Quote 1
CALIBAN
This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother,
Which thou tak'st from me. When thou cam'st first,
Thou strok'st me and mad'st much of me, wouldst
give me
Water with berries in 't, and teach me how
To name the bigger light and how the less,
That burn by day and night. And then I loved thee,
And show'd thee all the qualities o' th' isle,
The fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place and
fertile.
Cursed be I that did so! All the charms
Of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats, light on you,
For I am all the subjects that you have,
Which first was mine own king; and here you sty me
In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me
The rest o' th' island. (1.2.396-411)
In the rules of the court, Prospero would never have taken in Caliban this way—nor would Caliban do him service out of love (instead of duty). Initially, the rules of the courtly world were suspended on the island.
CALIBAN
You taught me language, and my profit on 't
Is, I know how to curse. The red plague rid you
For learning me your language! (1.2.437-439)
There's a lot to dislike about Caliban but his provocative retort to the above passage is pretty admirable. Here, he talks back and insists that one good thing came from learning his master's language—the ability to curse.
Quote 3
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. (1.2.447-450)
Caliban doesn't think he deserves to be in servitude for his attempt to rape Miranda, nor does he have any remorse. His servitude is simply the result of power politics—Prospero's magic makes it impossible for Caliban to be free.
Quote 4
CALIBAN
I'll swear upon that bottle to be thy true
subject, or the liquor is not earthly. (2.2.129-130)
Caliban, thinking that Stefano must be a god, misjudges Stefano's power. As Caliban is stuck in Prospero's service, because he knows no one more powerful, Caliban sees Stefano as an advocate and something of a savior. This isn't Caliban being malicious; rather he is naïve and hopeful about freedom.
Quote 5
CALIBAN
I'll show thee every fertile inch o' th' island,
And I will kiss thy foot. I prithee, be my god. (2.2.154-155)
What compels Caliban to go from servitude to servitude? Why does he offer to be Stefano's slave, though Stefano does not ask it of him?
Quote 6
CALIBAN [sings]
No more dams I'll make for fish,
Nor fetch in firing
At requiring,
Nor scrape trencher, nor wash dish .
'Ban, 'ban, Ca-caliban
Has a new master. Get a new man.
Freedom, high-day! High-day, freedom! Freedom,
high-day, freedom! (2.2.186-193)
Caliban has been a slave for so long that freedom to him is simply defined as being free from Prospero's tyranny.
Quote 7
CALIBAN
Be not afeard. The isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices
That, if I then had waked after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again; and then, in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open, and show riches
Ready to drop upon me, that when I waked
I cried to dream again. (3.2.148-156)
Nature is beautiful enough to bring out the very best in even its most "unnatural" creatures.
CALIBAN
I say by sorcery he got this isle;
From me he got it. If thy greatness will,
Revenge it on him, for I know thou dar'st,
But this thing dare not. (3.2.59-62)
If we can believe what Caliban says, then Prospero won the isle from him through betrayal. Why then does Caliban not dare to betray Prospero? Is it anything more than the pinches and cramps he knows he'll get as punishment?
CALIBAN
As wicked dew as e'er my mother brushed
With raven's feather from unwholesome fen
Drop on you both. A southwest blow on you
And blister you all o'er.
PROSPERO
For this, be sure, to-night thou shalt have cramps,
Side-stitches that shall pen thy breath up. Urchins
Shall, for that vast of night that they may work,
All exercise on thee. Thou shalt be pinched
As thick as honeycomb, each pinch more stinging
Than bees that made 'em. (1.2.385-394)
Anger only begets more anger—both Caliban and Prospero expect the other to be awful, and they only get what they expect. Neither Caliban nor Prospero forgives the other's past wrongs, and this keeps their relationship at a complete standstill.
Quote 10
CALIBAN
Beat him enough. After a little time
I'll beat him too. (3.2.92-93)
Caliban, having been shown very little mercy, has no capacity to show mercy to others, and in fact takes delight in others' suffering. Is this a defect of his character, or the result of a vicious circle of mercilessness?
Quote 11
CALIBAN
[aside] These be fine things, an if they be not
sprites. That's a brave god and bears celestial liquor.
I will kneel to him. He crawls out from under the
cloak. (2.2.120-122)
Caliban thinks the liquor divine because it is unknown to him. Is Shakespeare commenting that much of our own sense of what is divine simply springs from what we don't know?
Quote 12
CALIBAN
As I told thee before, I am subject
to a tyrant, a sorcerer, that by his cunning hath
cheated me of the island. (3.2.46-48)
Is Caliban wrong? He says what he sees to be reality, and his reality is no less credible than Prospero's, a man who is also a victim of usurpation (each had his land and title taken away).