The Tempest Caliban Quotes

This island’s mine, by Sycorax my mother,
Which thou tak’st from me. When thou cam’st first,
Thou strok’st me and mad’st much of me, wouldst give me
Water with berries in ‘t, and teach me how
To name the bigger light and how the less,
That burn by day and night. And then I loved thee,
And show’d thee all the qualities o’ th’ isle,
The fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place and fertile.
Cursed be I that did so! All the charms
Of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats, light on you,
For I am all the subjects that you have,
Which first was mine own king; and here you sty me
In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me
The rest o’ th’ island.

– William Shakespeare

The Tempest, Act 1, Scene 2. Caliban asserts his rights through his mother to the island, which he claims Prospero took from him by flattering him, giving him berries, teaching him about the sun and stars and then betraying him. He admits that he loved Prospero at first. He showed the magician all the qualities of the island with its freshwater springs and saltwater pits, Caliban being a native inhabitant and close to nature. But he curses himself for doing so, and Prospero as well, who now confines him in a cave on the island. Invoking the name of his witch mother Sycorax, Caliban once again calls on her wicked magic charms to curse his captor. He is unforgiving about how Prospero has mistreated and enslaved him. All of this raises the question of who is the monster here – Caliban or Prospero? Perhaps both!
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