A mirror view: Caliban and Gollum

Between the boarders of imagination, there is an unlimited world of possibilities, where characters from different works or books can very often bee seen as one, like a reflected image of the same person in different kind of mirrors. The central person is one, but the reflections are different, according to the shapes, sizes and positions of the mirrors, each one of them showing only a part of the actual image. The characters form a fictional work are the mirror images of the authors ideas and beliefs, being different according to the authors conceptions, but often resembling each other, as they are being reflected in the same kind of mirror. In the following pages I would like to present the similarities between two different mirror images: Caliban, from Shakespeares play The Tempest and Gollum, from Tolkiens trilogy The Lord of the Rings. As different the two worlds from which the characters are taken may seem, they resemble each other in many aspects, being possible to state that Tolkien took some ideas from Shakespeares creations, or rather that he created his world in an already existing field of imagination, with already existing mirrors, in which more than one character is reflected. Starting with the location of the action in The Tempest, on an isolated island, ruled by magical forces, that resembles Lorien from The Lord of the Rings, about which Haldir refers to as being an island where the hart of the elves dwell1, similarities between the characters can be observed, such as Gollum and Caliban. Their name are both a result of a certain malformation of speech or habit, Caliban being named for cannibalism, while Gollum is named for the sound he often makes, as he would swallow something2. Their looks are also similar, both of them being a degeneration of their original

1 2

J.R.R. Tolkien, Lothlorien in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Bucharest: Rao, 2002, p.486 J.R.R. Tolkien, Riddles in the dark in The Hobbit, Bucharest: Rao, 2002, p.72

2 forms. As it can be concluded from the other characters description, Caliban resembles a fish, being rather a monster than a human:
[]What have we here? a man or a fish? dead or alive? A fish: he smells like a fish; a very ancient and fishlike smell; a kind of not of the newest PoorJohn. A strange fish! []there would this monster make a man; any strange beast there makes a man: when they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar, they will lazy out ten to see a dead Indian. Legged like a man and his fins like arms! Warm o' my troth! I do now let loose my opinion; hold it no longer: this is no fish, but an islander, that hath lately suffered by a thunderbolt.[]3

Caliban is a creature who tried to evolve to humanity by learning its language and characteristics, while Gollum is a degenerated hobbit, who once was human-like, but who was consumed by the will of the ring and so degenerated in the creature that he is, both Caliban and Gollum deviating from their origins. As a consequence, even their language bears the mark of their deformity, neither of them speaking as the people around them do. For example, Gollum calls the moon The White Face4, while Caliban refers to the sun and the moon as the bigger light and [] the less5. The idea of fish appearing very often in the description of Caliban is also clearly present around Gollums figure, whose second deepest and uncontrolled desire is fish.
3 4

W. Shakespeare, The Tempest in William Shakespeare Complete Works, New York: Penguin Books, 2002, p.749 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Forbidden Pool in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Bucharest: Rao, 2002, p.369 5 Shakespeare, p.737

3 In their lives there is a certain thing that they want to achieve, a dark purpose standing at the central mind of both characters, giving them straight and at the same time making them do horrible things. For Caliban, there is a strong wish of regaining the island back, as he would be the rightful hair and owner before Prospero came. He considers that Prospero tricked him with his gentleness and his knowledge of humanity, in order to find the secrets of the island and stole it from him:
This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother, Which thou takest from me. When thou camest first, Thou strokedst me and madest much of me, wouldst give me Water with berries in't, and teach me how To name the bigger light, and how the less, That burn by day and night: and then I loved thee And show'd thee all the qualities o' the isle, The fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place and fertile: Cursed be I that did so!6

In Gollums case, there is his strong desire to get the one ring back, his precious 7, the thing that he considers to be a gift for his birthday8, and so, being the rightful owner, he fights to be in its possession again. Both of them have to serve their masters, but they are doing it with repulsion, Caliban hating Prospero for taking the island from him, while Gollum is tormented by his inner fight between his desire to kill Frodo for taking the ring and his vow to lead him to Mordor. Both characters are willing to do anything for the purpose of regaining what they consider to be rightful theirs, eventually planning to kill their masters in their sleep. Gollum tries a number of times to get the ring from Frodo while he was sleeping, but only ending in failure, so he finds help in the creature Shelob in the same way as Caliban finds help in Stephano

6 7

Shakespeare, p.737 J.R.R. Tolkien, Riddles in the dark in The Hobbit, Bucharest: Rao, 2002, p.79 8 ibidem

4 and Trinculo, both hoping that by using their helpers, they will get their precious things back. But none of them manages to accomplish their wishes, Calibans plot being revealed by Prospero, while Gollums desire only brings him death, as he ends up falling in the fires of Mount Doom along with the ring. These two unique characters are created as the result of different ideas reflected in the same mirror, a mirror of desires, so the result is not a similitude based on their origins of creation, but a similarity of their final forms, both Shakespeare and Tolkien portraying their creatures as being ruled by a strong will, the desire to take back what they believe is rightfully theirs. The origins of Caliban are almost unknown, all that can be stated being the fact that he is Sycorax son, a witch who litter9 him on that island. About Gollums past there is also little information, all that is revealed being the fact that he was once very similar to a hobbit, bearing the name of Smagol, and he was living in a wealthy family from which he was the most prying10. Having an uncertain past, waiting for an uncertain future, both Caliban and Gollums personalities are created from the present acts and are governed by their desire to take back their belongings, dominated by the image of greed and possession, being incapable to change the mirror in which they are reflected. As a consequence, both Shakespeare and Tolkiens characters remain trapped in their mirror world, neither of them being able to release himself from the prison of his own wishes. Caliban remains Prosperos servant, probably still hoping to take his island back, and Gollum ends in a tragic way, falling in the fires of Mount Doom, destroyed along with the very thing he most desired to protect.

10

Shakespeare, p.734 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Shadow of the Past in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Bucharest: Rao, 2002, p.83