PROSPERO
Hag-seed, hence!
Fetch us in fuel; and be quick, thou'rt best,
To answer other business. Shrug'st thou, malice?
If thou neglect'st or dost unwillingly
What I command, I'll rack thee with old cramps,
Fill all thy bones with aches, make thee roar
That beasts shall tremble at thy din.
CALIBAN
No, pray thee.
Aside
I must obey: his art is of such power,
It would control my dam's god, Setebos,
and make a vassal of him.
Last semester, while I was completing my visual analysis paper about Caliban through the lens of Henry Fuseli’s engraving, I was greatly intrigued by the prospect of portraying Caliban, but I wanted to imagine Caliban as though Shakespeare’s character himself had created an image. If Caliban had been a draughtsman and drawn something akin to an adaptation of Fuseli’s work, what would it look like? My creative assignment serves the purpose of answering this question.
In my sketch, I use a number of visual cues as taken from the text to define my depiction of Caliban as he might have portrayed himself. Caliban fears Prospero, and consequently obeys the man’s orders until the other humans arrive upon the island. This led me to draw Caliban with a fearful expression, cowering back from Prospero as the wizard displays his powers through blasting wind causing the island spirits to act aggressive towards Caliban. In addition, I tried to include visual references to how Caliban believes that he is in the right with regards to his struggle against Prospero. Even though he has committed crimes against Miranda and Prospero, Caliban believes that he has the right to do so because the island was his by birthright and his opponents took it from him. Therefore, I made Caliban look relatively soft, with an appearance that is vaguely reminiscent of a young housecat, and these visual references lead to an assumption of innocence. In the sketch, Caliban lacks the usual monstrosity with which he is portrayed due to his criminal nature, and the image is one-sided in that we do not see the dark side of Caliban. Caliban does recognize himself as a being not quite as powerful and high as Prospero, but I imagine he would have painted himself in a less harsh light. In addition, Caliban is surrounded by that which he once believed he was connected to, but which now takes on an aggressive or domineering nature: Prospero; the island, which Prospero holds sway over; and the spirits within the island. (I wanted to portray the island spirits as literally living within the nature of the island in order to make it seem as though Caliban is oppressed by what he loved, as I imagine this is how Caliban would have seen it.) This helps reflect how he feels as though he is the victim in his situation.