Caliban the noble Savage
...ition often degrade him below that which he left, he would be bound to bless continually the happy moment which took him from it for ever, and, instead of a stupid and unimaginative animal, made him an intelligent being and a man” (The Social Contract, 195-196). I think this play is clearly dealing with the subject of colonialism. One can site the European view that Caliban is an uncouth savage, and site the example of his rape of Miranda as proof. Prior to the entombment of Prospero and his infant daughter on the island Caliban had been living there for many years. It is this arrival per-se that infact corrupts him from being a Rousseau-esque noble savage to the monster that we see in the play. It is afterall the indoctrination of Prospero's language and customs that leads Caliban to this nefarious act. Had Shakespeare intended it to be a play on colonisation then there would not be the turn away from goodness to evil as shown by Caliban, rather it would be the other way round.. Caliban is not a native of the New World. ...