A cursory reading of The Tempest seems to give the
impression that Caliban is, indeed, a monster. In fact, Shakespeare establishes
him as a monster fairly early in the play: Miranda and Prospero repeatedly call
him a monster in Act 1. Prospero tells us that Caliban’s mother, the witch
Sycorax, was a “hag,” and that Caliban himself was “a freckled whelp hag-born, not
honour'd with a human shape.” This implies that Sycorax was not human, and
therefore neither is Caliban. Prospero also claims that when Caliban was
younger, he gave him “human care,” which implies that Prospero does not think
him worthy of receiving such treatment. Trinculo and Stefano describe Caliban
as less than human: Trinculo asks if he is "a man or a fish," and
Stephano calls him a "moon-calf." Thus at face value, Caliban can unequivocally
be thought of as a monster.
However, all the evidence that casts Caliban as a monster
comes from the other characters speech (as there isn’t much else in a play). On
closer inspection of this speech, it seems that the way the characters talk
about Caliban reflects the attitude European colonizers had towards the natives
during the time this play was written. Most of the characters in the play are
of European descent; Caliban, on the other hand, was born of Sycorax, who was a
native of Algiers. This could be an explanation for why he seemed a creature apart
from them. His skin color would have
been different – this possibility is supported by the fact that his name is so
similar to the Romany word "Cauliban," which means "black"
or something associated with blackness.
His speech would have been very different as well: Miranda states that
before the play, Caliban gabbled "like / A thing most brutish," which
suggests that he may have known a language – it simply was not English. He
calls the language Prospero taught him “your” language, also indicating that he
could have had his own language before English was forced on him (in the way
that English was forced on natives when the Europeans settled in a new place).
Thus the treatment of Caliban in the Tempest can be taken as a reflection of
the way Europeans treated non-white races at the time.
On looking through the play again, there is actually
evidence to be found that Caliban is, in fact, a human. Stephano and
Trinculo describe him as having arms, legs, and eyes in his head, implying
that he does at least have a humanoid form. He does not appear to have magic, reducing
the possibility that he is descended from a real (non-human) “witch” or that he
is a spirit of the island like Ariel. The fact that he is able to articulate
human reasoning for even his animalistic behavior (such as trying to rape
Miranda – he wanted to “people the island with Calibans”) shows that though he
may be strange and disturbing at times, he may still be a human. In other
words, if it looks like a human and talks like a human for the whole play, it probably is a human.
Ultimately, I believe that a successful argument can be made
for either side. However, I personally lean towards the belief that Caliban is,
in fact, human. I think that the portrayal of him by the characters as an animal
with no sense of morality only further cements the audience’s understanding of
him as a victim of colonization. Obviously, the play is not sympathetic to
Caliban, because it was written from a European point of view; however, I think
in this day and age Caliban very much deserves our understanding.
