Fully Human, Created in God’s Image: Caliban in Shakespeare’s The Tempest

Responding to various of The Tempest’s characters’ describing Caliban as non-human, as well as the long critical, theatrical, and artistic traditions of presenting Caliban as less than fully human, this essay argues that Caliban’s humanity is established both by Shakespeare’s text and by a theologically informed understanding of Caliban that demonstrates that Caliban bears the image of God. A recognition of Caliban as imago Dei helps us to better appreciate his complex relationships with Prospero, Miranda, and Stephano and to understand his eventual repentance and its redemptive influence upon Prospero in light of the play’s broader Christian vision.