Caliban . All the infections that the sun sucks up 1

1. II. ii. 1-42 (Another Part of the Island) Enter Caliban with a burden of wood. A noise of thunder heard. Caliban. All the infections that the sun sucks up 1 From bogs, fens, flats, on Prosper fall, and make 2 him By inchmeal a disease! His spirits hear me, 3 And yet I needs must curse. But they’ll nor pinch, 4 Fright me with urchin-shows, pitch me i’ th’ mire, 5 Nor lead me, like a firebrand, in the dark 6 Out of my way, unless he bid ‘em; but 7 For every trifle are they set upon me; 8 Sometime like apes that mow and chatter at me, 9 And after bite me; then like hedgehogs which 10 Lie tumbling in my barefoot way and mount 11 Their pricks at my footfall; sometime am I 12 All wound with adders, who with cloven tongues 13 Do hiss me into madness. 14 Enter Trinculo. Here comes a spirit of his, and to torment me 15 For bringing wood in slowly. I’ll fall flat. 16 Perchance he will not mind me. [Lies down. 17 Trinculo. Here’s neither bush nor shrub to bear off 18 any weather at all, and another storm brewing: I 19 hear it sing I’ th’ wind. Yond same black cloud, yond 20 huge one, looks like a foul bombard that would shed 21 his liquor. If it should thunder as it did before, I 22 know not where to hide my head. Yond same cloud 23 cannot choose but fall by pailfuls. What have we 24 here? A man or a fish? dead or alive? A fish: he 25 smells like a fish; a very ancient and fishlike smell; 26 a kind of not of the newest poor-John. A strange fish! 27 were I in England now, as once I was, and had but 28 this fish painted, not a holiday fool there but would 29 give a piece of silver. There would this monster 30 make a man: any strange beast there makes a man 31 when they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beg- 32 gar, they will lay out ten to see a dead Indian. 33 legged like a man! And his fins like arms! Warm, o’ 34 my troth! I do now let loose my opinion, hold it no 35 longer: this is no fish, but an islander, that hath 36 lately suffered by a thunderbolt. [Thunder.] Alas, 37 the storm is come again! My best way is to creep 38 under his gabardine: there is no other shelter here- 39 about. Misery acquaints a man with strange bed- 40 fellows. I will here shroud till the dregs of the storm 41 be past [Creeps under Caliban’s garment. 42

2. Context: - Immediately following the attempted murder of Alonso and Gonzalo by Antonio and Sebastian at the end of Act II, scene I. - Just before Stephano, the drunken butler, comes stumbling into the scene. He will eventually attempt to set up his own small kingdom on the island with Caliban and Trinculo as his subjects. They will go so far as to propose murder of Prospero for complete power over the island.

3. What does this scene hope to do? • To question our perceived separation of human and animal. • - with all of the advancement that humans have enjoyed over the years—philosophy, science, art, etc., are we, humans, really different from the natural, “savage” animal world, or, in the deepest parts of our hearts, are we still one with it? Shakespeare seems to suggest that we are not as different as we wish to be. The scene consequently leaves us feeling slightly uneasy with our humanity. 2) To create comedic relief from the darkness of the previous assassination attempt. - This scene offers endless possibilities for comic relief. At the end of Act I, we just witnessed the near murder of Alonso and Gonzalo—indeed, animalistic and savage. Here in this passage devoted to the ambiguity stated above, the fool and the beast huddle, following grand plans of revenge and exploitations, under a ratty old cloak, soon to be discovered by a drunken butler. Trinculo’s logic, Trinculo and Caliban’s stinky snuggling and the disgusting beast that grows under the cloak offers many possibilities of bawdy, ribald play acting. • To introduce a parallel plot that will mirror and demonstrate the folly of the play’s central royals, i.e., Alonso, Sebastian, and Antonio. • - Caliban and Trinculo first meet here. They are soon to become subjects under a new king—King Stephano. The situation is ridiculous and asks us to mock and ridicule human baseness and the urges to covet and abuse power. Although exaggerated in its drunkenness and sloppiness, the Caliban-Trinculo-Stephano plot does not stretch so far from that which is happening in the main plot with Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio and Gonzalo—a situation that is altogether darker and more insidious. Though we laugh, we do so slightly nervously.

4. How does this section demonstrate these ideas? - Both Characters Enter Afraid - Both Characters Demonstrate Baseness - Both Characters Rely Heavily on Nature/Animal Diction • Both Characters Hide Under The Same Cloth, Are Physically Connected • to the Ground And So Become One Dramatically • The Blending Of The Characters Is also Reflected In Their Modes Of Speech, • i.e., Verse vs. Prose

5. Both Characters Enter Afraid. First, Consider Caliban: Caliban: His spirits hear me, 3 And yet I needs must curse For every trifle are they set upon me; 8 Sometime like apes that mow and chatter at me, 9 And after bite me; then like hedgehogs which 10 Lie tumbling in my barefoot way and mount 11 Their pricks at my footfall; sometime am I 12 All wound with adders, who with cloven tongues 13 Do hiss me into madness. Here comes a spirit of his, and to torment me 15 For bringing wood in slowly. I’ll fall flat. 16 Perchance he will not mind me. [Lies down. Paranoid, Caliban is convinced Prosper is listening in. He provides a list of torments that have made him skittish: apes mow (grimace) at, chatter at and bite him. Hedgehogs (porcupines) shoot their pines at him. Poisonous snakes hiss at him. He is convinced Trinculo is a spirit sent to haunt him. He hides (under a garment, we find out later). Garments: notice how often clothes come up in this play (a motif?). Gonzalo holds forth about his fresh clothes after the wreck. Caliban and Trinculo hide under clothes. Prospero wears a magic robe that can make him invisible. What’s up with clothes? Do they change, alter or hide identity? They are the mark of the classes, no doubt.

6. Now Trinculo: Here’s neither bush nor shrub to bear off 18 any weather at all, and another storm brewing: I 19 hear it sing I’ th’ wind. Yond same black cloud, yond 20 huge one, looks like a foul bombard that would shed 21 his liquor. If it should thunder as it did before, I 22 know not where to hide my head. Yond same cloud 23 cannot choose but fall by pailfuls. Alas, 37 the storm is come again! My best way is to creep 38 under his gabardine: there is no other shelter here- 39 about. Misery acquaints a man with strange bed- 40 fellows. I will here shroud till the dregs of the storm 41 be past His fear is intensified by the personfication of the bombard—leather flask—(“his”) that will choose to pour over him as well as the hyperbole of pailfuls of rain. He will “creep” like an animal under the gabardine. He is in misery. On the surface, it would appear that Caliban and Trinculo are strange bedfellows (i.e., unusual partners, lovers, co-habitants, because of their obvious differences. Their similarities, for example, their fear, is more compelling, however.

7. Both Characters Demonstrate Baseness: First, Consider Caliban, entering while cursing another being: All the infections that the sun sucks up 1 From bogs, fens, flats, on Prosper fall, and make 2 him By inchmeal a disease! His spirits hear me, 3 And yet I needs must curse. The sibilance intensifies the sinister nature of the curse; it is like a snake’s hiss. The spondaic locales from which the infections are to rise remind me of missiles launched from underground silos at Prospero. Even the explosive utterance curse—beginning with a hard consonant and ending with another hissing “s” sounds nasty—like an expletive.

8. Now Trinculo: His initial instinct is to exploit and capitalize upon this creature. He ruminates over how much money he might make back in England with a sideshow kind of set up—not unlike the way Native Americans were paraded about by returned explorers and travelers from the New World. What have we 24 here? A man or a fish? dead or alive? A fish: he 25 smells like a fish; a very ancient and fishlike smell; 26 a kind of not of the newest poor-John. A strange fish! 27 were I in England now, as once I was, and had but 28 this fish painted, not a holiday fool there but would 29 give a piece of silver. There would this monster 30 make a man: any strange beast there makes a man 31 when they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beg- 32 gar, they will lay out ten to see a dead Indian. 33 legged like a man!

9. Both Characters Rely Heavily on Nature/Animal Diction (connecting them to the world of nature. Further, Caliban is currently being used as a beast of burden, carrying wood. First, Consider Caliban: All the infections that the sun sucks up 1 From bogs, fens, flats, on Prosper fall, and make 2 him By inchmeal a disease! His spirits hear me, 3 And yet I needs must curse. But they’ll nor pinch, 4 Fright me with urchin-shows, pitch me i’ th’ mire, 5 Nor lead me, like a firebrand, in the dark 6 Out of my way, unless he bid ‘em; but 7 For every trifle are they set upon me; 8 Sometime like apes that mow and chatter at me, 9 And after bite me; then like hedgehogs which 10 Lie tumbling in my barefoot way and mount 11 Their pricks at my footfall; sometime am I 12 All wound with adders, who with cloven tongues 13 Do hiss me into madness. 14 Enter Trinculo. Here comes a spirit of his, and to torment me 15 For bringing wood in slowly. I’ll fall flat. 16 Perchance he will not mind me. [Lies down. 17 Notice how the “s” alliteration (sibilance) invokes snake imagery and then connects to the “adders” at the end of the passage, effectively “rooting” Caliban’s words in the ground

10. Now, Trinculo: Trinculo. Here’s neither bush nor shrub to bear off 18 any weather at all, and another storm brewing: I 19 hear it sing I’ th’ wind. Yond same black cloud, yond 20 huge one, looks like a foul bombard that would shed 21 his liquor. If it should thunder as it did before, I 22 know not where to hide my head. Yond same cloud 23 cannot choose but fall by pailfuls. What have we 24 here? A man or a fish? dead or alive? A fish: he 25 smells like a fish; a very ancient and fishlike smell; 26 a kind of not of the newest poor-John. A strange fish! 27 were I in England now, as once I was, and had but 28 this fish painted, not a holiday fool there but would 29 give a piece of silver. There would this monster 30 make a man: any strange beast there makes a man 31 when they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beg- 32 gar, they will lay out ten to see a dead Indian. 33 legged like a man! And his fins like arms! Warm, o’ 34 my troth! I do now let loose my opinion, hold it no 35 longer: this is no fish, but an islander, that hath 36 lately suffered by a thunderbolt. [Thunder.] Alas, 37 the storm is come again! My best way is to creep 38 under his gabardine: there is no other shelter here- 39 about. Misery acquaints a man with strange bed- 40 fellows. I will here shroud till the dregs of the storm 41 be past [Creeps under Caliban’s garment. 42

11. Both Characters Hide Under The Same Cloth, Are Physically Connected to the Ground And So Become One Dramatically: First, Consider Caliban: I’ll fall flat. 16 Perchance he will not mind me. [Lies down. 17 And Trinculo: My best way is to creep 38 under his gabardine: there is no other shelter here- 39 about. Misery acquaints a man with strange bed- 40 fellows. I will here shroud till the dregs of the storm 41 be past [Creeps under Caliban’s garment. 42

12. The Blending Of The Characters Is also Reflected In Their Modes Of Speech: Caliban—the mutant beast-man--speaks in verse, the language of the upper classes, nobility, in Shakespeare. Check it out: Caliban. All the infections that the sun sucks up 1 From bogs, fens, flats, on Prosper fall, and make 2 Fright me with urchin-shows, pitch me i’ th’ mire, 5 Nor lead me, like a firebrand, in the dark 6 Out of my way, unless he bid ‘em; but 7 For every trifle are they set upon me; 8 Sometime like apes that mow and chatter at me, 9 And after bite me; then like hedgehogs which 10 him By inchmeal a disease! His spirits hear me, 3 And yet I needs must curse. But they’ll nor pinch, 4 Lie tumbling in my barefoot way and mount 11 Their pricks at my footfall; sometime am I 12 All wound with adders, who with cloven tongues 13 Do hiss me into madness. 14 Here comes a spirit of his, and to torment me 15 For bringing wood in slowly. I’ll fall flat. 16 Perchance he will not mind me. [Lies down. 17 While the lines are not perfectly iambic, which may, in fact, say something about Caliban, the focus on meter and line breaks and vivid imagery reflects poetry in action.

13. Now, Trinculo, the human fool, speaks in prose—usually reflective of a lower class of people in Shakespeare. Trinculo. Here’s neither bush nor shrub to bear off 18 any weather at all, and another storm brewing: I 19 hear it sing I’ th’ wind. Yond same black cloud, yond 20 huge one, looks like a foul bombard that would shed 21 his liquor. If it should thunder as it did before, I 22 know not where to hide my head. Yond same cloud 23 cannot choose but fall by pailfuls. What have we 24 here? A man or a fish? dead or alive? A fish: he 25 smells like a fish; a very ancient and fishlike smell; 26 a kind of not of the newest poor-John. A strange fish! 27 were I in England now, as once I was, and had but 28 this fish painted, not a holiday fool there but would 29 give a piece of silver. There would this monster 30 make a man: any strange beast there makes a man 31 when they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beg- 32 gar, they will lay out ten to see a dead Indian. 33 legged like a man! And his fins like arms! Warm, o’ 34 my troth! I do now let loose my opinion, hold it no 35 longer: this is no fish, but an islander, that hath 36 lately suffered by a thunderbolt. [Thunder.] Alas, 37 the storm is come again! My best way is to creep 38 under his gabardine: there is no other shelter here- 39 about. Misery acquaints a man with strange bed- 40 fellows. I will here shroud till the dregs of the storm 41 be past [Creeps under Caliban’s garment. 42 The lack of concern for line breaks or meter, the procedural, representative nature of the language reflect prose.

14. So, once again, what does this scene hope to do? • To question our perceived separation of human and animal. • - with all of the advancement that humans have enjoyed over the years—philosophy, science, art, etc., are we, humans, really different from the natural, “savage” animal world, or, in the deepest parts of our hearts, are we still one with it? Shakespeare seems to suggest that we are not as different as we wish to be. The scene consequently leaves us feeling slightly uneasy with our humanity. 2) To create comedic relief from the darkness of the previous assassination attempt. - This scene offers endless possibilities for comic relief. At the end of Act I, we just witnessed the near murder of Alonso and Gonzalo—indeed, animalistic and savage. Here in this passage devoted to the ambiguity stated above, the fool and the beast huddle, following grand plans of revenge and exploitations, under a ratty old cloak, soon to be discovered by a drunken butler. Trinculo’s logic, Trinculo and Caliban’s stinky snuggling and the disgusting beast that grows under the cloak offers many possibilities of bawdy, ribald play acting. • To introduce a parallel plot that will mirror and demonstrate the folly of the play’s central royals, i.e., Alonso, Sebastian, and Antonio. • - Caliban and Trinculo first meet here. They are soon to become subjects under a new king—King Stephano. The situation is ridiculous and asks us to mock and ridicule human baseness and the urges to covet and abuse power. Although exaggerated in its drunkenness and sloppiness, the Caliban-Trinculo-Stephano plot does not stretch so far from that which is happening in the main plot with Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio and Gonzalo—a situation that is altogether darker and more insidious. Though we laugh, we do so slightly nervously.