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Write a diary entry from the point of view Caliban from The Tempest when he sees Prospero on a small boat approaching his island.

To write this diary entry, you should put yourself in the mindset of Caliban and try to think like he does. The scene you are being asked to write about actually occurs before the action of the play, before Prospero and Miranda, a three-year-old child, arrive at the island. Caliban at that point has never seen any people except his "dam," or mother, Sycorax. Sycorax was an evil witch who imprisoned the spirit Ariel in a pine tree before Prospero arrived. Sycorax herself was no longer on the island when Prospero arrived. So in your diary, you could mention that you are seeing creatures of a kind you have never seen. You could mention how your mother abandoned you and you have been so lonely. You could anticipate having someone to play with, but you could also express some fear that the large creature might not like you and might lock you up in a tree like your mother did to that nice spirit Ariel. There are other spirits on the island; you could make mention of Caliban's relationship with them--perhaps they all avoid Caliban now because of what his mother did to one of their fellow spirits. You could wonder about the little child. When Miranda gets older, Caliban tries to abuse her, although Miranda befriended him at first. So you could make a statement that shows Caliban's interest in her but in an alarming sort of way.


Since Caliban did not know language until Prospero and Miranda taught it to him, Caliban could not have written a diary entry or even spoken his thoughts in words. However, overlooking that technicality, your diary entry would have to be in very simplistic words and sentences. Caliban also is not very intelligent, so your entry should show his difficulty understanding things. 

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