"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!"
- Caliban, The Tempest, 1.2
Caliban is an interesting character that in my opinion symbolizes native americans. He welcomed Propero and Mirand with open arms the twelve years ago they stumbled upon the island and taught them how to live.
"This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother,
Which thou takest from me. When thou camest first,
Thou strokedst me and madest 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' the 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' the island."
But Prospero says it isn't so, and that he taught Caliban how to be civilized. It's interesting in the persepective of the twenty second century to see this shown to us in the works of Shakespeare before Columbus even discovered the new world. Or this was on the brink of discovering the new world. Either way, it's another example of how theatre always reflects the times in which it is written.
"Full Text - Script of the Play The Tempest by William Shakespeare." WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. Web. 21 Feb. 2011. <http://www.william-shakespeare.info/script-text-the-tempest.htm>.
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