English language and literature

Affective Fallacy.
In an essay published in 1946, W. K. Wimsatt and Monroe
C. Beardsley defined the affective fallacy as the error of evaluating a poem
by its effects—especially its emotional effects—upon the reader. As a result of
this fallacy "the poem itself, as an object of specifically critical judgment,
tends to disappear," so that criticism "ends in impressionism and relativism."
The two critics wrote in direct reaction to the view of I. A. Richards, in his influential
Principles of Literary Criticism (1923), that the value of a poem can be
measured by the psychological responses it incites in its readers. Beardsley has
since modified the earlier claim by the admission that "it does not appear that
critical evaluation can be done at all except in relation to certain types of effect
that aesthetic objects have upon their perceivers." So modified, the doctrine
becomes a claim for objective criticism, in which the critic, instead of
describing the effects of a work, focuses on the features, devices, and form of
the work by which such effects are achieved. An extreme reaction against the
doctrine of the affective fallacy was manifested during the 1970s in the development
of reader-response criticis

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Digraphs and other combinations. With the value
of long a in cases 1-3. (1) a-e, where one or more
consonants separate a and e: hate, pale, waste.
(2) ai, initially and medially: aid, pail, maintain.
The value of short e is often heard in again,
against, said. (3) ay, in final positions: day,
dismay, relay. The value of short e is often heard
in says. (4) au, initially and medially: sauce,
author, because, laurel. These have values of o
that tend to be accent-dependent: for example,
/a/ in RP, and /o/ in AmE, sometimes with
length variation. (5) aw, in all positions, but
especially finally: awful, drawl, saw (with various
values, many comparable to those of au). (6) aa,
only in loans, such as: names from Hebrew, with
the long-a value in Aaron, Canaan, and schwa in
Isaac; from Afrikaans, with the value of phonetically
long, open a (aardvark, kraal). (7) ae, in
diverse loans, usually with the value of long a:
maelstrom, from Dutch; Gael, from Celtic; Ishmael,
Israel, from Hebrew. (8) As second element
in a digraph (ea, oa), a usually indicates a special
value for the first vowel, but is not itself pronounced:
long e in east, beat, cheated, long o in
oats, boat, soaked, with a glide effect before r in
non-rhotic accents, as in fear, boar. (9) In four
words, ea has the value of long a: break, great,
steak, yea. (10) In many common words, the
digraph ea is pronounced as short e: bread,
meadow, ready, sweat, zealous. (11) The letter a
combines in unusual, sometimes unique ways
with other vowel letters in: aisle, aunt, beauty,
broad, guinea, laugh, quay. (12) Distinctive
values in loanwords are usually preserved:
bureau, gauche, gaucho, naive/naïve.

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AbbeyTheatre, Dublin,
opened on 27 Dec. 1904 with a
double bill of one-act plays, W. B. *Yeats's On Baile's
Strand and a comedy Spreading the News by Lady
*Gregory. The theatre rapidly became a focus of the
*Irish Revival. In 1903 Miss A. E. *Horniman, a friend
of Yeats from his London days, had been introduced by
him to the Irish National Theatre Society, an amateur
company led by F. J. and W. G. Fay, which had already
produced several plays by contemporary Irish writers,
including Yeats's Cathleen and G. *Russell's (Al's)
Deirdre. She decided to provide a permanent Dublin
home for the Society (which had Yeats for its
president) and took over the disused theatre of the
Mechanics' Institute in Abbey Street (built on the site
of a previous Theatre Royal), together with the old city
morgue next door, and converted them into the Abbey
Theatre, with Lady Gregory as holder of the patent. The
company, led by the Fays, with Sarah Allgood as
principal actress, turned professional in 1906, with
Yeats, Lady Gregory, and J. M. *Synge as directors, and
in 1907 successfully survived the riots provoked by
Synge's *The Pl***oy of the Western World. The Fays,
who had become increasingly at loggerheads with
Horniman, Yeats, and the leading players, left in 1908.
In 1909 Lady Gregory, as patentee, withstood strong
pressure from the lord-lieutenant to withdraw The
Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet, by G. B. *Shaw, before
production; but the company staged it, almost uncut,
knowing they might lose their patent. It was a great
success and there was no more trouble with censorship.
Meanwhile Miss Horniman had become increasingly
disenchanted with the company, and in 1910 did
not renew her subsidy; however she offered the
purchase of the theatre on generous terms, and
Yeats and Lady Gregory became principal shareholders
and managers. Over the years the early poetic
dramas had been gradually replaced by more naturalistic
prose works, written by *Colum, *Ervine, L.
^Robinson, *0'Casey, and others. Robinson took over
the management from Yeats in 1910 and with a short
break continued until he became director in 1923.
There were contentious but highly successful tours of
Ireland, England, and the USA.
After the First World War the Abbey's finances
became perilous, although O'Casey's Shadow of a
Gunman (1923), Juno and the Paycock (1924), and
The Plough and the Stars ( 1926) brought some respite.
In 1925 the Abbey received a grant from the new
government of Eire, thus becoming the first statesubsidized
theatre in the English-speaking world.
From the late 1930s more plays were performed in
Gaelic, and actors were required to be bilingual. In
1951 the theatre was burned down, and the company
played in the Queen's Theatre until the new Abbey
opened in 1966, where the tradition of new writing by
B. *Friel, Tom *Murphy, and others continues to
flourish.

Sound values
(i) Short, as in hat, lack, apple. (2)
Long, as in hate, lake, maple, chaos. In many
accents of English, this sound is a diphthong,
/ei/, often in RP with a special value before r,
/ea/, as in vary, scarce. (3) In RP and related
accents, phonetically long and open, /a:/, in such
words as calm, dance, far, father. (4) Schwa in
weak syllables, as in avoid, prevalent, viable, vital,
relevant, vicar, villa. In RP, the weak form sometimes
has the value of short /, /i/, as in private,
village. (5) After /w/ and before /I/, a phonetically
long, open value of o, /oi/, as in wall,
war, water, quarter, tall; in RP, after w, a short
o-sound, /D/, as in swamp, sw****ka; likewise in
yacht. (6) In any, many, the short e-sound in hen.

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Aaron's Rod, a novel by D. H. *Lawrence, published
1922.
The biblical Aaron was the brother of Moses,
appointed priest by )ehovah, whose blossoming rod
(Num. 17: 4-8) was a miraculous symbol of authority.
In the novel Aaron Sisson, amateur flautist, forsakes
his wife and his job as checkweighman at a colliery for
a life of flute playing, quest, and adventure in bohemian
and upper-class society. His flute is symbolically
broken in the penultimate chapter as a result of a bomb
explosion in Florence during political riots.

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The Hairy Ape Summary
The Hairy Ape, a play by Eugene O’Neill, is about the negative effects of industrialization. A crew of firemen are drinking on the forecastle of a ship. Though they seem happy, there is tension between them, as though they might erupt into a brawl at any moment. The men sing—sometimes about alcohol and sometimes about home; Yank verbally attacks the idea of home, women, and emotional involvement. Long lays the blame for their miserable lot in life on those in first-class, which he identifies as the capitalist class. Yank says the workers are better than them.

Paddy launches into a bout of nostalgia for the days before engines, when, according to him, the ship, the sea, and man united as one. Yank tells him he is crazy—and dead. He thinks of Paddy as a relic of an age gone by, and says that he is steel.

Meanwhile, on the promenade deck, Mildred Douglas endures her aunt’s chiding as they chat and recline in the deck chairs. Her aunt teases her about Mildred’s attempts to help the poor through her efforts in social service. Despite the fact that Mildred enjoys the comforts and benefits of her family’s fortune derived from their steel business, she wants to make her own positive impact on life.

Her aunt tells her that her efforts to improve the lives of the poor are anything but altruistic. Rather, she says they are poor attempts at boosting her own social credibility. Despite her aunt’s recriminations, Mildred is determined to visit the stokehole below decks in hopes of meeting the workers there. She wants to experience their lifestyle. The captain of the ship has granted her permission, but only because she claimed that her father, the chairman of the ship line, had given her a letter asking her to inspect the ship. When the second engineer questions her choice in wearing a white dress when she is about to go somewhere dirty, she replies that she will just throw it away because she has plenty of clothes.

In the stokehole, the men are dirty and sweating. Paddy is tired, so Yank makes fun of him and boasts his own ability to work at the furnace without suffering exhaustion. His bragging rallies the other firemen, and they work harder to continue stoking the fire. When Mildred arrives, all the men notice except for Yank, who keeps working. When he does see her, he shoots a hateful look her way. Scared, she nearly faints. She asks to be taken away and calls him a filthy beast. Yank is angered by her insult and chucks his shovel at the door after she exits.

After their shift ends, most of the firemen clean up—except for Yank. He is out of sorts, and the other men tease him, saying he has fallen in love with her. He assures them that all he feels for her is hatred. The firemen determine that the engineer showed them off to Mildred like animals at a zoo, and call Yank “hairy ape,” which he likes because it allows him to imagine that their encounter led to violence directed at her. His temper rises, and the other men have to hold him down to keep him from acting on his fantasy.

After the ship makes port in New York, Long and Yank are walking the streets of the city. Long provides more political viewpoints, while Yank is angered by the exorbitant price of furs. He tries to start a fight with some wealthy churchgoers, claiming that it is people like him, with physical prowess, who make the world work. Before he can engage in any physical violence though, the police restrain and arrest him.

While in jail, Yank feels like an animal caged at a zoo. Initially, the other prisoners make fun of him, but after he mentions Mildred’s last name, they tell him about her father, who is the president of the Steel Trust. One of them recommends that Yank join the Wobblies, a group of labor activists. Through them, Yank decides he will exact his revenge. As his temper continues to boil and he thinks of the steel bars restraining him, he manages to bend them so that the prison guards have to subdue him.

After he is let out of jail, Yank goes to the office of the Wobblies. Wobblies, he finds out, is a nickname for the labor union known as the International Workers of the World. He wants to join, but has to stop and think when he is asked for his legal name. At first, the labor union is excited to have Yank because they want to organize other workers on the ship line. But when they ask him whether he wants to achieve his goals through dynamite or legitimate direct action, he answers dynamite. They reject his application because they think he is dangerous. Outside, he repeats a complaint that he truly does not belong anywhere. Thinking he is a drunk, two policemen chastise him.

Yank decides to visit the zoo. There, he walks into the monkey house, where he tells the animals about his experiences in New York. When a gorilla pounds his chest, Yank decides they belong together and thinks of their “club” as the “Hairy Apes.” He opens the cage door, releasing the gorilla, which grabs him and pulls him into a bone-crushing hug. As he crumples to the ground and dies, Yank realizes that he does not belong with the Hairy Apes, either.

Hamlet by William Shakespeare.

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare between 1599 and 1602. Set in the Kingdom of Denmark, the play dramatizes the revengePrince Hamlet exacts on his uncle Claudiusfor murdering King Hamlet, who is Claudius's brother and Prince Hamlet's father, and then succeeding to the throne and taking as his wife Gertrude, the old king's widow and Prince Hamlet's mother.

Summary:

On a dark winter night, a ghost walks the ramparts of Elsinore Castle in Denmark. Discovered first by a pair of watchmen, then by the scholar Horatio, the ghost resembles the recently deceased King Hamlet, whose brother Claudius has inherited the throne and married the king’s widow, Queen Gertrude. When Horatio and the watchmen bring Prince Hamlet, the son of Gertrude and the dead king, to see the ghost, it speaks to him, declaring ominously that it is indeed his father’s spirit, and that he was murdered by none other than Claudius. Ordering Hamlet to seek revenge on the man who usurped his throne and married his wife, the ghost disappears with the dawn.Prince Hamlet devotes himself to avenging his father’s death, but, because he is contemplative and thoughtful by nature, he delays, entering into a deep melancholy and even apparent madness. Claudius and Gertrude worry about the prince’s erratic behavior and attempt to discover its cause. They employ a pair of Hamlet’s friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to watch him. When Polonius, the pompous Lord Chamberlain, suggests that Hamlet may be mad with love for his daughter, Ophelia, Claudius agrees to spy on Hamlet in conversation with the girl. But though Hamlet certainly seems mad, he does not seem to love Ophelia: he orders her to enter a nunnery and declares that he wishes to ban marriages.A group of traveling actors comes to Elsinore, and Hamlet seizes upon an idea to test his uncle’s guilt. He will have the players perform a scene closely resembling the sequence by which Hamlet imagines his uncle to have murdered his father, so that if Claudius is guilty, he will surely react. When the moment of the murder arrives in the theater, Claudius leaps up and leaves the room. Hamlet and Horatio agree that this proves his guilt. Hamlet goes to kill Claudius but finds him praying. Since he believes that killing Claudius while in prayer would send Claudius’s soul to heaven, Hamlet considers that it would be an inadequate revenge and decides to wait. Claudius, now frightened of Hamlet’s madness and fearing for his own safety, orders that Hamlet be sent to England at once.Hamlet goes to confront his mother, in whose bedchamber Polonius has hidden behind a tapestry. Hearing a noise from behind the tapestry, Hamlet believes the king is hiding there. He draws his sword and stabs through the fabric, killing Polonius. For this crime, he is immediately dispatched to England with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. However, Claudius’s plan for Hamlet includes more than banishment, as he has given Rosencrantz and Guildenstern sealed orders for the King of England demanding that Hamlet be put to death.In the aftermath of her father’s death, Ophelia goes mad with grief and drowns in the river. Polonius’s son, Laertes, who has been staying in France, returns to Denmark in a rage. Claudius convinces him that Hamlet is to blame for his father’s and sister’s deaths. When Horatio and the king receive letters from Hamlet indicating that the prince has returned to Denmark after pirates attacked his ship en route to England, Claudius concocts a plan to use Laertes’ desire for revenge to secure Hamlet’s death. Laertes will fence with Hamlet in innocent sport, but Claudius will poison Laertes’ blade so that if he draws blood, Hamlet will die. As a backup plan, the king decides to poison a goblet, which he will give Hamlet to drink should Hamlet score the first or second hits of the match. Hamlet returns to the vicinity of Elsinore just as Ophelia’s funeral is taking place. Stricken with grief, he attacks Laertes and declares that he had in fact always loved Ophelia. Back at the castle, he tells Horatio that he believes one must be prepared to die, since death can come at any moment. A foolish courtier named Osric arrives on Claudius’s orders to arrange the fencing match between Hamlet and Laertes.The sword-fighting begins. Hamlet scores the first hit, but declines to drink from the king’s proffered goblet. Instead, Gertrude takes a drink from it and is swiftly killed by the poison. Laertes succeeds in wounding Hamlet, though Hamlet does not die of the poison immediately. First, Laertes is cut by his own sword’s blade, and, after revealing to Hamlet that Claudius is responsible for the queen’s death, he dies from the blade’s poison. Hamlet then stabs Claudius through with the poisoned sword and forces him to drink down the rest of the poisoned wine. Claudius dies, and Hamlet dies immediately after achieving his revenge.
At this moment, a Norwegian prince named Fortinbras, who has led an army to Denmark and attacked Poland earlier in the play, enters with ambassadors from England, who report that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead. Fortinbras is stunned by the gruesome sight of the entire royal family lying sprawled on the floor dead. He moves to take power of the kingdom. Horatio, fulfilling Hamlet’s last request, tells him Hamlet’s tragic story. Fortinbras orders that Hamlet be carried away in a manner befitting a fallen soldier.

The Birthday Party Summary

Stanley Webber is the main visitor remaining in Meg and Petey Boles' lodging in a waterfront resort town in England, where he has been stayed for as long as year and has basically no contact with the rest of the world. One morning, Meg and Petey find a spot at the morning meal table and make casual discussion. As Petey peruses the paper, Meg over and again inquires as to whether he's partaking in his cornflakes and seared toast. In a little while, she comments that Stanley ought to be down the stairs at this point. She then, at that point, chooses to "get" him, at long last drawing him from his room and getting him to the morning meal table, where she gives him cornflakes and seared toast.

After Petey leaves for work, Stanley tells Meg she's a "awful spouse" for not providing her better half with a new cup of tea. This discussion in the end transforms into a to and fro in which Meg changes between behaving like Stanley's guardian and his darling. They switch among being a tease and contending until Meg makes reference to that two new visitors will show up soon. "What are you discussing?" Stanley asks, disrupted, and Meg lets him know that Petey experienced two men around the ocean the prior night. "Two refined men inquired as to whether they could come and remain for a few evenings. I'm anticipating them," she says, however Stanley claims he doesn't trust her, since nobody has at any point visited the motel the entire time he's been an inhabitant.

Changing the subject, Stanley says, "When you address yourself to me, do you at any point ask yourself who precisely you are conversing with?" Then he moans and places his head in his grasp, yet Meg neglects to comprehend his inquiry, rather inquiring as to whether he partook in his morning meal. She says she used to like watching him play piano when he used to play as an expert. Asking him to escape the house, she proposes that he find a new line of work playing at the wharf, and he unconvincingly demands that he's been extended to an employment opportunity playing at a club in Berlin. As he clarifies this possibility, he adds that he would really venture to the far corners of the planet. Discussing his previous existence as an expert performer, he says, "I've played the piano everywhere. All around the country." Then he portrays a show he played where celebrated for his exhibition and his "interesting touch," however when he went to give a subsequent show, the presentation lobby was locked. "They acted deceptively," he says.

A thump sounds on the entryway, and Meg goes offstage to respond to it, having a murmured discussion in which a voice says, "How will I manage it?" Without distinguishing what "it" is, Meg gives this individual guidelines and afterward goes coming. Now, the individual endeavors into the family room. She is Lulu, and she's conveying a bundle, which she puts down on the sideboard and lets Stanley know that he's "not to contact it." They then, at that point, have a discussion regarding how "stodgy" it is inside, and Lulu urges Stanley to head outside. Stanley lies and says that he went to the sea early that morning, however Lulu gives him a conservative mirror and brings up that he doesn't resemble a man who has been outside in quite a while. Checking out himself, Stanley is apparently blasted, unexpectedly pulling out from his appearance. He then, at that point, inquires as to whether she'd prefer to "disappear" with him, however when she asks where they'd go, he basically says, "No place," and when she inquires as to whether he'd prefer to take a walk, he says, "I can't right now." Lulu withdraws.

At the point when the two new visitors at last thump on the motel's entryway, Stanley flips off the light and rapidly exits before they come inside. Their names are Goldberg and McCann, and they talk about the "work" they need to do. Goldberg is unmistakably the chief, and he lets McCann know that their errand is "very particular" from their "past work." It all depends, he maintains, on the "disposition" of their "subject." At this point, Meg enters and presents herself, educating Goldberg and McCann regarding Stanley and saying that today is his birthday. Demanding that they abstain from referencing anything, she says that they will host a gathering this evening in Stanley's honor, and Goldberg communicates much obliged for being welcomed. She then, at that point, shows them to their room, and when she returns, Stanley is in the lounge.

Stanley gets some information about Goldberg and McCann, squeezing her for subtleties until she cuts him off and gives him his birthday present—the bundle Lulu set on the sideboard. It is a little drum. Throwing it around his neck, Stanley strolls around the lounge table thumping the drum, causing Meg a deep sense of's fulfillment. As he continues orbiting the table, however, his drumming turns out to be progressively inconsistent, until the beat is "savage and moved by."

That evening, Stanley meets McCann in the parlor. Dubious of this rookie, he attempts to perceive the reason why he's gone to the lodging and starts posing inquiries about Goldberg, whom he hasn't met at this point. "Has he let you know anything? Do you realize what you're not kidding?" he says, yet McCann rejects that he knows what Stanley's saying, rather zeroing in on Stanley's birthday celebration until Goldberg himself enters and presents himself. Frantic to hold Goldberg and McCann back from remaining in the house, Stanley imagines he's the supervisor and tells them there's no room, however they don't pay attention to him, rather demanding that he plunk down. At the point when they at last power him into a seat, they begin asking him unusual inquiries, which become progressively enigmatic. They inquire as to why he went to the lodging in any case, whether or not he appropriately mixes his migraine drug, and when he last cleaned up. They then, at that point, blame him for selling out "the association," however they never indicate what association they're alluding to. Later in the discussion, they inquire as to why he killed his better half, and he says that he doesn't have a spouse, however they scarcely tune in, continuing on to inquire as to whether he perceives "an outer power." "What?" Stanley answers, yet they don't get their point across, rather pushing on and asking him—in addition to other things—if the number 846 is "conceivable or vital." Finally, in light of whether or not the chicken or the egg started things out, Stanley shouts, and their discussion is hindered by the sound of a drumbeat as Meg enters wearing her evening dress and playing Stanley's drum.

In a little while, Lulu shows up and Stanley's party starts without Petey, who cannot join in. Pouring beverages, Goldberg recommends that Meg give an impromptu speech to Stanley. At the point when she does, Goldberg and McCann kill the lights and sparkle an electric lamp in Stanley's face. In her toast, Meg scarcely says anything regarding Stanley himself, rather zeroing in on the fact that she is so glad to host a get-together in her home. Regardless of the generic quality of this discourse, Goldberg maintains that he's very moved by Meg's words, and afterward he conveys his own toast. Next the gathering chooses to play a game, however Stanley himself presently can't seem to say a word, actually staggering from Goldberg and McCann's peculiar cross examination.

Delivering a blindfold, the gathering chooses to play "blind man's buff," a game wherein one individual has a scarf tied over their eyes and attempts to track down different players, who are dissipated all through the room. As the game advances, Goldberg and Lulu caress each other while McCann and Meg tease and Stanley stands mental all alone. At the point when it's Stanley's chance to play the visually impaired man, McCann places the drum in his direction and his foot gets through it. Hauling the instrument on his foot, he falls over and Meg makes a commotion. At the point when he rises, he progresses toward her, and afterward the lights unexpectedly slice out and he starts to choke her. After extraordinary disturbance, the others separate him from her, however he gets away. Then, at that point, everybody hears Lulu shout and tumble to the floor, having swooned as Stanley draws near. Peacefully, Stanley lifts her onto the table, and when McCann at last tracks down the electric lamp, the crowd sees that Stanley is going to assault Lulu. Goldberg and McCann wrest him away and back him against the divider as he lets out a psychopathic giggle before the dr**ery closes.

At the point when the dr**e opens once more, it is the following morning and Meg and Petey are eating as though nothing has occurred. Meg professes to not recollect that anything about the party and spotlights on serving breakfast, however there aren't any cornflakes. Tracking down the wrecked drum on the floor, she hits it and says, "It actually makes a commotion." She comments that Stanley ought to be alert since he will miss breakfast, and Petey says, "There isn't any morning meal," to which she reacts, "Indeed, however he doesn't realize that." She tells Petey she went higher up to keep an eye on Stanley, yet McCann and Goldberg were in his room having an extreme discussion with him. She then, at that point, goes out to get nourishment for lunch, and Goldberg comes ground floor and discusses the party to Petey, who asks him "what came over" Stanley. "Mental meltdown," Goldberg says. He then, at that point, clarifies that these sorts of breakdowns in some cases mix "step by step" prior to ejecting, however for certain individuals there are no notice signs on the grounds that their spiraling emotional well-being is a "inevitable result."

At the point when Stanley at last comes first floor, he's totally unequipped for talking. As he heaves rubbish, Goldberg lets Petey know that he and McCann are taking him to a specialist, however it's obvious from his tone that this isn't true. Petey is dubious, yet he observes himself to not be able to do anything as they es**rt Stanley out the entryway. At the point when they go to go, Petey shouts toward them, saying, "Stan, don't allow them to listen for a minute to do!" When Meg returns, Petey tells her that Stanley is still sleeping higher up, and she says he'll be late for breakfast. She then, at that point, discusses how "wonderful" the party was the prior night, demanding that everybody told her she was "the beauty queen." "Gracious, it's valid," she says, however no one really told her this. After a slight respite, she says, "I know I was,�

GUY FAWKES
On November 5, 1605, a plot to blow up the House of Parliament in
London was uncovered! The conspirators, opposed to the anti-Catholic
laws imposed by James I, had stored thirty-six barrels of gunpowder in
cellars beneath the building, enough to blow it sky-high. On that date
the king was to open and address Parliament. When the plotters burrowed
through the walls of the cellar, Guy Fawkes, a Roman Catholicconvert,
was caught in the act, and the other conspirators were rounded
up.
The affair was named the Gunpowder Plot, and Fawkes was tried and
hanged on January 31, 1606. On every November 5 grotesque effigies of
Guy Fawkes were carried through the streets and burned to mark the
anniversary of the failed plot. From these odd-looking effigies came the
word guy. And, understandably, it has a pejorative sense in England.
In America a guy is simply a boy or a man. The term is usually dressed
up or down to make it complimentary ("a nice guy," "a regular guy") or
insulting ("a wise guy," "a tough guy").
118

Caliban's character in "The
Tempest"

Caliban is a product of nature, the offspring of the witch Sycorax and the devil. Prospero has made Caliban his servant or, more accurately, his slave. Throughout most of the play, Caliban is insolent and rebellious and is only controlled through the use of magic. Caliban claims the island as his own and maintains that Prospero has tricked him in the past.

Caliban represents the black magic of his mother and initially appears bad, especially when judged by conventional civilized standards. Because Prospero has conquered him, Caliban plots to murder Prospero in revenge. It is clear, though, that Caliban is a poor judge of character: He embraces Stefano as a god and trusts his two drunken conspirators to help him carry out a plot to murder Prospero. In many ways, Caliban is an innocent, reacting to emotional and physical needs without the ability to think through and fully understand the events and people who surround him. He is truly a child of nature, uneducated and reacting to his surroundings in much the same way that an animal does

Prospero’s dark, earthy slave, frequently referred to as a monster by the other characters, Caliban is the son of a witch-hag and the only real native of the island to appear in the play. He is an extremely complex figure, and he mirrors or parodies several other characters in the play. In his first speech to Prospero, Caliban insists that Prospero stole the island from him. Through this speech, Caliban suggests that his situation is much the same as Prospero’s, whose brother usurped his dukedom. On the other hand, Caliban’s desire for sovereignty of the island mirrors the lust for power that led Antonio to overthrow Prospero. Caliban’s conspiracy with Stephano and Trinculo to murder Prospero mirrors Antonio and Sebastian’s plot against Alonso, as well as Antonio and Alonso’s original conspiracy against Prospero.

Caliban both mirrors and contrasts with Prospero’s other servant, Ariel. While Ariel is “an airy spirit,” Caliban is of the earth, his speeches turning to “springs, brine pits” (I.ii.341), “bogs, fens, flats” (II.ii.2), or crabapples and pignuts (II.ii.159–160). While Ariel maintains his dignity and his freedom by serving Prospero willingly, Caliban achieves a different kind of dignity by refusing, if only sporadically, to bow before Prospero’s intimidation.

Surprisingly, Caliban also mirrors and contrasts with Ferdinand in certain ways. In Act II, scene ii Caliban enters “with a burden of wood,” and Ferdinand enters in Act III, scene i “bearing a log.” Both Caliban and Ferdinand profess an interest in untying Miranda’s “virgin knot.” Ferdinand plans to marry her, while Caliban has attempted to r**e her. The glorified, romantic, almost ethereal love of Ferdinand for Miranda starkly contrasts with Caliban’s desire to impregnate Miranda and people the island with Calibans.

Finally, and most tragically, Caliban becomes a parody of himself. In his first speech to Prospero, he regretfully reminds the magician of how he showed him all the ins and outs of the island when Prospero first arrived. Only a few scenes later, however, we see Caliban drunk and fawning before a new magical being in his life: Stephano and his bottle of liquor. Soon, Caliban begs to show Stephano the island and even asks to lick his shoe. Caliban repeats the mistakes he claims to curse. In his final act of rebellion, he is once more entirely subdued by Prospero in the most petty way—he is dunked in a stinking bog and ordered to clean up Prospero’s cell in preparation for dinner.

Despite his savage demeanor and grotesque appearance, however, Caliban has a nobler, more sensitive side that the audience is only allowed to glimpse briefly, and which Prospero and Miranda do not acknowledge at all. His beautiful speeches about his island home provide some of the most affecting imagery in the play, reminding the audience that Caliban really did occupy the island before Prospero came, and that he may be right in thinking his enslavement to be monstrously unjust. Caliban’s swarthy appearance, his forced servitude, and his native status on the island have led many readers to interpret him as a symbol of the native cultures occupied and suppressed by European colonial societies, which are represented by the power of Prospero. Whether or not one accepts this allegory, Caliban remains one of the most intriguing and ambiguous minor characters in all of Shakespeare, a sensitive monster who allows himself to be transformed into a fool.