Lesson video

Hello everyone.

It's lovely to see you here today.

My name's Dr. Clayton.

I'm to guide you through a learning journey today.

Welcome to today's lesson.

The lesson is called Understanding Caliban.

Now, Caliban is possibly one of the most analyzed characters in "The Tempest.

" because of what he could represent in terms of colonialism and how Shakespearean society viewed colonialism.

What we're gonna do today is think about Caliban's role in "The Tempest.

" And then think about some of the language used around him.

In order to understand the relationships between him and the other characters.

The keywords that we'll be using in the lesson are, hag, tyrant, slave, and inhabitant.

The definitions of your keywords are appearing on your screen now.

These words have been chosen 'cause they'll help you to unlock the learning for today and then see them throughout the lesson material.

They'll be identified in bold and I'll try to point them out to you as well.

IF you can try to use them in your discussions and written work today.

So two learning cycles in our lesson today.

For our first learning cycle, we're going to think about the plot of "The Tempest," and what Caliban's role is throughout the play.

We're gonna use this to start thinking about the relationship between Caliban and the other characters and how we as an audience might respond to Caliban.

For our second learning cycle, we're going to consider some of the language used about Caliban to better understand the character and also consider how Shakespeare may have wanted the audience to respond to Caliban.

Now we first meet Caliban during Act one, Scene 2.

During Act one, Scene 2 we learned that Caliban was the only human inhabitant on the island before Prospero and Miranda arrived.

Now inhabitant is one of our key words and it means that Caliban was the only human living on the island before Prospero and Miranda arrived.

Now when they arrived, Caliban taught Prospero how to survive on the island by teaching him how to find shelter and also what foods were okay to eat.

And Miranda taught Caliban their language, however Prospero then captured Caliban and forced him to be a slave by threatening him with magic.

Slave is another one of our key words.

It means that Prospero considered Caliban his property and forced him to obey him through physical threats.

Now what I'd like you to do is think about your initial thoughts are about how Prospero has treated Caliban.

Do you feel sympathy for him?

Pause the video and take a few moments to consider.

Amazing, some great ideas there.

You might have thought that you do feel sorry for Caliban.

Since he welcomed Prospero and Miranda to the island and they repaid him by enslaving him.

Let's think about some extra plot detail.

The Shakespeare tells us about Prospero and Caliban.

Now Prospero captured Caliban and enslaved him after Caliban tried to hurt Miranda.

Now what I'd like to think about is whether that changes your perspective on Caliban.

Does it justify Prospero's treatment of him?

Pause the video and take a few moments to consider.

Amazing, some great ideas there.

You might have said, although it doesn't justify what happened to Caliban, we can see that perhaps Shakespeare doesn't actually want us to feel entirely sorry for Caliban at the beginning of the play.

Now let's move on to Act 2, Scene 2.

Where Caliban meets Stephano and Trinculo Trinculo finds Caliban at sheltering the storm under a cloak.

Now Trinculo first meets Caliban, he believes him to be some sort of monster and he thinks that he'd be worth a lot of money as a trophy if he could take him off the island and show him as an exhibition piece.

Stephano then finds both Trinculo and Caliban and he shares his alcohol with him.

In return for Stephano's sharing his alcohol, Caliban swears to be Stephano's servant rather than Prospero's.

This might potentially show us that Prospero never offers Caliban anything, 'cause he's so willing to serve someone else who offers him a simple kindness rather than insults.

Now what I'd like you to think about is whether you're surprised that Caliban will be so quick to trust new humans on the island.

What might that suggest about his emotional state?

Pause the video and take a few moments to consider.

Amazing, some great ideas there.

You might have thought it's slightly surprising that Caliban would trust other humans so quickly, but that actually it tells how desperate he is to get away from Prospero.

That he would put his trust in two men, that he's only just met.

Now for a quick check for understanding.

Which two of the following statements are true.

So A, Caliban initially helped Prospero and Miranda B, Caliban has always hated Prospero.

C, Caliban plots to be the ruler of the island.

Or D, Caliban plots to overthrow Prospero.

Pause the video and make your selections now.

The correct answers are A, Caliban initially helped Prospero Miranda and D, Caliban plots to overthrow Prospero.

So very well done if you've got those right.

Now, et's move on to Act 3, Scene 2.

Where we can see the relationship between Caliban, Stephano and Trinculo develop.

So Ariel causes tension between Stephano, Trinculo and Caliban by imitating Trinculo's voice and calling Caliban a liar.

Now this must have been particularly triggering for Caliban since Prospero calls many negative things throughout the play and he must have been quite sensitive to that.

Caliban calls Prospero a tyrant and urges Stephano to kill him and marry Miranda.

Now tyrant is one of our key words that means a cruel ruler.

So this couple with Caliban's plan against him shows us just how desperate Caliban is to get free from Prospero.

Ariel plays magical music to lead the trio away from their intended path.

Now what I'd like you to do, is think about how you feel about Caliban now.

Knowing this information about how he's plotting to kill Prospero.

Pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Amazing, some great ideas there.

You might either have thought you still feel great sympathy for Caliban because he's clearly suffering under Prospero's enslavement.

Or you might think that actually the plan to kill Prospero means you don't feel as much sympathy for Caliban as you might have initially done.

Now let's look at Act 4, Scene 1.

Where Caliban tries to put his plot to overthrow Prospero into action.

So when Stephano, Trinculo and Caliban arrive at Prospero house, they find expensive clothing hanging outside.

Stephano and Trinculo start stealing the clothes despite Caliban urging them to stick to the plan.

As soon as they touch the clothes, Prospero's trap is sprung and a pack of magical dogs appears to drive them off.

Now what I'd like to think about is the fact that Caliban returns to Prospero's service after the failure of the plot.

Now why do you think he might do that?

What do you think this instance might have shown about Stephano and Trinculo?

Pause the video and take a few moments to consider.

Amazing, some great ideas there.

The fact that Stephano and Trinculo are so quick to abandon the plan just because they see expensive clothes might have shown Caliban that actually they don't care about him at all.

And potentially he might have decided to return to Prospero's service because he thought it was better to stick with a master he knew rather than risk one he didn't.

Now for a quick check for understanding, what I'd like you to do is select which two of the following statements are true.

So A, Caliban, Stephano and Trinculo work well together.

B, Caliban, Stephano and Trinculo do not work well together.

C, Caliban is focused on the plan to overthrow Prospero.

Or D, Caliban gets distracted from the plan to overthrow Prospero.

Pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Correct answers are B, Caliban, Stefan and Trinculo do not work well together.

And C, Caliban is focused on the plan to overthrow Prospero.

So very well done if you've got those right Now we're gonna look at the final scene of the play.

So as a punishment for their plot, Prospero orders Caliban, Stephano and Trinculo to clean and tidy his house.

We might think there's quite a lenient punishment for trying to kill him, especially since we know that Prospero's threatened Caliban with physical punishment for disobeying him before.

At the end of the play, Prospero returns to Milan and Caliban is once again left alone on the island.

Now what I'd like you to do is act out Caliban's reaction to Prospero leaving the island.

What emotions do you think he'd display and what would his body language be like?

Pause the video and have a go now.

Amazing, I saw some great ideas there.

I really like seeing people throw themselves around the room and dance with joy.

'Cause I think Caliban would've been feeling an intense happiness being alone again on the island without Prospero.

Now have a quick check for understanding about Caliban's role in "The Tempest.

" What I'd like to do is place the following plot events in order.

So plot point number one, Caliban plots with Stephano and Trinculo to overthrow Prospero.

Two, Caliban is left alone on the island again.

Number three, Prospero and Miranda arrive on the island and Prospero enslaves Caliban.

So put those events into the order in which they happen in the play.

Pause the video and make a selections now.

The correct answers are number one, Prosper and Miranda arrive on the island and Prospero enslaves Caliban.

Number two, Caliban plots with Stephano and Trinculo to overthrow Prospero.

And number three, Caliban is left alone on the island again.

So very well done if you've got those right.

You're doing amazingly well everyone.

On to our first task of the lesson.

What I'd like to do is think about everything we've learned about Caliban so far and then think about what you think about him as a person.

And then consider the following statement.

A student said they believe Caliban is the rightful and just owner of the island.

Now what that means is if he's the rightful owner, that means he has a claim to own the island.

And if he's a just owner, that means we think he'd be fair to the other people on the island.

And what I'd like you to do is write a short answer the question, to what extent do you agree with the statement?

Now you might consider the following things.

Firstly, you might consider that Caliban is the only human inhabitant before Prospero and Miranda arrive.

So he is the only person living on the island before they arrive.

You might then consider how Caliban treated Prospero and Miranda when they first arrived.

So he welcomed them and showed them how to survive on the island.

You might also consider what kind of ruler you think Caliban will be.

So think about his relationships with the other people in the play.

What kind of ruler do you think you would be?

Pause the video and create your answer now.

Amazing, I had some fantastic ideas there.

You might have said like Laura, the island was Caliban's home before anyone else arrived.

He has more claim to be the ruler of the island than any of them.

The fact that he shows Prospero how to survive on the island shows that he knows the island best and therefore he is the rightful owner.

Or like Alex, you might have actually thought that Caliban tried to hurt Miranda even though she's kind to him and teaches him their language.

And he also might think that Caliban plotted to kill Prospero.

So potentially that suggests to us he wouldn't be a fair or kind ruler.

Amazing, you're all doing really well everyone.

Onto our second learning cycle where we're going to look at some of the language that is used about Caliban and think about how that helps us to gain a better understanding of his relationships with the other characters and also potentially how Shakespeare intended the audience to see Caliber.

Now the first thing know about the language used about Caliban is that throughout "The Tempest," the language used to describe him is particularly negative.

What I'd like you to first think about are what are your initial reactions to this?

How do you think Shakespeare might want us to feel about Caliban if the language surrounding him is negative, pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Amazing, some great ideas there.

You might have thought, if the language is negative, then potentially Shakespeare would either want us to feel sorry for Caliban or he'd want us to have a negative impression of Caliban.

Now let's think about some of the specific language that's used about Caliban.

So throughout "The Tempest,", Prospero continually caused Caliban my slave.

Remember that slave is one of our keywords.

It means that Prospero considers Caliban his property and Caliban is forced over obey him.

Now what I'd like to think about is why do you think Prospero might do this?

What is he trying to remind Caliban and the audience of?

Pause the video and take a few moments to consider.

Amazing, like Sam, you might have thought that Prospero's trying to remind Caliban and the audience of his control and power over Caliban.

Now as well as calling Caliban his slave, Prospero's specifically calls him a poisonous slave.

Now what I'd like us to do is analyze that quotation and think about what it's trying to tell us about Caliban as a character.

So to do that, I'd like us to create a mind map around the quote.

For us to think about what the word poisonous suggests.

So think about what connotations that has to you.

Meaning what feelings or emotions does poison suggest?

Pause the video and create a few ideas now.

Amazing, some great ideas there.

You might have thought the word poisonous has connotations of danger and deadly, and therefore it might suggest to us that Caliban is a dangerous character.

You might also have thought the word poisonous could suggest that Caliban is like an animal.

Since we generally think of snakes and insects as being poisonous and deadly.

Therefore the quote is telling us that potentially Caliban is dangerous, but also maybe that he's quite animalistic.

Now we've just thought about the idea of Prospero calling Caliban a poisonous slave.

He's also called a savage in "The Tempest.

" And I'd like us to do the same thing we just did with the poisonous slave quote.

We're gonna create a mind map around the word savage and think about what it suggests about Caliban.

So what I'd like you to do is pause the video and take a few moments to think about what connotations you have around the word savage.

What feelings or emotions does it give you?

Pause the video and create your ideas now.

Amazing, some great ideas there.

You might have thought that for you.

The word savage, just something vicious, something scary, something to be afraid of.

You might also have thought it's just uncontrollable violence.

Again, something to be afraid of because we cannot control it and because we think it's gonna hurt us.

You might also have thought that it could suggest something uncivilized and wild.

So again, thinking back to the idea of animalistic rather than something we might associate with a human.

Now, as well as calling Caliban a savage and a poison slave Prospero also calls him a thing.

What I'd like to think about is what does Prospero calling Caliban a thing suggest?

Pause the video and take a few moments to consider what Prospero might be trying to say about Caliban.

Amazing, like Lucas, you might have thought, that Prospero calling Caliban a thing, suggests he doesn't see him as human.

It's potentially why Prospero doesn't feel bad about treating Caliban in such a cruel way because he thinks of him as an object No feelings or emotions.

Now something else that Caliban is called in "The Tempest," is hag-seed and hag-born.

Now hag is one of our key words.

It means a witch is associated with the devil by calling Caliban hag-seed and hag-born.

It reminds the audience, he's the son of a witch.

Now what I'd like to think about is what do you know about how people viewed witches in Shakespearean times?

Pause the video.

Take a few moments to consider.

Amazing, some great ideas there.

Like Izzy, you might have known that people feared witches and thought they cause bad luck and sickness.

Witchcraft was illegal and punishable by death.

Now what I'd like to think about is how do you think the audience would feel about Caliban if they continue to reminded he's the son of a witch through the other characters calling him hag-born and hag-seed.

Pause the video and take a few moments to consider.

Amazing, some great ideas there.

Like Laura, you might have thought they'd probably feel scared of Caliban and maybe think there's something unnatural or wrong with him.

Since witches were associated with the devil.

Now for a quick check for understanding.

What I'd like to do is select which two of the following statements are true.

It says A, the language suggests Caliban is violent.

B, the language creates a particularly negative view of Caliban.

Or C, the language justifies Prospero keeping Caliban as his slave.

Pause the video and make your selections now.

Correct answers are A, the language suggests Caliban is violent, and B, the language creates a particularly negative view of Caliban, so very well done if you got those right.

You're doing amazingly well everyone.

On our final task of the lesson.

Now hearing some of the language used to describe Caliban might have built up in your head a picture of what you think Caliban looks like.

On your screen now is an image of what someone thinks Caliban looks like.

Caliban is the figure on the left.

Prospero is the figure in the middle and on the right we have Miranda who's Prospero's daughter.

What I'd like you to think about is how well do you think this image reflects the language you describe Caliban in "The Tempest?

" So here are some of the things you might consider.

We know that Caliban is called a savage within "The Tempest.

" And we thought that might mean he's something vicious, something wild.

Look at the clothing he's wearing in the image.

Does that create a link for you between the idea of him being a savage and the clothes he's wearing?

You might then think about Prospero calling Caliban my Slave.

Look at the body language in Prospero and Caliban within the image.

Does that denote a master slave relationship to you?

You then might think about Caliban being called hag-born in "The Tempest.

" Now that means he's the son of a witch and therefore associated with the devil.

So look at the hands, legs, and feet in the image.

Does that suggest to you someone who might be the son of a witch?

Pause the video and take a few minutes to consider.

Amazing, some great ideas there.

Like Aisha, you might have thought the idea of being a savage, it's just something wild.

And if we couple that with the idea of Caliban being hag-born, this could affect the animal-like furs we see on Caliban as well as the animalistic legs and feet we can also see.

He's both wild and unnatural.

Like Jacob, you might have thought that Prospero's border language suggests he's ordering Caliban to do something.

Which fits with the idea of Caliban constantly being called a slave and shows that master and slave relationship.

You've all done amazing the well today everyone.

Here's a summary of what we covered.

Caliban inhabit to the island before Prospero and Miranda arrived.

Prospero treats Caliban cruelly by threatening him with physical violence.

At the end of the play, Caliban is left alone on the island.

And finally, the language around Caliban in "The Tempest," creates a particularly violent and negative impression.

I hope you enjoyed the lesson everyone.

Goodbye.