Caliban - his representation in Shakespeare's 'The Tempest' and three film versions

Seminar paper from the year 2003 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,3 (A), University of Potsdam (Anglistics), course: Hauptseminar für Literaturwissenschaft: 'The Tempest - Shakespeare's play and its film versions', language: English, abstract: This paper on Shakespeare's Caliban from 'The Tempest' aims at examining whether, and if in how far, the description and depiction of this character in the printed version and the film adaptations by John Gorrie, Derek Jarman and Jack Bender differ from each other. After a short summary of the play 'The Tempest', general information about the play will be given. In the main part, the description and depiction of the character Caliban, his outward appearance and his character as well as his relation to other characters from the original play, will be of interest. But the focus will lie on Caliban's representation in different film versions of 'The Tempest', especially on John Gorrie's adaptation of 1980, Derek Jarman's of 1979 and Jack Bender's adaptation of 1999. Towards the end, the comparison between Caliban in the printed version and Caliban in the film versions examined will be of importance.