William Shakespeare’s The Tempest: Caliban is a Black African

Caliban’s character in The Tempest is very complex. Though his race is not mentioned by Shakespeare in The Tempest, many writers and critics try to investigate and know what his race is in the play. For example, Caliban is thought to be an American Indian, unlike others who say that he is black African. So, I disagree with those who say that Caliban is an American Indian because of some specific reasons which is mentioned in the paper. Ergo, my paper is building on what Alden T. Vaughan and Virginia Mason Vaughan says about Caliban’s black African race. I will give some Arabic interpretations and analysis which may increase our understanding to classify Caliban as a black African, not an American Indian. The Paper gives an Arabic linguistic analysis for Caliban’s name which seems very popular in Arabic literature and some Arabic series. Therefore, the name of Caliban seems very popular in Arabic literature, especially in Egypt and South Africa. The paper is not only investigating Caliban’s black African, but also his name has an important reference of an ancient tradition of Arabs who used to name their children after animals’ names for their belief that if their sons are named after animals’ names, they will be protected from evil and bad luck