Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: A Marvel of Monsters
- The Epic of Gilgamesh — Selections
- The Bible — Selections
- Hesiod, Theogony — Selections
- Homer, The Odyssey, Odysseus and his Men Encounter the Cyclops
- Bust of Polyphemus
- Pliny the Elder, Natural History — Selections
- Ovid, Metamorphoses, Lycaon and Cadmus
- St. Augustine of Hippo, City of God — Selections (XVI.vii–ix; XXI.vii–viii)
- Táin Bó Cúailnge (Cattle Raid of Cooley) — Selections
- The Wonders of the East
- Donestre, Huntress, and Boar-Tusked Women
- Beowulf Introduction, Fight With Grendel, the Attack By Grendel's Mother, Fight With Grendel's Mother, and Fight With the Dragon)
- Modern Images of Grendel: (Twentieth Century)
- Marie de France, Bisclavret
- Völsunga saga (The Saga of the Volsungs) — Selections
- The Life of Saint Christopher
- Illumination of Saint Christopher
- The Alliterative Morte Arthure — Selections
- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight — Selections
- Ambroise Paré, on Monsters Book 25: Treating of Monsters and Prodigies
- Renaissance Figures of Monsters: First Published in Ambroise Paré, Les Oeuures D'Ambroise Paré, Conseiller, Et Premier Chirurgien Du Roy (Lyon, Chez Jean GréGoire, 1664).
- Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene — Selections
- William Shakespeare, The Tempest — Selections
- Images of Caliban
- John Spencer, A Discourse Concerning Prodigies: Wherein the Vanity of Presages by them is Reprehended, and their True and Proper Ends are Indicated
- John Milton, Paradise Lost — Selections
- Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus — Selections
- Frankenstein Frontispiece
- Edgar Allan Poe, “William Wilson”
- Christina Rossetti, “Goblin Market”
- Illustration of Buy From Us With A Golden Curl
- Lewis Carroll, “Jabberwocky”
- Illustration of Jabberwocky
- Ambrose Bierce, “The Damned Thing”
- Bram Stoker, Dracula — Selections
- Frontispiece to Bram Stoker, Dracula
- Algernon Blackwood, “Ancient Sorceries”
- H. P. Lovecraft, “The Call of Cthulhu”
- Sketch of Cthulhu
- C. L. Moore, “Shambleau”
- J.R.R. Tolkien, the Hobbit, or There and Back Again — Selections
- Theodore Sturgeon, “It!”
- Ray Bradbury, “Fever Dream”
- Edward D. Hoch, “The Faceless Thing”
- John Gardner, Grendel — Selections
- Joyce Carol Oates, “Secret Observations on the Goat-Girl”
- Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake — Selections
- Slender Man
- The SCP (Special Containment Procedures) Foundation
- Contributor Biographies
Images of Caliban
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 January 2021
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: A Marvel of Monsters
- The Epic of Gilgamesh — Selections
- The Bible — Selections
- Hesiod, Theogony — Selections
- Homer, The Odyssey, Odysseus and his Men Encounter the Cyclops
- Bust of Polyphemus
- Pliny the Elder, Natural History — Selections
- Ovid, Metamorphoses, Lycaon and Cadmus
- St. Augustine of Hippo, City of God — Selections (XVI.vii–ix; XXI.vii–viii)
- Táin Bó Cúailnge (Cattle Raid of Cooley) — Selections
- The Wonders of the East
- Donestre, Huntress, and Boar-Tusked Women
- Beowulf Introduction, Fight With Grendel, the Attack By Grendel's Mother, Fight With Grendel's Mother, and Fight With the Dragon)
- Modern Images of Grendel: (Twentieth Century)
- Marie de France, Bisclavret
- Völsunga saga (The Saga of the Volsungs) — Selections
- The Life of Saint Christopher
- Illumination of Saint Christopher
- The Alliterative Morte Arthure — Selections
- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight — Selections
- Ambroise Paré, on Monsters Book 25: Treating of Monsters and Prodigies
- Renaissance Figures of Monsters: First Published in Ambroise Paré, Les Oeuures D'Ambroise Paré, Conseiller, Et Premier Chirurgien Du Roy (Lyon, Chez Jean GréGoire, 1664).
- Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene — Selections
- William Shakespeare, The Tempest — Selections
- Images of Caliban
- John Spencer, A Discourse Concerning Prodigies: Wherein the Vanity of Presages by them is Reprehended, and their True and Proper Ends are Indicated
- John Milton, Paradise Lost — Selections
- Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus — Selections
- Frankenstein Frontispiece
- Edgar Allan Poe, “William Wilson”
- Christina Rossetti, “Goblin Market”
- Illustration of Buy From Us With A Golden Curl
- Lewis Carroll, “Jabberwocky”
- Illustration of Jabberwocky
- Ambrose Bierce, “The Damned Thing”
- Bram Stoker, Dracula — Selections
- Frontispiece to Bram Stoker, Dracula
- Algernon Blackwood, “Ancient Sorceries”
- H. P. Lovecraft, “The Call of Cthulhu”
- Sketch of Cthulhu
- C. L. Moore, “Shambleau”
- J.R.R. Tolkien, the Hobbit, or There and Back Again — Selections
- Theodore Sturgeon, “It!”
- Ray Bradbury, “Fever Dream”
- Edward D. Hoch, “The Faceless Thing”
- John Gardner, Grendel — Selections
- Joyce Carol Oates, “Secret Observations on the Goat-Girl”
- Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake — Selections
- Slender Man
- The SCP (Special Containment Procedures) Foundation
- Contributor Biographies
Summary
Critical Introduction
John Hamilton Mortimer (1740–1779) was a painter of history scenes and portraits, as well as an illustrator. His speciality was romantic images of Italy. His depiction of Caliban is one of a series of images of Shakespearean characters that also included Shylock, Ophelia, and Richard II. The image, like the rest of the series, stresses both the external appearance and the dramatic emotion of the character. The image emphasizes the duality of this monster: he is base and bestial, a goat-man driven by uncontained lusts, but also a tormented creature eliciting pathos from the viewer.
Charles A. Buchel (1872–1950) was a late Victorian painter and printmaker who produced numerous images of Shakespeare performances, including several of Herbert Beerbohm Tree, a leading actor of his day and successful theatre manager. Buchel's paintings of Tree seem especially interested in the roles of outsiders and villains such as Macbeth, Othello, Shylock, and Caliban. His drawing of Tree as Caliban displays the character's distinctly monstrous fea-tures—whiskers, fangs, and pointed ears—but the stress is on the actor's emotion. He seems more frightened than frightful, with his shining eyes peering out from beneath his shaggy brows. While there is a besital quality to the figure, it is one that seems to stress his role as hunted rather than as hunter. This drawing was made in preparation for a full figure illustration that shows Caliban's furry body and taloned hands and feet, but also shows him clutching what seems to be a rosary. Tree was the first major star to choose to play Caliban over Prospero, and he was also the first to use electric lighting for a theatrical production. It was used to stress Tree's emotional performance, captured in Buchel's drawing.
Viewing Questions
What are the strong points of similarity between these two images? What are the interesting differences? How do the different media—engraving and charcoal—affect the images and your response to them?
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Primary Sources on MonstersDemonstrare Volume 2, pp. 158Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2018