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 noises
Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears; and sometime voices
That, 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 riches
Ready to drop upon me, that when I waked
I cried to dream again.
Name
Caliban, Stephano and Trinculo dancing
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 caníbal (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 kaliban or cauliban 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 Kalee-ban "satyr of Kalee, the Hindu Proserpine", German Kabeljau ("codfish"), etc.[15]
1968 – Peter Brooks and the RSC expressed the character of Caliban through violence and homosexuality, dubbed as Brooks' "experiment".[citation needed]
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.
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 Expansespace 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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.
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 into a ruined fortress, possibly in a reference to the island in the original play.
In the anime series Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury, 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 Tempest's 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.
^Retamar, Roberto Fernández (1974). "Caliban: Notes towards a Discussion of Culture in Our America". The Massachusetts Review. 15 (1): 7–72. JSTOR25088398.
^Guthrie, Norie. "Wheatfield Biography". Houston Folk Music Archive.
^Shelton, Suzanne (August 1976). ""Caliban": James Clouser's "Tempest" in Houston". Dance Magazine.
