could be dangerous to man. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Oberon is the King of Fairies. He is a dark figure, but he also kindly intends to bless the wedding of Theseus to Hippolyta. Moreover, his relationship with Puck (the mischievous fairy) is not unlike Prospero’s relationship with Ariel.
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Ariel is also a complicated figure in that Shakespeare used multiple sources in the creation of his original character: (1) angel, (2) sylph, (3) fairy, and (4) mythological nature spirit or deity. Paracelsus, a Swiss-German scientist and occultist, postulated the existence of sylphs in the early 16th century. Such creatures, according to him, were elementals, spirits of the air. Yet Ariel clearly has much in common with Puck, the mischievous fairy in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Like Puck, Ariel represents a fairy of diminutive size; but like the medieval Celtic fairies or demons, such creatures could also be the size of humans. Although Ariel is a good or angelic spirit, Shakespeare does not actually connect him to Christianity or any other religion.
Ariel’s function in the play is to serve as the eyes and ears of Prospero as well as to be the servant who carries out his master’s commands. Yet equally important, Ariel provides a contrast to the often cold and stern magician. Ariel is charming and musical. Without his presence, the play would lack the entertainment value that is so much a hallmark of it.
Also noteworthy is that Ariel is not an emotionless spirit. He has human qualities – human desires. Thus, he becomes a fully developed character that elicits the sympathy of the audience.
A few scholars have proposed that another source for Ariel is the character of Shrimp, who appears in a Renaissance play entitled John a Kent and John a Cumber by Anthony Munday. Written around 1587, the play also involves a magician who controls a supernatural creature. Shrimp is a demon of the air and performs tasks not unlike the character of Ariel.
Eliciting the curiosity of some critics is the character of Caliban. Half-human and half-devil, Caliban is a monster. Many monsters of ancient mythology were half-human, such as the minotaur (half-human and half-bull). As the offspring of a witch and a devil – and as a monster – Caliban is thus an instrument of ill-will or evil. He attempted to rape Miranda; and Prospero, who initially attempted to treat him with kindness, comes to accept the idea that there are certain creatures (and people) who are beyond redemption.
Caliban is often described as being fishlike, and Shakespeare probably intended a partial association of his character to mermaids (half-human and half-fish). Caliban is also a direct contrast to Ariel: a dark spirit of the earth in contrast to the spirit of the air. However, Shakespeare purposely made the physical description of Caliban somewhat vague so that stage producers could present him in various ways. The character of Caliban, then, could be presented as (1) a wild man, (2) a beast-man, (3) a deformed man, or (4) a fish-man. And other possibilities exist.
Caliban functions to provide contrast to Ariel and to symbolize ill will, evil, and criminal thought. As a despicable monster, his scheme to usurp his master is ascribed to his personality. However, Caliban serves as a counterpart to the characters of Antonio and Sebastian, who also attempt to usurp the positions of power held by their older brothers. Thus, Antonio and Sebastian are also guilty of monstrous behavior.
On the lighter side, Caliban also serves to provide comic relief in the play as he gets uproariously drunk with Stefano and Trinculo.
Yet, the audience (or reader) should also note that where Stefano and Trinculo speak in prose (an indication of their lowly status), Caliban speaks in poetry. Shakespeare gives Caliban many fine lines of dialogue, especially in his speech where he describes the magical properties of the island (Act III, Scene 2: lines 130-38). Caliban is a creature of magic, and he thus contributes to the magic of the play.
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