The CEA Forum - Winter/Spring 2006 - MONSTROUS NO MORE: HOW SHAKESPEARE'S CALIBAN AND THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENT ASPIRE TOGETHER

Oct 15, 2026

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Winter/Spring 2006 issue of The CEA Forum presents Jill Y. Gold Wright’s argument that Shakespeare’s Caliban and community college students share parallel struggles and aspirations. Starting from classroom frustration, the essay traces Caliban’s shift in The Tempest from monster and violent drunk to poet who masters language. It links Caliban’s awareness of literacy—his repeated calls to seize and burn Prospero’s books—to power, rhetoric, and humanization, showing how language can both harm and heal.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

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Pages5

Reading Time8 min

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MONSTROUS NO MORE: HOW SHAKESPEARE'S CALIBAN AND THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENT ASPIRE TOGETHER

Classroom frustration and the need for renewed insight

Caliban in Act I: villain, violence, and “dark fantasies”

Act III, Scene ii: shift from monster to poet through language

Books and learning as power

Final speech: poetry, reassurance, and humanization

The CEA Forum Winter/Spring 2006: 35.1 MONSTROUS NO MORE: HOW SHAKESPEARE'S CALIBAN AND THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENT ASPIRE TOGETHER Jill Y. Gold Wright Believe me, fellow teachers: we all share the same frustrations. The tardies, the absences, the countless excuses are becoming more and more difficult to bear. Just this semester, I was in the middle of class, delivering a lecture on African-American theater that I had meticulously prepared, when a young charmer in my class stuck up his hand mid-sentence and demanded,“Do we really have to know this?” If you are like me, you have left your classroom more than once feeling like you've failed or just plain not gotten through at all. It's difficult to overcome the pessimism that can rise from that kind of frustration. But this past summer, from the strangest and most unexpected source, I found new inspiration and insight. I was co-directing Act III, Scene ii of William Shakespeare's The Tempest and suddenly realized what should have been clear to me all along. There is a direct and quite powerful connection between Caliban, the monster who lives on Prospero's island, and the aspiring community college student. By the time audience members get to Act III of The Tempest, they are well acquainted with Caliban. They have heard described one negative attribute after the next and are privy to all the insults the other characters hurl at him. In Act I, Miranda calls Caliban a “villain”(I. ii.313), and Prospero commands him: Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil himself Upon thy wicked dam, come forth! (I. ii.323-325) In the same scene, the audience learns that Caliban's mother was a devil and witch; just the pronunciation of her name “Sycorax” connotes the phrase “sick at the core.” Also in this scene, Caliban admits to having tried to rape Miranda, still regretting his failure to do so. Therefore, by the end of Act I, Shakespeare has placed Caliban among what Stephen Greenblatt calls “the darkest European fantasies about the Wild Man”(Greenblatt 3052), and the audience feels that it has met the play's antagonist. Even in Act III, Scene ii, there is much to further evidence the devilish attributes of Caliban. Having only recently been exposed to the power of alcohol, he is already stinking drunk, and this makes him violent. He indirectly threatens Trinculo, spurring Stefano to, “Bite him to death” (III. ii.32) and “Beat him enough!” (III. ii.80) . More directly, Caliban persuades Stefano to kill Prospero in his sleep. He doesn't suggest a quiet murder, like Claudius pouring poison in Old Hamlet's ear; instead, he suggests “knock[ing] a nail into his head,”(III. ii.59),“brain[ing] him,”(83) or “batter[ing] his skull”(85), thus living up to his reputation of devil and villain. But this scene also represents a significant shift in Caliban; we watch as he moves from monster to poet. Before the scene concludes, Caliban transforms from drunken sot to enchanter, capturing the imaginations of Stefano and Trinculo and the audience along with them. Caliban accomplishes this through his claiming and mastering of language – and using it elegantly. Earlier in Act I, Caliban chides Miranda for forcing him to learn her language: 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! (I. ii.366-368) But as Richard Hansberger points out: “Caliban is not as ignorant – or illiterate – as Prospero and Miranda would have us believe” (137) . Indeed, Caliban seems to know instinctively about the enormous power of books and learning. When directing Stefano how to attack Prospero, Caliban tells him three times in one speech: “[Seize] his books,”“First to possess his books” and “Burn but his books” (III. ii.84-90) . Caliban knows well that Prospero's power lies in his literacy. Being kept subservient and unlettered teaches Caliban that knowledge equals power. He reveals this understanding when he remarks that, with

FAQs

How does Jill Y. Gold Wright connect Caliban to community college students?

She argues that both face frustration, marginalization, and the conditions that limit agency. Caliban’s transformation illustrates how aspiration can emerge through language, learning, and power.

What change does Caliban undergo in Act III, Scene ii of The Tempest?

Caliban moves from drunken violence and ambition toward poetry and confident rhetoric. By mastering language, he persuades others and becomes more humanized in the audience’s eyes.

Why are books and literacy central to Caliban’s understanding of power?

Caliban insists on controlling Prospero’s books—seizing them, possessing them, and even burning them—because he recognizes that Prospero’s authority comes from literacy. He frames learning as the source of command and influence.

Oct 15, 2026

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