Caliban is a character in Shakespeare' s "The Tempest." He is a sub-human, born to a witch, and is kept in subjugation by Prospero, a nobleman with magical powers, who has been shipwrecked on a remote island. Caliban usually appears on stage dressed in animal skins, walking on all fours.
This quote, from an essay on "The Tempest," adds a bit more detail:
"According to the other inhabitants of the island, Caliban is a monster. He is a symbol of what they never want to become. Caliban reminds them to act as though they are worthy of their high social status. He is the painfully realistic entity around whom the other rulers on the island silently rally in order to maintain a social balance. They abhor him but desperately desire to possess him at the same time. On a narrower scale, the oppression of the underdog is obvious in the undesirable Caliban and his relationship to [the other characters]."
