Meeting Caliban
The Tempest: Act 1, Scene 2
Lesson focus:
How does Shakespeare’s use of structure and
language affect the audience’s reading of
Caliban?
Extended Writing
Read through the text:
1 Read through the whole scene without stopping.
2 Read through the text and underline any words or phrases you don’t understand.
3 Read through the text and identify the following:
Repetition of aspirate sounds (‘breathy’ sounds)
Compound adjective
Adjective
Alliteration
Exclamatory phrase/imperative
Close Text Analysis
How does Shakespeare’s use of structure and language affect the audience’s
reading of Caliban?
1 Structure: We are told about Caliban before we see him.
Why has Shakespeare structured the text in this way?
2 Language:
What impression do the repetitive aspirate sounds give of Caliban?
What does the exclamatory phrase and imperative at the end of the extract tell us about
the status of Caliban?
Commenting on structure
Model answer:
Shakespeare structures the text in such a way that the audience are told about the grotesqueness of
the character of Caliban before they are able to make a judgement for themselves. By structuring Act
1, Scene 2 in this way, Shakespeare is able to manipulate the impression his audience have of
Caliban before he appears on stage by telling them how he is a ‘dull thing’. Using such derogatory
adjectives, that give the impression of a bleak existence, sets the audience up to expect such a
worthless creature to appear before them. This heightens the moment of revelation of the character for
the audience and allows them to understand the differences between what Caliban is and who
Prospero and Miranda perceive him to be. As such, it allows the audience a greater insight into the
characters of Prospero and Miranda than Caliban himself.
Close Text Analysis
How does Shakespeare’s use of structure and language affect the audience’s
reading of Caliban?
1 Structure: We are told about Caliban before we see him.
Why has Shakespeare structured the text in this way?
2 Language:
What impression do the repetitive aspirate sounds give of Caliban?
What does the exclamatory phrase and imperative at the end of the extract tell us about
the status of Caliban?
Check-list
Have you noticed a language device/structural feature?
Have you explained the effect of that feature on our understanding of Caliban?
Have you mentioned the audience’s reading explicitly?
Have you made it clear you understand that Shakespeare has deliberately crafted the text in this way?
Have you analysed the effect in enough detail?