Creative Portion:
1 ‘Eaten no quail for a month, ’Wailed for a month, ‘Starved for a month.
2 ‘Done all this and more. Setebos must be satisfied, and now He will not hurt him.
3 Finally ‘can wander outside of this cave! ‘Eat some quail!!
4 ‘See a book, must be one of Prosper’s. ’pick it up.
5 ‘Must not let Setebos see him reading it
6 ‘Run to a cave and open it, away from His gaze.
7 ‘Thinketh tis strange that he can understand it because he can’t read…
8 But, he understands and loves it. Tis called The Tempest
9 One of the characters is very similar to him. This character’s name is also Caliban, strange.
10 But this Caliban is trying to escape his situation—risking the anger
11 Of both Prosper and Setebos!
12 How is he not struck down by Setebos? Can it be that Setebos does not kill all who rebel?
Caliban: [Aside] If so, maybe I will escape! Oh, how great that would be! I should test this
Theory out first. Maybe I should seem happy out of the cave when Setebos is watching.
15 If Setebos does nothing that means He either does not really care that I am happy
Or He does not exist. So, I will try to escape this fear of Him and Prospero.
If He does punish me, it won't be too bad. The risk will be worth the possible reward.
Caliban wanders out of his cave with his book in hand and climbs the tallest tree he can see. He starts to eat his favorite fruit lounging on the tree, book open.
Caliban: [Aside] If Setebos punishes me when I am happy, he will surely punish me now!
Silence except for the crashing of the waves on the beach
Caliban: Nothing? Can this be? Free?
20 Caliban: [Sings] ‘Ban, ‘ban, Ca-caliban
Has no more master!!!
Freedom, high-day! High-day, freedom! Freedom,
high-day, freedom!
Caliban: Is that a boat I spy floating towards me? I’ll use it to escape from here!
25 Maybe I can return one day to destroy Prospero and take back my island!
Caliban Swims out to the ship, which is obviously abandoned, and Climbs aboard. As he starts to sail away from the island he stares back toward the island.
Caliban: Can this be? Am I really free? Or is this Setebos’ trap to make me suffer more
By making me believe I am free and then cruelly take this freedom away?
Clap of thunder in the distance
Caliban: Ho! Is that thunder I hear? Is it He? Setebos!?
Another clap of distant thunder
What should be done? Continue, run, hide, return, die?
Analysis:
This is based on a perspective (shared by authors like Maclean) that Caliban in “Caliban Upon Setebos” is more a passive character compared to the relatively more agential Caliban Shakespeare presents. I try to portray this Caliban (Browning’s Caliban) in the rational way he appears in Browning’s poem by portraying him as a person who reasons through issues. I also describe Caliban as using natural events to influence his theology (just as in Browning’s poem).
Based on the opinion that Shakespeare’s Caliban is more agential and Browning’s more passive, I use a format closer to “Caliban Upon Setebos” when Caliban acts more passively and a form closer to The Tempest when Caliban acts with more agency. The last line is ambiguous as to whether it is a more agential or passive Caliban, both in structure and in what Caliban says. How one imagines what Caliban will do next (after hearing the second clap of thunder) would seem to indicate the way one views Caliban’s fundamental character in “Caliban Upon Setebos.” That is either more passive and a fundamentally static character or someone who is able to change perspective given new information and is capable of acting with agency. Whether Caliban is capable of being influenced and changing would, in turn, comment on what one thinks Browning is trying to suggest with this poem, ultimately affecting the meaning of Browning’s poem.