The Heart Of The Savage In The Tempest Caliban the deformed savage on the island from his first appearance in the play is more animal than human. Prospero first refers to Caliban by calling him a, "tortoise" (1.2.318).This sets the tone for Caliban's character in the play as he is labeled as a semi-beast in the play. But interestingly despite Caliban's deformed body and animal like appearance he possess remarkable eloquence that gives him power. Prospero, a renaissance prince even with his velvety language only equals Caliban in eloquence. In some ways this dichotomy between Caliban's appearance in the play and his rema