The Natural Innocence of Caliban

Caliban is a naturally innocent and pure character in Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Throughout the play Caliban is portrayed as a primitive beast with a vile mind, although he wasn’t originally that way. Caliban initially had no evil influence on him other than the way nature made him. Prospero’s later influence on the creature was the cause of his negative actions which isn’t the fault of Caliban himself. Caliban, although seen as a monster, is truly an innocent creature with good intentions until corrupted by Prospero’s evil attempts at humanization. Caliban’s natural innocence can be seen in many parts of the story. When Prospero came to the island, Caliban was eager to teach him a multitude of things about the island and how to live successfully on the island. Prospero returned the favor by attempting to teach Caliban how to be civilized. Caliban naturally assumed that Prospero was a good person and should be taken to warmly. Caliban’s immediate reaction to Prospero was not to fear him, but to invite him in with open arms. This parallels the European colonization of North America very closely. In the new world, Native Americans were usually not aggressive towards the colonists, but very open to the new people. In addition to this, Caliban represents the Native Americans in terms of being very friendly to newcomers, but still being oppressed by them in the end. The enslaving of Caliban by Prospero is very similar to how colonists in the Americas overran the natives and took their land. Caliban is a very good representation of the Native Americans and the natural innocence that both they and Caliban had. Nature’s influence on Caliban was not negative in any way. In nature, right and wrong doesn’t exist as they don’t have the cognitive abilities that humans have to differ between right and wrong. Choosing what is right is a creation of the human mind and ultimately doesn’t exist in nature. Caliban and other more primitive species of animals act on what is natural