Caliban: The Native Who Was Here Before Any of Them

Caliban's first lines in Act 1, Scene 2 are an argument about ownership: 'This island's mine by Sycorax my mother, / Which thou tak'st from me.' He was here before Prospero. He taught Prospero and Miranda where to find fresh water and how to survive the island. His reward was enslavement, justified by Prospero on the grounds of an assault on Miranda.

The assault is not denied in the text. But the play does not let Prospero escape the central contradiction: 'You taught me language, and my profit on't / Is I know how to curse.' The gift of language was given; how the gift was used was not what the giver wanted.

His speech in Act 3, Scene 2 ('Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises') is the play's most beautiful passage, spoken by its most dispossessed character. He hears music in the island's rocks. He has a poet's ear and a slave's circumstances. By Act 5 he admits he was foolish to worship Stephano. He makes no comment on the larger arrangement.