| Caliban | |
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 Caliban (Todd Scofield) has a conversation with his imaginary friends in Folger Theatre's production of Shakespeare's The Tempest in 2007 |
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| Creator | William Shakespeare |
| Play | The Tempest |
Caliban (
/ˈkælɨbæn/ KAL-ə-ban) is one of the primary antagonists in William Shakespeare's play The Tempest.
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Character [link]
After his island becomes occupied by Prospero and his cohort, Caliban is forced into servitude. While he is referred to as a calvaluna or mooncalf, a freckled monster, he is the only human inhabitant of the island that is otherwise "not honour'd with a human shape“ (Prospero, I.2.283). In some traditions he is depicted as a wild man, or a deformed man, or a beast man, or sometimes a mix of fish and man, stemming from the confusion of two of the characters about what he is, found lying on a deserted island. Caliban is the son of the luciferous woman Sycorax by (according to Prospero) a devil. Banished from Algiers, Sycorax was left on the isle, pregnant with Caliban, and died before Prospero's arrival. Caliban refers to Setebos as his mother's god. Prospero explains his harsh treatment of Caliban by claiming that after initially befriending him, Caliban attempted to rape Miranda. Caliban confirms this gleefully, saying that if he hadn't been stopped he would have peopled the island with a race of Calibans - "Though dist prevent me, I had peopled else this isle with Calibans"(Act I:ii). Prospero then entraps Caliban and torments him. Resentful of Prospero, Caliban takes Stephano, one of the shipwrecked servants, as a god and as his new master. Caliban learns that Stephano is neither a god nor Prospero's equal in the conclusion of the play, however, and Caliban agrees to obey Prospero again.
Despite his portrayal, he also has moments in which he delivers memorable speeches, such as in Act 3, Scene 2:
<poem> Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises, Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not. Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments Will hum about mine ears; and sometime voices That, if I then had waked after long sleep, Will make me sleep again; and then in dreaming, The clouds methought would open, and show riches Ready to drop upon me, that when I waked I cried to dream again. </poem>
Other works [link]
Caliban is the protagonist of Aimé Césaire's 1969 play A Tempest, in which he is a black slave in rebellion against his white master Prospero.
In the Swedish 1989 film The Journey to Melonia, an animated film loosely inspired by The Tempest, there is a character named Caliban, a creature whose face consists of mainly vegetables. Unlike Caliban in The Tempest, this Caliban is kind at heart, and even becomes a hero later in the film.
In The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Caliban appears as part of Prospero's Men, the first incarnation of the League, alongside his master, and Ariel.
A character called Caliban appears in various stories in Marvel Comics X-Men franchise. This version is a sewer-dwelling, simple-minded mutant who first appears along other abnormal-looking mutants called "The Morlocks". Caliban straddles the line between good and evil until he heroically sacrifices himself during the "Messiah Complex" storyline.
Tad Williams' 1997 novel Caliban's Hour (US: HarperCollins, ISBN 978-0-06-105413-6 and UK: Legend Books, ISBN 0-09-926361-0) takes place 20 years after the events of The Tempest. Abandoned on the island by Prospero and Miranda, Caliban manages to escape and make his way to Milan with the intention of avenging himself on Prospero, only to learn that Prospero has died. He then travels to Naples and one night gains entry to Miranda's chamber, where he forces her to listen to his story and make her understand what she and her father have done to him.
Adrian Herrero danced Caliban in the choreographic adaptation of The Tempest (La Tempestad) by the Ballet Contemporáneo of the Teatro General San Martín in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 2008.
In the 2010 film adaptation, Caliban is portrayed by Djimon Hounsou.
In the 2010 film The King's Speech, Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush) recites Caliban's famous speech from Act 3, Scene 2, to amuse and educate his children.
Oscar Wilde refers to Caliban in the preface of his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Caliban appears as the wild and lustful Greek Kalibanos (played by Raúl Juliá) in Paul Mazursky's film adaptation Tempest (1982).
A monster from the 2007 video game Silent Hill: Origins is named after and inspired by Caliban. Also, at a certain point of the game, protagonist Travis Grady can hear Caliban's famous monologue after obtaining a certain key while exploring the theater level.
In the 1844 preface to his main work, World as Will and Representation, the philosopher Schopenhauer refers to Hegel as a "spiritual Caliban".
In the 1965 movie Doctor Zhivago (film), during the scene where Victor Komarovsky convinces Zhivago to allow him to rescue Lara by taking her to Vladivostok, Komarovsky refers to himself as a Caliban: "Do you accept the protection of this ignoble Caliban on any terms that Caliban cares to make?"
Caliban is featured as an antagonist in Dan Simmons' Ilium/Olympos duology.
Etymology [link]
The name is an anagram of the Spanish word canibal (Carib people), the source of cannibal in English. The character may be seen as a satire on "Noble cannibal" from Montaigne's Essays (A.30, "Of Cannibals")[1].
The character's name may also be inspired by kaliban or cauliban in the Romani language, which mean black or with blackness.[2][3][4] As the first Romani immigrants arrived in England a century before Shakespeare wrote The Tempest, the Bard may have been influenced by their exotic looks and manners. In Shakespeare's time, the English discriminated against the Romanies.[5][6] Alternatively the name may originate from the Arabic word for "wild dog".[2][3][4]
References [link]
- ^ A. W. Ward, "A History of English Dramatic Literature". Vol. 2, p. 199
- ^ a b Albert Kluyber, "Kalis and Calibon", in A. E. H. Swain (transl.), Englich studien XXI (1895): 326–28.
- ^ a b John Holland, A Hystorical Survey of the Gypsies, London (printed for the author) 1816, p. 148.
- ^ a b B.C. Smart and H. T. Crofton (eds.), The Dialect of the English Gypsies, 2nd ed., London 1875, p. 92.
- ^ "Caliban appears to be derived from the Gipsy cauliban, 'blackness'", in: K. E. Chambers, William Shakespeare: A Study of Facts and Problems, vol. 1. Oxford Clarendon Press, 1930, p.494
- ^ Alden T. Vaughan and Virginia Mason Vaughan (1993), Shakespeare's Caliban: A Cultural History, Cambridge University Press, pp.33-34
External links [link]
- Caliban at Sunset, a poem by P. G. Wodehouse.
- "Something Rich and Strange": Caliban's Theatrical Metamorphoses
- "Caliban Upon Setebos, a poem by Robert Browning.
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Caliban (moon)
Caliban (/ˈkælᵻbæn/ KAL-i-ban or /ˈkælᵻbən/ KAL-ə-bən) is the second-largest retrograde irregular satellite of Uranus. It was discovered on 6 September 1997 by Brett J. Gladman, Philip D. Nicholson, Joseph A. Burns, and John J. Kavelaars using the 200-inch Hale telescope together with Sycorax and given the temporary designation S/1997 U 1.
Designated Uranus XVI, it was named after the monster character in William Shakespeare's play The Tempest.
Orbit
Caliban follows a distant orbit, more than 10 times further from Uranus than the furthest regular moon Oberon. Its orbit is retrograde, moderately inclined and slightly eccentric. The orbital parameters suggest that it may belong to the same dynamic cluster as Stephano and Francisco, suggesting common origin.
The diagram illustrates the orbital parameters of the retrograde irregular satellites of Uranus (in polar co-ordinates) with the eccentricity of the orbits represented by the segments extending from the pericentre to the apocentre.
List of Marvel Comics characters: C
Caber
Caber is one of the Celtic gods of Avalon, a warrior god. The character, created by Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz, first appeared in Thor #398 (Dec. 1988).
Caber joined his friend Leir and the other Celtic gods in aiding the Asgardians in their battle against the forces of the Egyptian god Seth. With Leir, Caber next attacked the camp of the Fomorians, the traditional enemies of Avalon. Leir wished to claim Sif as his bride, so Caber followed him to Asgard on Leir's request. Caber and Leir were captured by the Warriors Three. Caber clashed with Heimdall in Asgard, and then later arrived on Earth with Leir and Sif. Caber, Leir, and Sif then traveled to the Black Galaxy and found Thor there. The gods then traveled to Asgard. Caber, Leir, and Hercules then battled Surtur and Ymir. Caber then witnessed Leir's defeat in Leir's duel with Sif.
Caber possesses the typical powers of a member of the race of superhumans known as the Celtic gods of Avalon. This includes superhuman strength, speed, durability, stamina, and reflexes, and an extremely long lifespan.
