“Which first was mine own king. And here you sty me in this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me the rest o’ th’ island.”- Caliban (Act 1, Scene 2 lines 343-345)

What Caliban means in this quote is that he was once his own king, able to do as he pleased on his island and now he is confined to a small rocky portion of the island, not allowed to live and appreciate the rest of it. He says “Which first was mine own king.” referring to himself as a king meaning he thought of himself as owner and ruler of the island. Another interesting aspect of this quote is that Caliban isn’t allowed to use the whole of the island but instead is essentially imprisoned to what seems like the worse side of the island, describing it as “hard rock” which must mean its uncomfortable.

These two aspects of this quote are very important because they illustrate interesting topics about the people of the new world. The first part of the quote when Caliban states himself as his own king is  an interesting idea because normally natives are typically portrayed as not owning the land they live on, not even understanding the idea of being a land owner. It is also of interest because of the terminology Caliban uses, he referrers to himself as king which is a European idea that he must have picked up from the teaching of Prospero. The second interesting idea is that Caliban is forced to live on the “worse side” of the island. This is of importance because is can symbolize the native people being forced from there prosperous homes to more unwanted lands.