THE TEMPEST
by William Shakespeare
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
ALONSO, King of Naples
SEBASTIAN, his Brother
PROSPERO, the right Duke
of Milan
ANTONIO, his Brother, the usurping Duke of Milan
FERDINAND, Son
to the King of Naples
GONZALO, an honest old counsellor
ADRIAN,
Lord
FRANCISCO,Lord
CALIBAN, a savage and deformed Slave
TRINCULO, a
Jester
STEPHANO, a drunken Butler
MASTER OF A
SHIP
BOATSWAIN
MARINERS
MIRANDA, Daughter to Prospero
ARIEL, an airy Spirit
IRIS, presented by Spirits
CERES, presented by Spirits
JUNO, presented
by Spirits
NYMPHS, presented by Spirits
REAPERS, presented by Spirits
Other Spirits attending on Prospero
SCENE:
The sea, with a Ship; afterwards an Island
THE TEMPEST
ACT 1
SCENE 1
[On a ship at sea; a tempestuous noise of thunder and
lightning
heard]
[Enter a SHIPMASTER and a BOATSWAIN severally]
MASTER.
Boatswain!
BOATSWAIN.
Here, master: what cheer?
MASTER.
Good! Speak to the mariners: fall to't yarely, or
we run
ourselves aground: bestir, bestir.
[Exit]
[Enter MARINERS]
BOATSWAIN.
Heigh, my hearts! cheerly, cheerly, my hearts!
yare, yare!
Take in the topsail. Tend to th' master's
whistle.--Blow till thou burst thy
wind, if room enough.
[Enter ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, FERDINAND, GONZALO, and
OTHERS]
ALONSO.
Good boatswain, have care. Where's the master?
Play the
men.
BOATSWAIN.
I pray now, keep below.
ANTONIO.
Where is the master, boson?
BOATSWAIN.
Do you not hear him? You mar our labour:
keep your cabins:
you do assist the storm.
GONZALO.
Nay, good, be patient.
BOATSWAIN.
When the sea is. Hence! What cares these
roarers for the
name of king? To cabin! silence! Trouble
us not.
GONZALO.
Good, yet remember whom thou hast aboard.
BOATSWAIN.
None that I more love than myself. You are
counsellor: if
you can command these elements to
silence, and work the peace of the present,
we will not
hand a rope more. Use your authority: if you cannot,
give
thanks you have lived so long, and make yourself ready
in your cabin
for the mischance of the hour, if it so
hap.--Cheerly, good hearts!--Out of
our way, I say.
[Exit]
GONZALO.
I have great comfort from this fellow. Methinks
he hath no
drowning mark upon him: his complexion is
perfect gallows. Stand fast, good
Fate, to his hanging!
make the rope of his destiny our cable, for our own
doth
little advantage! If he be not born to be hang'd, our
case is
miserable.
[Exeunt]
[Re-enter BOATSWAIN]
BOATSWAIN.
Down with the topmast! yare! lower, lower!
Bring her to try
wi' th' maincourse. [A cry within] A
plague upon this howling! They are
louder than the
weather or our office.--
[Re-enter SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, and GONZALO]
Yet again! What do you here? Shall we give o'er, and
drown? Have you a
mind to sink?
SEBASTIAN.
A pox o' your throat, you bawling, blasphemous,
incharitable
dog!
BOATSWAIN.
Work you, then.
ANTONIO.
Hang, cur, hang! you whoreson, insolent noisemaker,
we are
less afraid to be drowned than thou art.
GONZALO.
I'll warrant him for drowning, though the ship were
no
stronger than a nutshell, and as leaky as an unstanched
wench.
BOATSWAIN.
Lay her a-hold, a-hold! set her two courses: off
to sea
again: lay her off.
[Enter MARINERS, Wet]
MARINERS.
All lost! to prayers, to prayers! all lost!
[Exeunt]
BOATSWAIN.
What, must our mouths be cold?
GONZALO.
The King and Prince at prayers! let us assist them,
For our
case is as theirs.
SEBASTIAN.
I am out of patience.
ANTONIO.
We are merely cheated of our lives by drunkards.--
This
wide-chapp'd rascal--would thou might'st lie drowning
The washing of ten
tides!
GONZALO.
He'll be hang'd yet,
Though every drop of water swear against
it,
And gape at wid'st to glut him.
[A confused noise within:--'Mercy on us!'--
'We split, we
split!'--'Farewell, my wife and children!'--
'Farewell, brother!'--'We split,
we split, we split!'--]
ANTONIO.
Let's all sink wi' the King.
[Exit]
SEBASTIAN.
Let's take leave of him.
[Exit]
GONZALO.
Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for
an acre of
barren ground; long heath, brown furze, any
thing. The wills above be done!
but I would fain die
dry death.
[Exit]
SCENE 2
[The Island. Before the cell of PROSPERO]
[Enter PROSPERO and MIRANDA]
MIRANDA.
If by your art, my dearest father, you have
Put the wild
waters in this roar, allay them.
The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking
pitch,
But that the sea, mounting to th' welkin's cheek,
Dashes the fire
out. O! I have suffered
With those that I saw suffer: a brave vessel,
Who
had, no doubt, some noble creatures in her,
Dash'd all to pieces. O! the cry
did knock
Against my very heart. Poor souls, they perish'd.
Had I been any
god of power, I would
Have sunk the sea within the earth, or e'er
It
should the good ship so have swallow'd and
The fraughting souls within
her.
PROSPERO.
Be collected:
No more amazement: tell your piteous
heart
There's no harm done.
MIRANDA.
O! woe the day!
PROSPERO.
No harm.
I have done nothing but in care of thee,
Of thee,
my dear one, thee, my daughter, who
Art ignorant of what thou art, nought
knowing
Of whence I am: nor that I am more better
Than Prospero, master of
a full poor cell,
And thy no greater father.
MIRANDA.
More to know
Did never meddle with my thoughts.
PROSPERO.
'Tis time
I should inform thee farther. Lend thy hand,
And
pluck my magic garment from me.--So:
[Lays down his mantle]
Lie there my art.--Wipe thou thine eyes; have comfort.
The direful
spectacle of the wrack, which touch'd
The very virtue of compassion in
thee,
I have with such provision in mine art
So safely ordered that there
is no soul--
No, not so much perdition as an hair
Betid to any creature in
the vessel
Which thou heard'st cry, which thou saw'st sink. Sit down;
For
thou must now know farther.
MIRANDA.
You have often
Begun to tell me what I am: but stopp'd,
And
left me to a bootless inquisition,
Concluding 'Stay; not yet.'
PROSPERO.
The hour's now come,
The very minute bids thee ope thine
ear;
Obey, and be attentive. Canst thou remember
A time before we came
unto this cell?
I do not think thou canst: for then thou wast not
Out
three years old.
MIRANDA.
Certainly, sir, I can.
PROSPERO.
By what? By any other house, or person?
Of any thing the
image, tell me, that
Hath kept with thy remembrance.
MIRANDA.
'Tis far off,
And rather like a dream than an
assurance
That my remembrance warrants. Had I not
Four, or five, women
once, that tended me?
PROSPERO.
Thou hadst, and more, Miranda. But how is it
That this lives
in thy mind? What seest thou else
In the dark backward and abysm of
time?
If thou rememb'rest aught ere thou cam'st here,
How thou cam'st
here, thou mayst.
MIRANDA.
But that I do not.
PROSPERO.
Twelve year since, Miranda, twelve year since,
Thy father was
the Duke of Milan, and
A prince of power.
MIRANDA.
Sir, are not you my father?
PROSPERO.
Thy mother was a piece of virtue, and
She said thou wast my
daughter: and thy father
Was Duke of Milan, and his only heir
And
princess,--no worse issued.
MIRANDA.
O, the heavens!
What foul play had we that we came from
thence?
Or blessed was't we did?
PROSPERO.
Both, both, my girl.
By foul play, as thou say'st, were we
heav'd thence;
But blessedly holp hither.
MIRANDA.
O! my heart bleeds
To think o' th' teen that I have turn'd you
to,
Which is from my remembrance. Please you, further.
PROSPERO.
My brother and thy uncle, call'd Antonio--
I pray thee, mark
me,--that a brother should
Be so perfidious!--he, whom next thyself,
Of
all the world I lov'd, and to him put
The manage of my state; as at that
time
Through all the signories it was the first,
And Prospero the prime
duke, being so reputed
In dignity, and for the liberal arts,
Without a
parallel: those being all my study,
The government I cast upon my
brother,
And to my state grew stranger, being transported
And rapt in
secret studies. Thy false uncle--
Dost thou attend me?
MIRANDA.
Sir, most heedfully.
PROSPERO.
Being once perfected how to grant suits,
How to deny them,
who t' advance, and who
To trash for over-topping; new created
The
creatures that were mine, I say, or chang'd 'em,
Or else new form'd 'em:
having both the key
Of officer and office, set all hearts i' th' state
To
what tune pleas'd his ear: that now he was
The ivy which had hid my princely
trunk,
And suck'd my verdure out on't.--Thou attend'st not.
MIRANDA.
O, good sir! I do.
PROSPERO.
I pray thee, mark me.
I thus neglecting worldly ends, all
dedicated
To closeness and the bettering of my mind
With that, which, but
by being so retir'd,
O'er-priz'd all popular rate, in my false
brother
Awak'd an evil nature; and my trust,
Like a good parent, did beget
of him
A falsehood, in its contrary as great
As my trust was; which had
indeed no limit,
A confidence sans bound. He being thus lorded,
Not only
with what my revenue yielded,
But what my power might else exact,--like
one
Who having, into truth, by telling of it,
Made such a sinner of his
memory,
To credit his own lie,--he did believe
He was indeed the Duke; out
o' the substitution,
And executing th' outward face of royalty,
With all
prerogative.--Hence his ambition growing--
Dost thou hear?
MIRANDA.
Your tale, sir, would cure deafness.
PROSPERO.
To have no screen between this part he play'd
And him he
play'd it for, he needs will be
Absolute Milan. Me, poor man--my
library
Was dukedom large enough: of temporal royalties
He thinks me now
incapable; confederates,--
So dry he was for sway,--wi' th' King of
Naples
To give him annual tribute, do him homage;
Subject his coronet to
his crown, and bend
The dukedom, yet unbow'd--alas, poor Milan!--
To most
ignoble stooping.
MIRANDA.
O the heavens!
PROSPERO.
Mark his condition, and the event; then tell me
If this might
be a brother.
MIRANDA.
I should sin
To think but nobly of my grandmother:
Good
wombs have borne bad sons.
PROSPERO.
Now the condition.
This King of Naples, being an enemy
To
me inveterate, hearkens my brother's suit;
Which was, that he, in lieu o' the
premises
Of homage and I know not how much tribute,
Should presently
extirpate me and mine
Out of the dukedom, and confer fair Milan,
With all
the honours on my brother: whereon,
A treacherous army levied, one
midnight
Fated to the purpose, did Antonio open
The gates of Milan; and,
i' th' dead of darkness,
The ministers for th' purpose hurried thence
Me
and thy crying self.
MIRANDA.
Alack, for pity!
I, not rememb'ring how I cried out
then,
Will cry it o'er again: it is a hint
That wrings mine eyes to't.
PROSPERO.
Hear a little further,
And then I'll bring thee to the
present business
Which now's upon us; without the which this story
Were
most impertinent.
MIRANDA.
Wherefore did they not
That hour destroy us?
PROSPERO.
Well demanded, wench:
My tale provokes that question. Dear,
they durst not,
So dear the love my people bore me, nor set
A mark so
bloody on the business; but
With colours fairer painted their foul
ends.
In few, they hurried us aboard a bark,
Bore us some leagues to sea,
where they prepared
A rotten carcass of a boat, not rigg'd,
Nor tackle,
sail, nor mast: the very rats
Instinctively have quit it. There they hoist
us,
To cry to th' sea, that roar'd to us: to sigh
To th' winds, whose
pity, sighing back again,
Did us but loving wrong.
MIRANDA.
Alack! what trouble
Was I then to you!
PROSPERO.
O, a cherubin
Thou wast that did preserve me! Thou didst
smile,
Infused with a fortitude from heaven,
When I have deck'd the sea
with drops full salt,
Under my burden groan'd: which rais'd in me
An
undergoing stomach, to bear up
Against what should ensue.
MIRANDA.
How came we ashore?
PROSPERO.
By Providence divine.
Some food we had and some fresh water
that
A noble Neapolitan, Gonzalo,
Out of his charity,--who being then
appointed
Master of this design,--did give us, with
Rich garments, linens,
stuffs, and necessaries,
Which since have steaded much: so, of his
gentleness,
Knowing I lov'd my books, he furnish'd me,
From mine own
library with volumes that
I prize above my dukedom.
MIRANDA.
Would I might
But ever see that man!
PROSPERO.
Now I arise:--
[Resumes his mantle]
Sit still, and hear the last of our sea-sorrow.
Here in this island we
arriv'd: and here
Have I, thy schoolmaster, made thee more profit
Than
other princes can, that have more time
For vainer hours, and tutors not so
careful.
MIRANDA.
Heavens thank you for't! And now, I pray you, sir,--
For still
'tis beating in my mind,--your reason
For raising this sea-storm?
PROSPERO.
Know thus far forth.
By accident most strange, bountiful
Fortune,
Now my dear lady, hath mine enemies
Brought to this shore; and by
my prescience
I find my zenith doth depend upon
A most auspicious star,
whose influence
If now I court not but omit, my fortunes
Will ever after
droop. Here cease more questions;
Thou art inclin'd to sleep; 'tis a good
dulness,
And give it way;--I know thou canst not choose.--
[MIRANDA sleeps]
Come away, servant, come! I am ready now.
Approach, my Ariel; Come!
[Enter ARIEL]
ARIEL.
All hail, great master! grave sir, hail! I come
To answer thy
best pleasure; be't to fly,
To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride
On the
curl'd clouds; to thy strong bidding task
Ariel and all his quality.
PROSPERO.
Hast thou, spirit,
Perform'd to point the tempest that I bade
thee?
ARIEL.
To every article.
I boarded the King's ship; now on the
beak,
Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin,
I flam'd amazement;
sometime I'd divide,
And burn in many places; on the topmast,
The yards,
and boresprit, would I flame distinctly,
Then meet and join: Jove's
lightning, the precursors
O' th' dreadful thunder-claps, more
momentary
And sight-outrunning were not: the fire and cracks
Of sulphurous
roaring the most mighty Neptune
Seem to besiege and make his bold waves
tremble,
Yea, his dread trident shake.
PROSPERO.
My brave spirit!
Who was so firm, so constant, that this
coil
Would not infect his reason?
ARIEL.
Not a soul
But felt a fever of the mad, and play'd
Some
tricks of desperation. All but mariners
Plunged in the foaming brine and quit
the vessel,
Then all afire with me: the King's son, Ferdinand,
With hair
up-staring--then like reeds, not hair--
Was the first man that leapt; cried
'Hell is empty,
And all the devils are here.'
PROSPERO.
Why, that's my spirit!
But was not this nigh shore?
ARIEL.
Close by, my master.
PROSPERO.
But are they, Ariel, safe?
ARIEL.
Not a hair perish'd;
On their sustaining garments not a
blemish,
But fresher than before: and, as thou bad'st me,
In troops I have
dispers'd them 'bout the isle.
The king's son have I landed by
himself,
Whom I left cooling of the air with sighs
In an odd angle of the
isle, and sitting,
His arms in this sad knot.
PROSPERO.
Of the King's ship
The mariners, say how thou hast
dispos'd,
And all the rest o' th' fleet?
ARIEL.
Safely in harbour
Is the King's ship; in the deep nook, where
once
Thou call'dst me up at midnight to fetch dew
From the still-vex'd
Bermoothes; there she's hid:
The mariners all under hatches stowed;
Who,
with a charm join'd to their suff'red labour,
I have left asleep: and for the
rest o' th' fleet
Which I dispers'd, they all have met again,
And are
upon the Mediterranean flote
Bound sadly home for Naples,
Supposing that
they saw the king's ship wrack'd,
And his great person perish.
PROSPERO.
Ariel, thy charge
Exactly is perform'd; but there's more
work:
What is the time o' th' day?
ARIEL.
Past the mid season.
PROSPERO.
At least two glasses. The time 'twixt six and now
Must by us
both be spent most preciously.
ARIEL.
Is there more toil? Since thou dost give me pains,
Let me
remember thee what thou hast promis'd,
Which is not yet perform'd me.
PROSPERO.
How now! moody?
What is't thou canst demand?
ARIEL.
My liberty.
PROSPERO.
Before the time be out! No more!
ARIEL.
I prithee,
Remember I have done thee worthy service;
Told
thee no lies, made no mistakings, serv'd
Without or grudge or grumblings:
thou didst promise
To bate me a full year.
PROSPERO.
Dost thou forget
From what a torment I did free thee?
ARIEL.
No.
PROSPERO.
Thou dost; and think'st it much to tread the ooze
Of the salt
deep,
To run upon the sharp wind of the north,
To do me business in the
veins o' th' earth
When it is bak'd with frost.
ARIEL.
I do not, sir.
PROSPERO.
Thou liest, malignant thing! Hast thou forgot
The foul witch
Sycorax, who with age and envy
Was grown into a hoop? Hast thou forgot
her?
ARIEL.
No, sir.
PROSPERO.
Thou hast. Where was she born?
Speak; tell me.
ARIEL.
Sir, in Argier.
PROSPERO.
O! was she so? I must
Once in a month recount what thou hast
been,
Which thou forget'st. This damn'd witch Sycorax,
For mischiefs
manifold, and sorceries terrible
To enter human hearing, from Argier,
Thou
know'st,was banish'd: for one thing she did
They would not take her life. Is
not this true?
ARIEL.
Ay, sir.
PROSPERO.
This blue-ey'd hag was hither brought with child,
And here
was left by the sailors. Thou, my slave,
As thou report'st thyself, wast then
her servant:
And, for thou wast a spirit too delicate
To act her earthy
and abhorr'd commands,
Refusing her grand hests, she did confine thee,
By
help of her more potent ministers,
And in her most unmitigable rage,
Into
a cloven pine; within which rift
Imprison'd, thou didst painfully remain
A
dozen years; within which space she died,
And left thee there, where thou
didst vent thy groans
As fast as mill-wheels strike. Then was this
island--
Save for the son that she did litter here,
A freckl'd whelp,
hag-born--not honour'd with
A human shape.
ARIEL.
Yes; Caliban her son.
PROSPERO.
Dull thing, I say so; he, that Caliban,
Whom now I keep in
service. Thou best know'st
What torment I did find thee in; thy groans
Did
make wolves howl, and penetrate the breasts
Of ever-angry bears: it was a
torment
To lay upon the damn'd, which Sycorax
Could not again undo; it was
mine art,
When I arriv'd and heard thee, that made gape
The pine, and let
thee out.
ARIEL.
I thank thee, master.
PROSPERO.
If thou more murmur'st, I will rend an oak
And peg thee in
his knotty entrails till
Thou hast howl'd away twelve winters.
ARIEL.
Pardon, master:
I will be correspondent to command,
And do my
spriting gently.
PROSPERO.
Do so; and after two days
I will discharge thee.
ARIEL.
That's my noble master!
What shall I do? Say what? What shall I
do?
PROSPERO.
Go make thyself like a nymph o' th' sea: be subject
To no
sight but thine and mine; invisible
To every eyeball else. Go, take this
shape,
And hither come in 't: go, hence with diligence!
[Exit ARIEL]
Awake, dear heart, awake! thou hast slept well;
Awake!
MIRANDA.
[Waking] The strangeness of your story put
Heaviness in
me.
PROSPERO.
Shake it off. Come on;
We'll visit Caliban my slave, who
never
Yields us kind answer.
MIRANDA.
'Tis a villain, sir,
I do not love to look on.
PROSPERO.
But as 'tis,
We cannot miss him: he does make our
fire,
Fetch in our wood; and serves in offices
That profit us.--What ho!
slave! Caliban!
Thou earth, thou! Speak.
CALIBAN.
[Within] There's wood enough within.
PROSPERO.
Come forth, I say; there's other business for thee:
Come,
thou tortoise! when?
[Re-enter ARIEL like a water-nymph.]
Fine apparition! My quaint Ariel,
Hark in thine ear.
ARIEL.
My lord, it shall be done.
[Exit]
PROSPERO.
Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil himself
Upon thy
wicked dam, come forth!
[Enter CALIBAN]
CALIBAN.
As wicked dew as e'er my mother brush'd
With raven's feather
from unwholesome fen
Drop on you both! A south-west blow on ye,
And
blister you all o'er!
PROSPERO.
For this, be sure, to-night thou shalt have
cramps,
Side-stitches that shall pen thy breath up; urchins
Shall forth at
vast of night that they may work
All exercise on thee: thou shalt be
pinch'd
As thick as honeycomb, each pinch more stinging
Than bees that
made them.
CALIBAN.
I must eat my dinner.
This island's mine, by Sycorax my
mother,
Which thou tak'st from me. When thou cam'st first,
Thou strok'st
me and made much of me; wouldst give me
Water with berries in't; and teach me
how
To name the bigger light, and how the less,
That burn by day and
night: and then I lov'd thee,
And show'd thee all the qualities o' th'
isle,
The fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place, and fertile.
Curs'd be
I that did so! All the charms
Of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats, light on
you!
For I am all the subjects that you have,
Which first was mine own
king; and here you sty me
In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me
The rest o' th' island.
PROSPERO.
Thou most lying slave,
Whom stripes may move, not kindness! I
have us'd thee,
Filth as thou art, with human care, and lodg'd thee
In
mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate
The honour of my child.
CALIBAN.
Oh ho! Oh ho! Would it had been done!
Thou didst prevent me; I
had peopl'd else
This isle with Calibans.
PROSPERO.
Abhorred slave,
Which any print of goodness wilt not
take,
Being capable of all ill! I pitied thee,
Took pains to make thee
speak, taught thee each hour
One thing or other: when thou didst not,
savage,
Know thine own meaning, but wouldst gabble like
A thing most
brutish, I endow'd thy purposes
With words that made them known: but thy vile
race,
Though thou didst learn, had that in't which good natures
Could not
abide to be with; therefore wast thou
Deservedly confin'd into this rock, who
hadst
Deserv'd more than a prison.
CALIBAN.
You taught me language, and my profit on't
Is, I know how to
curse: the red plague rid you,
For learning me your language!
PROSPERO.
Hag-seed, hence!
Fetch us in fuel; and be quick, thou 'rt
best,
To answer other business. Shrug'st thou, malice?
If thou neglect'st,
or dost unwillingly
What I command, I'll rack thee with old cramps,
Fill
all thy bones with aches; make thee roar,
That beasts shall tremble at thy
din.
CALIBAN.
No, pray thee.--
[Aside] I must obey. His art is of such
power,
It would control my dam's god, Setebos,
And make a vassal of
him.
PROSPERO.
So, slave: hence!
[Exit CALIBAN]
[Re-enter ARIEL invisible, playing and singing;
FERDINAND following]
[ARIEL'S SONG.]
Come unto these yellow sands,
And then take hands:
Curtsied when you
have, and kiss'd,--
The wild waves whist,--
Foot it featly here and
there;
And, sweet sprites, the burden bear.
Hark, hark!
[Burden: Bow, wow, dispersedly.]
The watch dogs bark:
[Burden: Bow, wow, dispersedly.]
Hark, hark! I hear
The strain of
strutting Chanticleer
[Cry, Cock-a-diddle-dow.]
FERDINAND.
Where should this music be? i' th' air or th' earth?
It
sounds no more;--and sure it waits upon
Some god o' th' island. Sitting on a
bank,
Weeping again the king my father's wrack,
This music crept by me
upon the waters,
Allaying both their fury and my passion,
With its sweet
air: thence I have follow'd it,--
Or it hath drawn me rather,--but 'tis
gone.
No, it begins again.
[ARIEL sings]
Full fathom five thy father lies:
Of his bones are coral
made:
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth
fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and
strange.
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell:
[Burden:
Ding-dong.]
Hark! now I hear them--ding-dong, bell.
FERDINAND.
The ditty does remember my drown'd father.
This is no mortal
business, nor no sound
That the earth owes:--I hear it now above me.
PROSPERO.
The fringed curtains of thine eye advance,
And say what thou
seest yond.
MIRANDA.
What is't? a spirit?
Lord, how it looks about! Believe me,
sir,
It carries a brave form:--but 'tis a spirit.
PROSPERO.
No, wench; it eats and sleeps, and hath such senses
As we
have, such; this gallant which thou see'st
Was in the wrack; and but he's
something stain'd
With grief,--that beauty's canker,--thou mightst call
him
A goodly person: he hath lost his fellows
And strays about to find
'em.
MIRANDA.
I might call him
A thing divine; for nothing natural
I ever
saw so noble.
PROSPERO.
[Aside] It goes on, I see,
As my soul prompts it.--Spirit,
fine spirit! I'll free thee
Within two days for this.
FERDINAND.
Most sure, the goddess
On whom these airs
attend!--Vouchsafe, my prayer
May know if you remain upon this island;
And
that you will some good instruction give
How I may bear me here: my prime
request,
Which I do last pronounce, is,--O you wonder!--
If you be maid or
no?
MIRANDA.
No wonder, sir;
But certainly a maid.
FERDINAND.
My language! Heavens!--
I am the best of them that speak
this speech,
Were I but where 'tis spoken.
PROSPERO.
How! the best?
What wert thou, if the King of Naples heard
thee?
FERDINAND.
A single thing, as I am now, that wonders
To hear thee speak
of Naples. He does hear me;
And, that he does, I weep: myself am
Naples,
Who with mine eyes,--never since at ebb,--beheld
The King, my
father wrack'd.
MIRANDA.
Alack, for mercy!
FERDINAND.
Yes, faith, and all his lords, the Duke of Milan,
And his
brave son being twain.
PROSPERO.
[Aside.] The Duke of Milan,
And his more braver daughter
could control thee,
If now 'twere fit to do't.--At the first sight
[Aside.]
They have changed eyes;--delicate Ariel,
I'll set thee free for
this!--[To FERDINAND] A word, good sir:
I fear you have done yourself some
wrong: a word.
MIRANDA.
[Aside.] Why speaks my father so ungently? This
Is the third
man that e'er I saw; the first
That e'er I sigh'd for; pity move my
father
To be inclin'd my way!
FERDINAND.
[Aside.] O! if a virgin,
And your affection not gone forth,
I'll make you
The Queen of Naples.
PROSPERO.
Soft, sir; one word more--
[Aside] They are both in either's
powers: but this swift
business I must uneasy make, lest too light
winning
Make the prize light. [To FERDINAND] One word more:
I
charge thee
That thou attend me. Thou dost here usurp
The name thou ow'st
not; and hast put thyself
Upon this island as a spy, to win it
From me,
the lord on't.
FERDINAND.
No, as I am a man.
MIRANDA.
There's nothing ill can dwell in such a temple:
If the ill
spirit have so fair a house,
Good things will strive to dwell with't.
PROSPERO.
{To FERDINAND] Follow me.--
[To MIRANDA] Speak not you for
him; he's a traitor.--
[To FERDINAND] Come;
I'll manacle thy neck and feet
together:
Sea-water shalt thou drink; thy food shall be
The fresh-brook
mussels, wither'd roots, and husks
Wherein the acorn cradled. Follow.
FERDINAND.
No;
I will resist such entertainment till
Mine enemy has
more power.
[He draws, and is charmed from moving.]
MIRANDA.
O dear father!
Make not too rash a trial of him, for
He's
gentle, and not fearful.
PROSPERO.
What! I say,
My foot my tutor? Put thy sword up,
traitor;
Who mak'st a show, but dar'st not strike, thy conscience
Is so
possess'd with guilt: come from thy ward,
For I can here disarm thee with
this stick
And make thy weapon drop.
MIRANDA.
Beseech you, father!
PROSPERO.
Hence! Hang not on my garments.
MIRANDA.
Sir, have pity;
I'll be his surety.
PROSPERO.
Silence! One word more
Shall make me chide thee, if not hate
thee. What!
An advocate for an impostor? hush!
Thou think'st there is no
more such shapes as he,
Having seen but him and Caliban: foolish wench!
To
the most of men this is a Caliban,
And they to him are angels.
MIRANDA.
My affections
Are then most humble; I have no ambition
To
see a goodlier man.
PROSPERO.
[To FERDINAND] Come on; obey:
Thy nerves are in their infancy
again,
And have no vigour in them.
FERDINAND.
So they are:
My spirits, as in a dream, are all bound
up.
My father's loss, the weakness which I feel,
The wrack of all my
friends, nor this man's threats,
To whom I am subdued, are but light to
me,
Might I but through my prison once a day
Behold this maid: all corners
else o' th' earth
Let liberty make use of; space enough
Have I in such a
prison.
PROSPERO.
[Aside] It works.--[To FERDINAND] Come on.--
Thou hast done
well, fine Ariel! [To FERDINAND] Follow me.--
[To ARIEL] Hark what thou else
shalt do me.
MIRANDA.
Be of comfort;
My father's of a better nature, sir,
Than he
appears by speech: this is unwonted,
Which now came from him.
PROSPERO.
Thou shalt be as free
As mountain winds; but then exactly
do
All points of my command.
ARIEL.
To the syllable.
PROSPERO.
[To FERDINAND] Come, follow.--Speak not for him.
[Exeunt]
ACT 2
SCENE I.--Another part of the island
[Enter ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, GONZALO, ADRIAN, FRANCISCO,
and
OTHERS]
GONZALO.
Beseech you, sir, be merry; you have cause,
So have we all, of
joy; for our escape
Is much beyond our loss. Our hint of woe
Is common:
every day, some sailor's wife,
The masters of some merchant and the
merchant,
Have just our theme of woe; but for the miracle,
I mean our
preservation, few in millions
Can speak like us: then wisely, good sir,
weigh
Our sorrow with our comfort.
ALONSO.
Prithee, peace.
SEBASTIAN.
He receives comfort like cold porridge.
ANTONIO.
The visitor will not give him o'er so.
SEBASTIAN.
Look, he's winding up the watch of his wit; by
and by it
will strike.
GONZALO.
Sir,--
SEBASTIAN.
One: tell.
GONZALO.
When every grief is entertain'd that's offer'd,
Comes to the
entertainer--
SEBASTIAN.
A dollar.
GONZALO.
Dolour comes to him, indeed: you have spoken
truer than you
purposed.
SEBASTIAN.
You have taken it wiselier than I meant you should.
GONZALO.
Therefore, my lord,--
ANTONIO.
Fie, what a spendthrift is he of his tongue!
ALONSO.
I prithee, spare.
GONZALO.
Well, I have done: but yet--
SEBASTIAN.
He will be talking.
ANTONIO.
Which, of he or Adrian, for a good wager, first
begins to
crow?
SEBASTIAN.
The old cock.
ANTONIO.
The cockerel.
SEBASTIAN.
Done. The wager?
ANTONIO.
A laughter.
SEBASTIAN.
A match!
ADRIAN.
Though this island seem to be desert,--
SEBASTIAN.
Ha, ha, ha! So, you're paid.
ADRIAN.
Uninhabitable, and almost inaccessible,--
SEBASTIAN.
Yet--
ADRIAN.
Yet--
ANTONIO.
He could not miss it.
ADRIAN.
It must needs be of subtle, tender, and
delicate
temperance.
ANTONIO.
Temperance was a delicate wench.
SEBASTIAN.
Ay, and a subtle; as he most learnedly delivered.
ADRIAN.
The air breathes upon us here most sweetly.
SEBASTIAN.
As if it had lungs, and rotten ones.
ANTONIO.
Or, as 'twere perfum'd by a fen.
GONZALO.
Here is everything advantageous to life.
ANTONIO.
True; save means to live.
SEBASTIAN.
Of that there's none, or little.
GONZALO.
How lush and lusty the grass looks! how green!
ANTONIO.
The ground indeed is tawny.
SEBASTIAN.
With an eye of green in't.
ANTONIO.
He misses not much.
SEBASTIAN.
No; he doth but mistake the truth totally.
GONZALO.
But the rarity of it is,--which is indeed almost
beyond
credit,--
SEBASTIAN.
As many vouch'd rarities are.
GONZALO.
That our garments, being, as they were, drenched
in the sea,
hold notwithstanding their freshness and
glosses, being rather new-dyed than
stain'd with salt
water.
ANTONIO.
If but one of his pockets could speak, would it
not say he
lies?
SEBASTIAN.
Ay, or very falsely pocket up his report.
GONZALO.
Methinks, our garments are now as fresh as when
we put them on
first in Afric, at the marriage of the
king's fair daughter Claribel to the
King of Tunis.
SEBASTIAN.
'Twas a sweet marriage, and we prosper well in our return.
ADRIAN.
Tunis was never graced before with such a paragon
to their
queen.
GONZALO.
Not since widow Dido's time.
ANTONIO.
Widow! a pox o' that! How came that widow in? Widow Dido!
SEBASTIAN.
What if he had said, widower Aeneas too?
Good Lord, how you
take it!
ADRIAN.
Widow Dido said you? You make me study of that; she was
of
Carthage, not of Tunis.
GONZALO.
This Tunis, sir, was Carthage.
ADRIAN.
Carthage?
GONZALO.
I assure you, Carthage.
ANTONIO.
His word is more than the miraculous harp.
SEBASTIAN.
He hath rais'd the wall, and houses too.
ANTONIO.
What impossible matter will he make easy next?
SEBASTIAN.
I think he will carry this island home in his
pocket, and
give it his son for an apple.
ANTONIO.
And, sowing the kernels of it in the sea, bring
forth more
islands.
ALONSO.
Ay.
ANTONIO.
Why, in good time.
GONZALO.
[To ALONSO.] Sir, we were talking that our garments seem
now
as fresh as when we were at Tunis at the marriage of
your daughter,
who is now Queen.
ANTONIO.
And the rarest that e'er came there.
SEBASTIAN.
Bate, I beseech you, widow Dido.
ANTONIO.
O! widow Dido; ay, widow Dido.
GONZALO.
Is not, sir, my doublet as fresh as the first day I
wore it? I
mean, in a sort.
ANTONIO.
That sort was well fish'd for.
GONZALO.
When I wore it at your daughter's marriage?
ALONSO.
You cram these words into mine ears against
The stomach of my
sense. Would I had never
Married my daughter there! for, coming thence,
My
son is lost; and, in my rate, she too,
Who is so far from Italy remov'd,
I
ne'er again shall see her. O thou, mine heir
Of Naples and of Milan! what
strange fish
Hath made his meal on thee?
FRANCISCO.
Sir, he may live:
I saw him beat the surges under
him,
And ride upon their backs: he trod the water,
Whose enmity he flung
aside, and breasted
The surge most swoln that met him: his bold
head
'Bove the contentious waves he kept, and oar'd
Himself with his good
arms in lusty stroke
To th' shore, that o'er his wave-worn basis bowed,
As
stooping to relieve him. I not doubt
He came alive to land.
ALONSO.
No, no; he's gone.
SEBASTIAN.
Sir, you may thank yourself for this great loss,
That would
not bless our Europe with your daughter,
But rather lose her to an
African;
Where she, at least, is banish'd from your eye,
Who hath cause to
wet the grief on't.
ALONSO.
Prithee, peace.
SEBASTIAN.
You were kneel'd to, and importun'd otherwise
By all of us;
and the fair soul herself
Weigh'd between loathness and obedience at
Which
end o' th' beam should bow. We have lost your son,
I fear, for ever: Milan
and Naples have
More widows in them of this business' making,
Than we
bring men to comfort them; the fault's your own.
ALONSO.
So is the dearest of the loss.
GONZALO.
My lord Sebastian,
The truth you speak doth lack some
gentleness
And time to speak it in; you rub the sore,
When you should
bring the plaster.
SEBASTIAN.
Very well.
ANTONIO.
And most chirurgeonly.
GONZALO.
It is foul weather in us all, good sir,
When you are
cloudy.
SEBASTIAN.
Foul weather?
ANTONIO.
Very foul.
GONZALO.
Had I plantation of this isle, my lord,--
ANTONIO.
He'd sow 't with nettle-seed.
SEBASTIAN.
Or docks, or mallows.
GONZALO.
And were the king on't, what would I do?
SEBASTIAN.
'Scape being drunk for want of wine.
GONZALO.
I' the commonwealth I would by contraries
Execute all things;
for no kind of traffic
Would I admit; no name of magistrate;
Letters
should not be known; riches, poverty,
And use of service, none; contract,
succession,
Bourn, bound of land, tilth, vineyard, none;
No use of metal,
corn, or wine, or oil;
No occupation; all men idle, all:
And women too,
but innocent and pure;
No sovereignty,--
SEBASTIAN.
Yet he would be king on't.
ANTONIO.
The latter end of his commonwealth forgets the beginning.
GONZALO.
All things in common nature should produce
Without sweat or
endeavour; treason, felony,
Sword, pike, knife, gun, or need of any
engine,
Would I not have; but nature should bring forth,
Of it own kind,
all foison, all abundance,
To feed my innocent people.
SEBASTIAN.
No marrying 'mong his subjects?
ANTONIO.
None, man: all idle; whores and knaves.
GONZALO.
I would with such perfection govern, sir,
To excel the golden
age.
SEBASTIAN.
Save his Majesty!
ANTONIO.
Long live Gonzalo!
GONZALO.
And,--do you mark me, sir?
ALONSO.
Prithee, no more: thou dost talk nothing to me.
GONZALO.
I do well believe your highness; and did it to
minister
occasion to these gentlemen, who are of such
sensible and nimble lungs that
they always use to laugh
at nothing.
ANTONIO.
'Twas you we laugh'd at.
GONZALO.
Who in this kind of merry fooling am nothing to
you; so you
may continue, and laugh at nothing still.
ANTONIO.
What a blow was there given!
SEBASTIAN.
An it had not fallen flat-long.
GONZALO.
You are gentlemen of brave mettle: you would
lift the moon out
of her sphere, if she would continue
in it five weeks without changing.
[Enter ARIEL, invisible, playing solemn music]
SEBASTIAN.
We would so, and then go a-bat-fowling.
ANTONIO.
Nay, good my lord, be not angry.
GONZALO.
No, I warrant you; I will not adventure my
discretion so
weakly. Will you laugh me asleep, for I am
very heavy?
ANTONIO.
Go sleep, and hear us.
[All sleep but ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, and ANTONIO]
ALONSO.
What! all so soon asleep! I wish mine eyes
Would, with
themselves, shut up my thoughts: I find
They are inclin'd to do so.
SEBASTIAN.
Please you, sir,
Do not omit the heavy offer of it:
It
seldom visits sorrow; when it doth,
It is a comforter.
ANTONIO.
We two, my lord,
Will guard your person while you take your
rest,
And watch your safety.
ALONSO.
Thank you. Wondrous heavy!
[ALONSO sleeps. Exit ARIEL.]
SEBASTIAN.
What a strange drowsiness possesses them!
ANTONIO.
It is the quality o' th' climate.
SEBASTIAN.
Why
Doth it not then our eyelids sink? I find not
Myself
dispos'd to sleep.
ANTONIO.
Nor I: my spirits are nimble.
They fell together all, as by
consent;
They dropp'd, as by a thunder-stroke. What might,
Worthy
Sebastian? O! what might?--No more:--
And yet methinks I see it in thy
face,
What thou should'st be: The occasion speaks thee; and
My strong
imagination sees a crown
Dropping upon thy head.
SEBASTIAN.
What! art thou waking?
ANTONIO.
Do you not hear me speak?
SEBASTIAN.
I do: and surely
It is a sleepy language, and thou
speak'st
Out of thy sleep. What is it thou didst say?
This is a strange
repose, to be asleep
With eyes wide open; standing, speaking, moving,
And
yet so fast asleep.
ANTONIO.
Noble Sebastian,
Thou let'st thy fortune sleep--die rather:
wink'st
Whiles thou art waking.
SEBASTIAN.
Thou dost snore distinctly:
There's meaning in thy
snores.
ANTONIO.
I am more serious than my custom; you
Must be so too, if heed
me: which to do
Trebles thee o'er.
SEBASTIAN.
Well, I am standing water.
ANTONIO.
I'll teach you how to flow.
SEBASTIAN.
Do so: to ebb,
Hereditary sloth instructs me.
ANTONIO.
O!
If you but knew how you the purpose cherish
Whiles thus
you mock it! how, in stripping it,
You more invest it! Ebbing men
indeed,
Most often, do so near the bottom run
By their own fear or
sloth.
SEBASTIAN.
Prithee, say on:
The setting of thine eye and cheek
proclaim
A matter from thee, and a birth, indeed
Which throes thee much to
yield.
ANTONIO.
Thus, sir:
Although this lord of weak remembrance, this
Who
shall be of as little memory
When he is earth'd, hath here almost
persuaded,--
For he's a spirit of persuasion, only
Professes to
persuade,--the King his son's alive,
'Tis as impossible that he's
undrown'd
As he that sleeps here swims.
SEBASTIAN.
I have no hope
That he's undrown'd.
ANTONIO.
O! out of that 'no hope'
What great hope have you! No hope
that way is
Another way so high a hope, that even
Ambition cannot pierce a
wink beyond,
But doubts discovery there. Will you grant with me
That
Ferdinand is drown'd?
SEBASTIAN.
He's gone.
ANTONIO.
Then tell me,
Who's the next heir of Naples?
SEBASTIAN.
Claribel.
ANTONIO.
She that is Queen of Tunis; she that dwells
Ten leagues beyond
man's life; she that from Naples
Can have no note, unless the sun were
post--
The Man i' th' Moon's too slow--till newborn chins
Be rough and
razorable: she that from whom
We all were sea-swallow'd, though some cast
again,
And by that destiny, to perform an act
Whereof what's past is
prologue, what to come
In yours and my discharge.
SEBASTIAN.
What stuff is this!--How say you?
'Tis true, my brother's
daughter's Queen of Tunis;
So is she heir of Naples; 'twixt which
regions
There is some space.
ANTONIO.
A space whose every cubit
Seems to cry out 'How shall that
Claribel
Measure us back to Naples?--Keep in Tunis,
And let Sebastian
wake.'--Say this were death
That now hath seiz'd them; why, they were no
worse
Than now they are. There be that can rule Naples
As well as he that
sleeps; lords that can prate
As amply and unnecessarily
As this Gonzalo: I
myself could make
A chough of as deep chat. O, that you bore
The mind that
I do! What a sleep were this
For your advancement! Do you understand me?
SEBASTIAN.
Methinks I do.
ANTONIO.
And how does your content
Tender your own good fortune?
SEBASTIAN.
I remember
You did supplant your brother Prospero.
ANTONIO.
True.
And look how well my garments sit upon me;
Much
feater than before; my brother's servants
Were then my fellows; now they are
my men.
SEBASTIAN.
But, for your conscience,--
ANTONIO.
Ay, sir; where lies that? If 'twere a kibe,
'Twould put me to
my slipper: but I feel not
This deity in my bosom: twenty consciences
That
stand 'twixt me and Milan, candied be they
And melt ere they molest! Here
lies your brother,
No better than the earth he lies upon,
If he were that
which now he's like, that's dead:
Whom I, with this obedient steel,--three
inches of it,--
Can lay to bed for ever; whiles you, doing thus,
To the
perpetual wink for aye might put
This ancient morsel, this Sir Prudence,
who
Should not upbraid our course. For all the rest,
They'll take
suggestion as a cat laps milk:
They'll tell the clock to any business
that
We say befits the hour.
SEBASTIAN.
Thy case, dear friend,
Shall be my precedent: as thou got'st
Milan,
I'll come by Naples. Draw thy sword: one stroke
Shall free thee
from the tribute which thou pay'st,
And I the king shall love thee.
ANTONIO. Draw together:
And when I rear my hand, do you the like,
To
fall it on Gonzalo.
SEBASTIAN.
O! but one word.
[They converse apart.]
[Music. Re-enter ARIEL, invisible.]
ARIEL.
My master through his art foresees the danger
That you, his
friend, are in; and sends me forth--
For else his project dies--to keep thee
living.
[Sings in GONZALO'S ear]
While you here do snoring lie,
Open-ey'd
Conspiracy
His time doth take.
If of life you keep a care,
Shake off
slumber, and beware.
Awake! awake!
ANTONIO.
Then let us both be sudden.
GONZALO.
Now, good angels
Preserve the King!
[They wake]
ALONSO.
Why, how now! Ho, awake! Why are you drawn?
Wherefore this
ghastly looking?
GONZALO.
What's the matter?
SEBASTIAN.
Whiles we stood here securing your repose,
Even now, we
heard a hollow burst of bellowing
Like bulls, or rather lions; did't not wake
you?
It struck mine ear most terribly.
ALONSO.
I heard nothing.
ANTONIO.
O! 'twas a din to fright a monster's ear,
To make an
earthquake: sure it was the roar
Of a whole herd of lions.
ALONSO.
Heard you this, Gonzalo?
GONZALO.
Upon mine honour, sir, I heard a humming,
And that a strange
one too, which did awake me.
I shak'd you, sir, and cried; as mine eyes
open'd,
I saw their weapons drawn:--there was a noise,
That's verily. 'Tis
best we stand upon our guard,
Or that we quit this place: let's draw our
weapons.
ALONSO.
Lead off this ground: and let's make further search
For my poor
son.
GONZALO.
Heavens keep him from these beasts!
For he is, sure, i' th'
island.
ALONSO.
Lead away.
[Exit with the others.]
ARIEL.
Prospero my lord shall know what I have done:
So, King, go
safely on to seek thy son.
[Exit]
SCENE II. Another part of the island
[Enter CALIBAN, with a burden of wood. A noise of thunder
heard]
CALIBAN.
All the infections that the sun sucks up
From bogs, fens,
flats, on Prosper fall, and make him
By inch-meal a disease! His spirits hear
me,
And yet I needs must curse. But they'll nor pinch,
Fright me with
urchin-shows, pitch me i' the mire,
Nor lead me, like a firebrand, in the
dark
Out of my way, unless he bid 'em; but
For every trifle are they set
upon me:
Sometime like apes that mow and chatter at me,
And after bite me;
then like hedge-hogs which
Lie tumbling in my bare-foot way, and
mount
Their pricks at my foot-fall; sometime am I
All wound with adders,
who with cloven tongues
Do hiss me into madness.--
[Enter TRINCULO]
Lo, now, lo!
Here comes a spirit of his, and to torment me
For bringing
wood in slowly. I'll fall flat;
Perchance he will not mind me.
TRINCULO.
Here's neither bush nor shrub to bear off any
weather at all,
and another storm brewing; I hear it
sing i' th' wind; yond same black cloud,
yond huge one,
looks like a foul bombard that would shed his liquor. If
it
should thunder as it did before, I know not where to
hide my head: yond same
cloud cannot choose but fall by
pailfuls.--What have we here? a man or a
fish? dead or
alive? A fish: he smells like a fish: a very ancient
and
fish-like smell; a kind of not of the newest Poor-John. A
strange
fish! Were I in England now,--as once I was, and
had but this fish painted,
not a holiday fool there but
would give a piece of silver: there would this
monster
make a man; any strange beast there makes a man. When
they will
not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar, they
will lay out ten to see a dead
Indian. Legg'd like a
man, and his fins like arms! Warm, o' my troth! I do
now
let loose my opinion: hold it no longer; this is no
fish, but an
islander, that hath lately suffered by
thunderbolt. [Thunder] Alas, the storm
is come again! My
best way is to creep under his gaberdine; there is
no
other shelter hereabout: misery acquaints a man with
strange
bed-fellows. I will here shroud till the dregs
of the storm be past.
[Enter STEPHANO singing; a bottle in his hand]
STEPHANO.
I shall no more to sea, to sea,
Here shall I die
a-shore:--
This is a very scurvy tune to sing at a man's funeral:
Well, here's my
comfort.
[Drinks]
The master, the swabber, the boatswain, and I,
The gunner, and his
mate,
Lov'd Mall, Meg, and Marian, and Margery,
But none of us car'd for
Kate:
For she had a tongue with a tang,
Would cry to a sailor 'Go
hang!'
She lov'd not the savour of tar nor of pitch,
Yet a tailor might
scratch her wher-e'er she did itch.
Then to sea, boys, and let her go
hang.
This is a scurvy tune too: but here's my comfort.
[Drinks]
CALIBAN.
Do not torment me: O!
STEPHANO.
What's the matter? Have we devils here? Do you
put tricks
upon us with savages and men of Ind? Ha! I
have not 'scaped drowning, to be
afeard now of your four
legs; for it hath been said, As proper a man as
ever
went on four legs cannot make him give ground: and it
shall be said
so again, while Stephano breathes at 's
nostrils.
CALIBAN.
The spirit torments me: O!
STEPHANO.
This is some monster of the isle with four legs,
who hath
got, as I take it, an ague. Where the devil
should he learn our language? I
will give him some
relief, if it be but for that; if I can recover him
and
keep him tame and get to Naples with him, he's a
present for any
emperor that ever trod on neat's-leather.
CALIBAN.
Do not torment me, prithee; I'll bring my wood
home
faster.
STEPHANO.
He's in his fit now and does not talk after the
wisest. He
shall taste of my bottle: if he have never
drunk wine afore, it will go near
to remove his fit. If
I can recover him, and keep him tame, I will not
take
too much for him: he shall pay for him that hath him,
and that
soundly.
CALIBAN.
Thou dost me yet but little hurt; thou wilt anon,
I know it by
thy trembling: now Prosper works upon thee.
STEPHANO.
Come on your ways: open your mouth; here is
that which will
give language to you, cat. Open your
mouth: this will shake your shaking, I
can tell you, and
that soundly [gives CALIBAN a drink]: you cannot tell who's
your
friend: open your chaps again.
TRINCULO.
I should know that voice: it should be--but he is
drowned;
and these are devils. O! defend me.
STEPHANO.
Four legs and two voices; a most delicate monster!
His
forward voice now is to speak well of his
friend; his backward voice is to
utter foul speeches, and
to detract. If all the wine in my bottle will
recover
him, I will help his ague. Come. Amen! I will pour some
in thy
other mouth.
TRINCULO.
Stephano!
STEPHANO.
Doth thy other mouth call me? Mercy! mercy!
This is a devil,
and no monster: I will leave him: I
have no long spoon.
TRINCULO.
Stephano!--If thou beest Stephano, touch me, and
speak to me;
for I am Trinculo:--be not afeared--thy good
friend Trinculo.
STEPHANO.
If thou beest Trinculo, come forth. I'll pull
thee by the
lesser legs: if any be Trinculo's legs, these
are they. Thou art very
Trinculo indeed! How cam'st thou
to be the siege of this moon-calf? Can he
vent Trinculos?
TRINCULO.
I took him to be kill'd with a thunderstroke.
But art thou
not drown'd, Stephano? I hope now thou are
not drown'd. Is the storm
overblown? I hid me under the
dead moon-calf's gaberdine for fear of the
storm. And
art thou living, Stephano? O Stephano, two
Neapolitans
'scaped!
STEPHANO.
Prithee, do not turn me about: my stomach is not constant.
CALIBAN.
[Aside] These be fine things, an if they be not
sprites.
That's a brave god, and bears celestial liquor;
I will kneel to
him.
STEPHANO.
How didst thou 'scape? How cam'st thou hither? swear
by
this bottle how thou cam'st hither--I escaped upon
a butt of sack, which the
sailors heaved overboard, by
this bottle! which I made of the bark of a tree,
with
mine own hands, since I was cast ashore.
CALIBAN.
I'll swear upon that bottle to be thy true
subject, for the
liquor is not earthly.
STEPHANO.
Here: swear then how thou escapedst.
TRINCULO.
Swum ashore, man, like a duck: I can swim like
a duck, I'll
be sworn.
STEPHANO.
[Passing the bottle] Here, kiss the book [gives
TRINCULO a
drink]. Though thou canst swim like a
duck, thou art made like a goose.
TRINCULO.
O Stephano! hast any more of this?
STEPHANO.
The whole butt, man: my cellar is in a rock by
the seaside,
where my wine is hid. How now, moon-calf!
How does thine ague?
CALIBAN.
Hast thou not dropped from heaven?
STEPHANO.
Out o' the moon, I do assure thee: I was the Man
in the Moon,
when time was.
CALIBAN.
I have seen thee in her, and I do adore thee, my
mistress
showed me thee, and thy dog and thy bush.
STEPHANO.
Come, swear to that; kiss the book; I will
furnish it anon
with new contents; swear.
TRINCULO.
By this good light, this is a very shallow
monster.--I afeard
of him!--A very weak monster.
--The Man i' the Moon! A most poor
credulous
monster!--Well drawn, monster, in good sooth!
CALIBAN.
I'll show thee every fertile inch o' the island;
And I will
kiss thy foot. I prithee, be my god.
TRINCULO.
By this light, a most perfidious and drunken
monster: when
his god's asleep, he'll rob his bottle.
CALIBAN.
I'll kiss thy foot: I'll swear myself thy subject.
STEPHANO.
Come on, then; down, and swear.
TRINCULO.
I shall laugh myself to death at this puppy-headed
monster. A
most scurvy monster! I could find in
my heart to beat him,--
STEPHANO.
Come, kiss.
TRINCULO.
But that the poor monster's in drink: an
abominable
monster!
CALIBAN.
I'll show thee the best springs; I'll pluck thee
berries;
I'll fish for thee, and get thee wood enough.
A plague upon the tyrant
that I serve!
I'll bear him no more sticks, but follow thee,
Thou wondrous
man.
TRINCULO.
A most ridiculous monster, to make a wonder of
a poor
drunkard!
CALIBAN.
I prithee, let me bring thee where crabs grow;
And I with my
long nails will dig thee pig-nuts;
Show thee a jay's nest, and instruct thee
how
To snare the nimble marmozet; I'll bring thee
To clust'ring filberts,
and sometimes I'll get thee
Young scamels from the rock. Wilt thou go with
me?
STEPHANO.
I prithee now, lead the way without any
more
talking--Trinculo, the king and all our company else
being drowned,
we will inherit here.--Here, bear my
bottle.--Fellow Trinculo, we'll fill him
by and by
again.
CALIBAN.
Farewell, master; farewell, farewell! [Sings drunkenly]
TRINCULO.
A howling monster, a drunken monster.
CALIBAN.
No more dams I'll make for fish;
Nor fetch in firing
At
requiring,
Nor scrape trenchering, nor wash dish;
'Ban 'Ban, Ca--Caliban,
Has a new master--Get a new man.
Freedom, high-day! high-day, freedom!
freedom,
high-day, freedom!
STEPHANO.
O brave monster! lead the way.
[Exeunt]
ACT 3
SCENE I. Before PROSPERO'S cell
[Enter FERDINAND, bearing a log.]
FERDINAND.
There be some sports are painful, and their labour
Delight
in them sets off: some kinds of baseness
Are nobly undergone, and most poor
matters
Point to rich ends. This my mean task
Would be as heavy to me as
odious; but
The mistress which I serve quickens what's dead,
And makes my
labours pleasures: O! she is
Ten times more gentle than her father's
crabbed,
And he's compos'd of harshness. I must remove
Some thousands of
these logs, and pile them up,
Upon a sore injunction: my sweet
mistress
Weeps when she sees me work, and says such baseness
Had never
like executor. I forget:
But these sweet thoughts do even refresh my
labours,
Most busy, least when I do it.
[Enter MIRANDA: and PROSPERO behind.]
MIRANDA.
Alas! now pray you,
Work not so hard: I would the lightning
had
Burnt up those logs that you are enjoin'd to pile!
Pray, set it down
and rest you: when this burns,
'Twill weep for having wearied you. My
father
Is hard at study; pray, now, rest yourself:
He's safe for these
three hours.
FERDINAND.
O most dear mistress,
The sun will set, before I shall
discharge
What I must strive to do.
MIRANDA.
If you'll sit down,
I'll bear your logs the while. Pray give
me that;
I'll carry it to the pile.
FERDINAND.
No, precious creature:
I had rather crack my sinews, break
my back,
Than you should such dishonour undergo,
While I sit lazy by.
MIRANDA.
It would become me
As well as it does you: and I should do
it
With much more ease; for my good will is to it,
And yours it is
against.
PROSPERO.
[Aside] Poor worm! thou art infected:
This visitation shows
it.
MIRANDA.
You look wearily.
FERDINAND.
No, noble mistress; 'tis fresh morning with me
When you are
by at night. I do beseech you--
Chiefly that I might set it in my
prayers--
What is your name?
MIRANDA.
Miranda--O my father!
I have broke your hest to say so.
FERDINAND.
Admir'd Miranda!
Indeed, the top of admiration;
worth
What's dearest to the world! Full many a lady
I have ey'd with best
regard, and many a time
The harmony of their tongues hath into
bondage
Brought my too diligent ear: for several virtues
Have I lik'd
several women; never any
With so full soul but some defect in her
Did
quarrel with the noblest grace she ow'd,
And put it to the foil: but you, O
you!
So perfect and so peerless, are created
Of every creature's best.
MIRANDA.
I do not know
One of my sex; no woman's face
remember,
Save, from my glass, mine own; nor have I seen
More that I may
call men than you, good friend,
And my dear father: how features are
abroad,
I am skill-less of; but, by my modesty,--
The jewel in my
dower,--I would not wish
Any companion in the world but you;
Nor can
imagination form a shape,
Besides yourself, to like of. But I
prattle
Something too wildly, and my father's precepts
I therein do
forget.
FERDINAND.
I am, in my condition,
A prince, Miranda; I do think, a
king;--
I would not so!--and would no more endure
This wooden slavery than
to suffer
The flesh-fly blow my mouth.--Hear my soul speak:--
The very
instant that I saw you, did
My heart fly to your service; there
resides,
To make me slave to it; and for your sake
Am I this patient
log-man.
MIRANDA.
Do you love me?
FERDINAND.
O heaven! O earth! bear witness to this sound,
And crown
what I profess with kind event,
If I speak true: if hollowly, invert
What
best is boded me to mischief! I,
Beyond all limit of what else i' the
world,
Do love, prize, honour you.
MIRANDA.
I am a fool
To weep at what I am glad of.
PROSPERO.
[Aside] Fair encounter
Of two most rare affections! Heavens
rain grace
On that which breeds between them!
FERDINAND.
Wherefore weep you?
MIRANDA.
At mine unworthiness, that dare not offer
What I desire to
give; and much less take
What I shall die to want. But this is
trifling;
And all the more it seeks to hide itself,
The bigger bulk it
shows. Hence, bashful cunning!
And prompt me, plain and holy innocence!
I
am your wife, if you will marry me;
If not, I'll die your maid: to be your
fellow
You may deny me; but I'll be your servant,
Whether you will or
no.
FERDINAND.
My mistress, dearest;
And I thus humble ever.
MIRANDA.
My husband, then?
FERDINAND.
Ay, with a heart as willing
As bondage e'er of freedom:
here's my hand.
MIRANDA.
And mine, with my heart in't: and now farewell
Till half an
hour hence.
FERDINAND.
A thousand thousand!
[Exeunt FERDINAND and MIRANDA severally.]
PROSPERO.
So glad of this as they, I cannot be,
Who are surpris'd
withal; but my rejoicing
At nothing can be more. I'll to my book;
For yet,
ere supper time, must I perform
Much business appertaining.
[Exit]
SCENE II. Another part of the island
[Enter CALIBAN, with a bottle, STEPHANO, and TRINCULO.]
STEPHANO.
Tell not me:--when the butt is out we will drink
water; not a
drop before: therefore bear up, and board
'em.--Servant-monster, drink to
me.
TRINCULO.
Servant-monster! The folly of this island! They
say there's
but five upon this isle; we are three of
them; if th' other two be brained
like us, the state
totters.
STEPHANO.
Drink, servant-monster, when I bid thee: thy
eyes are almost
set in thy head.
TRINCULO.
Where should they be set else? He were a brave
monster
indeed, if they were set in his tail.
STEPHANO.
My man-monster hath drown'd his tongue in
sack: for my part,
the sea cannot drown me; I swam, ere
I could recover the shore,
five-and-thirty leagues, off
and on, by this light. Thou shalt be my
lieutenant,
monster, or my standard.
TRINCULO.
Your lieutenant, if you list; he's no standard.
STEPHANO.
We'll not run, Monsieur monster.
TRINCULO.
Nor go neither: but you'll lie like dogs, and
yet say nothing
neither.
STEPHANO.
Moon-calf, speak once in thy life, if thou beest
a good
moon-calf.
CALIBAN.
How does thy honour? Let me lick thy shoe.
I'll not serve him:
he is not valiant.
TRINCULO.
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 fish and half a monster?
CALIBAN.
Lo, how he mocks me! wilt thou let him, my lord?
TRINCULO.
'Lord' quoth he!--That a monster should be such
a
natural!
CALIBAN.
Lo, lo again! bite him to death, I prithee.
STEPHANO.
Trinculo, keep a good tongue in your head: if
you prove a
mutineer, the next tree! The poor monster's
my subject, and he shall not
suffer indignity.
CALIBAN.
I thank my noble lord. Wilt thou be pleas'd to
hearken once
again to the suit I made to thee?
STEPHANO.
Marry will I; kneel, and repeat it: I will stand,
and so
shall Trinculo.
[Enter ARIEL, invisible]
CALIBAN.
As I told thee before, I am subject to a tyrant,
sorcerer,
that by his cunning hath cheated me of the
island.
ARIEL.
Thou liest.
CALIBAN.
Thou liest, thou jesting monkey, thou;
I would my valiant
master would destroy thee;
I do not lie.
STEPHANO.
Trinculo, if you trouble him any more in his tale,
by this
hand, I will supplant some of your teeth.
TRINCULO.
Why, I said nothing.
STEPHANO.
Mum, then, and no more.--[To CALIBAN] Proceed.
CALIBAN.
I say, by sorcery he got this isle;
From me he got it: if thy
greatness will ,
Revenge it on him,--for I know, thou dar'st;
But this
thing dare not,--
STEPHANO.
That's most certain.
CALIBAN.
Thou shalt be lord of it and I'll serve thee.
STEPHANO.
How now shall this be compassed? Canst thou
bring me to the
party?
CALIBAN.
Yea, yea, my lord: I'll yield him thee asleep,
Where thou
may'st knock a nail into his head.
ARIEL.
Thou liest: thou canst not.
CALIBAN.
What a pied ninny's this! Thou scurvy patch!--
I do beseech
thy greatness, give him blows,
And take his bottle from him: when that's
gone
He shall drink nought but brine; for I'll not show him
Where the
quick freshes are.
STEPHANO.
Trinculo, run into no further danger: interrupt the
monster
one word further and, by this hand, I'll turn
my mercy out o' doors, and make
a stock-fish of thee.
TRINCULO.
Why, what did I? I did nothing. I'll go farther off.
STEPHANO.
Didst thou not say he lied?
ARIEL.
Thou liest.
STEPHANO.
Do I so? Take thou that. [Strikes TRINCULO.] As you
like
this, give me the lie another time.
TRINCULO.
I did not give the lie:--out o' your wits and
hearing too?--A
pox o' your bottle! this can sack and
drinking do.--A murrain on your
monster, and the devil
take your fingers!
CALIBAN.
Ha, ha, ha!
STEPHANO.
Now, forward with your tale.--Prithee stand
further off.
CALIBAN.
Beat him enough: after a little time, I'll beat
him too.
STEPHANO.
Stand farther.--Come, proceed.
CALIBAN.
Why, as I told thee, 'tis a custom with him
I' th' afternoon
to sleep: there thou may'st brain him,
Having first seiz'd his books; or with
a log
Batter his skull, or paunch him with a stake,
Or cut his wezand with
thy knife. Remember
First to possess his books; for without them
He's but
a sot, as I am, nor hath not
One spirit to command: they all do hate
him
As rootedly as I. Burn but his books;
He has brave utensils,--for so
he calls them,--
Which, when he has a house, he'll deck withal:
And that
most deeply to consider is
The beauty of his daughter; he himself
Calls
her a nonpareil: I never saw a woman
But only Sycorax my dam and she;
But
she as far surpasseth Sycorax
As great'st does least.
STEPHANO.
Is it so brave a lass?
CALIBAN.
Ay, lord: she will become thy bed, I warrant,
And bring thee
forth brave brood.
STEPHANO.
Monster, I will kill this man; his daughter and I
will be
king and queen,--save our graces!--and Trinculo
and thyself shall be
viceroys. Dost thou like the plot,
Trinculo?
TRINCULO.
Excellent.
STEPHANO.
Give me thy hand: I am sorry I beat thee; but
while thou
livest, keep a good tongue in thy head.
CALIBAN.
Within this half hour will he be asleep;
Wilt thou destroy him
then?
STEPHANO.
Ay, on mine honour.
ARIEL.
This will I tell my master.
CALIBAN.
Thou mak'st me merry: I am full of pleasure.
Let us be jocund:
will you troll the catch
You taught me but while-ere?
STEPHANO.
At thy request, monster, I will do reason, any
reason. Come
on, Trinculo, let us sing.
[Sings]
Flout 'em and scout 'em; and scout 'em and flout 'em:
Thought is free.
CALIBAN.
That's not the tune.
[ARIEL plays the tune on a Tabor and Pipe.]
STEPHANO.
What is this same?
TRINCULO.
This is the tune of our catch, played by the
picture of
Nobody.
STEPHANO.
If thou beest a man, show thyself in thy
likeness: if thou
beest a devil, take't as thou list.
TRINCULO.
O, forgive me my sins!
STEPHANO.
He that dies pays all debts: I defy thee.--Mercy
upon us!
CALIBAN.
Art thou afeard?
STEPHANO.
No, monster, not I.
CALIBAN.
Be not afeard: the isle is full of noises,
Sounds, and sweet
airs, that give delight, and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling
instruments
Will hum about mine ears; and sometimes voices,
That, if I
then had wak'd after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again: and then, in
dreaming,
The clouds methought would open and show riches
Ready to drop
upon me; that, when I wak'd,
I cried to dream again.
STEPHANO.
This will prove a brave kingdom to me, where I
shall have my
music for nothing.
CALIBAN.
When Prospero is destroyed.
STEPHANO.
That shall be by and by: I remember the story.
TRINCULO.
The sound is going away: let's follow it, and
after do our
work.
STEPHANO.
Lead, monster: we'll follow.--I would I could see
this
taborer! he lays it on. Wilt come?
TRINCULO.
I'll follow, Stephano.
[Exeunt]
SCENE III. Another part of the island
[Enter ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, GONZALO, ADRIAN, FRANCISCO,
and
OTHERS.]
GONZALO.
By'r lakin, I can go no further, sir;
My old bones ache:
here's a maze trod, indeed,
Through forth-rights and meanders! By your
patience,
I needs must rest me.
ALONSO.
Old lord, I cannot blame thee,
Who am myself attach'd with
weariness
To th' dulling of my spirits: sit down, and rest.
Even here I
will put off my hope, and keep it
No longer for my flatterer: he is
drown'd
Whom thus we stray to find; and the sea mocks
Our frustrate search
on land. Well, let him go.
ANTONIO.
[Aside to SEBASTIAN] I am right glad that he's
so out of
hope.
Do not, for one repulse, forgo the purpose
That you resolv'd to
effect.
SEBASTIAN.
[Aside to ANTONIO] The next advantage
Will we take
throughly.
ANTONIO.
[Aside to SEBASTIAN] Let it be to-night;
For, now they are
oppress'd with travel, they
Will not, nor cannot, use such vigilance
As
when they are fresh.
SEBASTIAN.
[Aside to ANTONIO] I say, to-night: no more.
[Solemn and strange music: and PROSPERO above,
invisible. Enter several
strange Shapes,
bringing in a banquet: they dance about it with
gentle
actions of salutation; and inviting the
KING, &c., to eat, they
depart.]
ALONSO.
What harmony is this? my good friends, hark!
GONZALO.
Marvellous sweet music!
ALONSO.
Give us kind keepers, heavens! What were these?
SEBASTIAN.
A living drollery. Now I will believe
That there are
unicorns; that in Arabia
There is one tree, the phoenix' throne; one
phoenix
At this hour reigning there.
ANTONIO.
I'll believe both;
And what does else want credit, come to
me,
And I'll be sworn 'tis true: travellers ne'er did lie,
Though fools at
home condemn them.
GONZALO.
If in Naples
I should report this now, would they believe
me?
If I should say, I saw such islanders,--
For, certes, these are people
of the island,--
Who, though, they are of monstrous shape, yet,
note,
Their manners are more gentle-kind than of
Our human generation you
shall find
Many, nay, almost any.
PROSPERO.
[Aside] Honest lord,
Thou hast said well; for some of you
there present
Are worse than devils.
ALONSO.
I cannot too much muse
Such shapes, such gesture, and such
sound, expressing,--
Although they want the use of tongue,--a kind
Of
excellent dumb discourse.
PROSPERO.
[Aside] Praise in departing.
FRANCISCO.
They vanish'd strangely.
SEBASTIAN.
No matter, since
They have left their viands behind; for we
have stomachs.--
Will't please you taste of what is here?
ALONSO.
Not I.
GONZALO.
Faith, sir, you need not fear. When we were boys,
Who would
believe that there were mountaineers
Dewlapp'd like bulls, whose throats had
hanging at them
Wallets of flesh? or that there were such men
Whose heads
stood in their breasts? which now we find
Each putter-out of five for one
will bring us
Good warrant of.
ALONSO.
I will stand to, and feed,
Although my last; no matter, since I
feel
The best is past.--Brother, my lord the duke,
Stand to and do as
we.
[Thunder and lightning. Enter ARIEL, like a harpy;
claps his wings upon
the table; and, with a quaint
device, the banquet vanishes]
ARIEL.
You are three men of sin, whom Destiny,
That hath to instrument
this lower world
And what is in't,--the never-surfeited sea
Hath caused to
belch up you; and on this island
Where man doth not inhabit; you 'mongst
men
Being most unfit to live. I have made you mad:
[Seeing ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, &c., draw their swords]
And even with such-like valour men hang and drown
Their proper selves. You
fools! I and my fellows
Are ministers of fate: the elements
Of whom your
swords are temper'd may as well
Wound the loud winds, or with bemock'd-at
stabs
Kill the still-closing waters, as diminish
One dowle that's in my
plume; my fellow-ministers
Are like invulnerable. If you could hurt,
Your
swords are now too massy for your strengths,
And will not be uplifted. But,
remember--
For that's my business to you,--that you three
From Milan did
supplant good Prospero;
Expos'd unto the sea, which hath requit it,
Him,
and his innocent child: for which foul deed
The powers, delaying, not
forgetting, have
Incens'd the seas and shores, yea, all the
creatures,
Against your peace. Thee of thy son, Alonso,
They have bereft;
and do pronounce, by me
Lingering perdition,--worse than any death
Can be
at once,--shall step by step attend
You and your ways; whose wraths to guard
you from--
Which here, in this most desolate isle, else falls
Upon your
heads,--is nothing but heart-sorrow,
And a clear life ensuing.
[He vanishes in thunder: then, to soft music, enter
the Shapes again, and
dance, with mocks and mows,
and carry out the table]
PROSPERO.
[Aside] Bravely the figure of this harpy hast thou
Perform'd,
my Ariel; a grace it had, devouring;
Of my instruction hast thou nothing
bated
In what thou hadst to say: so, with good life
And observation
strange, my meaner ministers
Their several kinds have done. My high charms
work,
And these mine enemies are all knit up
In their distractions; they
now are in my power;
And in these fits I leave them, while I visit
Young
Ferdinand,--whom they suppose is drown'd,--
And his and mine lov'd
darling.
[Exit above]
GONZALO.
I' the name of something holy, sir, why stand you
In this
strange stare?
ALONSO.
O, it is monstrous! monstrous!
Methought the billows spoke, and
told me of it;
The winds did sing it to me; and the thunder,
That deep and
dreadful organ-pipe, pronounc'd
The name of Prosper: it did bass my
trespass.
Therefore my son i' th' ooze is bedded; and
I'll seek him deeper
than e'er plummet sounded,
And with him there lie mudded.
[Exit]
SEBASTIAN.
But one fiend at a time,
I'll fight their legions o'er.
ANTONIO.
I'll be thy second.
[Exeunt SEBASTIAN and ANTONIO]
GONZALO.
All three of them are desperate: their great guilt,
Like
poison given to work a great time after,
Now 'gins to bite the spirits. I do
beseech you
That are of suppler joints, follow them swiftly
And hinder
them from what this ecstasy
May now provoke them to.
ADRIAN.
Follow, I pray you.
[Exeunt]
ACT 4
SCENE I. Before PROSPERO'S cell
[Enter PROSPERO! FERDINAND, and MIRANDA]
PROSPERO.
If I have too austerely punish'd you,
Your compensation makes
amends: for
Have given you here a third of mine own life,
Or that for
which I live; who once again
I tender to thy hand: all thy vexations
Were
but my trials of thy love, and thou
Hast strangely stood the test: here,
afore Heaven,
I ratify this my rich gift. O Ferdinand!
Do not smile at me
that I boast her off,
For thou shalt find she will outstrip all
praise,
And make it halt behind her.
FERDINAND.
I do believe it
Against an oracle.
PROSPERO.
Then, as my gift and thine own acquisition
Worthily
purchas'd, take my daughter: but
If thou dost break her virgin knot
before
All sanctimonious ceremonies may
With full and holy rite be
minister'd,
No sweet aspersion shall the heavens let fall
To make this
contract grow; but barren hate,
Sour-ey'd disdain, and discord, shall
bestrew
The union of your bed with weeds so loathly
That you shall hate it
both: therefore take heed,
As Hymen's lamps shall light you.
FERDINAND.
As I hope
For quiet days, fair issue, and long life,
With
such love as 'tis now, the murkiest den,
The most opportune place, the
strong'st suggestion
Our worser genius can, shall never melt
Mine honour
into lust, to take away
The edge of that day's celebration,
When I shall
think, or Phoebus' steeds are founder'd,
Or Night kept chain'd below.
PROSPERO.
Fairly spoke:
Sit, then, and talk with her, she is thine
own.
What, Ariel! my industrious servant, Ariel!
[Enter ARIEL]
ARIEL.
What would my potent master? here I am.
PROSPERO.
Thou and thy meaner fellows your last service
Did worthily
perform; and I must use you
In such another trick. Go bring the
rabble,
O'er whom I give thee power, here to this place;
Incite them to
quick motion; for I must
Bestow upon the eyes of this young couple
Some
vanity of mine art: it is my promise,
And they expect it from me.
ARIEL.
Presently?
PROSPERO.
Ay, with a twink.
ARIEL.
Before you can say 'Come' and 'Go,'
And breathe twice; and cry
'so, so,'
Each one, tripping on his toe,
Will be here with mop and
mow.
Do you love me, master? no?
PROSPERO.
Dearly, my delicate Ariel. Do not approach
Till thou dost
hear me call.
ARIEL.
Well, I conceive.
[Exit]
PROSPERO.
Look, thou be true; do not give dalliance
Too much the rein:
the strongest oaths are straw
To th' fire i' the blood: be more
abstemious,
Or else good night your vow!
FERDINAND.
I warrant you, sir;
The white-cold virgin snow upon my
heart
Abates the ardour of my liver.
PROSPERO.
Well.--
Now come, my Ariel! bring a corollary,
Rather than
want a spirit: appear, and pertly.
No tongue! all eyes! be silent.
[Soft music]
[A Masque. Enter IRIS]
IRIS.
Ceres, most bounteous lady, thy rich leas
Of wheat, rye, barley,
vetches, oats, and peas;
Thy turfy mountains, where live nibbling
sheep,
And flat meads thatch'd with stover, them to keep;
Thy banks with
pioned and twilled brims,
Which spongy April at thy hest betrims,
To make
cold nymphs chaste crowns; and thy broom groves,
Whose shadow the dismissed
bachelor loves,
Being lass-lorn: thy pole-clipt vineyard;
And thy
sea-marge, sterile and rocky-hard,
Where thou thyself dost air: the Queen o'
the sky,
Whose watery arch and messenger am I,
Bids thee leave these; and
with her sovereign grace,
Here on this grass-plot, in this very place,
To
come and sport; her peacocks fly amain:
Approach, rich Ceres, her to
entertain.
[Enter CERES]
CERES.
Hail, many-colour'd messenger, that ne'er
Dost disobey the wife
of Jupiter;
Who with thy saffron wings upon my flowers
Diffusest honey
drops, refreshing showers:
And with each end of thy blue bow dost crown
My bosky acres and my unshrubb'd down,
Rich scarf to my proud earth; why
hath thy queen
Summon'd me hither to this short-grass'd green?
IRIS.
A contract of true love to celebrate,
And some donation freely to
estate
On the blest lovers.
CERES.
Tell me, heavenly bow,
If Venus or her son, as thou dost
know,
Do now attend the queen? Since they did plot
The means that dusky
Dis my daughter got,
Her and her blind boy's scandal'd company
I have
forsworn.
IRIS.
Of her society
Be not afraid. I met her deity
Cutting the
clouds towards Paphos and her son
Dove-drawn with her. Here thought they to
have done
Some wanton charm upon this man and maid,
Whose vows are, that
no bed-rite shall be paid
Till Hymen's torch be lighted; but in
vain.
Mars's hot minion is return'd again;
Her waspish-headed son has
broke his arrows,
Swears he will shoot no more, but play with
sparrows,
And be a boy right out.
CERES.
Highest Queen of State,
Great Juno comes; I know her by her
gait.
[Enter JUNO.]
JUNO.
How does my bounteous sister? Go with me
To bless this twain,
that they may prosperous be,
And honour'd in their issue.
SONG
JUNO.
Honour, riches, marriage-blessing,
Long continuance, and
increasing,
Hourly joys be still upon you!
Juno sings her blessings on
you.
CERES.
Earth's increase, foison plenty,
Barns and gamers never
empty;
Vines with clust'ring bunches growing;
Plants with goodly burden
bowing;
Spring come to you at the farthest,
In the very end of
harvest!
Scarcity and want shall shun you;
Ceres' blessing so is on you.
FERDINAND.
This is a most majestic vision, and
Harmonious charmingly;
may I be bold
To think these spirits?
PROSPERO.
Spirits, which by mine art
I have from their confines call'd
to enact
My present fancies.
FERDINAND.
Let me live here ever:
So rare a wonder'd father and a
wise,
Makes this place Paradise.
[JUNO and CERES whisper, and send IRIS on employment.]
PROSPERO.
Sweet now, silence!
Juno and Ceres whisper
seriously,
There's something else to do: hush, and be mute,
Or else our
spell is marr'd.
IRIS.
You nymphs, call'd Naiads, of the windring brooks,
With your
sedg'd crowns and ever-harmless looks,
Leave your crisp channels, and on this
green land
Answer your summons: Juno does command.
Come, temperate nymphs,
and help to celebrate
A contract of true love: be not too late.
[Enter certain NYMPHS]
You sun-burn'd sicklemen, of August weary,
Come hither from the furrow,
and be merry:
Make holiday: your rye-straw hats put on,
And these fresh
nymphs encounter every one
In country footing.
[Enter certain Reapers, properly habited: they join]
with the Nymphs in a
graceful dance; towards the
end whereof PROSPERO starts suddenly, and
speaks;
after which, to a strange, hollow, and confused
noise, they
heavily vanish.]
PROSPERO.
[Aside] I had forgot that foul conspiracy
Of the beast
Caliban and his confederates
Against my life: the minute of their plot
Is
almost come. [To the Spirits.] Well done! avoid; no
more!
FERDINAND.
This is strange: your father's in some passion
That works
him strongly.
MIRANDA.
Never till this day
Saw I him touch'd with anger so
distemper'd.
PROSPERO.
You do look, my son, in a mov'd sort,
As if you were
dismay'd: be cheerful, sir:
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As
I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin
air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd
towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe
itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this
insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As
dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.--Sir, I am
vex'd:
Bear with my weakness; my old brain is troubled.
Be not disturb'd
with my infirmity.
If you be pleas'd, retire into my cell
And there
repose: a turn or two I'll walk,
To still my beating mind.
FERDINAND, MIRANDA.
We wish your peace.
[Exeunt.]
PROSPERO.
Come, with a thought.--[To them.] I thank thee:
Ariel,
come!
[Enter ARIEL.]
ARIEL.
Thy thoughts I cleave to. What's thy pleasure?
PROSPERO.
Spirit,
We must prepare to meet with Caliban.
ARIEL.
Ay, my commander; when I presented Ceres,
I thought to have told
thee of it: but I fear'd
Lest I might anger thee.
PROSPERO.
Say again, where didst thou leave these varlets?
ARIEL.
I told you, sir, they were red-hot with drinking;
So full of
valour that they smote the air
For breathing in their faces; beat the
ground
For kissing of their feet; yet always bending
Towards their
project. Then I beat my tabor;
At which, like unback'd colts, they prick'd
their ears,
Advanc'd their eyelids, lifted up their noses
As they smelt
music: so I charm'd their ears,
That calf-like they my lowing follow'd
through
Tooth'd briers, sharp furzes, pricking goss and thorns,
Which
enter'd their frail shins: at last I left them
I' the filthy-mantled pool
beyond your cell,
There dancing up to the chins, that the foul
lake
O'erstunk their feet.
PROSPERO.
This was well done, my bird.
Thy shape invisible retain thou
still:
The trumpery in my house, go bring it hither
For stale to catch
these thieves.
ARIEL.
I go, I go.
[Exit]
PROSPERO.
A devil, a born devil, on whose nature
Nurture can never
stick; on whom my pains,
Humanely taken, all, all lost, quite lost;
And as
with age his body uglier grows,
So his mind cankers. I will plague them
all,
Even to roaring.
[Re-enter ARIEL, loaden with glistering apparel, &c.]
Come, hang them on this line.
[PROSPERO and ARIEL remain invisible. Enter
CALIBAN, STEPHANO, and
TRINCULO, all wet]
CALIBAN.
Pray you, tread softly, that the blind mole may not
Hear a
foot fall: we now are near his cell.
STEPHANO.
Monster, your fairy, which you say is a harmless
fairy, has
done little better than played the
Jack with us.
TRINCULO.
Monster, I do smell all horse-piss; at which my
nose is in
great indignation.
STEPHANO.
So is mine.--Do you hear, monster? If I should
take a
displeasure against you, look you,--
TRINCULO.
Thou wert but a lost monster.
CALIBAN.
Good my lord, give me thy favour still:
Be patient, for the
prize I'll bring thee to
Shall hoodwink this mischance: therefore speak
softly;
All's hush'd as midnight yet.
TRINCULO.
Ay, but to lose our bottles in the pool!--
STEPHANO.
There is not only disgrace and dishonour in
that, monster,
but an infinite loss.
TRINCULO.
That's more to me than my wetting: yet this is
your harmless
fairy, monster.
STEPHANO.
I will fetch off my bottle, though I be o'er
ears for my
labour.
CALIBAN.
Prithee, my king, be quiet. Seest thou here,
This is the mouth
o' the cell: no noise, and enter.
Do that good mischief which may make this
island
Thine own for ever, and I, thy Caliban,
For aye thy
foot-licker.
STEPHANO.
Give me thy hand: I do begin to have bloody
thoughts.
TRINCULO.
O King Stephano! O peer! O worthy Stephano!
Look what a
wardrobe here is for thee!
CALIBAN.
Let it alone, thou fool; it is but trash.
TRINCULO.
O, ho, monster! we know what belongs to a
frippery.--O King
Stephano!
STEPHANO.
Put off that gown, Trinculo; by this hand, I'll
have that
gown.
TRINCULO.
Thy Grace shall have it.
CALIBAN.
The dropsy drown this fool! What do you mean
To dote thus on
such luggage? Let's along,
And do the murder first. If he awake,
From toe
to crown he'll fill our skins with pinches;
Make us strange stuff.
STEPHANO.
Be you quiet, monster.--Mistress line, is not
this my jerkin?
Now is the jerkin under the line: now,
jerkin, you are like to lose your
hair, and prove a bald
jerkin.
TRINCULO.
Do, do: we steal by line and level, an't like
your Grace.
STEPHANO.
I thank thee for that jest: here's a garment
for't: wit shall
not go unrewarded while I am king of
this country: 'Steal by line and level,'
is an excellent
pass of pate: there's another garmet for't.
TRINCULO.
Monster, come, put some lime upon your fingers,
and away with
the rest.
CALIBAN.
I will have none on't. We shall lose our time,
And all be
turn'd to barnacles, or to apes
With foreheads villainous low.
STEPHANO.
Monster, lay-to your fingers: help to bear this
away where my
hogshead of wine is, or I'll turn you out
of my kingdom. Go to; carry
this.
TRINCULO.
And this.
STEPHANO.
Ay, and this.
[A noise of hunters beard. Enter divers Spirits, in
shape of hounds, and
hunt them about; PROSPERO and
ARIEL setting them on]
PROSPERO.
Hey, Mountain, hey!
ARIEL.
Silver! there it goes, Silver!
PROSPERO.
Fury, Fury! There, Tyrant, there! hark, hark!
[CALIBAN, STEPHANO, and TRINCULO are driven out.]
Go, charge my goblins that they grind their joints
With dry convulsions;
shorten up their sinews
With aged cramps, and more pinch-spotted make
them
Than pard, or cat o' mountain.
ARIEL.
Hark, they roar.
PROSPERO.
Let them be hunted soundly. At this hour
Lies at my mercy all
mine enemies;
Shortly shall all my labours end, and thou
Shalt have the
air at freedom;for a little
Follow, and do me service.
[Exeunt]
ACT 5
SCENE I. Before the cell of PROSPERO.
[Enter PROSPERO in his magic robes; and ARIEL.]
PROSPERO.
Now does my project gather to a head:
My charms crack not; my
spirits obey, and time
Goes upright with his carriage. How's the day?
ARIEL.
On the sixth hour; at which time, my lord,
You said our work
should cease.
PROSPERO.
I did say so,
When first I rais'd the tempest. Say, my
spirit,
How fares the King and 's followers?
ARIEL.
Confin'd together
In the same fashion as you gave in
charge;
Just as you left them: all prisoners, sir,
In the line-grove which
weather-fends your cell;
They cannot budge till your release. The
king,
His brother, and yours, abide all three distracted,
And the
remainder mourning over them,
Brim full of sorrow and dismay; but
chiefly
Him you term'd, sir, 'the good old lord, Gonzalo':
His tears run
down his beard, like winter's drops
From eaves of reeds; your charm so
strongly works them,
That if you now beheld them, your affections
Would
become tender.
PROSPERO.
Dost thou think so, spirit?
ARIEL.
Mine would, sir, were I human.
PROSPERO.
And mine shall.
Hast thou, which art but air, a touch, a
feeling
Of their afflictions, and shall not myself,
One of their kind,
that relish all as sharply,
Passion as they, be kindlier mov'd than thou
art?
Though with their high wrongs I am struck to the quick,
Yet with my
nobler reason 'gainst my fury
Do I take part: the rarer action is
In
virtue than in vengeance: they being penitent,
The sole drift of my purpose
doth extend
Not a frown further. Go release them, Ariel.
My charms I'll
break, their senses I'll restore,
And they shall be themselves.
ARIEL.
I'll fetch them, sir.
[Exit.]
PROSPERO.
Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes, and
groves;
And
ye that on the sands with printless foot
Do chase the ebbing Neptune, and do
fly him
When he comes back; you demi-puppets that
By moonshine do the
green sour ringlets make,
Whereof the ewe not bites; and you whose
pastime
Is to make midnight mushrooms, that rejoice
To hear the solemn
curfew; by whose aid,--
Weak masters though ye be,--I have bedimm'd
The
noontide sun, call'd forth the mutinous winds,
And 'twixt the green sea and
the azur'd vault
Set roaring war: to the dread rattling thunder
Have I
given fire, and rifted Jove's stout oak
With his own bolt: the strong-bas'd
promontory
Have I made shake; and by the spurs pluck'd up
The pine and
cedar: graves at my command
Have wak'd their sleepers, op'd, and let them
forth
By my so potent art. But this rough magic
I here abjure; and, when I
have requir'd
Some heavenly music,--which even now I do,--
To work mine
end upon their senses that
This airy charm is for, I'll break my
staff,
Bury it certain fathoms in the earth,
And deeper than did ever
plummet sound
I'll drown my book.
[Solem music]
[Re-enter ARIEL: after him, ALONSO, with
frantic gesture, attended by
GONZALO; SEBASTIAN
and ANTONIO in like manner, attended by ADRIAN
and
FRANCISCO: they all enter the circle which
PROSPERO had made, and there stand
charmed: which
PROSPERO observing, speaks.]
A solemn air, and the best comforter
To an unsettled fancy, cure thy
brains,
Now useless, boil'd within thy skull! There stand,
For you are
spell-stopp'd.
Holy Gonzalo, honourable man,
Mine eyes, even sociable to
the show of thine,
Fall fellowly drops. The charm dissolves apace;
And as
the morning steals upon the night,
Melting the darkness, so their rising
senses
Begin to chase the ignorant fumes that mantle
Their clearer
reason.--O good Gonzalo!
My true preserver, and a loyal sir
To him thou
follow'st, I will pay thy graces
Home, both in word and deed.--Most
cruelly
Didst thou, Alonso, use me and my daughter:
Thy brother was a
furtherer in the act;--
Thou'rt pinch'd for't now, Sebastian.--Flesh and
blood,
You, brother mine, that entertain'd ambition,
Expell'd remorse and
nature, who, with Sebastian,--
Whose inward pinches therefore are most
strong,--
Would here have kill'd your king; I do forgive thee,
Unnatural
though thou art! Their understanding
Begins to swell, and the approaching
tide
Will shortly fill the reasonable shores
That now lie foul and muddy.
Not one of them
That yet looks on me, or would know me.--Ariel,
Fetch me
the hat and rapier in my cell:--
[Exit ARIEL]
I will discase me, and myself present,
As I was sometime Milan.--Quickly,
spirit;
Thou shalt ere long be free.
[ARIEL re-enters, singing, and helps to attire PROSPERO.]
ARIEL
Where the bee sucks, there suck I:
In a cowslip's bell I
lie;
There I couch when owls do cry.
On the bat's back I do fly
After
summer merrily:
Merrily, merrily shall I live now
Under the blossom that
hangs on the bough.
PROSPERO.
Why, that's my dainty Ariel! I shall miss thee;
But yet thou
shalt have freedom;--so, so, so.--
To the king's ship, invisible as thou
art:
There shalt thou find the mariners asleep
Under the hatches; the
master and the boatswain
Being awake, enforce them to this place,
And
presently, I prithee.
ARIEL.
I drink the air before me, and return
Or ere your pulse twice
beat.
[Exit]
GONZALO.
All torment, trouble, wonder and amazement
Inhabits here. Some
heavenly power guide us
Out of this fearful country!
PROSPERO.
Behold, sir king,
The wronged Duke of Milan, Prospero.
For
more assurance that a living prince
Does now speak to thee, I embrace thy
body;
And to thee and thy company I bid
A hearty welcome.
ALONSO.
Whe'er thou be'st he or no,
Or some enchanted trifle to abuse
me,
As late I have been, I not know: thy pulse
Beats, as of flesh and
blood; and, since I saw thee,
Th' affliction of my mind amends, with
which,
I fear, a madness held me: this must crave,--
An if this be at
all--a most strange story.
Thy dukedom I resign, and do entreat
Thou
pardon me my wrongs.--But how should Prospero
Be living and be here?
PROSPERO.
First, noble friend,
Let me embrace thine age; whose honour
cannot
Be measur'd or confin'd.
GONZALO.
Whether this be
Or be not, I'll not swear.
PROSPERO.
You do yet taste
Some subtleties o' the isle, that will not
let you
Believe things certain.--Welcome, my friends all:--
[Aside to
SEBASTIAN and ANTONIO] But you, my brace of
lords, were I so minded,
I
here could pluck his highness' frown upon you,
And justify you traitors: at
this time
I will tell no tales.
SEBASTIAN.
[Aside] The devil speaks in him.
PROSPERO.
No.
For you, most wicked sir, whom to call brother
Would
even infect my mouth, I do forgive
Thy rankest fault; all of them; and
require
My dukedom of thee, which, perforce, I know
Thou must restore.
ALONSO.
If thou beest Prospero,
Give us particulars of thy
preservation;
How thou hast met us here, whom three hours since
Were
wrack'd upon this shore; where I have lost,--
How sharp the point of this
remembrance is!--
My dear son Ferdinand.
PROSPERO.
I am woe for't, sir.
ALONSO.
Irreparable is the loss, and patience
Says it is past her
cure.
PROSPERO.
I rather think
You have not sought her help; of whose soft
grace,
For the like loss I have her sovereign aid,
And rest myself
content.
ALONSO.
You the like loss!
PROSPERO.
As great to me, as late; and, supportable
To make the dear
loss, have I means much weaker
Than you may call to comfort you, for I
Have lost my daughter.
ALONSO.
A daughter?
O heavens! that they were living both in
Naples,
The king and queen there! That they were, I wish
Myself were
mudded in that oozy bed
Where my son lies. When did you lose your
daughter?
PROSPERO.
In this last tempest. I perceive, these lords
At this
encounter do so much admire
That they devour their reason, and scarce
think
Their eyes do offices of truth, their words
Are natural breath; but,
howsoe'er you have
Been justled from your senses, know for certain
That I
am Prospero, and that very duke
Which was thrust forth of Milan; who most
strangely
Upon this shore, where you were wrack'd, was landed
To be the
lord on't. No more yet of this;
For 'tis a chronicle of day by day,
Not a
relation for a breakfast nor
Befitting this first meeting. Welcome,
sir:
This cell's my court: here have I few attendants
And subjects none
abroad: pray you, look in.
My dukedom since you have given me again,
I
will requite you with as good a thing;
At least bring forth a wonder, to
content ye
As much as me my dukedom.
[The entrance of the Cell opens, and discovers
FERDINAND and MIRANDA
playing at chess.]
MIRANDA.
Sweet lord, you play me false.
FERDINAND.
No, my dearest love,
I would not for the world.
MIRANDA.
Yes, for a score of kingdoms you should wrangle,
And I would
call it fair play.
ALONSO.
If this prove
A vision of the island, one dear son
Shall I
twice lose.
SEBASTIAN.
A most high miracle!
FERDINAND.
Though the seas threaten, they are merciful:
I have curs'd
them without cause.
[Kneels to ALONSO.]
ALONSO.
Now all the blessings
Of a glad father compass thee
about!
Arise, and say how thou cam'st here.
MIRANDA.
O, wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How
beauteous mankind is! O brave new world
That has such people in't!
PROSPERO.
'Tis new to thee.
ALONSO.
What is this maid, with whom thou wast at play?
Your eld'st
acquaintance cannot be three hours:
Is she the goddess that hath sever'd
us,
And brought us thus together?
FERDINAND.
Sir, she is mortal;
But by immortal Providence she's
mine.
I chose her when I could not ask my father
For his advice, nor
thought I had one. She
Is daughter to this famous Duke of Milan,
Of whom
so often I have heard renown,
But never saw before; of whom I
have
Receiv'd a second life: and second father
This lady makes him to
me.
ALONSO.
I am hers:
But, O! how oddly will it sound that I
Must ask
my child forgiveness!
PROSPERO.
There, sir, stop:
Let us not burden our remembrances
with
A heaviness that's gone.
GONZALO.
I have inly wept,
Or should have spoke ere this. Look down,
you gods,
And on this couple drop a blessed crown;
For it is you that have
chalk'd forth the way
Which brought us hither.
ALONSO.
I say, Amen, Gonzalo!
GONZALO.
Was Milan thrust from Milan, that his issue
Should become
kings of Naples? O, rejoice
Beyond a common joy, and set it down
With gold
on lasting pillars. In one voyage
Did Claribel her husband find at
Tunis,
And Ferdinand, her brother, found a wife
Where he himself was lost;
Prospero his dukedom
In a poor isle; and all of us ourselves,
When no man
was his own.
ALONSO.
[To FERDINAND and MIRANDA] Give me your hands:
Let grief and
sorrow still embrace his heart
That doth not wish you joy!
GONZALO.
Be it so. Amen!
[Re-enter ARIEL, with the Master and Boatswain
amazedly following.]
O look, sir! look, sir! Here are more of us.
I prophesied, if a gallows
were on land,
This fellow could not drown.--Now, blasphemy,
That swear'st
grace o'erboard, not an oath on shore?
Hast thou no mouth by land? What is
the news?
BOATSWAIN.
The best news is that we have safely found
Our king and
company: the next, our ship,--
Which but three glasses since we gave out
split,--
Is tight and yare, and bravely rigg'd as when
We first put out
to sea.
ARIEL.
[Aside to PROSPERO] Sir, all this service
Have I done since I
went.
PROSPERO.
[Aside to ARIEL] My tricksy spirit!
ALONSO.
These are not natural events; they strengthen
From strange to
stranger--Say, how came you hither?
BOATSWAIN.
If I did think, sir, I were well awake,
I'd strive to tell
you. We were dead of sleep,
And,--how, we know not,--all clapp'd under
hatches,
Where, but even now, with strange and several noises
Of roaring,
shrieking, howling, jingling chains,
And mo diversity of sounds, all
horrible,
We were awak'd; straightway, at liberty:
Where we, in all her
trim, freshly beheld
Our royal, good, and gallant ship; our
master
Cap'ring to eye her: on a trice, so please you,
Even in a dream,
were we divided from them,
And were brought moping hither.
ARIEL.
[Aside to PROSPERO] Was't well done?
PROSPERO.
[Aside to ARIEL] Bravely, my diligence. Thou
shalt be
free.
ALONSO.
This is as strange a maze as e'er men trod;
And there is in
this business more than nature
Was ever conduct of: some oracle
Must
rectify our knowledge.
PROSPERO.
Sir, my liege,
Do not infest your mind with beating on
The
strangeness of this business: at pick'd leisure,
Which shall be shortly,
single I'll resolve you,--
Which to you shall seem probable--of
every
These happen'd accidents; till when, be cheerful
And think of each
thing well.--[Aside to ARIEL] Come
hither, spirit;
Set Caliban and his
companions free;
Untie the spell. [Exit ARIEL] How fares my gracious
sir?
There are yet missing of your company
Some few odd lads that you
remember not.
[Re-enter ARIEL, driving in CALIBAN, STEPHANO, and
TRINCULO, in their
stolen apparel.]
STEPHANO.
Every man shift for all the rest, and let no man
take care
for himself, for all is but fortune.--Coragio!
bully-monster, Coragio!
TRINCULO.
If these be true spies which I wear in my head,
here's a
goodly sight.
CALIBAN.
O Setebos, these be brave spirits indeed.
How fine my master
is! I am afraid
He will chastise me.
SEBASTIAN.
Ha, ha!
What things are these, my lord Antonio?
Will
money buy them?
ANTONIO.
Very like; one of them
Is a plain fish, and, no doubt,
marketable.
PROSPERO.
Mark but the badges of these men, my lords,
Then say if they
be true.--This mis-shapen knave--
His mother was a witch; and one so
strong
That could control the moon, make flows and ebbs,
And deal in her
command without her power.
These three have robb'd me; and this demi-devil,--
For he's a bastard one,--had plotted with them
To take my life: two of
these fellows you
Must know and own; this thing of darkness I
Acknowledge
mine.
CALIBAN.
I shall be pinch'd to death.
ALONSO.
Is not this Stephano, my drunken butler?
SEBASTIAN.
He is drunk now: where had he wine?
ALONSO.
And Trinculo is reeling-ripe: where should they
Find this grand
liquor that hath gilded them?
How cam'st thou in this pickle?
TRINCULO.
I have been in such a pickle since I saw you
last that, I
fear me, will never out of my bones. I
shall not fear fly-blowing.
SEBASTIAN.
Why, how now, Stephano!
STEPHANO.
O! touch me not: I am not Stephano, but a cramp.
PROSPERO.
You'd be king o' the isle, sirrah?
STEPHANO.
I should have been a sore one, then.
ALONSO.
This is as strange a thing as e'er I look'd on.
[Pointing to CALIBAN]
PROSPERO.
He is as disproportioned in his manners
As in his shape.--Go,
sirrah, to my cell;
Take with you your companions: as you look
To have my
pardon, trim it handsomely.
CALIBAN.
Ay, that I will; and I'll be wise hereafter,
And seek for
grace. What a thrice-double ass
Was I, to take this drunkard for a
god,
And worship this dull fool!
PROSPERO.
Go to; away!
ALONSO.
Hence, and bestow your luggage where you found it.
SEBASTIAN.
Or stole it, rather.
[Exeunt CALIBAN, STEPHANO, and TRINCULO.]
PROSPERO.
Sir, I invite your Highness and your train
To my poor cell,
where you shall take your rest
For this one night; which--part of it--I'll
waste
With such discourse as, I not doubt, shall make it
Go quick away;
the story of my life
And the particular accidents gone by
Since I came to
this isle: and in the morn
I'll bring you to your ship, and so to Naples,
Where I have hope to see the nuptial
Of these our dear-belov'd
solemnized;
And thence retire me to my Milan, where
Every third thought
shall be my grave.
ALONSO.
I long To hear the story of your life, which must
Take the ear
strangely.
PROSPERO.
I'll deliver all;
And promise you calm seas, auspicious
gales,
And sail so expeditious that shall catch
Your royal fleet far
off.--[Aside to ARIEL] My Ariel,
chick,
That is thy charge: then to the
elements
Be free, and fare thou well!--Please you, draw near.
[Exeunt]
EPILOGUE
[Spoken by PROSPERO]
Now my charms are all o'erthrown,
And what strength I have's mine
own;
Which is most faint; now 'tis true,
I must be here confin'd by
you,
Or sent to Naples. Let me not,
Since I have my dukedom got,
And
pardon'd the deceiver, dwell
In this bare island by your spell:
But
release me from my bands
With the help of your good hands.
Gentle breath
of yours my sails
Must fill, or else my project fails,
Which was to
please. Now I want
Spirits to enforce, art to enchant;
And my ending is
despair,
Unless I be reliev'd by prayer,
Which pierces so that it
assaults
Mercy itself, and frees all faults.
As you from crimes would
pardon'd be,
Let your indulgence set me free.