Compare Ariel and Caliban

                                                    CALIBAN AND ARIEL

In  Shakespearre's play THE TEMPEST ,we come across a strange creation  CALIBAN,who has been labelled as one of Shakespearre,s masterpiece by critics.

  Caliban has been wonderfully portrayed as a creature of nature,an embodiment of all that is gross and earthy.he is 'freckled,' 'a misshapen knave 'not  honoured with a human shape.He is the son of a wicked witch  Sycorax who had been banished from Algiers for her evil practices.It is said that Caliban had been fathered by the Devil  himself,as such ,he is all that is brutish,evil,ugly and stinking .Trinculo,when he finds Caliban ,calls him"A strange fish...legged like a man"Prospero,his master calls him a tortoise, a fish, and a beast.In Act 5 Scene 1,Prospero calls him "a misshapen knave"

Caliban is  brutal and savage and considers himself to be the rightful heir of this island and regards Prospero as the usurper.He is filled with intense hatred for his master Prospero and even ,conspires to kill Prospero  for treating him cruelly.He is arrogant ,vicious and ungrateful with no print of goodness in him and 'capable of all ill'

    

   Ariel another servant of Prospero on the hand  serves as a perfect contrast to Caliban. Ariel has been regarded as a unique creation of Shakespearre. Ariel is a link between the two worlds--the human and the supernatural,thus he is a perfect blend of the natural and the supernatural.Ariel is a spirit of the air.However ,he is equally at home in all the spheres.He performs incredible tasks promptly  at the orders of Prospero.He can change his shape when needed to perform his tasks,the best example being that of the Harpy(Act 3,Scene3).Though Ariel is a spirit ,he has human qualities.He is devoted to Prospero and is happy on being complimented.However like every living being ,he longs for freedom and thus sulks when Prospero tells him"there's more work..."and  says "Is there more toil?" 

           Caliban and Ariel,  both serve Prospero who is their master but they are poles apart. Caliban is is ugly, a savage ,disobedient and arrogant where as Ariel who is  invisible to all others except Prospero is grateful and servile.There is a marked difference in their relation to their master,Prospero. .Ariel  is faithful and eager to please Prospero. He is the right hand of  Prospero and serves him in the same way as FRIDAY  serves  Robinson Crusoe in Daniel Defoe's novel  "Robinson Crusoe"On the other hand,Caliban hates Prospero as he feels that Prospero has usurped the island which Caliban had inherited from his mother Sycorax. His hatred is so deep rooted that he conspires to get rid of Prospero with the help of Stephano and Trinculo. The only similarity between Ariel  and Caliban is perhaps in their longing to be free.Both Ariel  and Caliban  long for freedom  but their way to achieve it as different as jet and ivory.Ariel hopes to get his freedom by following the orders of Prospero in verbatim where as Caliban tries to get it by hatching a conspiracy .Freedom to Ariel means being his own master where as to Caliban it means a change from one  master to another.Thus Caliban's idea of freedom is as shallow as he himself is.Nature wise also,they  are a stricking contrast to the other.Ariel is intelligent and more human where as Caliban is brutal and beastly.Thus we can conclude by saying that Ariel is symbolic of the goodness and nobility in man,while Caliban stands for all that is wicked and foul.