Men and Monsters

During my reading of The Tempest, I was also thumbing through an analysis of the play in hopes that I would be able to get a better understanding of what was going on. It's always convenient to have summaries and analyses of what Shakespeare has written so that I can make sure I'm following. As I was looking through this analysis, there was an interesting theme which was discussed. It was referred to as "the difficulty of distinguishing men from monsters". My mind seemed to cling to that idea. How interesting! What a concept to wrap my brain around.

Automatically after the term "men and monsters" crossed my mind, I thought of one of my favorite Disney movies, the Hunchback of Notre Dame. (Being an animation major, I relate things to film quite regularly.) In the opening scene of this film, it describes how Quasimodo was found by Count Frollo as a baby. When Frollo sees the disfigured child, he cries out, "A monster!" and attempts to throw the child down the well. He calls him an "unholy demon". Not long after in this scene, the jester or fool declares that he is going to ask the people a riddle, which is, "who is the monster and who is the man?" Throughout the film you begin to see that despite the fact that the people treat Quasimodo as a monster, the true monster is Count Frollo.

As I pondered this, I automatically began to think of what characters this could relate to in the Tempest. Naturally, Prospero came to the front of my mind. Caliban did as well. Their relationship is almost centered around this idea. Prospero and Miranda think of Caliban as inherently brutish. They refer to him as "a devil, a born devil, on whose nature/ Nurture can never stick". They treat Caliban as if he is a natural monster and he has to overcome his nature. Prospero claims that Caliban is a devil who tried to rape his only daughter.

What then makes him a monster? I mean, there are instances where Caliban's sensitive side comes through. He speaks of the beauty of the island in Act III, scene II:

"Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,

Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments 1535
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, 1540
I cried to dream again.

This is one of the more poetic lines written in the entire play. Could a true monster speak such words? That's what the audience has to decide. And what of Prospero, and how he treats Caliban? Does this contribute to Caliban's brutal behavior? Did Caliban become a monster because that was how he was treated? Is Prospero a monster because he enslaved Caliban, and treats him as a "poisonous slave, got by the devil himself".

Who is the Monster and Who is the Man?