Nicole C.

Diaz Morell
Dr. Maritza Stanchich
INGL 8107
August 17, 2015

Is Shakespeares Caliban Utopic or Savage?

Roberto Fernandez in an essay called Caliban: Notes Toward a Discussion of Culture in
Our America is asked Does a Latin-American Culture exist?(19), which the author feels like he
is being asked Do you exist?(19) These questions either makes anyone question where do
these notions come from and how are these related to Shakespeares The Tempest. The
importance of the character Caliban in The Tempest has baffled not only Shakespearean critics
but also scholars worldwide. Caliban is deformed, has become a slave of Prospero, who has
colonized his Island and has been obligated to acquire a new language as well as ideals which are
foreign to him. Much like the history of many Caribbean Islands who have fallen to colonizers as
well as have gone through not only language but idiomatic changes which are as foreign to its
inhabitants as was to Caliban. Caliban, whose name translates literally to cannibal, is
misjudged and viewed as a savage through the whole play, just as when the Caribbean was being
discovered Christopher Columbus describes the inhabitants as some with one eye and some
with dog nozzles who ate human flesh. (Benitez, 23) The carib Indian is described as a man
eater while the taino is described as pacific thus making the Caribbean seem like savages while
the other Indians seem docile and unintelligent. To limit a race to being either one or the other is
not only preposterous but it also means then people believe in the myths and fairy tales found in
Columbus notes. This view reflected is the view of the colonizer who uses this mean to justify
the extermination of the savagely uncontrollable race.
Shakespeares personal friend Mointagne of Floro, wrote an essay called Cannibal, which
inspires the views Shakespeare portrays in The Tempest. Interestingly enough is that Caliban is
both utopian and animalistic. Shakespeare is able to portray the man who is colonized, his lands
taken from him, obligated to work for others, animalistic in his expression and behaviors; yet he
is able to learn the language of the colonizer as well as uses it to curse him. You taught me
language; and my profit on't. Is, I know how to curse. The red plague rid you. For learning me
your language. (Shakespeare, The Tempest 1.2.364-6) The reader does not meet the Caribbean
people; they meet single character Caliban who becomes the embodiment of the Caribbean. The
colonizer is not interested in the Islands population but in the Islands resources and beauty, thus
being the reason why Caliban is depicted as an unattractive, beast like with little intelligence.
Caliban is related closely to nature by the work he does which brings him closer to the Island,
which the colonizers cannot understand, thus creating problems like slavery and war. His ability
to learn, speak and reason is an example of the idea that whatever is imposed on the Caribs, they
are able to grasp the knowledge and overcome adversities. Caribbean people have been judged

throughout history by the ideals of a journal written with the Colonizer mind, which should make
readers think about their own existence thus creating a final question Do you exist?