AO5 Critics

• • Ben Gilbertson: "Caliban was dependent on Prospero for love as well as education"
• • Hiewon Shin: "Shakespeare knew that '[The New World] would become a land of brutally oppressed servants or land of hopeful youngsters empowered by radial parenting".
• • Ben Gilbertson: 'Like Caliban, Miranda has been disconnected from human society.
• • Ben Gilbertson: When first encountering Stephano, Caliban reacts in much the same way Miranda does, referring to him as a 'brave god'.
• • John Dryer: 'His Person is monstrous, and he is the product of unnatural lust' His language is hobgoblin' friendly but trouble.
• • John Dryer: "Shakespeare's magic cannot be copied"
• • Frank Kermode: '(Caliban) hears music with pleasure as (music can appeal to the beast who lacks reason"
• • Samuel Coleridge: 'Caliban is a noble being'. Shakespeare 'has raised him above contempt'
• • Murray: Says the island 'is what would be if humanity, the best in men, controlled the life in man'.
• • Knight: 'Prospero who controls the comprehensive Shakespearian world reflects Shakespeare himself'
• • Moulton: 'The gift of civilisation is turned into a curse'
• • Bernard Knox: 'The Tempest [is] a Utopia which Shakespeare created for himself'
• • Lovell: 'The whole play, indeed, is a succession of illusions'
• • George Lamming: Prospero is an 'imperialist by circumstance, a sadist by nature and above all, an old man in whom envy and revenge are equally matched'
• Jonathan Goldberg: 'Prospero has given Caliban Language, and with is an unstated history of consequences, an unknown history of future intentions.'
• Brian Vichers: 'The Tempest is now unfortunately reduced to an allegory about colonisation'
• George Lamming: 'Caliban is his convert, colonised by language and excluded by language'
• Dryden: 'Whether or not [Caliban's] Generation can be defended, I leave to philosophy'
• Nevill Coghill: "It resembles the story of Adam and Eve"
• Orgel: "Prospero's magic may be said to 'bring about reconciliation' but he is also 'deeply implicated in the usurpation' of his own dukedom and Antonio and Sebastian attempted overthrow of Alonso."
• Mowot: "Shakespeare draws on the traditions of magic."
• Palfrey: 'Prose may empower the characters, as they are not conformed to iambic pentameter.
• Palfrey: Ariel symbolises the traditions from worlds to physicality, as s/he is the physical embodiment of words and his power to become all things'
• Righter: "Prospero is 'obtuse' due to his lack of emotional soliloquies, meaning the audience has little may into his intentions and feelings."
• Kermode: Magic is the 'disciplined exchange of virtuous knowledge".

  Smith: '(The Epilogue) is intended to dissolve the illusions and the change from iambic pentameter'
• Miller: 'It is difficult for the modern audience to feel sympathy for Prospero'
• Alden Vaugham: 'Colonialism is embedded in the language of the play.
• Birch: 'Punishment should go no further than repentance'
• Dowder: No life is ever lived which does not need to receive as well as to render forgiveness'
• Dowder: 'This is nothing of 'profound significance' in the epilogue'
• In Peter Greenway's dramatisation of the play, Prospero speaks all the lines.
• Prospero is Christ-like – Orgel
• In Sam Mendes' 1993 production, Ariel spat in Prospero's face at the end when he bid him goodbye
• Prospero is the usurping invader – Orgel
• Prospero is a sadist by nature – Orgel
• Prospero represents virtuous natural authority – Orgel
• There is no Calabanic culture here – Orgel
• Caliban is darkness and dirt to Miranda’s purity and light – Todd
• The play is pro-bourgeois – Todd
• Prospero’s attempts to educate and civilise him [Caliban] have only succeeded in corrupting him – Orgel