Relationship between Caliban and Prospero in Act I of The Tempest Essay

The short extract taken from The Tempest helps us learn a lot about the characters Prospero and Caliban and their relationship within the play.Prospero, when we first construe him, emerges as a very controlling and dominant figure on the island, mainly because he refers to the character Caliban as his slave. This shows us that Prospero must be a powerful man and that he has authority over the island and its people. Prospero uses his power to abuse Caliban, and he threatens him with phrases such as thou shalt have cramps, side-stitches... if he does not comply with his orders. But when Caliban refuses to obey him, Prospero resorts to insults in order to control him because he tells Miranda, his daughter, But, as tis/We cannot miss him meaning that they cannot survive on the island themselves. Through the language used, we readily learn how Prospero believe that he is above Caliban, because he calls him names like savage, hag-seed and poisonous. Caliban, however, is not a weak and pa ssive slave as one might expect. Instead he threatens both Prospero and his daughter, ...