The Tempest

 

By

 

William Shakespeare

 


CONTENTS:

 

ACT I 3

SCENE I. On a ship at sea: a tempestuous noise of thunder and lightning heard. 3

SCENE II. The island. Before PROSPERO'S cell. 7

ACT II 30

SCENE I. Another part of the island. 30

SCENE II. Another part of the island. 49

ACT III 57

SCENE I. Before PROSPERO'S Cell. 57

SCENE II. Another part of the island. 62

SCENE III. Another part of the island. 70

ACT IV.. 76

SCENE I. Before PROSPERO'S cell. 76

ACT V.. 89

SCENE I. Before PROSPERO'S cell. 89

 


ACT I

SCENE I. On a ship at sea: a tempestuous noise of thunder and lightning heard.

 

    Enter a Master and a Boatswain

 

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 the

    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, boatswain?

 

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 a

    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 hanged, our case is miserable.

 

    Exeunt

 

    Re-enter Boatswain

 

Boatswain

 

    Down with the topmast! yare! lower, lower! Bring

    her to try with main-course.

 

    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!

 

Boatswain

 

    What, must our mouths be cold?

 

GONZALO

 

    The king and prince at prayers! let's assist them,

    For our case is as theirs.

 

SEBASTIAN

 

    I'm out of patience.

 

ANTONIO

 

    We are merely cheated of our lives by drunkards:

    This wide-chapp'd rascal--would thou mightst 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 widest 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 with the king.

 

SEBASTIAN

 

    Let's take leave of him.

 

    Exeunt ANTONIO and SEBASTIAN

 

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 a dry death.

 

    Exeunt

 


SCENE II. The island. Before PROSPERO'S cell.

 

    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 the 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 creature 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 ere

    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 wreck, 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 remember'st aught ere thou camest here,

    How thou camest 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 thou 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 heaved thence,

    But blessedly holp hither.

 

MIRANDA

 

    O, my heart bleeds

    To think o' the teen that I have turn'd you to,

    Which is from my remembrance! Please you, farther.

 

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 loved 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 to advance and who

    To trash for over-topping, new created

    The creatures that were mine, I say, or changed 'em,

    Or else new form'd 'em; having both the key

    Of officer and office, set all hearts i' the state

    To what tune pleased 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 retired,

    O'er-prized all popular rate, in my false brother

    Awaked 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 the 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' the 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.

    The 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' the dead of darkness,

    The ministers for the purpose hurried thence

    Me and thy crying self.

 

MIRANDA

 

    Alack, for pity!

    I, not remembering 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's; 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 had quit it: there they hoist us,

    To cry to the sea that roar'd to us, to sigh

    To the winds whose pity, sighing back again,

    Did us but loving wrong.

 

MIRANDA

 

    Alack, what trouble

    Was I then to you!

 

PROSPERO

 

    O, a cherubim

    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 burthen groan'd; which raised 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, 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 loved 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 arrived; and here

    Have I, thy schoolmaster, made thee more profit

    Than other princesses 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 inclined 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 flamed amazement: sometime I'ld divide,

    And burn in many places; on the topmast,

    The yards and bowsprit, would I flame distinctly,

    Then meet and join. Jove's lightnings, the precursors

    O' the 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 leap'd; 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 badest 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

    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 disposed

    And all the rest o' the 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 stow'd;

    Who, with a charm join'd to their suffer'd labour,

    I have left asleep; and for the rest o' the fleet

    Which I dispersed, they all have met again

    And are upon the Mediterranean flote,

    Bound sadly home for Naples,

    Supposing that they saw the king's ship wreck'd

    And his great person perish.

 

PROSPERO

 

    Ariel, thy charge

    Exactly is perform'd: but there's more work.

    What is the time o' the 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 promised,

    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 thee no mistakings, served

    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' the earth

    When it is baked 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-eyed 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 freckled 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 arrived 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 spiriting 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' the 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

 

    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, for that 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 'em.

 

CALIBAN

 

    I must eat my dinner.

    This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother,

    Which thou takest from me. When thou camest first,

    Thou strokedst me and madest 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 loved thee

    And show'd thee all the qualities o' the isle,

    The fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place and fertile:

    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,

    Which first was mine own king: and here you sty me

    In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me

    The rest o' the island.

 

PROSPERO

 

    Thou most lying slave,

    Whom stripes may move, not kindness! I have used thee,

    Filth as thou art, with human care, and lodged thee

    In mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate

    The honour of my child.

 

CALIBAN

 

    O ho, O ho! would't had been done!

    Thou didst prevent me; I had peopled 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 confined into this rock,

    Who hadst deserved 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:

    Courtsied when you have and kiss'd

    The wild waves whist,

    Foot it featly here and there;

    And, sweet sprites, the burthen bear.

    Hark, hark!

 

    Burthen [dispersedly, within

    The watch-dogs bark!

 

    Burthen Bow-wow

    Hark, hark! I hear

    The strain of strutting chanticleer

    Cry, Cock-a-diddle-dow.

 

FERDINAND

 

    Where should this music be? i' the air or the earth?

    It sounds no more: and sure, it waits upon

    Some god o' the island. Sitting on a bank,

    Weeping again the king my father's wreck,

    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

 

    Burthen 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 seest

    Was in the wreck; and, but he's something stain'd

    With grief that's 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 wreck'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

    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

 

    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 inclined my way!

 

FERDINAND

 

    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 owest 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

 

    Follow me.

    Speak not you for him; he's a traitor. Come;

    I'll manacle thy neck and feet together:

    Sea-water shalt thou drink; thy food shall be

    The fresh-brook muscles, wither'd roots and husks

    Wherein the acorn cradled. Follow.

 

FERDINAND

 

    No;

    I will resist such entertainment till

    Mine enemy has more power.

 

    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 makest a show but darest 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 imposter! 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

 

    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 wreck 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' the 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 free

    As mountain winds: but then exactly do

    All points of my command.

 

ARIEL

 

    To the syllable.

 

PROSPERO

 

    Come, follow. Speak not for him.

 

    Exeunt

 


ACT II

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