8.2.5
Trinculo
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Trinculo Character Summary
Trinculo is King Alonso’s jester and provides the audience with coarse humour that was popular at the time.
Comic relief
- On stage, he would have worn a colourful costume that would have left the audience in no doubt about his position.
- In Act 4, Scene 1, the two men are distracted from their plot to kill Prospero by the clothes and trinkets put on stage by Ariel.
- This highlights their inability to be good rulers and the ridiculousness of such a notion. This implies that the divine order is needed to maintain order in society.
- At court, Trinculo is very low level.
Prose vs verse
- Even when Caliban is speaking about an opportunity for the two men to gain power by overthrowing Prospero on the island, Trinculo cannot avoid mocking Caliban. It is not often that the jester would have somebody he could look down upon in this way.
- Both Stephano and Trinculo typically speak in prose as opposed to the verse used by other members of the royal party. This highlights their lowly status.
Drunkenness
- They are also seen as drunk on stage, demonstrating common conceptions of the lower classes who were seen to waste the little money they had on alcohol.
- Even though Caliban would have been seen to be lower than the jester and butler within the Jacobean social ranking system, the presentation of Trinculo and Stephano on stage would make us question this.
- This presentation reflects up and coming ideas about whether the natives were really the ‘cannibals’ they were stereotypically made out to be or not!
Key Quotations - Trinculo
Here are three key quotations that highlight aspects of Trinculo's character:
'Thou liest, most ignorant monster'
- 'Thou liest, most ignorant monster: I am in case to / justle a constable. Why, thou deboshed fish thou, / was there ever man a coward that hath drunk so much / sack as I to-day? Wilt thou tell a monstrous lie, / being but half a fish and half a monster?'
- Trinculo viciously attacks Caliban - it makes us feel sorry for Caliban, that he is being mistreated by a comedic and laughable figure like Trinculo.
'A most perfidious and drunken monster'
- Trinculo: 'By this light, a most perfidious and drunken / monster! when 's god's asleep, he'll rob his bottle.'
- Caliban: 'I'll kiss thy foot; I'll swear myself thy subject.'
- Trinculo is a ridiculous and drunken figure, so it seems laughable that Caliban would 'kiss' his foot and swear his loyalty to him. This highlights Caliban's vulnerable state and the comedic role of Trinculo.
1Key Words
2Context & Overview
2.1Context & Overview
3Act 1
3.1Act 1 Analysis
4Act 2
4.1Act 2 Analysis
5Act 3
5.1Act 3 Analysis
6Act 4
6.1Act 4 Analysis
7Act 5
7.1Act 5 Analysis
8Key Characters
8.1Major Characters
8.2Minor Characters
9Themes
10Authorial Method
10.1Authorial Method
11Recap: Main Quotes
11.1Characters Quotes
Jump to other topics
1Key Words
2Context & Overview
2.1Context & Overview
3Act 1
3.1Act 1 Analysis
4Act 2
4.1Act 2 Analysis
5Act 3
5.1Act 3 Analysis
6Act 4
6.1Act 4 Analysis
7Act 5
7.1Act 5 Analysis
8Key Characters
8.1Major Characters
8.2Minor Characters
9Themes
10Authorial Method
10.1Authorial Method
11Recap: Main Quotes
11.1Characters Quotes
Practice questions on Trinculo
Can you answer these? Test yourself with free interactive practice on Seneca — used by over 10 million students.
- 1What is Trinculo's job in the court? Multiple choice
- 2Choose the statements that are true of Trinculo: True / false
- 3Complete these quotations for Trinculo: Fill in the list
- 4What's the correct version of this quotation from Trinculo?Multiple choice
- 5Key Quotation for TrinculoPut in order
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