Starter Book: English Together: Teacher s Guide

The name has entered the language to mean any brutal and debased person. The name is Shakespeare's invention but it may be guessed that it was suggested by "cannibal," a word which had been made prominent by explorations of the New World (see page I-617). … my dam's god, Setebos Caliban is called forth to do some labor and appears, railing and cursing, misshapen and monstrous. He complains that it was his island before Prospero came and that now he has been enslaved, but Prospero insists that they had tried to treat him with humanity and kindness and that in response he had tried to rape Miranda. Caliban, however he may wish to rebel, must do as he is told. He says: / must obey. His art is of such pow'r It would control my dam's god, Setebos, And make a vassal of him.   —Act I, scene ii, lines 372-74 Setebos was a god worshiped by the Patagonians of southern South America. He was first mentioned by Ferdinand Magellan, whose expedition in 1519-22 was the first to circumnavigate the world. Setebos then appeared in English in a book called History of Travel by Robert Eden, published in 1577 ...»