{"product_id":"is-he-a-monster-caliban-in-william-shakespeares-the-tempest-von-sandra-graf","title":"Is He a Monster? - Caliban in William Shakespeare's 'The Tempest'","description":"\u003cp\u003eSeminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,5, University of Tubingen (Englisches Seminar), course: Proseminar II Literatur: The World and Shakespeare, language: English, abstract: ¿A salvage and deformed slave.¿ With these words William Shakespeare describes\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ethe figure of Caliban in the dramatis personæ of his play The Tempest. For almost four\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ecenturies, literary critics have dealt with trying to answer the question how Shakespeare¿s\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003echaracter has to be regarded. Is Caliban to be considered as a monster representing\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ehumanity¿s bestial side including all its vices, and thereby arousing the audience¿s disgust?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOr has he rather to be looked at the victim of an imperia l tyrant ¿ personified in Prospero ¿\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ewho arouses the spectator¿s pity? In which way Shakespeare really intended Caliban to be\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ewas, is and will ever be a secret he took to his grave. However, the reception history of the\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eplay has proven that Shakespeare¿s presentation of the characters ¿ especially Caliban ¿\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eopened up a large scope for various, often contradicting interpretations of the ¿slave.¿ Thus,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ethe following paper analyses the play with regard to the basic question whether or not\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCaliban is a monster.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt is divided into two parts. The first one concentrates only on how Shakespeare¿s\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003edrama The Tempest in general and the character of Caliban in particular have been staged\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eand interpreted throughout the last barely four centuries of reception. For this purpose, a\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esmall selection of representations of the play on stage and in editions are introduced and\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ediscussed, which show the major strands and general tendencies of Caliban¿s changing\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003einterpretations in the course of time. One of the main changes in Caliban¿s interpretation is\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ethe difference of reading the character in colonial and in post-colonial eras. After the end of\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ethe Second World War and after most of the world¿s colonies had been released and gained\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003etheir independence, Caliban¿s role within the play and the interpretation of the whole,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003echanged considerably. Thus, my analysis puts special emphasis on the contrast of colonial\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eand post-colonial reading of the play.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe second part concentrates only on Shakespeare¿s Caliban, that is, by a closer look\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eon the bare material Shakespeare left us, an analysis of how Shakespeare intended his\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003echaracter to be. Of course this can and therefore will only be speculative, as Shakespeare\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eobviously never stated his intention during his lifetime. In this part, it is mainly discussed\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ewhich passages in the play suggest that Shakespeare indeed created a monster or whether the\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003econtrary is true that Caliban is rather a victim.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e[...]\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"aw-variant-hidden-subtitle-div\" id=\"aw-variant-subtitle-9783640338146\"\u003e\u003ch3\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Libri","offers":[{"title":"Softcover - 9783640338146","offer_id":39430308692061,"sku":"9783640338146","price":15.95,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0940\/0622\/files\/d986b9e0-6ae0-438c-9849-1cac3640329d.jpg?v=1777610559","url":"https:\/\/shop.autorenwelt.de\/products\/is-he-a-monster-caliban-in-william-shakespeares-the-tempest-von-sandra-graf","provider":"Autorenwelt Shop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}