Critics make much of Caliban's name as an anagram for cannibal. However that does not mean that Shakespeare defines this character as someone who would eat people, as modern readers may assume. Instead, the Elizabethan meaning of cannibal is better described as someone who is a savage — uncultivated, uncivilized, untamed. Caliban is more closely defined as an innocent — more like a child who is innocent of the world and its code of behavior.
Many stage productions of The Tempest have depicted Caliban in varied ways — from the noble North American Indian, to African, to South American Indian or Mexican. But Shakespeare describes this creature as an innocent — perhaps half man and half fish. Trinculo and Stefano's descriptions are untrustworthy, since the first is frightened by the storm, and the second is drunk. What is clear is that Caliban's behavior suggests many questions about what is natural and what is unnatural. Is the attempted rape of Miranda or the plot to murder Prospero a natural behavior? These acts represent Caliban's attempts to survive, but this is not acceptable behavior among civilized men. These are the actions of wild, untutored animals. Caliban demonstrates no sense of morality nor any ability to understand or appreciate the needs of anyone other than himself. In Caliban's self-centeredness, he is little more than an animal. He wants to indulge his desires, without control. This is what being free means to Caliban, whose cry for freedom (II.2, 177–178) clarifies many of his actions.
