In which feat, if his leg snapped, brittle clay, | In this passage, Caliban is adopting the role of Setebos. Caliban imagines that when Setebos is viewing the hardship that has befallen Caliban and Caliban is imploring for Setebos’s help, he can react by choosing to give Caliban three legs or by leaving “him like an egg” (Browning, line 93). On the left side of the drawing, I have drawn a beastly Caliban, who enjoys watching the egg’s plight. The figure on the left is the interpretation of Caliban, where Setebos is a manifestation and representation of Caliban’s internal violence and spitefulness. |
Loesberg, Jonathan. “Darwin, Natural Theology, and Slavery: A Justification of Browning’s Caliban.” ELH, vol. 75, no. 4, 2008, pp. 871-897.