Caliban

Shakespeare is woven into the culture of the British Caribbean, with a special emphasis on Caliban and The Tempest--but does he reflect the colonial past, influence anti-colonial authors, or both? Scholars Giselle Rampaul and Barrymore A. Bogues traced his complex role in a classic Shakespeare Unlimited interview.

Shakespeare became the Bard of Avon, the English national poet, in the roughly two hundred years following his death in 1616. During this period, his plays were constantly staged in theaters throughout the British Isles and their colonies—but often in forms that we would be hard pressed to recognize as “Shakespearean.” The Tempest is a particularly interesting case in point.

As Mary Shelley's novel "Frankenstein" marks its 200th anniversary (and with Halloween on its way), Austin Tichenor explores the parallels between the Creature from "Frankenstein" and Caliban from "The Tempest" and their fictional creators: Frankenstein and Prospero--as well as what makes a monster.