The Tempest Pt. I

The Tempest Acts I & 2

During Acts I and II of Shakespeare's The Tempest, a certain innocence is exhibited by various characters both foreign to the island and on the island itself. For instance, Miranda and Caliban, both of whom already resided on the island before the shipwreck, are innocent to outside influence and evil intentions. Although Caliban can be seen as "bad" himself, many people only put such a reputation on him because of his mere appearance, when in reality, Caliban had evil thrust onto him because of the way he was born and from whom he was born from. Sycorax, the witch who resided on the island before Prospero, gave birth to Caliban and because of this, one might think that Caliban is as evil as his mother. A more proper interpretation of his character, especially up until what we see in Act II is that he is expected to be as evil as his mother. He is gullible and almost welcoming of others, as we learn that he helped Prospero in the beginning of Prospero's arriving to the island, and his helpfulness towards Stephano and Trinculo. There seems to be a yearning to belong and to be accepted within Caliban. On the other hand, Miranda is also an innocent character; she is sheltered by her father and has little knowledge of the outside world and her own past. She lacks identity and falls easily for the first man she meets. Both characters are naive and trusting because of their lack of knowledge about the realities of the the world.