 Let's look at the character of Caliban in The Tempest. Now, he is the only native of the island that Prospero and Miranda are living on at the beginning of the play. We learn that he is Prospero's slave, however this is a position that he rages against and even he, Prospero and Miranda, have lots of friction. In fact, he even at one point attacked Miranda, a thing that she can never forgive him for and she can't even stand to look at him. Now, we learn that Caliban is one of the villainous characters. Of course the leading villain in this play is Antonio who sets off this tragic series of events that lead Prospero to be stranded on the island and we find out that he is the one that betrayed his own brother. However, Caliban does attempt to plot the murder of Prospero. He tries to get the shipwrecked crewmates, some of the shipwrecked crewmates to agree to killing Prospero. However, fortunately, Ariel overhears his plot and lets Prospero know in good time so this is averted. So, one thing to bear in mind with Caliban is throughout the play it's actually unclear whether he's a man or a monster. Okay, so we're not, we're never entirely clear what kind of character, whether he's mortal, whether he's a supernatural character. Therefore, depending on which adaptation you watch, you might find that sometimes he's depicted as a monster, other times he's depicted as a man. However, we do realize that he's somebody that's very angry, he rages and really resents the fact that he feels very entrapped by Prospero. Now, if you are writing about Caliban's character, of course you need to be aware of certain key quotations. So, I have selected what I believe are the most relevant quotes from the Tempest to bear in mind with his character. So, I'm going to point out these quotations and then also let you know what word level analysis you can do when you're writing about Caliban's character, either for your coursebook or exam. So, let's get started with the first quote. Now, we learn that his first line in the play is, we can see the antagonism that exists between him and Prospero as well as his daughter Miranda. As wicked do as ever, my mother brushed with Raven's feature from unwholesome fendrop on you both. So, here he's cursing them both. And do bear in mind that it's his mother also who trapped Ariel inside a tree, however Prospero freed him. Hence why Ariel is now his servant as a way of expressing his gratitude. Now here in this quotation, what Caliban is doing is he is cursing both Prospero as well as his daughter Miranda. Don't forget that his own mother, so Caliban's own mother, Sycorax, is a witch. And he's basically saying that he hopes his mother with blesses, with Raven's feature, with horrible features. She basically strikes both of them with these horrible, unwholesome appearance, okay? And here, of course, what we can see is that there's a lot of antagonism, but also Caliban's character is set up from the beginning as a very rebellious and also as a very angry individual. Now the word love analysis you want to do here is the alliteration of M in my mother, okay? And this is tying in to his wicked nature, but also his mother's wicked nature. And the other word love analysis, and this is actually a structural point you can make. This is an exclamatory sentence that he is using, okay? So here he's speaking. This whole sentence is an exclamatory sentence. Remember, an exclamatory sentence is a sentence that states a very strong emotion. And here, of course, we can see that Caliban is really, really angry. He's raging, constantly raging against his master. Now the second quotation relating to him is when he states, Here you stymie in this hard rock whilst you do keep me from the rest of the island. So here we can see why he really hates Prospero so much. He feels like he has been confined to the place where Prospero and Miranda are residing on the island. He feels like he lacks any freedom. And in many ways he feels like his freedom to really be part of the rest of the island and also look after the island because don't forget he's a native of this island. It has been blocked and usurped by Prospero and Miranda. So he's very resentful about this. The word love analysis you want to do here is firstly the repetition of the pronoun you. Okay, so you stymie, you do keep it. Of course here, this pronoun is being very accusatory of Prospero. But also you want to look at the contrast in pronouns between Prospero who's you versus me where so the pronouns you and me are used repetitively in this phrase. And of course this is where we can see there's a lot of antagonism that's established between Caliban and Prospero which then does not make his plot later on at all surprising his plot to kill Prospero. Now the other quotation to bear in mind is when he states, a plague upon the tyrant that I serve. Now this structure wise, this is a declarative sentence. Remember a declarative sentence is a sentence that states a fact, feeling or mood. Here he is basically cursing Prospero. Also the literation of tea in the tyrant that shows just how emphatic Caliban is in showing his hatred for Prospero. He wants something to be done about this. And again this makes it very unsurprising when he does plot to have him killed enlist some of the shipwrecked crewmates to help him in this. The next quotation to bear in mind for his character is when he is telling the crewmates and he's getting them to really see his point of view. He states, I am a subject to a tyrant, a sorcerer that by his cunning hath cheated me off the island. Now here what he's basically saying is he is really unfortunate. He basically is governed by Prospero who basically has cheated him, has duped him out of what he says is his freedom and leadership and ownership of the island that he resides on. Now the word of analysis you want to do here is firstly the words tyrant and sorcerer are both of them and nouns and they belong to the semantic field of evil which shows how he believes Prospero is an evil individual for basically enslaving him. And also the literation of sea in cunning and cheated. Okay, so that's it when it comes to Calivence character and the key quotations as well as the word of analysis to do when writing about him either for your coursework or exams.