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Boatswain!
Here, master. What cheer?
Good, speak to th’ mariners. Fall to ’t yarely,
or we run ourselves aground. Bestir, bestir!
55Heigh, 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!
Good boatswain, have care. Where’s the Master?
1010Play the men.
I pray now, keep below.
Where is the Master, boatswain?
Do you not hear him? You mar our labor.
Keep your cabins. You do assist the storm.
1515Nay, good, be patient.
When the sea is. Hence! What cares these
roarers for the name of king? To cabin! Silence!
Trouble us not.
Good, yet remember whom thou hast
2020aboard.
None that I more love than myself. You are
a councillor; 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
2525you 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!
I have great comfort from this fellow. Methinks
3030he 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 hanged, our case is miserable.
3535Down with the topmast! Yare! Lower, lower!
Bring her to try wi’ th’ main course. (A cry
within.) A plague upon this howling! They are
louder than the weather or our office.
Enter Sebastian, Antonio, and Gonzalo.
Yet again? What do you here? Shall we give o’er and
4040drown? Have you a mind to sink?
A pox o’ your throat, you bawling, blasphemous,
incharitable dog!
Work you, then.
Hang, cur, hang, you whoreson, insolent
4545noisemaker! We are less afraid to be drowned than
thou art.
I’ll warrant him for drowning, though the
ship were no stronger than a nutshell and as leaky
as an unstanched wench.
5050Lay her ahold, ahold! Set her two courses.
Off to sea again! Lay her off!
All lost! To prayers, to prayers! All lost!
Mariners exit.What, must our mouths be cold?
The King and Prince at prayers. Let’s assist
5555them, for our case is as theirs.
I am out of patience.
We are merely cheated of our lives by drunkards.
This wide-chopped rascal—would thou
mightst lie drowning the washing of ten tides!
6060He’ll be hanged yet, though every drop of
water swear against it and gape at wid’st to glut him.
“Mercy on us!”—“We split, we
split!”—“Farewell, my wife and children!”—
“Farewell, brother!”—“We split, we split, we
6565split!”
Let’s all sink wi’ th’ King.
Let’s take leave of him.
Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea
for an acre of barren ground: long heath, brown
7070furze, anything. The wills above be done, but I
would fain die a dry death.
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,
75But that the sea, mounting to th’ welkin’s cheek,
5Dashes the fire out. O, I have suffered
With those that I saw suffer! A brave vessel,
Who had, no doubt, some noble creature in her,
Dashed all to pieces. O, the cry did knock
80Against my very heart! Poor souls, they perished.
10Had I been any god of power, I would
Have sunk the sea within the earth or ere
It should the good ship so have swallowed, and
The fraughting souls within her.
85Be collected.
15No more amazement. Tell your piteous heart
There’s no harm done.
O, woe the day!
No harm.
90I have done nothing but in care of thee,
20Of thee, my dear one, thee, my daughter, who
Art ignorant of what thou art, naught knowing
Of whence I am, nor that I am more better
Than Prospero, master of a full poor cell,
95And thy no greater father.
25More to know
Did never meddle with my thoughts.
’Tis time
I should inform thee farther. Lend thy hand
100And pluck my magic garment from me.
Putting aside his cloak.
30So,
Lie there, my art.—Wipe thou thine eyes. Have
comfort.
The direful spectacle of the wrack, which touched
105The very virtue of compassion in thee,
35I 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
110Which thou heard’st cry, which thou saw’st sink. Sit
40down,
For thou must now know farther.
You have often
Begun to tell me what I am, but stopped
115And left me to a bootless inquisition,
45Concluding “Stay. Not yet.”
The hour’s now come.
The very minute bids thee ope thine ear.
Obey, and be attentive. Canst thou remember
120A time before we came unto this cell?
50I do not think thou canst, for then thou wast not
Out three years old.
Certainly, sir, I can.
By what? By any other house or person?
125Of anything the image tell me that
55Hath kept with thy remembrance.
’Tis far off
And rather like a dream than an assurance
That my remembrance warrants. Had I not
130Four or five women once that tended me?
60Thou 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,
135How thou cam’st here thou mayst.
65But that I do not.
Twelve year since, Miranda, twelve year since,
Thy father was the Duke of Milan and
A prince of power.
140Sir, are not you my father?
70Thy 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.
145O, the heavens!
75What foul play had we that we came from thence?
Or blessèd was ’t we did?
Both, both, my girl.
By foul play, as thou sayst, were we heaved thence,
150But blessedly holp hither.
80O, my heart bleeds
To think o’ th’ teen that I have turned you to,
Which is from my remembrance. Please you,
farther.
155My brother and thy uncle, called Antonio—
85I pray thee, mark me—that a brother should
Be so perfidious!—he whom next thyself
Of all the world I loved, and to him put
The manage of my state, as at that time
160Through all the signories it was the first,
90And 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
165And to my state grew stranger, being transported
95And rapt in secret studies. Thy false uncle—
Dost thou attend me?
Sir, most heedfully.
Being once perfected how to grant suits,
170How to deny them, who t’ advance, and who
100To trash for overtopping, new created
The creatures that were mine, I say, or changed ’em,
Or else new formed ’em, having both the key
Of officer and office, set all hearts i’ th’ state
175To what tune pleased his ear, that now he was
105The ivy which had hid my princely trunk
And sucked my verdure out on ’t. Thou attend’st not.
O, good sir, I do.
I pray thee, mark me.
180I, thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicated
110To closeness and the bettering of my mind
With that which, but by being so retired,
O’erprized all popular rate, in my false brother
Awaked an evil nature, and my trust,
185Like a good parent, did beget of him
115A 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
190But what my power might else exact, like one
120Who, 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’ th’ substitution
195And executing th’ outward face of royalty
125With all prerogative. Hence, his ambition growing—
Dost thou hear?
Your tale, sir, would cure deafness.
To have no screen between this part he played
200And him he played it for, he needs will be
130Absolute 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
205To give him annual tribute, do him homage,
135Subject his coronet to his crown, and bend
The dukedom, yet unbowed—alas, poor Milan!—
To most ignoble stooping.
O, the heavens!
210Mark his condition and th’ event. Then tell me
140If this might be a brother.
I should sin
To think but nobly of my grandmother.
Good wombs have borne bad sons.
215Now the condition.
145This King of Naples, being an enemy
To me inveterate, hearkens my brother’s suit,
Which was that he, in lieu o’ th’ premises
Of homage and I know not how much tribute,
220Should presently extirpate me and mine
150Out of the dukedom, and confer fair Milan,
With all the honors, on my brother; whereon,
A treacherous army levied, one midnight
Fated to th’ purpose did Antonio open
225The gates of Milan, and i’ th’ dead of darkness
155The ministers for th’ purpose hurried thence
Me and thy crying self.
Alack, for pity!
I, not rememb’ring how I cried out then,
230Will cry it o’er again. It is a hint
160That wrings mine eyes to ’t.
Hear a little further,
And then I’ll bring thee to the present business
Which now ’s upon ’s, without the which this story
235Were most impertinent.
165Wherefore did they not
That hour destroy us?
Well demanded, wench.
My tale provokes that question. Dear, they durst not,
240So dear the love my people bore me, nor set
170A mark so bloody on the business, but
With colors fairer painted their foul ends.
In few, they hurried us aboard a bark,
Bore us some leagues to sea, where they prepared
245A rotten carcass of a butt, not rigged,
175Nor tackle, sail, nor mast; the very rats
Instinctively have quit it. There they hoist us
To cry to th’ sea that roared to us, to sigh
To th’ winds, whose pity, sighing back again,
250Did us but loving wrong.
180Alack, what trouble
Was I then to you!
O, a cherubin
Thou wast that did preserve me. Thou didst smile,
255Infusèd with a fortitude from heaven,
185When I have decked the sea with drops full salt,
Under my burden groaned, which raised in me
An undergoing stomach to bear up
Against what should ensue.
260How came we ashore?
190By providence divine.
Some food we had, and some fresh water, that
A noble Neapolitan, Gonzalo,
Out of his charity, who being then appointed
265Master of this design, did give us, with
195Rich garments, linens, stuffs, and necessaries,
Which since have steaded much. So, of his
gentleness,
Knowing I loved my books, he furnished me
270From mine own library with volumes that
200I prize above my dukedom.
Would I might
But ever see that man.
Now I arise.
275Sit still, and hear the last of our sea-sorrow.
205Here in this island we arrived, 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.
280Heavens thank you for ’t. And now I pray you, sir—
210For still ’tis beating in my mind—your reason
For raising this sea storm?
Know thus far forth:
By accident most strange, bountiful Fortune,
285Now my dear lady, hath mine enemies
215Brought 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
290Will ever after droop. Here cease more questions.
220Thou art inclined to sleep. ’Tis a good dullness,
And give it way. I know thou canst not choose.
Miranda falls asleep.
Prospero puts on his cloak.
Come away, servant, come. I am ready now.
Approach, my Ariel. Come.
295All hail, great master! Grave sir, hail! I come
225To answer thy best pleasure. Be ’t to fly,
To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride
On the curled clouds, to thy strong bidding task
Ariel and all his quality.
300Hast thou, spirit,
230Performed to point the tempest that I bade thee?
To every article.
I boarded the King’s ship; now on the beak,
Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin,
305I flamed amazement. Sometimes I’d divide
235And burn in many places. On the topmast,
The yards, and bowsprit would I flame distinctly,
Then meet and join. Jove’s lightning, the precursors
O’ th’ dreadful thunderclaps, more momentary
310And sight-outrunning were not. The fire and cracks
240Of sulfurous roaring the most mighty Neptune
Seem to besiege and make his bold waves tremble,
Yea, his dread trident shake.
My brave spirit!
315Who was so firm, so constant, that this coil
245Would not infect his reason?
Not a soul
But felt a fever of the mad, and played
Some tricks of desperation. All but mariners
320Plunged in the foaming brine and quit the vessel,
250Then all afire with me. The King’s son, Ferdinand,
With hair up-staring—then like reeds, not hair—
Was the first man that leaped; cried “Hell is empty,
And all the devils are here.”
325Why, that’s my spirit!
255But was not this nigh shore?
Close by, my master.
But are they, Ariel, safe?
Not a hair perished.
330On their sustaining garments not a blemish,
260But fresher than before; and, as thou bad’st me,
In troops I have dispersed them ’bout the isle.
The King’s son have I landed by himself,
Whom I left cooling of the air with sighs
335In an odd angle of the isle, and sitting,
265His arms in this sad knot.
Of the King’s ship,
The mariners say how thou hast disposed,
And all the rest o’ th’ fleet.
340Safely in harbor
270Is the King’s ship. In the deep nook, where once
Thou called’st me up at midnight to fetch dew
From the still-vexed Bermoothes, there she’s hid;
The mariners all under hatches stowed,
345Who, with a charm joined to their suffered labor,
275I have left asleep. And for the rest o’ th’ fleet,
Which I dispersed, they all have met again
And are upon the Mediterranean float,
Bound sadly home for Naples,
350Supposing that they saw the King’s ship wracked
280And his great person perish.
Ariel, thy charge
Exactly is performed. But there’s more work.
What is the time o’ th’ day?
355Past the mid season.
285At least two glasses. The time ’twixt six and now
Must by us both be spent most preciously.
Is there more toil? Since thou dost give me pains,
Let me remember thee what thou hast promised,
360Which is not yet performed me.
290How now? Moody?
What is ’t thou canst demand?
My liberty.
Before the time be out? No more.
365I prithee,
295Remember I have done thee worthy service,
Told thee no lies, made no mistakings, served
Without or grudge or grumblings. Thou did promise
To bate me a full year.
370Dost thou forget
300From what a torment I did free thee?
No.
Thou dost, and think’st it much to tread the ooze
Of the salt deep,
375To run upon the sharp wind of the North,
305To do me business in the veins o’ th’ Earth
When it is baked with frost.
I do not, sir.
Thou liest, malignant thing. Hast thou forgot
380The foul witch Sycorax, who with age and envy
310Was grown into a hoop? Hast thou forgot her?
No, sir.
Thou hast. Where was she born? Speak. Tell me.
Sir, in Argier.
385O, was she so? I must
315Once in a month recount what thou hast been,
Which thou forget’st. This damned witch Sycorax,
For mischiefs manifold, and sorceries terrible
To enter human hearing, from Argier,
390Thou know’st, was banished. For one thing she did
320They would not take her life. Is not this true?
Ay, sir.
This blue-eyed hag was hither brought with child
And here was left by th’ sailors. Thou, my slave,
395As thou report’st thyself, was then her servant,
325And for thou wast a spirit too delicate
To act her earthy and abhorred commands,
Refusing her grand hests, she did confine thee,
By help of her more potent ministers
400And in her most unmitigable rage,
330Into a cloven pine, within which rift
Imprisoned thou didst painfully remain
A dozen years; within which space she died
And left thee there, where thou didst vent thy groans
405As fast as mill wheels strike. Then was this island
335(Save for the son that she did litter here,
A freckled whelp, hag-born) not honored with
A human shape.
Yes, Caliban, her son.
410Dull thing, I say so; he, that Caliban
340Whom 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
415To lay upon the damned, which Sycorax
345Could not again undo. It was mine art,
When I arrived and heard thee, that made gape
The pine and let thee out.
I thank thee, master.
420If thou more murmur’st, I will rend an oak
350And peg thee in his knotty entrails till
Thou hast howled away twelve winters.
Pardon, master.
I will be correspondent to command
425And do my spriting gently.
355Do so, and after two days
I will discharge thee.
That’s my noble master.
What shall I do? Say, what? What shall I do?
430Go make thyself like a nymph o’ th’ sea. Be subject
360To no sight but thine and mine, invisible
To every eyeball else. Go, take this shape,
And hither come in ’t. Go, hence with diligence!
Ariel exits.
Awake, dear heart, awake. Thou hast slept well.
435Awake.
365The strangeness of your story put
Heaviness in me.
Shake it off. Come on,
We’ll visit Caliban, my slave, who never
440Yields us kind answer.
370’Tis a villain, sir,
I do not love to look on.
But, as ’tis,
We cannot miss him. He does make our fire,
445Fetch in our wood, and serves in offices
375That profit us.—What ho, slave, Caliban!
Thou earth, thou, speak!
There’s wood enough within.
Come forth, I say. There’s other business for thee.
450Come, thou tortoise. When?
Enter Ariel like a water nymph.
380Fine apparition! My quaint Ariel,
Hark in thine ear.
My lord, it shall be done.
He exits.
Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil himself
455Upon thy wicked dam, come forth!
385As wicked dew as e’er my mother brushed
With raven’s feather from unwholesome fen
Drop on you both. A southwest blow on you
And blister you all o’er.
460For this, be sure, tonight thou shalt have cramps,
390Side-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 pinched
As thick as honeycomb, each pinch more stinging
465Than bees that made ’em.
395I 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
470give me
400Water 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 loved thee,
And showed thee all the qualities o’ th’ isle,
475The fresh springs, brine pits, barren place and
405fertile.
Cursed 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,
480Which first was mine own king; and here you sty me
410In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me
The rest o’ th’ island.
Thou most lying slave,
Whom stripes may move, not kindness, I have used
485thee,
415Filth as thou art, with humane care, and lodged
thee
In mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate
The honor of my child.
490O ho, O ho! Would ’t had been done!
420Thou didst prevent me. I had peopled else
This isle with Calibans.
Abhorrèd slave,
Which any print of goodness wilt not take,
495Being capable of all ill! I pitied thee,
425Took 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
500A thing most brutish, I endowed thy purposes
430With words that made them known. But thy vile
race,
Though thou didst learn, had that in ’t which good
natures
505Could not abide to be with. Therefore wast thou
435Deservedly confined into this rock,
Who hadst deserved more than a prison.
You taught me language, and my profit on ’t
Is I know how to curse. The red plague rid you
510For learning me your language!
440Hagseed, hence!
Fetch us in fuel; and be quick, thou ’rt best,
To answer other business. Shrugg’st thou, malice?
If thou neglect’st or dost unwillingly
515What I command, I’ll rack thee with old cramps,
445Fill all thy bones with aches, make thee roar
That beasts shall tremble at thy din.
No, pray thee.
Aside. I must obey. His art is of such power
520It would control my dam’s god, Setebos,
450And make a vassal of him.
So, slave, hence.
Caliban exits.Enter Ferdinand; and Ariel, invisible,
Come unto these yellow sands,
And then take hands.
525Curtsied when you have, and kissed
455The wild waves whist.
Foot it featly here and there,
And sweet sprites bear
The burden. Hark, hark!
530Burden dispersedly, within: Bow-wow.
460The watchdogs bark.
Burden dispersedly, within: Bow-wow.
Hark, hark! I hear
The strain of strutting chanticleer
535Cry cock-a-diddle-dow.
465Where 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,
540This music crept by me upon the waters,
470Allaying both their fury and my passion
With its sweet air. Thence I have followed it,
Or it hath drawn me rather. But ’tis gone.
No, it begins again.
545Full fathom five thy father lies.
475Of his bones are coral made.
Those are pearls that were his eyes.
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea change
550Into something rich and strange.
480Sea nymphs hourly ring his knell.
Burden, within: Ding dong.
Hark, now I hear them: ding dong bell.
The ditty does remember my drowned father.
555This is no mortal business, nor no sound
485That the Earth owes. I hear it now above me.
The fringèd curtains of thine eye advance
And say what thou seest yond.
What is ’t? A spirit?
560Lord, how it looks about! Believe me, sir,
490It carries a brave form. But ’tis a spirit.
No, wench, it eats and sleeps and hath such senses
As we have, such. This gallant which thou seest
Was in the wrack; and, but he’s something stained
565With grief—that’s beauty’s canker—thou might’st
495call him
A goodly person. He hath lost his fellows
And strays about to find ’em.
I might call him
570A thing divine, for nothing natural
500I ever saw so noble.
It goes on, I see,
As my soul prompts it. To Ariel. Spirit, fine spirit,
I’ll free thee
575Within two days for this.
505Most 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
580How I may bear me here. My prime request,
510Which I do last pronounce, is—O you wonder!—
If you be maid or no.
No wonder, sir,
But certainly a maid.
585My language! Heavens!
515I am the best of them that speak this speech,
Were I but where ’tis spoken.
How? The best?
What wert thou if the King of Naples heard thee?
590A single thing, as I am now, that wonders
520To 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 wracked.
595Alack, for mercy!
525Yes, faith, and all his lords, the Duke of Milan
And his brave son being twain.
The Duke of Milan
And his more braver daughter could control thee,
600If now ’twere fit to do ’t. At the first sight
530They 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.
605Why speaks my father so ungently? This
535Is the third man that e’er I saw, the first
That e’er I sighed for. Pity move my father
To be inclined my way.
O, if a virgin,
610And your affection not gone forth, I’ll make you
540The Queen of Naples.
Soft, sir, one word more.
Aside. They are both in either’s powers. But this
swift business
615I must uneasy make, lest too light winning
545Make 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
620Upon this island as a spy, to win it
550From me, the lord on ’t.
No, as I am a man!
There’s nothing ill can dwell in such a temple.
If the ill spirit have so fair a house,
625Good things will strive to dwell with ’t.
555Follow me.
To Miranda. Speak not you for him. He’s a traitor.
To Ferdinand. Come,
I’ll manacle thy neck and feet together.
630Sea water shalt thou drink. Thy food shall be
560The fresh-brook mussels, withered roots, and husks
Wherein the acorn cradled. Follow.
No,
I will resist such entertainment till
635Mine enemy has more power.
565O dear father,
Make not too rash a trial of him, for
He’s gentle and not fearful.
What, I say,
640My foot my tutor?—Put thy sword up, traitor,
570Who mak’st a show, but dar’st not strike, thy
conscience
Is so possessed with guilt. Come from thy ward,
For I can here disarm thee with this stick
645And make thy weapon drop.
575Beseech you, father—
Hence! Hang not on my garments.
Sir, have pity.
I’ll be his surety.
650Silence! One word more
580Shall 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,
655To th’ most of men this is a Caliban,
585And they to him are angels.
My affections
Are then most humble. I have no ambition
To see a goodlier man.
660Come on, obey.
590Thy nerves are in their infancy again
And have no vigor in them.
So they are.
My spirits, as in a dream, are all bound up.
665My father’s loss, the weakness which I feel,
595The 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
670Let liberty make use of. Space enough
600Have I in such a prison.
It works.—Come on.—
Thou hast done well, fine Ariel.—Follow me.
To Ariel. Hark what thou else shalt do me.
675Be of
605comfort.
My father’s of a better nature, sir,
Than he appears by speech. This is unwonted
Which now came from him.
680Thou shalt be as free
610As mountain winds; but then exactly do
All points of my command.
To th’ syllable.
Come follow. To Miranda. Speak not for him.
685Beseech 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,
5The masters of some merchant, and the merchant
690Have 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.
10Prithee, peace.
695He receives comfort like
cold porridge.
The visitor will not give him o’er so.
Look, he’s winding up the watch of his wit.
15By and by it will strike.
700Sir—
One. Tell.
When every grief is entertained that’s offered,
comes to th’ entertainer—
20A dollar.
705Dolor comes to him indeed. You have spoken
truer than you purposed.
You have taken it wiselier than I meant you
should.
25Therefore, my lord—
710Fie, what a spendthrift is he of his tongue.
I prithee, spare.
Well, I have done. But yet—
He will be talking.
30Which, of he or Adrian,
715for a good wager, first begins to crow?
The old cock.
The cockerel.
Done. The wager?
35A laughter.
720A match!
Though this island seem to be desert—
Ha, ha, ha.
So. You’re paid.
40Uninhabitable and almost inaccessible—
725Yet—
Yet—
He could not miss ’t.
It must needs be of subtle, tender, and delicate
45temperance.
730Temperance was a delicate wench.
Ay, and a subtle, as he most learnedly
delivered.
The air breathes upon us here most sweetly.
50As if it had lungs, and rotten ones.
735Or as ’twere perfumed by a fen.
Here is everything advantageous to life.
True, save means to live.
Of that there’s none, or little.
55How lush and lusty the grass looks! How
740green!
The ground indeed is tawny.
With an eye of green in ’t.
He misses not much.
60No, he doth but mistake the truth totally.
745But the rarity of it is, which is indeed almost
beyond credit—
As many vouched rarities are.
That our garments, being, as they were,
65drenched in the sea, hold notwithstanding their
750freshness and gloss, being rather new-dyed than
stained with salt water.
If but one of his pockets could speak, would
it not say he lies?
70Ay, or very falsely pocket up his report.
755Methinks 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.
75’Twas a sweet marriage, and we prosper
760well in our return.
Tunis was never graced before with such a
paragon to their queen.
Not since widow Dido’s time.
80Widow? A pox o’ that! How came that “widow”
765in? Widow Dido!
What if he had said “widower Aeneas” too?
Good Lord, how you take it!
“Widow Dido,” said you? You
85make me study of that. She was of Carthage, not of
770Tunis.
This Tunis, sir, was Carthage.
Carthage?
I assure you, Carthage.
90His word is more than the miraculous harp.
775He hath raised the wall, and houses too.
What impossible matter will he make easy
next?
I think he will carry this island home in his
95pocket and give it his son for an apple.
780And sowing the kernels of it in the sea, bring
forth more islands.
Ay.
Why, in good time.
100Sir, we were talking that our
785garments seem now as fresh as when we were at
Tunis at the marriage of your daughter, who is now
queen.
And the rarest that e’er came there.
105Bate, I beseech you, widow Dido.
790O, widow Dido? Ay, widow Dido.
Is not, sir, my doublet as fresh as
the first day I wore it? I mean, in a sort.
That “sort” was well fished for.
110When I wore it at your daughter’s
795marriage.
You cram these words into mine ears against
The stomach of my sense. Would I had never
Married my daughter there, for coming thence
115My son is lost, and, in my rate, she too,
800Who is so far from Italy removed
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?
120Sir, he may live.
805I 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 swoll’n that met him. His bold head
125’Bove the contentious waves he kept, and oared
810Himself 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.
130No, no, he’s gone.
815Sir, 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 banished from your eye,
135Who hath cause to wet the grief on ’t.
820Prithee, peace.
You were kneeled to and importuned otherwise
By all of us; and the fair soul herself
Weighed between loathness and obedience at
140Which end o’ th’ beam should bow. We have lost
825your son,
I fear, forever. Milan and Naples have
More widows in them of this business’ making
Than we bring men to comfort them.
145The fault’s your own.
830So is the dear’st o’ th’ loss.
My lord Sebastian,
The truth you speak doth lack some gentleness
And time to speak it in. You rub the sore
150When you should bring the plaster.
835Very well.
And most chirurgeonly.
It is foul weather in us all, good sir,
When you are cloudy.
155Foul weather?
840Very foul.
Had I plantation of this isle, my lord—
He’d sow ’t with nettle seed.
Or docks, or mallows.
160And were the king on ’t, what would I do?
845Scape being drunk, for want of wine.
I’ th’ commonwealth I would by contraries
Execute all things, for no kind of traffic
Would I admit; no name of magistrate;
165Letters should not be known; riches, poverty,
850And 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,
170And women too, but innocent and pure;
855No sovereignty—
Yet he would be king on ’t.
The latter end of his commonwealth forgets
the beginning.
175All things in common nature should produce
860Without sweat or endeavor; treason, felony,
Sword, pike, knife, gun, or need of any engine
Would I not have; but nature should bring forth
Of its own kind all foison, all abundance,
180To feed my innocent people.
865No marrying ’mong his subjects?
None, man, all idle: whores and knaves.
I would with such perfection govern, sir,
T’ excel the Golden Age.
185’Save his Majesty!
870Long live Gonzalo!
And do you mark me, sir?
Prithee, no more. Thou dost talk nothing to me.
I do well believe your Highness, and did it to
190minister occasion to these gentlemen, who are of
875such sensible and nimble lungs that they always use
to laugh at nothing.
’Twas you we laughed at.
Who in this kind of merry fooling am
195nothing to you. So you may continue, and laugh at
880nothing still.
What a blow was there given!
An it had not fallen flatlong.
You are gentlemen of brave mettle. You
200would lift the moon out of her sphere if she would
885continue in it five weeks without changing.
We would so, and then go a-batfowling.
Nay, good my lord, be not angry.
No, I warrant you, I will not adventure my
205discretion so weakly. Will you laugh me asleep?
890For I am very heavy.
Go sleep, and hear us.
All sink down asleep except Alonso,
What, all so soon asleep? I wish mine eyes
Would, with themselves, shut up my thoughts. I find
210They are inclined to do so.
895Please you, sir,
Do not omit the heavy offer of it.
It seldom visits sorrow; when it doth,
It is a comforter.
215We two, my lord,
900Will guard your person while you take your rest,
And watch your safety.
Thank you. Wondrous heavy.
Alonso sleeps. Ariel exits.
What a strange drowsiness possesses them!
220It is the quality o’ th’ climate.
905Why
Doth it not then our eyelids sink? I find
Not myself disposed to sleep.
Nor I. My spirits are nimble.
225They fell together all, as by consent.
910They dropped as by a thunderstroke. What might,
Worthy Sebastian, O, what might—? No more.
And yet methinks I see it in thy face
What thou shouldst be. Th’ occasion speaks thee, and
230My strong imagination sees a crown
915Dropping upon thy head.
What, art thou waking?
Do you not hear me speak?
I do, and surely
235It is a sleepy language, and thou speak’st
920Out 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.
240Noble Sebastian,
925Thou let’st thy fortune sleep, die rather, wink’st
Whiles thou art waking.
Thou dost snore distinctly.
There’s meaning in thy snores.
245I am more serious than my custom. You
930Must be so too, if heed me; which to do
Trebles thee o’er.
Well, I am standing water.
I’ll teach you how to flow.
250Do so. To ebb
935Hereditary sloth instructs me.
O,
If you but knew how you the purpose cherish
Whiles thus you mock it, how in stripping it
255You more invest it. Ebbing men indeed
940Most often do so near the bottom run
By their own fear or sloth.
Prithee, say on.
The setting of thine eye and cheek proclaim
260A matter from thee, and a birth indeed
945Which throes thee much to yield.
Thus, sir:
Although this lord of weak remembrance—this,
Who shall be of as little memory
265When he is earthed—hath here almost persuaded—
950For he’s a spirit of persuasion, only
Professes to persuade—the King his son’s alive,
’Tis as impossible that he’s undrowned
As he that sleeps here swims.
270I have no hope
955That he’s undrowned.
O, out of that no hope
What great hope have you! No hope that way is
Another way so high a hope that even
275Ambition cannot pierce a wink beyond,
960But doubt discovery there. Will you grant with me
That Ferdinand is drowned?
He’s gone.
Then tell me,
280Who’s the next heir of Naples?
965Claribel.
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—
285The man i’ th’ moon’s too slow—till newborn chins
970Be rough and razorable; she that from whom
We all were sea-swallowed, though some cast again,
And by that destiny to perform an act
Whereof what’s past is prologue, what to come
290In yours and my discharge.
975What 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.
295A space whose ev’ry cubit
980Seems 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 seized them, why, they were no worse
300Than now they are. There be that can rule Naples
985As 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
305The mind that I do, what a sleep were this
990For your advancement! Do you understand me?
Methinks I do.
And how does your content
Tender your own good fortune?
310I remember
995You did supplant your brother Prospero.
True,
And look how well my garments sit upon me,
Much feater than before. My brother’s servants
315Were then my fellows; now they are my men.
1000But, for your conscience?
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
320That stand ’twixt me and Milan, candied be they
1005And 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,
325Can lay to bed forever; whiles you, doing thus,
1010To 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.
330They’ll tell the clock to any business that
1015We say befits the hour.
Thy case, dear friend,
Shall be my precedent: as thou got’st Milan,
I’ll come by Naples. Draw thy sword. One stroke
335Shall free thee from the tribute which thou payest,
1020And I the King shall love thee.
Draw together,
And when I rear my hand, do you the like
To fall it on Gonzalo.
340O, but one word.
They talk apart.Enter Ariel, invisible, with music and song.
1025My master through his art foresees the danger
That you, his friend, are in, and sends me forth—
For else his project dies—to keep them living.
Sings in Gonzalo’s ear:
While you here do snoring lie,
345Open-eyed conspiracy
1030His time doth take.
If of life you keep a care,
Shake off slumber and beware.
Awake, awake!
350Then let us both be sudden.
1035Now, good angels preserve the
King!
Why, how now, ho! Awake? Why are you drawn?
Wherefore this ghastly looking?
355What’s the matter?
1040Whiles 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.
360I heard nothing.
1045O, ’twas a din to fright a monster’s ear,
To make an earthquake. Sure, it was the roar
Of a whole herd of lions.
Heard you this, Gonzalo?
365Upon mine honor, sir, I heard a humming,
1050And that a strange one too, which did awake me.
I shaked you, sir, and cried. As mine eyes opened,
I saw their weapons drawn. There was a noise,
That’s verily. ’Tis best we stand upon our guard,
370Or that we quit this place. Let’s draw our weapons.
1055Lead off this ground, and let’s make further search
For my poor son.
Heavens keep him from these beasts,
For he is, sure, i’ th’ island.
375Lead away.
1060Prospero my lord shall know what I have done.
So, king, go safely on to seek thy son.
All the infections that the sun sucks up
From bogs, fens, flats, on Prosper fall and make him
By inchmeal a disease! His spirits hear me,
1065And yet I needs must curse. But they’ll nor pinch,
5Fright me with urchin-shows, pitch me i’ th’ 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,
1070Sometimes like apes, that mow and chatter at me
10And after bite me; then like hedgehogs, which
Lie tumbling in my barefoot way and mount
Their pricks at my footfall. Sometime am I
All wound with adders, who with cloven tongues
1075Do hiss me into madness. Lo, now, lo!
15Here comes a spirit of his, and to torment me
For bringing wood in slowly. I’ll fall flat.
Perchance he will not mind me.
Here’s neither bush nor shrub to bear off
1080any weather at all. And another storm brewing; I
20hear 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
1085cannot choose but fall by pailfuls. Noticing Caliban.
25What have we here, a man or a fish? Dead or
alive? A fish, he smells like a fish—a very ancient
and fishlike smell, a kind of not-of-the-newest poor-John.
A strange fish. Were I in England now, as once
1090I was, and had but this fish painted, not a holiday
30fool 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
1095dead Indian. Legged like a man, and his fins like
35arms! 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 a thunderbolt.
Thunder. Alas, the storm is come again. My best
1100way is to creep under his gaberdine. There is no
40other shelter hereabout. Misery acquaints a man
with strange bedfellows. I will here shroud till the
dregs of the storm be past.
I shall no more to sea, to sea.
1105Here shall I die ashore—
45This is a very scurvy tune to sing at a man’s funeral.
Well, here’s my comfort.Drinks.
Sings.
The master, the swabber, the boatswain, and I,
The gunner and his mate,
1110Loved Mall, Meg, and Marian, and Margery,
50But none of us cared for Kate.
For she had a tongue with a tang,
Would cry to a sailor “Go hang!”
She loved not the savor of tar nor of pitch,
1115Yet a tailor might scratch her where’er she did itch.
55Then to sea, boys, and let her go hang!
This is a scurvy tune too. But here’s my comfort.
Do not torment me! O!
What’s the matter? Have we devils here? Do
1120you put tricks upon ’s with savages and men of Ind?
60Ha? 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
1125Stephano breathes at’ nostrils.
65The spirit torments me. O!
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
1130some relief, if it be but for that. If I can recover him
70and keep him tame and get to Naples with him,
he’s a present for any emperor that ever trod on
neat’s leather.
Do not torment me, prithee. I’ll bring my
1135wood home faster.
75He’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
1140not take too much for him. He shall pay for him that
80hath him, and that soundly.
Thou dost me yet but little hurt. Thou wilt
anon; I know it by thy trembling. Now Prosper
works upon thee.
1145Come on your ways. Open your mouth.
85Here is that which will give language to you, cat.
Open your mouth. This will shake your shaking, I
can tell you, and that soundly. Caliban drinks. You
cannot tell who’s your friend. Open your chaps
1150again.
90I should know that voice. It should be—but
he is drowned, and these are devils. O, defend me!
Four legs and two voices—a most delicate
monster! His forward voice now is to speak well of
1155his friend. His backward voice is to utter foul
95speeches and to detract. If all the wine in my bottle
will recover him, I will help his ague. Come.
Caliban drinks. Amen! I will pour some in thy
other mouth.
1160Stephano!
100Doth thy other mouth call me? Mercy, mercy,
this is a devil, and no monster! I will leave him; I
have no long spoon.
Stephano! If thou be’st Stephano, touch me
1165and speak to me, for I am Trinculo—be not
105afeard—thy good friend Trinculo.
If thou be’st Trinculo, come forth. I’ll pull
thee by the lesser legs. If any be Trinculo’s legs,
these are they. He pulls him out from under Caliban’s
cloak. 1170Thou art very Trinculo indeed. How
110cam’st thou to be the siege of this mooncalf? Can
he vent Trinculos?
I took him to be killed with a thunderstroke.
But art thou not drowned, Stephano? I
1175hope now thou art not drowned. Is the storm
115overblown? I hid me under the dead mooncalf’s
gaberdine for fear of the storm. And art thou living,
Stephano? O Stephano, two Neapolitans scaped!
Prithee, do not turn me about. My stomach
1180is not constant.
120These be fine things, an if they be not
sprites. That’s a brave god and bears celestial liquor.
I will kneel to him.
How didst thou scape? How
1185cam’st thou hither? Swear by this bottle how thou
125cam’st hither—I escaped upon a butt of sack, which
the sailors heaved o’erboard—by this bottle, which
I made of the bark of a tree with mine own hands,
since I was cast ashore.
1190I’ll swear upon that bottle to be thy true
130subject, for the liquor is not earthly.
Here. Swear then how thou
escapedst.
Swum ashore, man, like a duck. I can swim
1195like a duck, I’ll be sworn.
135Here, kiss the book.Trinculo drinks.
Though thou canst swim like a duck, thou art made
like a goose.
O Stephano, hast any more of this?
1200The whole butt, man. My cellar is in a rock
140by th’ seaside, where my wine is hid.—How now,
mooncalf, how does thine ague?
Hast thou not dropped from heaven?
Out o’ th’ moon, I do assure thee. I was the
1205man i’ th’ moon when time was.
145I have seen thee in her, and I do adore thee.
My mistress showed me thee, and thy dog, and thy
bush.
Come, swear to that. Kiss the book. I will
1210furnish it anon with new contents. Swear.
Caliban drinks.
150By this good light, this is a very shallow
monster. I afeard of him? A very weak monster. The
man i’ th’ moon? A most poor, credulous monster!
—Well drawn, monster, in good sooth!
1215I’ll show thee every fertile inch o’ th’ island,
155and I will kiss thy foot. I prithee, be my god.
By this light, a most perfidious and drunken
monster. When ’s god’s asleep, he’ll rob his bottle.
I’ll kiss thy foot. I’ll swear myself thy subject.
1220Come on, then. Down, and swear.
Caliban kneels.
160I shall laugh myself to death at this puppy-headed
monster. A most scurvy monster. I could
find in my heart to beat him—
Come, kiss.
1225—but that the poor monster’s in drink. An
165abominable monster.
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.
1230I’ll bear him no more sticks, but follow thee,
170Thou wondrous man.
A most ridiculous monster, to make a wonder
of a poor drunkard.
I prithee, let me bring thee where crabs grow,
1235And I with my long nails will dig thee pignuts,
175Show thee a jay’s nest, and instruct thee how
To snare the nimble marmoset. I’ll bring thee
To clustering filberts, and sometimes I’ll get thee
Young scamels from the rock. Wilt thou go with me?
1240I prithee now, lead the way without any
180more 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.
1245Farewell, master, farewell, farewell.
185A howling monster, a drunken monster.
No more dams I’ll make for fish,
Nor fetch in firing
At requiring,
1250Nor scrape trenchering, nor wash dish.
190’Ban, ’ban, Ca-caliban
Has a new master. Get a new man.
Freedom, high-day! High-day, freedom! Freedom,
high-day, freedom!
1255O brave monster! Lead the way.
They exit.
There be some sports are painful, and their labor
Delight in them sets off; some kinds of baseness
Are nobly undergone; and most poor matters
Point to rich ends. This my mean task
51260Would be as heavy to me as odious, but
The mistress which I serve quickens what’s dead
And makes my labors pleasures. O, she is
Ten times more gentle than her father’s crabbed,
And he’s composed of harshness. I must remove
101265Some 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;
151270But these sweet thoughts do even refresh my labors,
Most busiest when I do it.
Alas now, pray you,
Work not so hard. I would the lightning had
Burnt up those logs that you are enjoined to pile.
201275Pray, 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.
O most dear mistress,
251280The sun will set before I shall discharge
What I must strive to do.
If you’ll sit down,
I’ll bear your logs the while. Pray, give me that.
I’ll carry it to the pile.
301285No, precious creature,
I had rather crack my sinews, break my back,
Than you should such dishonor undergo
While I sit lazy by.
It would become me
351290As 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.
Poor worm, thou art infected.
This visitation shows it.
401295You look wearily.
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?
451300Miranda.—O my father,
I have broke your hest to say so!
Admired Miranda!
Indeed the top of admiration, worth
What’s dearest to the world! Full many a lady
501305I have eyed with best regard, and many a time
Th’ harmony of their tongues hath into bondage
Brought my too diligent ear. For several virtues
Have I liked several women, never any
With so full soul but some defect in her
551310Did quarrel with the noblest grace she owed,
And put it to the foil. But you, O you,
So perfect and so peerless, are created
Of every creature’s best.
I do not know
601315One 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 skilless of, but by my modesty,
651320The 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
701325I therein do forget.
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
751330The 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.
801335Do you love me?
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,
851340Beyond all limit of what else i’ th’ world,
Do love, prize, honor you.
I am a fool
To weep at what I am glad of.
Fair encounter
901345Of two most rare affections. Heavens rain grace
On that which breeds between ’em!
Wherefore
weep you?
At mine unworthiness, that dare not offer
951350What 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.
1001355I 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.
My mistress, dearest, and I thus humble ever.
1051360My husband, then?
Ay, with a heart as willing
As bondage e’er of freedom. Here’s my hand.
And mine, with my heart in ’t. And now farewell
Till half an hour hence.
1101365A thousand thousand.
They exit.
So glad of this as they I cannot be,
Who are surprised withal; but my rejoicing
At nothing can be more. I’ll to my book,
For yet ere suppertime must I perform
1151370Much business appertaining.
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.
51375Servant 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.
Drink, servant monster, when I bid thee.
101380Thy eyes are almost set in thy head.
Where should they be set else? He were a
brave monster indeed if they were set in his tail.
My man-monster hath drowned his tongue
in sack. For my part, the sea cannot drown me. I
151385swam, 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.
Your lieutenant, if you list. He’s no
standard.
201390We’ll not run, Monsieur Monster.
Nor go neither. But you’ll lie like dogs, and
yet say nothing neither.
Mooncalf, speak once in thy life, if thou
be’st a good mooncalf.
251395How does thy Honor? Let me lick thy shoe. I’ll
not serve him; he is not valiant.
Thou liest, most ignorant monster. I am in
case to justle a constable. Why, thou debauched
fish, thou! Was there ever man a coward that hath
301400drunk so much sack as I today? Wilt thou tell a
monstrous lie, being but half a fish and half a
monster?
Lo, how he mocks me! Wilt thou let him, my
lord?
351405“Lord,” quoth he? That a monster should be
such a natural!
Lo, lo again! Bite him to death, I prithee.
Trinculo, keep a good tongue in your head.
If you prove a mutineer, the next tree. The poor
401410monster’s my subject, and he shall not suffer
indignity.
I thank my noble lord. Wilt thou be pleased
to harken once again to the suit I made to thee?
Marry, will I. Kneel and repeat it. I will
451415stand, and so shall Trinculo.
As I told thee before, I am subject
to a tyrant, a sorcerer, that by his cunning hath
cheated me of the island.
Thou liest.
501420Thou liest, thou jesting monkey,
thou. He stands. I would my valiant master would
destroy thee. I do not lie.
Trinculo, if you trouble him any more in ’s
tale, by this hand, I will supplant some of your
551425teeth.
Why, I said nothing.
Mum then, and no more. Trinculo stands
aside. Proceed.
I say by sorcery he got this isle;
601430From me he got it. If thy Greatness will,
Revenge it on him, for I know thou dar’st,
But this thing dare not.
That’s most certain.
Thou shalt be lord of it, and I’ll serve thee.
651435How now shall this be compassed? Canst
thou bring me to the party?
Yea, yea, my lord. I’ll yield him thee asleep,
Where thou mayst knock a nail into his head.
Thou liest. Thou canst not.
701440What 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 naught but brine, for I’ll not show him
Where the quick freshes are.
751445Trinculo, 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
stockfish of thee.
Why, what did I? I did nothing. I’ll go
801450farther off.
Didst thou not say he lied?
Thou liest.
Do I so? Take thou that.He beats Trinculo.
As you like this, give me the lie another time.
851455I 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!
Ha, ha, ha!
901460Now forward with your tale. To Trinculo.
Prithee, stand further off.
Beat him enough. After a little time
I’ll beat him too.
Stand farther. Trinculo moves farther
away. 951465Come, proceed.
Why, as I told thee, ’tis a custom with him
I’ th’ afternoon to sleep. There thou mayst brain him,
Having first seized his books, or with a log
Batter his skull, or paunch him with a stake,
1001470Or cut his weasand 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.
1051475He 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
1101480But only Sycorax my dam and she;
But she as far surpasseth Sycorax
As great’st does least.
Is it so brave a lass?
Ay, lord, she will become thy bed, I warrant,
1151485And bring thee forth brave brood.
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?
1201490Excellent.
Give me thy hand. I am sorry I beat thee.
But while thou liv’st, keep a good tongue in thy
head.
Within this half hour will he be asleep.
1251495Wilt thou destroy him then?
Ay, on mine honor.
This will I tell my master.
Thou mak’st me merry. I am full of pleasure.
Let us be jocund. Will you troll the catch
1301500You taught me but whilere?
At thy request, monster, I will do reason,
any reason.—Come on, Trinculo, let us sing.
Sings.
Flout ’em and cout ’em
And scout ’em and flout ’em!
1351505Thought is free.
That’s not the tune.
Ariel plays the tune on a tabor and pipe.What is this same?
This is the tune of our catch played by the
picture of Nobody.
1401510If thou be’st a
man, show thyself in thy likeness. If thou be’st a
devil, take ’t as thou list.
O, forgive me my sins!
He that dies pays all debts.—I defy thee!—
1451515Mercy upon us!
Art thou afeard?
No, monster, not I.
Be not afeard. The isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs that give delight and hurt not.
1501520Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometimes voices
That, if I then had waked after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again; and then, in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open, and show riches
1551525Ready to drop upon me, that when I waked
I cried to dream again.
This will prove a brave kingdom to me,
where I shall have my music for nothing.
When Prospero is destroyed.
1601530That shall be by and by. I remember the
story.
The sound is going away. Let’s follow it, and
after do our work.
Lead, monster. We’ll follow.—I would I
1651535could see this taborer. He lays it on. Wilt come?
I’ll follow, Stephano.
They exit.
By ’r lakin, I can go no further, sir.
My old bones aches. Here’s a maze trod indeed
Through forthrights and meanders. By your
1540patience,
5I needs must rest me.
Old lord, I cannot blame thee.
Who am myself attached with weariness
To th’ dulling of my spirits. Sit down and rest.
1545Even here I will put off my hope and keep it
10No longer for my flatterer. He is drowned
Whom thus we stray to find, and the sea mocks
Our frustrate search on land. Well, let him go.
I am right glad that he’s so out of hope.
1550Do not, for one repulse, forgo the purpose
15That you resolved t’ effect.
The next advantage
Will we take throughly.
Let it be tonight;
1555For now they are oppressed with travel, they
20Will not nor cannot use such vigilance
As when they are fresh.
I say tonight. No more.
Solemn and strange music, and enter Prospero on the
What harmony is this? My good friends, hark.
1560Marvelous sweet music!
Enter several strange shapes, bringing in a banquet, and
25Give us kind keepers, heavens! What were these?
A living drollery! Now I will believe
That there are unicorns, that in Arabia
There is one tree, the phoenix’ throne, one phoenix
1565At this hour reigning there.
30I’ll believe both;
And what does else want credit, come to me
And I’ll be sworn ’tis true. Travelers ne’er did lie,
Though fools at home condemn ’em.
1570If in Naples
35I 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
1575Their manners are more gentle, kind, than of
40Our human generation you shall find
Many, nay, almost any.
Honest lord,
Thou hast said well, for some of you there present
1580Are worse than devils.
45I cannot too much muse
Such shapes, such gesture, and such sound,
expressing—
Although they want the use of tongue—a kind
1585Of excellent dumb discourse.
50Praise in departing.
Inviting the King, etc., to eat, the shapes depart.They vanished strangely.
No matter, since
They have left their viands behind, for we have
1590stomachs.
55Will ’t please you taste of what is here?
Not I.
Faith, sir, you need not fear. When we were boys,
Who would believe that there were mountaineers
1595Dewlapped like bulls, whose throats had hanging at
60’em
Wallets of flesh? Or that there were such men
Whose heads stood in their breasts? Which now we
find
1600Each putter-out of five for one will bring us
65Good warrant of.
I will stand to and feed.
Although my last, no matter, since I feel
The best is past. Brother, my lord the Duke,
1605Stand to, and do as we.
70You 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,
1610Where man doth not inhabit, you ’mongst men
75Being most unfit to live. I have made you mad;
And even with such-like valor, men hang and drown
Their proper selves.
Alonso, Sebastian, and Antonio draw their swords.
You fools, I and my fellows
1615Are ministers of Fate. The elements
80Of whom your swords are tempered may as well
Wound the loud winds or with bemocked-at stabs
Kill the still-closing waters as diminish
One dowl that’s in my plume. My fellow ministers
1620Are like invulnerable. If you could hurt,
85Your 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,
1625Exposed unto the sea, which hath requit it,
90Him and his innocent child, for which foul deed,
The powers—delaying, not forgetting—have
Incensed the seas and shores, yea, all the creatures
Against your peace. Thee of thy son, Alonso,
1630They have bereft; and do pronounce by me
95Ling’ring perdition, worse than any death
Can be at once, shall step by step attend
You and your ways, whose wraths to guard you
from—
1635Which here, in this most desolate isle, else falls
100Upon your heads—is nothing but heart’s sorrow
And a clear life ensuing.
Bravely the figure of this Harpy hast thou
Performed, my Ariel. A grace it had, devouring.
1640Of my instruction hast thou nothing bated
105In what thou hadst to say. So, with good life
And observation strange, my meaner ministers
Their several kinds have done. My high charms
work,
1645And these mine enemies are all knit up
110In their distractions. They now are in my power;
And in these fits I leave them while I visit
Young Ferdinand, whom they suppose is drowned,
And his and mine loved darling.
1650I’ th’ name of something holy, sir, why stand you
115In this strange stare?
O, it is monstrous, monstrous!
Methought the billows spoke and told me of it;
The winds did sing it to me, and the thunder,
1655That deep and dreadful organ pipe, pronounced
120The name of Prosper. It did bass my trespass.
Therefor my son i’ th’ ooze is bedded, and
I’ll seek him deeper than e’er plummet sounded,
And with him there lie mudded.
1660But one fiend at a time,
125I’ll fight their legions o’er.
I’ll be thy second.
They exit.
All three of them are desperate. Their great guilt,
Like poison given to work a great time after,
1665Now ’gins to bite the spirits. I do beseech you
130That are of suppler joints, follow them swiftly
And hinder them from what this ecstasy
May now provoke them to.
Follow, I pray you.
They all exit.
1670If I have too austerely punished you,
Your compensation makes amends, for I
Have given you here a third of mine own life,
Or that for which I live; who once again
5I tender to thy hand. All thy vexations
1675Were 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 of her,
10For thou shalt find she will outstrip all praise
1680And make it halt behind her.
I do believe it
Against an oracle.
Then, as my gift and thine own acquisition
15Worthily purchased, take my daughter. But
1685If thou dost break her virgin-knot before
All sanctimonious ceremonies may
With full and holy rite be ministered,
No sweet aspersion shall the heavens let fall
20To make this contract grow; but barren hate,
1690Sour-eyed 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.
25As I hope
1695For 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
30Mine honor into lust to take away
1700The edge of that day’s celebration
When I shall think or Phoebus’ steeds are foundered
Or night kept chained below.
Fairly spoke.
35Sit then and talk with her. She is thine own.
Ferdinand and Miranda move aside.
1705What, Ariel, my industrious servant, Ariel!
What would my potent master? Here I am.
Thou and thy meaner fellows your last service
Did worthily perform, and I must use you
40In such another trick. Go bring the rabble,
1710O’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,
45And they expect it from me.
1715Presently?
Ay, with a twink.
Before you can say “Come” and “Go,”
And breathe twice, and cry “So, so,”
50Each one, tripping on his toe,
1720Will be here with mop and mow.
Do you love me, master? No?
Dearly, my delicate Ariel. Do not approach
Till thou dost hear me call.
55Well; I conceive.
He exits.
1725Look thou be true; do not give dalliance
Too much the rein. The strongest oaths are straw
To th’ fire i’ th’ blood. Be more abstemious,
Or else goodnight your vow.
60I warrant you, sir,
1730The white cold virgin snow upon my heart
Abates the ardor of my liver.
Well.—
Now come, my Ariel. Bring a corollary
65Rather than want a spirit. Appear, and pertly.
Soft music.
1735No tongue. All eyes. Be silent.
Ceres, most bounteous lady, thy rich leas
Of wheat, rye, barley, vetches, oats, and peas;
Thy turfy mountains, where live nibbling sheep,
70And flat meads thatched with stover, them to keep;
1740Thy banks with pionèd and twillèd brims,
Which spongy April at thy hest betrims
To make cold nymphs chaste crowns; and thy
broom groves,
75Whose shadow the dismissèd bachelor loves,
1745Being lass-lorn; thy poll-clipped vineyard,
And thy sea marge, sterile and rocky hard,
Where thou thyself dost air—the Queen o’ th’ sky,
Whose wat’ry arch and messenger am I,
80Bids thee leave these, and with her sovereign grace,
1750Here on this grass-plot, in this very place,
To come and sport. Her peacocks fly amain.
Approach, rich Ceres, her to entertain.
Hail, many-colored messenger, that ne’er
85Dost disobey the wife of Jupiter;
1755Who 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 unshrubbed down,
90Rich scarf to my proud Earth. Why hath thy queen
1760Summoned me hither to this short-grassed green?
A contract of true love to celebrate,
And some donation freely to estate
On the blest lovers.
95Tell me, heavenly bow,
1765If 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 scandaled company
100I have forsworn.
1770Of 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
105done
1775Some wanton charm upon this man and maid,
Whose vows are that no bed-right shall be paid
Till Hymen’s torch be lighted—but in vain.
Mars’s hot minion is returned again;
110Her waspish-headed son has broke his arrows,
1780Swears he will shoot no more, but play with
sparrows,
And be a boy right out.
Highest queen of state,
115Great Juno, comes. I know her by her gait.
1785How does my bounteous sister? Go with me
To bless this twain, that they may prosperous be
And honored in their issue.
Honor, riches, marriage-blessing,
120Long continuance and increasing,
1790Hourly joys be still upon you.
Juno sings her blessings on you.
Earth’s increase, foison plenty,
Barns and garners never empty,
125Vines with clust’ring bunches growing,
1795Plants with goodly burden bowing;
Spring come to you at the farthest
In the very end of harvest.
Scarcity and want shall shun you.
130Ceres’ blessing so is on you.
1800This is a most majestic vision, and
Harmonious charmingly. May I be bold
To think these spirits?
Spirits, which by mine art
135I have from their confines called to enact
1805My present fancies.
Let me live here ever.
So rare a wondered father and a wise
Makes this place paradise.
140Sweet now, silence.
1810Juno and Ceres whisper seriously.
There’s something else to do. Hush, and be mute,
Or else our spell is marred.
You nymphs, called naiads of the windring brooks,
145With your sedged crowns and ever-harmless looks,
1815Leave 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.
150You sunburned sicklemen, of August weary,
1820Come 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.
155I had forgot that foul conspiracy
1825Of the beast Caliban and his confederates
Against my life. The minute of their plot
Is almost come.—Well done. Avoid. No more.
This is strange. Your father’s in some passion
160That works him strongly.
1830Never till this day
Saw I him touched with anger, so distempered.
You do look, my son, in a moved sort,
As if you were dismayed. Be cheerful, sir.
165Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
1835As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air;
And like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,
170The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
1840Yea, 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
175Is rounded with a sleep. Sir, I am vexed.
1845Bear with my weakness. My old brain is troubled.
Be not disturbed with my infirmity.
If you be pleased, retire into my cell
And there repose. A turn or two I’ll walk
180To still my beating mind.
1850We wish your peace.
They exit.Enter Ariel.
Come with a thought. I thank thee, Ariel. Come.
Thy thoughts I cleave to. What’s thy pleasure?
Spirit,
185We must prepare to meet with Caliban.
1855Ay, my commander. When I presented Ceres,
I thought to have told thee of it, but I feared
Lest I might anger thee.
Say again, where didst thou leave these varlets?
190I told you, sir, they were red-hot with drinking,
1860So full of valor 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,
195At which, like unbacked colts, they pricked their
1865ears,
Advanced their eyelids, lifted up their noses
As they smelt music. So I charmed their ears
That, calf-like, they my lowing followed through
200Toothed briers, sharp furzes, pricking gorse, and
1870thorns,
Which entered their frail shins. At last I left them
I’ th’ filthy-mantled pool beyond your cell,
There dancing up to th’ chins, that the foul lake
205O’erstunk their feet.
1875This 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.
210I go, I go.
He exits.
1880A 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,
215So his mind cankers. I will plague them all
1885Even to roaring.
Enter Ariel, loaden with glistering apparel, etc.
Come, hang them on this line.
Pray you, tread softly, that the blind mole
may not hear a footfall. We now are near his cell.
220Monster, your fairy, which you say is a
1890harmless fairy, has done little better than played the
jack with us.
Monster, I do smell all horse piss, at which
my nose is in great indignation.
225So is mine.—Do you hear, monster. If I
1895should take a displeasure against you, look you—
Thou wert but a lost monster.
Good my lord, give me thy favor still.
Be patient, for the prize I’ll bring thee to
230Shall hoodwink this mischance. Therefore speak
1900softly.
All’s hushed as midnight yet.
Ay, but to lose our bottles in the pool!
There is not only disgrace and dishonor in
235that, monster, but an infinite loss.
1905That’s more to me than my wetting. Yet this
is your harmless fairy, monster!
I will fetch off my bottle, though I be o’er
ears for my labor.
240Prithee, my king, be quiet. Seest thou here,
1910This is the mouth o’ th’ cell. No noise, and enter.
Do that good mischief which may make this island
Thine own forever, and I, thy Caliban,
For aye thy foot-licker.
245Give me thy hand. I do begin to have bloody
1915thoughts.
O King Stephano, O
peer, O worthy Stephano, look what a wardrobe
here is for thee!
250Let it alone, thou fool. It is but trash.
1920Oho, monster, we know what belongs to a
frippery. He puts on one of the gowns. O King
Stephano!
Put off that gown, Trinculo. By this hand,
255I’ll have that gown.
1925Thy Grace shall have it.
The dropsy drown this fool! What do you mean
To dote thus on such luggage? Let ’t alone,
And do the murder first. If he awake,
260From toe to crown he’ll fill our skins with pinches,
1930Make us strange stuff.
Be you quiet, monster.—Mistress Line, is
not this my jerkin?He takes a jacket from the tree.
Now is the jerkin under the line.—Now, jerkin, you
265are like to lose your hair and prove a bald jerkin.
1935Do, do. We steal by line and level, an ’t like
your Grace.
I thank thee for that jest. Here’s a garment
for ’t. Wit shall not go unrewarded while I am king
270of this country. “Steal by line and level” is an excellent
1940pass of pate. There’s another garment for ’t.
Monster, come, put some lime upon your
fingers, and away with the rest.
I will have none on ’t. We shall lose our time
275And all be turned to barnacles or to apes
1945With foreheads villainous low.
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.
280And this.
1950Ay, and this.
A noise of hunters heard.Enter divers spirits in shape of dogs and hounds,Hey, Mountain, hey!
Silver! There it goes, Silver!
Fury, Fury! There, Tyrant, there! Hark, hark!
Caliban, Stephano, and Trinculo are driven off.
285Go, charge my goblins that they grind their joints
1955With dry convulsions, shorten up their sinews
With agèd cramps, and more pinch-spotted make
them
Than pard or cat o’ mountain.
290Hark, they roar.
1960Let them be hunted soundly. At this hour
Lies at my mercy all mine enemies.
Shortly shall all my labors end, and thou
Shalt have the air at freedom. For a little
295Follow and do me service.
1965Now 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?
On the sixth hour, at which time, my lord,
5You said our work should cease.
1970I did say so
When first I raised the tempest. Say, my spirit,
How fares the King and ’s followers?
Confined
10together
1975In 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,
15His brother, and yours abide all three distracted,
1980And the remainder mourning over them,
Brimful of sorrow and dismay; but chiefly
Him that you termed, sir, the good old Lord
Gonzalo.
20His tears runs down his beard like winter’s drops
1985From eaves of reeds. Your charm so strongly works
’em
That if you now beheld them, your affections
Would become tender.
25Dost thou think so, spirit?
1990Mine would, sir, were I human.
And mine shall.
Hast thou, which art but air, a touch, a feeling
Of their afflictions, and shall not myself,
30One of their kind, that relish all as sharply
1995Passion as they, be kindlier moved than thou art?
Though with their high wrongs I am struck to th’
quick,
Yet with my nobler reason ’gainst my fury
35Do I take part. The rarer action is
2000In 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,
40And they shall be themselves.
2005I’ll fetch them, sir.
He exits.Prospero draws a large circle on the stage with his staff.
You elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes, and groves,
And you that on the sands with printless foot
Do chase the ebbing Neptune, and do fly him
45When he comes back; you demi-puppets that
2010By moonshine do the green sour ringlets make,
Whereof the ewe not bites; and you whose pastime
Is to make midnight mushrumps, that rejoice
To hear the solemn curfew; by whose aid,
50Weak masters though you be, I have bedimmed
2015The noontide sun, called forth the mutinous winds,
And ’twixt the green sea and the azured vault
Set roaring war; to the dread rattling thunder
Have I given fire, and rifted Jove’s stout oak
55With his own bolt; the strong-based promontory
2020Have I made shake, and by the spurs plucked up
The pine and cedar; graves at my command
Have waked their sleepers, oped, and let ’em forth
By my so potent art. But this rough magic
60I here abjure, and when I have required
2025Some heavenly music, which even now I do,
Prospero gestures with his staff.
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,
65And deeper than did ever plummet sound
2030I’ll drown my book.Solemn music.
Here enters Ariel before; then Alonso with a 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, boiled within thy skull. There stand,
70For you are spell-stopped.—
2035Holy Gonzalo, honorable man,
Mine eyes, e’en sociable to the show of thine,
Fall fellowly drops.—The charm dissolves apace,
And as the morning steals upon the night,
75Melting the darkness, so their rising senses
2040Begin 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
80Home, both in word and deed.—Most cruelly
2045Didst thou, Alonso, use me and my daughter.
Thy brother was a furtherer in the act.—
Thou art pinched for ’t now, Sebastian.—Flesh and
blood,
85You, brother mine, that entertained ambition,
2050Expelled remorse and nature, whom, with Sebastian,
Whose inward pinches therefore are most strong,
Would here have killed your king, I do forgive thee,
Unnatural though thou art.—Their understanding
90Begins to swell, and the approaching tide
2055Will shortly fill the reasonable shore
That now lies 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.
Ariel exits and at once returns
with Prospero’s ducal robes.
95I will discase me and myself present
2060As I was sometime Milan.—Quickly, spirit,
Thou shalt ere long be free.
Where the bee sucks, there suck I.
In a cowslip’s bell I lie.
100There I couch when owls do cry.
2065On the bat’s back I do fly
After summer merrily.
Merrily, merrily shall I live now
Under the blossom that hangs on the bow.
105Why, that’s my dainty Ariel. I shall miss
2070Thee, 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
110Being awake, enforce them to this place,
2075And presently, I prithee.
I drink the air before me, and return
Or ere your pulse twice beat.
All torment, trouble, wonder, and amazement
115Inhabits here. Some heavenly power guide us
2080Out of this fearful country!
Behold, sir king,
The wrongèd Duke of Milan, Prospero.
For more assurance that a living prince
120Does now speak to thee, I embrace thy body,
He embraces Alonso.
2085And to thee and thy company I bid
A hearty welcome.
Whe’er thou be’st he or no,
Or some enchanted trifle to abuse me
125(As late I have been) I not know. Thy pulse
2090Beats 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.
130Thy dukedom I resign, and do entreat
2095Thou pardon me my wrongs. But how should
Prospero
Be living and be here?
First, noble friend,
135Let me embrace thine age, whose honor cannot
2100Be measured or confined.
Whether this be
Or be not, I’ll not swear.
You do yet taste
140Some subtleties o’ th’ isle, that will not let you
2105Believe 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
145And justify you traitors. At this time
2110I will tell no tales.
The devil speaks in him.
No.
To Antonio. For you, most wicked sir, whom to
150call brother
2115Would 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.
155If thou be’st Prospero,
2120Give us particulars of thy preservation,
How thou hast met us here, whom three hours since
Were wracked upon this shore, where I have lost—
How sharp the point of this remembrance is!—
160My dear son Ferdinand.
2125I am woe for ’t, sir.
Irreparable is the loss, and patience
Says it is past her cure.
I rather think
165You have not sought her help, of whose soft grace,
2130For the like loss, I have her sovereign aid
And rest myself content.
You the like loss?
As great to me as late, and supportable
170To make the dear loss have I means much weaker
2135Than you may call to comfort you, for I
Have lost my daughter.
A daughter?
O heavens, that they were living both in Naples,
175The King and Queen there! That they were, I wish
2140Myself were mudded in that oozy bed
Where my son lies!—When did you lose your
daughter?
In this last tempest. I perceive these lords
180At this encounter do so much admire
2145That 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
185That I am Prospero and that very duke
2150Which was thrust forth of Milan, who most
strangely
Upon this shore, where you were wracked, was
landed
190To be the lord on ’t. No more yet of this.
2155For ’tis a chronicle of day by day,
Not a relation for a breakfast, nor
Befitting this first meeting. To Alonso. Welcome, sir.
This cell’s my court. Here have I few attendants,
195And subjects none abroad. Pray you, look in.
2160My dukedom since you have given me again,
I will requite you with as good a thing,
At least bring forth a wonder to content you
As much as me my dukedom.
200Sweet lord, you play me false.
2165No, my dearest love,
I would not for the world.
Yes, for a score of kingdoms you should wrangle,
And I would call it fair play.
205If this prove
2170A vision of the island, one dear son
Shall I twice lose.
A most high miracle!
Though the seas threaten, they are merciful.
210I have cursed them without cause.
2175Now, all the
blessings
Of a glad father compass thee about!
Arise, and say how thou cam’st here.
215O wonder!
2180How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O, brave new world
That has such people in ’t!
’Tis new to thee.
220What is this maid with whom thou wast at play?
2185Your eld’st acquaintance cannot be three hours.
Is she the goddess that hath severed us
And brought us thus together?
Sir, she is mortal,
225But by immortal providence she’s mine.
2190I 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,
230But never saw before, of whom I have
2195Received a second life; and second father
This lady makes him to me.
I am hers.
But, O, how oddly will it sound that I
235Must ask my child forgiveness!
2200There, sir, stop.
Let us not burden our remembrances with
A heaviness that’s gone.
I have inly wept
240Or should have spoke ere this. Look down, you
2205gods,
And on this couple drop a blessèd crown,
For it is you that have chalked forth the way
Which brought us hither.
245I say “Amen,” Gonzalo.
2210Was 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
250Did Claribel her husband find at Tunis,
2215And 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.
255Give me your
2220hands.
Let grief and sorrow still embrace his heart
That doth not wish you joy!
Be it so. Amen.
Enter Ariel, with the Master and Boatswain
amazedly following.
260O, look, sir, look, sir, here is more of us.
2225I 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?
265Hast thou no mouth by land? What is the news?
2230The 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 rigged as when
270We first put out to sea.
2235Sir, all this service
Have I done since I went.
My tricksy spirit!
These are not natural events. They strengthen
275From strange to stranger.—Say, how came you
2240hither?
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 clapped under
280hatches,
2245Where, but even now, with strange and several
noises
Of roaring, shrieking, howling, jingling chains,
And more diversity of sounds, all horrible,
285We were awaked, straightway at liberty,
2250Where 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
290And were brought moping hither.
2255Was ’t well done?
Bravely, my diligence. Thou shalt be free.
This is as strange a maze as e’er men trod,
And there is in this business more than nature
295Was ever conduct of. Some oracle
2260Must rectify our knowledge.
Sir, my liege,
Do not infest your mind with beating on
The strangeness of this business. At picked leisure,
300Which shall be shortly, single I’ll resolve you,
2265Which to you shall seem probable, of every
These happened accidents; till when, be cheerful
And think of each thing well. Aside to Ariel.
Come hither, spirit;
305Set Caliban and his companions free.
2270Untie the spell. Ariel exits. How fares my gracious
sir?
There are yet missing of your company
Some few odd lads that you remember not.
310Every man shift for all the rest, and let no
2275man take care for himself, for all is but fortune.
Coraggio, bully monster, coraggio.
If these be true spies which I wear in my
head, here’s a goodly sight.
315O Setebos, these be brave spirits indeed! How
2280fine my master is! I am afraid he will chastise me.
Ha, ha!
What things are these, my Lord Antonio?
Will money buy ’em?
320Very like. One of them
2285Is a plain fish and no doubt marketable.
Mark but the badges of these men, my lords,
Then say if they be true. This misshapen knave,
His mother was a witch, and one so strong
325That could control the moon, make flows and ebbs,
2290And deal in her command without her power.
These three have robbed me, and this demi-devil,
For he’s a bastard one, had plotted with them
To take my life. Two of these fellows you
330Must know and own. This thing of darkness I
2295Acknowledge mine.
I shall be pinched to death.
Is not this Stephano, my drunken butler?
He is drunk now. Where had he wine?
335And Trinculo is reeling ripe. Where should they
2300Find this grand liquor that hath gilded ’em?
To Trinculo. How cam’st thou in this pickle?
I have been in such a pickle since I saw you
last that I fear me will never out of my bones. I
340shall not fear flyblowing.
2305Why, how now, Stephano?
O, touch me not! I am not Stephano, but a
cramp.
You’d be king o’ the isle, sirrah?
345I should have been a sore one, then.
2310This is as strange a thing as e’er I looked on.
He is as disproportioned in his manners
As in his shape. To Caliban. Go, sirrah, to my cell.
Take with you your companions. As you look
350To have my pardon, trim it handsomely.
2315Ay, 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!
355Go to, away!
2320Hence, and bestow your luggage where you found it.
Or stole it, rather.
Caliban, Stephano, and Trinculo exit.
Sir, I invite your Highness and your train
To my poor cell, where you shall take your rest
360For this one night, which part of it I’ll waste
2325With 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
365I’ll bring you to your ship, and so to Naples,
2330Where I have hope to see the nuptial
Of these our dear-belovèd solemnized,
And thence retire me to my Milan, where
Every third thought shall be my grave.
370I long
2335To hear the story of your life, which must
Take the ear strangely.
I’ll deliver all,
And promise you calm seas, auspicious gales,
375And sail so expeditious that shall catch
2340Your 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.
Now my charms are all o’erthrown,
2345And what strength I have ’s mine own,
Which is most faint. Now ’tis true
I must be here confined by you,
5Or sent to Naples. Let me not,
Since I have my dukedom got
2350And pardoned the deceiver, dwell
In this bare island by your spell,
But release me from my bands
10With the help of your good hands.
Gentle breath of yours my sails
2355Must fill, or else my project fails,
Which was to please. Now I want
Spirits to enforce, art to enchant,
15And my ending is despair,
Unless I be relieved by prayer,
2360Which pierces so that it assaults
Mercy itself, and frees all faults.
As you from crimes would pardoned be,
20Let your indulgence set me free.