This definitions covers Key Terms within Caliban (character) for GCSE English Literature. Revise Caliban (character) in The Tempest for GCSE English Literature with 12 exam-style questions and 17 flashcards. This topic shows up very often in GCSE exams, so students should be able to explain it clearly, not just recognise the term. It is section 11 of 17 in this topic. Make sure you can use the exact wording confidently, because definition marks are often lost through vague language.
📖 Key Terms
- Colonialism
- The practice of one people settling in and taking control of another people's territory, typically imposing language, law, and labour. In The Tempest, Prospero's relationship with Caliban enacts colonial logic: displacement, forced service, and cultural subjugation.
- Post-colonial reading
- A critical approach (developed in the 20th century) that analyses texts for their depiction of colonial power structures and the voices of colonised peoples. Applied to The Tempest, it foregrounds Caliban's perspective as a dispossessed subject.
- Anagnorisis
- The moment of self-recognition or discovery in a tragic character — when they understand their own error. Caliban's "What a thrice-double ass / Was I to take this drunkard for a god" is a partial anagnorisis.
- Dramatic irony
- Where the audience knows something that a character (or other characters) does not. Caliban's line "You taught me language, and my profit on't / Is I know how to curse" creates retrospective irony — language was meant to civilise, but Caliban reveals its actual function as control.
Practice questions for Caliban (character)
In Act 1 Scene 2, Caliban claims the island is his. How does he justify this claim?
Explain how Shakespeare uses language in the quotation 'You taught me language, and my profit on't / Is I know how to curse' to present the colonial relationship between Prospero and Caliban. [2 marks]