Stephano, Trinculo and Caliban with Prospero’s Magic Wardrobe 1821

Robert Smirke created this drawing of Stephano, Trinculo, and Caliban at an unknown date using pen and brown ink, with grey wash, over graphite. The composition is dominated by the earth-toned palette, which creates a sense of enclosure and mystery, reflecting the play's themes of confinement and illusion. Smirke uses hatching and washes of brown ink to model the figures, which gives them a somewhat grotesque and theatrical appearance. The characters emerge from the shadows, emphasizing their distorted and morally ambiguous nature. Caliban is drawn with exaggerated features, consistent with his representation as a ‘savage’ man. Smirke uses costume as a tool to explore the ideas of social transgression and the disruption of natural order found in Shakespeare's play. The figures’ interactions, emphasized by Smirke's stark lines and contrasts, suggest a world turned upside down, where the boundaries between reality and illusion are constantly challenged. This drawing reminds us that the interpretation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest is always evolving.