“The nineteenth century dislike of Realism is the rage of Caliban, seeing his own face in a glass. The nineteenth century dislike of Romanticism is the Rage of Caliban, not seeing his own face in a glass.”

Caliban was a mythological figure; Oscar Wilde’s Caliban refers to William Shakespeare’s character of The Tempest.

Caliban is a savage and ugly double nature being, half-human and half-monster.

 The double nature of Caliban reflects Oscar Wilde idea about Victorian society: society is savage, as Caliban, and people cannot stand their true image (Realism); but, in turn, society refuses “his own face” and it is why people dislike Romanticism.

To sum up, Oscar Wilde uses Caliban to convey his disappoint about his contemporary society.