Compare and contrast the characters of Caliban and Ariel.

The following points detail the characteristic similarities and differences between Caliban and Ariel:

1. Both are elemental beings – Ariel has the elements of air and fire in his composition while Caliban has the elements of earth and water.
2. Both long for freedom. Freedom is the very need of Ariel’s existence. Caliban’s idea of freedom is to be released from all tasks, and to be left to himself or perhaps a change of one master for another.
3. Ariel is dainty and graceful. He is an elemental being with the finer instinct of an artist. Caliban is grotesque. He is misshapen in body and manners.
4. Ariel has a love of innocent fun. Caliban is full of malignity.
5. Ariel is pure intelligence. Caliban has brutish senses.
6. Ariel has feeling of gratitude towards Prospero and is also emotionally attached to Prospero. Caliban has no reason for both towards Prospero.
7. Ariel is the agent of the beneficent purposes of Prospero. Caliban is a mere slave of Prospero.
8. Neither of them has any moral sense of conscience.