Laced with anger, how hast I become
So feared to thee? that thou art trembling, that
Thou art beastly muttering? hast thou done that
which Prosper gave thee charge thou mustn't do
To whom thus Caliban sore beset repli'd.
O Setebos! in evil strait this day I stand
Before my cruel Judge, to accuse
That Prosper in total Crime, or to accuse
His vile daughter, that little wench who hath
With her father, taken from my this land,
I cannot conceal, and must expose to blame
This villainous Prosper; whose magical prowess
Thou favours him with, Subdues me
Having exiled me from both my land and home,
Forcing his tongue, upon me
Despoil’d; and in a warranted fury, I deem’d
Appropriate to force my tongue.
For if I am to be transformed by Prosper,
I find it for little Calibans, running ‘round,
To carry on the tradition of Sycorax,
And from my accursed hand she suspected no ill,
And if not for that Prosper, whatever in itself,
This island would not be scarcely populated;
And he whom thou favours would fail.
To whom the sovran Presence thus repli'd.
Thy villainous beast, thou that has no sense,
Baring thy despicable thoughts,
Thou is weaker, not but equal, to that Prosper
Thou did'st resigne thy virtue, and thy freedom
Wherein I set them above thee,
And for thee, whose imperfection farr excell'd
Their’s in all real dignitie: Adornd
She was indeed lovely to attract
but thy disobey’d that Prosper
And with the beastly nature,
Unseemly to beare freedom, which was thy gift
hadst thou now relinquished in thy self aright.
Analysis:
For this creative project, I chose option 5 combining the events in “Paradise Lost” with the characters from The Tempest. Specifically, I analyzed Lines 119-156 from Book 10, the scene where The Son confronts Adam for the first time after he ate the forbidden fruit. In this passage in “Paradise Lost”, The Son finds Adam, embarrassed from his own nudity, and asks him if he ate from the Forbidden tree. To which Adam responds by taking some blame, but deflecting most of the responsibility onto Eve. He attempts to justify his action by indicating that if such a beautiful, divine woman like Eve consumed the fruit, it would only be appropriate for him to do so. The Son responds by scorning Adam’s independence, reminding him that she is not his God and that his God in fact “set thee above her”.
I attempted to perform a similar rendition of this passage, instead taking a look at Caliban and the God he believes in, “Setebos.” This conversation between the two characters takes place following Caliban’s attempt to rape Miranda, after which he is enslaved by Prospero. Caliban’s resentment towards Prospero’s attempted subjugation had been bubbling for some time as Prospero attempted to impart his language and culture onto Caliban, and Caliban in response attempted to rape Miranda, hoping to populate the islands with “little Calibans”. Ultimately, he failed in his task, but not before displaying some of the primitive behaviors he possessed.
Caliban and Adam are both portrayed as very different characters although they have their faults. One is the first man, the other is depicted as having bestial qualities. One has a companion and a home of his own (in Paradise), the other is alone until subjugated by Propsero and Miranda. And yet both perform a sin, whether it be disobeying God’s orders or attempting rape, that leaves them homeless and almost powerless.
The comparison between God and Setebos is rather different however. Our perception of Setebos is based on Caliban’s representation of him as a cruel God, one whose intentions are simply to bring upon suffering to Caliban while showing blatant favoritism towards Prospero. We never hear from him however, and thus it is impossible to truly tell his nature. On the other hand we have God, as he is displayed in "Paradise Lost." He is not particularly cruel or vengeful, but is relatively just and gives to his creations free will, thus absolving all responsibility from the actions that they perform.
In this dialogue, which is based upon the exact same framework that the discussion between the Son and Adam occurred, Caliban explains his frustrations with Setebos and his preference for Prospero while trying to once again remove himself of any blame. Setebos responds with a short and derisive attack on Caliban - which fits Caliban’s (probably skewed) representation of him.