness.^{[9] [10] [11] [12]} The first Romanichal had arrived in England a century before Shakespeare's time.^[13]

Since 1889, it has been suggested that Shakespeare may have named Caliban after the Tunisian city Calibia (now called Kelibia) that is seen on maps of the Mediterranean dating to 1529.^[14]

Many other, though less notable, suggestions have been made, primarily in the 19th century, including an Arabic word for "vile dog", a Hindu "satyr of Kalee, the Hindu Proserpine", German ("codfish"), etc.^[15]

Notable stage portrayals

• 1960 – Patrick Wymark in the Marlowe Dramatic Society And Professional Players unabridged recording (Argo Records, 216–218)
• 1963 – Roy Dotrice in the RSC production
• 1964 – Hugh Griffith in the Shakespeare Recording Society unabridged recording (Caedmon Records, SRS 201)
• 1968 – Peter Brooks and the RSC expressed the character of Caliban through violence and homosexuality, dubbed as Brooks' "experiment".
• 1974 – Patrick Stewart in the BBC Radio 3 production
• 1978 – David Suchet in the RSC production directed by Clifford Williams
• 1982 – Bob Peck in the RSC production
• 1983 – William Hootkins in the Bard Productions videotaped production
• 1990 – David Bennett in a production directed by Peter Brook and debuting at the Boffles Du Nord
• 1993 – David Troughton in the RSC production
• 1998 – Robert Glenister in the RSC production
• 2000 – Zubin Varla in the RSC production
• 2009 – John Kani in the RSC production
• 2023 – Hassiem Muhammad and Ryan Sellers in a Round House Theatre production co-directed by Teller and Aaron Posner

References and adaptations

Art

• 1775 – Etching of Caliban by John Hamilton Mortimer with the caption "Do not torment me prithee / I'll bring my wood home faster"^[16]

Books

• 1878 – Ernest Renan, Caliban, suite de "La Tempête", Drame philosophique, (Paris: Calmann Lévy).^[17]
• 1891 – The preface of The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde includes two sentences referring to Caliban: "The nineteenth century dislike of realism is the rage of Caliban seeing his face in a glass. / The nineteenth century dislike of romanticism is the rage of Caliban not seeing his face in a glass."
• 1994 – Caliban's Hour by Tad Williams features Caliban, presented as a more noble character than the original.
• 2003 – Dan Simmons publishes the first book of his Ilium/Olympos duology, in which Caliban is an antagonist.
• 2003 – In Ilium, Caliban is a destructive, powerful humanlike entity who vacillates who he serves; at one point he served Prospero (the noosphere's personification), later works only for himself, but also sometimes aligned with the malevolent destroyer of worlds Setebos.
• 2004 – The title of by Silvia Federici references The Tempest.
• 2006 – The first book of the Cal Leandros series by Rob Thurman is published. It centres around Caliban "Cal" Leandros, a half-human, half-monster hybrid who kills monsters.
• 2012 – The title of the second book of The Expanse space opera series by James S. A. Corey, Caliban's War, is a reference to the inhuman (or unhuman) characteristics of some of the protagonists; the name itself is not mentioned in the story, however.
• 2017 – The novel Miranda and Caliban by Jacqueline Carey is a backstory to and retelling of the events of The Tempest from the perspectives of the two titular characters.

Essays

• 1974 – Roberto Fernández Retamar, Caliban: Notes towards a Discussion of Culture in Our America^[18]

Film and television

• In the 1956 science fiction film Forbidden Planet, Caliban is re-imagined as "the Monster from the Id", a wild and violent monster that is invisible to the naked eye. The monster later turns out to be born of the subconscious of the film's Prospero character, Dr. Morbius, using the advanced technology of the Krell. Like Caliban, the monster ultimately rebels and attempts to kill its master. Captain Adams confronts Dr. Morbius with the fact that he is giving form to his subconscious, and his guilty conscience, from having brought it into existence, finally ends the monster's destructive rampage.
• In Derek Jarman's 1979 film adaptation, Caliban is portrayed by Jack Birkett.
• In the 1980 BBC Television adaptation, Caliban was portrayed by Warren Clarke.
• Caliban appears as the wild and lustful Greek Kalibanos (played by Raúl Juliá) in Paul Mazursky's film adaptation Tempest (1982).
• In the 1989 animated Swedish film The Journey to Melonia, loosely inspired by The Tempest, Caliban is presented as a creature made of vegetable and branches. While he still resents his servitude, this Caliban is kind at heart.
• In Peter Greenaway's 1991 film Prospero's Books, Caliban was played by Scottish dancer Michael Clark.
• In the 1992 animated version, Caliban was voiced by Alun Armstrong.
• Caliban appears as the bayou-dwelling "Gator Man" (played by John Pyper-Ferguson) in Jack Bender's 1998 TV film The Tempest (set in Mississippi during the Civil War).
• In Julie Taymor's 2010 film adaptation, Caliban is portrayed by Djimon Hounsou.
• In The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Caliban is a prince of Hell competing for Sabrina's throne, portrayed by Sam Corlett. This character happens to be knowledgeable and skilled in witchcraft, a reference to Shakespeare's Sycorax.

Other references and adaptations

• Robert Browning's 1864 poem "Caliban upon Setebos" portrays Caliban speculating on the nature of Setebos, the god he believes in.
• In the 1900 essay Ariel by Uruguayan author José Enrique Rodó, Caliban is the antagonist.
• In 1933, Ralph Richardson played Caliban in a BBC National Programme radio production.
• In 1960, Richard Burton played Caliban in the Hallmark Hall of Fame television adaptation.
• Caliban was the central character in James Clouser's rock ballet Caliban, a 90-minute adaptation of The Tempest that was scored with live performances by St. Elmo's Fire. The rock ballet was performed in Houston, Dallas, and Chicago in 1976 and 1977.^{[19] [20]}
• Caliban is the name of a character from Marvel comics. He is an albino mutant who lives underground with the Morlocks.^[21]
• Caliban is also a boss, and later, a standard enemy in Silent Hill Origins, of which The Tempest is featured heavily in the Artaud Theater stage.
• Adrian Herrero danced Caliban in the choreographic adaptation of The Tempest (La Tempestad) by the Ballet Contemporáneo of the Teatro General San Martín in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 2008.
• The 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony (directed by Danny Boyle) titled Isles of Wonder (a name inspired by The Tempest) was heavily influenced by The Tempest. The musical piece played during the torch lighting ceremony was entitled "Caliban's Dream", and Caliban's monologue from Act 3, Scene ii was quoted by Kenneth Branagh in character as Isambard Kingdom Brunel at the start of the Industrial Revolution set piece. "And I Will Kiss", the title of another specially commissioned track from the ceremony, is also a quote from The Tempest (2:2:148-149). These two songs also appeared on the ceremony's official soundtrack. The 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony also featured a recitation of the same monologue, this time by Timothy Spall playing Winston Churchill.
• In 2017, Sophie Stanton played Caliban in Phyllida Lloyd's all-female Donmar Warehouse production set in a women's prison and performed by its inmates.
• In the Warhammer 40,000 universe and tabletop game, a planet named Caliban was the homeworld of the First Legion of the Space Marines, the Dark Angels. The planet was destroyed after a war against traitor legions; what little remains of it has been turned into a ruined fortress, possibly in a reference to the island in the original play.
• In the anime series, Calibarn (Most likely derived from both Caliban and the legendary sword Caliburn) is the name of a "monstrous" mobile suit used by the series protagonist, replacing the prior Gundam Aerial, itself a reference to The Tempests Ariel.
• In Warframe, Caliban is a warframe said to be a combination of "Helminth" and "Sentient" life. This is effectively a merging of traditional warframe creation and the alien-like robotic designs of the Sentient faction, itself a reference to the half-human half-monster origins of its namesake.
• In Destiny 2, Caliban’s Hand is an exotic armor piece which enhances the abilities of the Hunter Proximity Knife, the lore attached to the armor piece details that Caliban-8 was a character who, through cheating, beats the Hunter Vanguard in a card game, costing her her life, a decision he regrets as he ends up replacing her as is Hunter tradition according to the Vangaurd Dare. He is unable to rally hunters together until the Speaker motivates him.

See also

• Arielismo

External links

• Caliban at Sunset, a poem by P. G. Wodehouse.
• Vaughan . Virginia Mason . 1985 . 'Something Rich and Strange': Caliban's Theatrical Metamorphoses . Shakespeare Quarterly . 36 . 4 . 390–405 . 2870303 . 10.2307/2870303.
• "Caliban Upon Setebos, a poem by Robert Browning.
• Shakespeare Birthplace Trust - list of past RSC productions

Notes and References

1. Book: P. . Hulme . The Tempest and its Travels . London . 2000 . xiii.
2. Quoted in Book: P. . Hulme . The Tempest and its Travels . London . 2000 . xii.
3. A Vaughan, Shakespeare's Caliban (Cambridge 1991) p. 9
4. A Vaughan, Shakespeare's Caliban (Cambridge 1991) p. 10
5. A Vaughan, Shakespeare's Caliban (Cambridge 1991) p. 13-14
6. Book: P. . Hulme . The Tempest and its Travels . London . 2000 . 100.
7. Book: P. . Hulme . The Tempest and its Travels . London . 2000 . 231–232.
8. Book: Ward, Adolphus William. A History of English Dramatic Literature. 1 January 1997. Atlantic Publishers & Dist. 9788171566860.
9. https://archive.org/details/williamshakespea017475mbp "Caliban appears to be derived from the Gipsy cauliban, 'blackness'", in: K. E. Chambers, William Shakespeare: A Study of Facts and Problems, vol. 1. Oxford Clarendon Press, 1930, p. 494.
10. Albert Kluyber, "Kalis and Calibon", in A. E. H. Swain (transl.), Englich studien XXI (1895): 326–28.
11. John Holland, A Hystorical Survey of the Gypsies, London (printed for the author) 1816, p. 148.
12. For the Romani word, see B.C. Smart and H. T. Crofton (eds.), The Dialect of the English Gypsies, 2nd ed., London 1875, p. 92.
13. Alden T. Vaughan and Virginia Mason Vaughan (1993), Shakespeare's Caliban: A Cultural History, Cambridge University Press, pp.33–34
14. Book: Shakespeare's Caliban: A Cultural History. Vaughan. Alden T.. Vaughan. Virginia Mason. Cambridge University Press. 1993. Cambridge. 31–32.
15. https://books.google.com/books?id=exkBp8aVlVIC&pg=PA32 32f Alden T. Vaughan, Virginia Mason Vaughan, Shakespeare's Caliban: A Cultural History, Cambridge University Press, 1993
16. Web site: Etched and published by John Hamilton Mortimer Caliban (from "Twelve Characters from Shakespeare") . 2023-05-12 . The Metropolitan Museum of Art . en.
17. Book: Renan, Ernest . Calmann Lévy . 1878 . Paris . Caliban, suite de "La Tempête", Drame philosophique . fr .
18. Caliban: Notes towards a Discussion of Culture in Our America. Roberto Fernández . Retamar . 15 . 1 . 1974 . 7–72 . The Massachusetts Review . 25088398 .
19. Guthrie, Norie. "Wheatfield Biography". Houston Folk Music Archive.
20. Shelton, Suzanne (August 1976). ""Caliban": James Clouser's "Tempest" in Houston". Dance Magazine.
21. https://www.marvel.com/characters/caliban/in-comics Caliban: Marvel comics