Fortunately, Prospero intervenes and then forever stands in the way. Caliban cannot fulfill his sexual desire as long as the island’s powerful sorcerer is alive. Therefore he feels hatred and aggression toward his rival, but he is also afraid of Prospero’s threatening magic. For now, he bides his time by subduing the sexual impulses that demand pleasure. He secretly plans Prospero’s death while hiding this dark side from Miranda and Prospero. Once Prospero is removed from the picture, nothing can stop Caliban from assaulting Miranda. Until then, he goes into a stage of his psychosexual development called the latency period, a period where he suppresses his sexual feelings so deeply that they go in dormancy. All of this has to do with the absence of his mother. …show more content…
She is the only female character on the island, so she has no one of the same sex to identify with. Her mother died giving birth to her, so Prospero takes on both roles as the mother and father. There is no need for Miranda to compete for his attention if no other woman in the picture; she already possesses him. Even when Prospero’s attention was directed to his traitorous brother Antonio, Miranda didn’t bother fighting for it back. She was quick to replace her father with her soon-to-be husband Ferdinand. Since her love for her father was enough for Miranda, it has never come to the point to become erotic. Nor does she discover she lacks the penis that the male characters possess. Since she was purposely kept innocent, she was never struck by penis envy or comes to blame her mother for this perceived