DRAMATIS PERSONAE:
ALONSO, King of Naples
SEBASTIAN, his Brother
PROSPERO, the right Duke of Milan
ANTONIO, his Brother, the usurping
Duke of Milan
FERDINAND, Son to the King of
Naples
GONZALO, an honest old counsellor
ADRIAN, Lord
FRANCISCO,Lord
CALIBAN, a savage and deformed
Slave
TRINCULO, a Jester
STEPHANO, a drunken Butler
MASTER OF A SHIP
BOATSWAIN
MARINERS
MIRANDA, Daughter to Prospero
ARIEL, an airy Spirit
IRIS, presented by Spirits
CERES, presented by Spirits
JUNO, presented by Spirits
NYMPHS, presented by Spirits
REAPERS, presented by Spirits
Other Spirits attending on Prospero
SCENE:
The sea, with a Ship; afterwards
an Island
THE TEMPEST
ACT 1
SCENE 1
[On a ship at sea; a tempestuous
noise of thunder and lightning
heard]
[Enter a SHIPMASTER and a BOATSWAIN
severally]
MASTER.
Boatswain!
BOATSWAIN.
Here, master: what cheer?
MASTER.
Good! Speak to the mariners:
fall to't yarely, or
we run ourselves aground: bestir,
bestir.
[Exit]
[Enter MARINERS]
BOATSWAIN.
Heigh, my hearts! cheerly, cheerly,
my hearts!
yare, yare! Take in the topsail.
Tend to th' master's
whistle.--Blow till thou burst
thy wind, if room enough.
[Enter ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO,
FERDINAND, GONZALO, and
OTHERS]
ALONSO.
Good boatswain, have care. Where's
the master?
Play the men.
BOATSWAIN.
I pray now, keep below.
ANTONIO.
Where is the master, boson?
BOATSWAIN.
Do you not hear him? You mar
our labour:
keep your cabins: you do assist
the storm.
GONZALO.
Nay, good, be patient.
BOATSWAIN.
When the sea is. Hence! What
cares these
roarers for the name of king?
To cabin! silence! Trouble
us not.
GONZALO.
Good, yet remember whom thou
hast aboard.
BOATSWAIN.
None that I more love than myself.
You are
counsellor: if you can command
these elements to
silence, and work the peace of
the present, we will not
hand a rope more. Use your authority:
if you cannot, give
thanks you have lived so long,
and make yourself ready
in your cabin for the mischance
of the hour, if it so
hap.--Cheerly, good hearts!--Out
of our way, I say.
[Exit]
GONZALO.
I have great comfort from this
fellow. Methinks
he hath no drowning mark upon
him: his complexion is
perfect gallows. Stand fast,
good Fate, to his hanging!
make the rope of his destiny
our cable, for our own doth
little advantage! If he be not
born to be hang'd, our
case is miserable.
[Exeunt]
[Re-enter BOATSWAIN]
BOATSWAIN.
Down with the topmast! yare!
lower, lower!
Bring her to try wi' th' maincourse.
[A cry within] A
plague upon this howling! They
are louder than the
weather or our office.--
[Re-enter SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO,
and GONZALO]
Yet again! What do you here?
Shall we give o'er, and
drown? Have you a mind to sink?
SEBASTIAN.
A pox o' your throat, you bawling,
blasphemous,
incharitable dog!
BOATSWAIN.
Work you, then.
ANTONIO.
Hang, cur, hang! you whoreson,
insolent noisemaker,
we are less afraid to be drowned
than thou art.
GONZALO.
I'll warrant him for drowning,
though the ship were
no stronger than a nutshell,
and as leaky as an unstanched
wench.
BOATSWAIN.
Lay her a-hold, a-hold! set her
two courses: off
to sea again: lay her off.
[Enter MARINERS, Wet]
MARINERS.
All lost! to prayers, to prayers!
all lost!
[Exeunt]
BOATSWAIN.
What, must our mouths be cold?
GONZALO.
The King and Prince at prayers!
let us assist them,
For our case is as theirs.
SEBASTIAN.
I am out of patience.
ANTONIO.
We are merely cheated of our
lives by drunkards.--
This wide-chapp'd rascal--would
thou might'st lie drowning
The washing of ten tides!
GONZALO.
He'll be hang'd yet,
Though every drop of water swear
against it,
And gape at wid'st to glut him.
[A confused noise within:--'Mercy
on us!'--
'We split, we split!'--'Farewell,
my wife and children!'--
'Farewell, brother!'--'We split,
we split, we split!'--]
ANTONIO.
Let's all sink wi' the King.
[Exit]
SEBASTIAN.
Let's take leave of him.
[Exit]
GONZALO.
Now would I give a thousand furlongs
of sea for
an acre of barren ground; long
heath, brown furze, any
thing. The wills above be done!
but I would fain die
dry death.
[Exit]
SCENE 2
[The Island. Before the cell
of PROSPERO]
[Enter PROSPERO and MIRANDA]
MIRANDA.
If by your art, my dearest father,
you have
Put the wild waters in this roar,
allay them.
The sky, it seems, would pour
down stinking pitch,
But that the sea, mounting to
th' welkin's cheek,
Dashes the fire out. O! I have
suffered
With those that I saw suffer:
a brave vessel,
Who had, no doubt, some noble
creatures in her,
Dash'd all to pieces. O! the
cry did knock
Against my very heart. Poor souls,
they perish'd.
Had I been any god of power,
I would
Have sunk the sea within the
earth, or e'er
It should the good ship so have
swallow'd and
The fraughting souls within her.
PROSPERO.
Be collected:
No more amazement: tell your
piteous heart
There's no harm done.
MIRANDA.
O! woe the day!
PROSPERO.
No harm.
I have done nothing but in care
of thee,
Of thee, my dear one, thee, my
daughter, who
Art ignorant of what thou art,
nought knowing
Of whence I am: nor that I am
more better
Than Prospero, master of a full
poor cell,
And thy no greater father.
MIRANDA.
More to know
Did never meddle with my thoughts.
PROSPERO.
'Tis time
I should inform thee farther.
Lend thy hand,
And pluck my magic garment from
me.--So:
[Lays down his mantle]
Lie there my art.--Wipe thou
thine eyes; have comfort.
The direful spectacle of the
wrack, which touch'd
The very virtue of compassion
in thee,
I have with such provision in
mine art
So safely ordered that there
is no soul--
No, not so much perdition as
an hair
Betid to any creature in the
vessel
Which thou heard'st cry, which
thou saw'st sink. Sit down;
For thou must now know farther.
MIRANDA.
You have often
Begun to tell me what I am: but
stopp'd,
And left me to a bootless inquisition,
Concluding 'Stay; not yet.'
PROSPERO.
The hour's now come,
The very minute bids thee ope
thine ear;
Obey, and be attentive. Canst
thou remember
A time before we came unto this
cell?
I do not think thou canst: for
then thou wast not
Out three years old.
MIRANDA.
Certainly, sir, I can.
PROSPERO.
By what? By any other house,
or person?
Of any thing the image, tell
me, that
Hath kept with thy remembrance.
MIRANDA.
'Tis far off,
And rather like a dream than
an assurance
That my remembrance warrants.
Had I not
Four, or five, women once, that
tended me?
PROSPERO.
Thou hadst, and more, Miranda.
But how is it
That this lives in thy mind?
What seest thou else
In the dark backward and abysm
of time?
If thou rememb'rest aught ere
thou cam'st here,
How thou cam'st here, thou mayst.
MIRANDA.
But that I do not.
PROSPERO.
Twelve year since, Miranda, twelve
year since,
Thy father was the Duke of Milan,
and
A prince of power.
MIRANDA.
Sir, are not you my father?
PROSPERO.
Thy mother was a piece of virtue,
and
She said thou wast my daughter:
and thy father
Was Duke of Milan, and his only
heir
And princess,--no worse issued.
MIRANDA.
O, the heavens!
What foul play had we that we
came from thence?
Or blessed was't we did?
PROSPERO.
Both, both, my girl.
By foul play, as thou say'st,
were we heav'd thence;
But blessedly holp hither.
MIRANDA.
O! my heart bleeds
To think o' th' teen that I have
turn'd you to,
Which is from my remembrance.
Please you, further.
PROSPERO.
My brother and thy uncle, call'd
Antonio--
I pray thee, mark me,--that a
brother should
Be so perfidious!--he, whom next
thyself,
Of all the world I lov'd, and
to him put
The manage of my state; as at
that time
Through all the signories it
was the first,
And Prospero the prime duke,
being so reputed
In dignity, and for the liberal
arts,
Without a parallel: those being
all my study,
The government I cast upon my
brother,
And to my state grew stranger,
being transported
And rapt in secret studies. Thy
false uncle--
Dost thou attend me?
MIRANDA.
Sir, most heedfully.
PROSPERO.
Being once perfected how to grant
suits,
How to deny them, who t' advance,
and who
To trash for over-topping; new
created
The creatures that were mine,
I say, or chang'd 'em,
Or else new form'd 'em: having
both the key
Of officer and office, set all
hearts i' th' state
To what tune pleas'd his ear:
that now he was
The ivy which had hid my princely
trunk,
And suck'd my verdure out on't.--Thou
attend'st not.
MIRANDA.
O, good sir! I do.
PROSPERO.
I pray thee, mark me.
I thus neglecting worldly ends,
all dedicated
To closeness and the bettering
of my mind
With that, which, but by being
so retir'd,
O'er-priz'd all popular rate,
in my false brother
Awak'd an evil nature; and my
trust,
Like a good parent, did beget
of him
A falsehood, in its contrary
as great
As my trust was; which had indeed
no limit,
A confidence sans bound. He being
thus lorded,
Not only with what my revenue
yielded,
But what my power might else
exact,--like one
Who having, into truth, by telling
of it,
Made such a sinner of his memory,
To credit his own lie,--he did
believe
He was indeed the Duke; out o'
the substitution,
And executing th' outward face
of royalty,
With all prerogative.--Hence
his ambition growing--
Dost thou hear?
MIRANDA.
Your tale, sir, would cure deafness.
PROSPERO.
To have no screen between this
part he play'd
And him he play'd it for, he
needs will be
Absolute Milan. Me, poor man--my
library
Was dukedom large enough: of
temporal royalties
He thinks me now incapable; confederates,--
So dry he was for sway,--wi'
th' King of Naples
To give him annual tribute, do
him homage;
Subject his coronet to his crown,
and bend
The dukedom, yet unbow'd--alas,
poor Milan!--
To most ignoble stooping.
MIRANDA.
O the heavens!
PROSPERO.
Mark his condition, and the event;
then tell me
If this might be a brother.
MIRANDA.
I should sin
To think but nobly of my grandmother:
Good wombs have borne bad sons.
PROSPERO.
Now the condition.
This King of Naples, being an
enemy
To me inveterate, hearkens my
brother's suit;
Which was, that he, in lieu o'
the premises
Of homage and I know not how
much tribute,
Should presently extirpate me
and mine
Out of the dukedom, and confer
fair Milan,
With all the honours on my brother:
whereon,
A treacherous army levied, one
midnight
Fated to the purpose, did Antonio
open
The gates of Milan; and, i' th'
dead of darkness,
The ministers for th' purpose
hurried thence
Me and thy crying self.
MIRANDA.
Alack, for pity!
I, not rememb'ring how I cried
out then,
Will cry it o'er again: it is
a hint
That wrings mine eyes to't.
PROSPERO.
Hear a little further,
And then I'll bring thee to the
present business
Which now's upon us; without
the which this story
Were most impertinent.
MIRANDA.
Wherefore did they not
That hour destroy us?
PROSPERO.
Well demanded, wench:
My tale provokes that question.
Dear, they durst not,
So dear the love my people bore
me, nor set
A mark so bloody on the business;
but
With colours fairer painted their
foul ends.
In few, they hurried us aboard
a bark,
Bore us some leagues to sea,
where they prepared
A rotten carcass of a boat, not
rigg'd,
Nor tackle, sail, nor mast: the
very rats
Instinctively have quit it. There
they hoist us,
To cry to th' sea, that roar'd
to us: to sigh
To th' winds, whose pity, sighing
back again,
Did us but loving wrong.
MIRANDA.
Alack! what trouble
Was I then to you!
PROSPERO.
O, a cherubin
Thou wast that did preserve me!
Thou didst smile,
Infused with a fortitude from
heaven,
When I have deck'd the sea with
drops full salt,
Under my burden groan'd: which
rais'd in me
An undergoing stomach, to bear
up
Against what should ensue.
MIRANDA.
How came we ashore?
PROSPERO.
By Providence divine.
Some food we had and some fresh
water that
A noble Neapolitan, Gonzalo,
Out of his charity,--who being
then appointed
Master of this design,--did give
us, with
Rich garments, linens, stuffs,
and necessaries,
Which since have steaded much:
so, of his gentleness,
Knowing I lov'd my books, he
furnish'd me,
From mine own library with volumes
that
I prize above my dukedom.
MIRANDA.
Would I might
But ever see that man!
PROSPERO.
Now I arise:--
[Resumes his mantle]
Sit still, and hear the last
of our sea-sorrow.
Here in this island we arriv'd:
and here
Have I, thy schoolmaster, made
thee more profit
Than other princes can, that
have more time
For vainer hours, and tutors
not so careful.
MIRANDA.
Heavens thank you for't! And
now, I pray you, sir,--
For still 'tis beating in my
mind,--your reason
For raising this sea-storm?
PROSPERO.
Know thus far forth.
By accident most strange, bountiful
Fortune,
Now my dear lady, hath mine enemies
Brought to this shore; and by
my prescience
I find my zenith doth depend
upon
A most auspicious star, whose
influence
If now I court not but omit,
my fortunes
Will ever after droop. Here cease
more questions;
Thou art inclin'd to sleep; 'tis
a good dulness,
And give it way;--I know thou
canst not choose.--
[MIRANDA sleeps]
Come away, servant, come! I
am ready now.
Approach, my Ariel; Come!
[Enter ARIEL]
ARIEL.
All hail, great master! grave
sir, hail! I come
To answer thy best pleasure;
be't to fly,
To swim, to dive into the fire,
to ride
On the curl'd clouds; to thy
strong bidding task
Ariel and all his quality.
PROSPERO.
Hast thou, spirit,
Perform'd to point the tempest
that I bade thee?
ARIEL.
To every article.
I boarded the King's ship; now
on the beak,
Now in the waist, the deck, in
every cabin,
I flam'd amazement; sometime
I'd divide,
And burn in many places; on the
topmast,
The yards, and boresprit, would
I flame distinctly,
Then meet and join: Jove's lightning,
the precursors
O' th' dreadful thunder-claps,
more momentary
And sight-outrunning were not:
the fire and cracks
Of sulphurous roaring the most
mighty Neptune
Seem to besiege and make his
bold waves tremble,
Yea, his dread trident shake.
PROSPERO.
My brave spirit!
Who was so firm, so constant,
that this coil
Would not infect his reason?
ARIEL.
Not a soul
But felt a fever of the mad,
and play'd
Some tricks of desperation. All
but mariners
Plunged in the foaming brine
and quit the vessel,
Then all afire with me: the King's
son, Ferdinand,
With hair up-staring--then like
reeds, not hair--
Was the first man that leapt;
cried 'Hell is empty,
And all the devils are here.'
PROSPERO.
Why, that's my spirit!
But was not this nigh shore?
ARIEL.
Close by, my master.
PROSPERO.
But are they, Ariel, safe?
ARIEL.
Not a hair perish'd;
On their sustaining garments
not a blemish,
But fresher than before: and,
as thou bad'st me,
In troops I have dispers'd them
'bout the isle.
The king's son have I landed
by himself,
Whom I left cooling of the air
with sighs
In an odd angle of the isle,
and sitting,
His arms in this sad knot.
PROSPERO.
Of the King's ship
The mariners, say how thou hast
dispos'd,
And all the rest o' th' fleet?
ARIEL.
Safely in harbour
Is the King's ship; in the deep
nook, where once
Thou call'dst me up at midnight
to fetch dew
From the still-vex'd Bermoothes;
there she's hid:
The mariners all under hatches
stowed;
Who, with a charm join'd to their
suff'red labour,
I have left asleep: and for the
rest o' th' fleet
Which I dispers'd, they all have
met again,
And are upon the Mediterranean
flote
Bound sadly home for Naples,
Supposing that they saw the king's
ship wrack'd,
And his great person perish.
PROSPERO.
Ariel, thy charge
Exactly is perform'd; but there's
more work:
What is the time o' th' day?
ARIEL.
Past the mid season.
PROSPERO.
At least two glasses. The time
'twixt six and now
Must by us both be spent most
preciously.
ARIEL.
Is there more toil? Since thou
dost give me pains,
Let me remember thee what thou
hast promis'd,
Which is not yet perform'd me.
PROSPERO.
How now! moody?
What is't thou canst demand?
ARIEL.
My liberty.
PROSPERO.
Before the time be out! No more!
ARIEL.
I prithee,
Remember I have done thee worthy
service;
Told thee no lies, made no mistakings,
serv'd
Without or grudge or grumblings:
thou didst promise
To bate me a full year.
PROSPERO.
Dost thou forget
From what a torment I did free
thee?
ARIEL.
No.
PROSPERO.
Thou dost; and think'st it much
to tread the ooze
Of the salt deep,
To run upon the sharp wind of
the north,
To do me business in the veins
o' th' earth
When it is bak'd with frost.
ARIEL.
I do not, sir.
PROSPERO.
Thou liest, malignant thing!
Hast thou forgot
The foul witch Sycorax, who with
age and envy
Was grown into a hoop? Hast thou
forgot her?
ARIEL.
No, sir.
PROSPERO.
Thou hast. Where was she born?
Speak; tell me.
ARIEL.
Sir, in Argier.
PROSPERO.
O! was she so? I must
Once in a month recount what
thou hast been,
Which thou forget'st. This damn'd
witch Sycorax,
For mischiefs manifold, and sorceries
terrible
To enter human hearing, from
Argier,
Thou know'st,was banish'd: for
one thing she did
They would not take her life.
Is not this true?
ARIEL.
Ay, sir.
PROSPERO.
This blue-ey'd hag was hither
brought with child,
And here was left by the sailors.
Thou, my slave,
As thou report'st thyself, wast
then her servant:
And, for thou wast a spirit too
delicate
To act her earthy and abhorr'd
commands,
Refusing her grand hests, she
did confine thee,
By help of her more potent ministers,
And in her most unmitigable rage,
Into a cloven pine; within which
rift
Imprison'd, thou didst painfully
remain
A dozen years; within which space
she died,
And left thee there, where thou
didst vent thy groans
As fast as mill-wheels strike.
Then was this island--
Save for the son that she did
litter here,
A freckl'd whelp, hag-born--not
honour'd with
A human shape.
ARIEL.
Yes; Caliban her son.
PROSPERO.
Dull thing, I say so; he, that
Caliban,
Whom now I keep in service. Thou
best know'st
What torment I did find thee
in; thy groans
Did make wolves howl, and penetrate
the breasts
Of ever-angry bears: it was a
torment
To lay upon the damn'd, which
Sycorax
Could not again undo; it was
mine art,
When I arriv'd and heard thee,
that made gape
The pine, and let thee out.
ARIEL.
I thank thee, master.
PROSPERO.
If thou more murmur'st, I will
rend an oak
And peg thee in his knotty entrails
till
Thou hast howl'd away twelve
winters.
ARIEL.
Pardon, master:
I will be correspondent to command,
And do my spriting gently.
PROSPERO.
Do so; and after two days
I will discharge thee.
ARIEL.
That's my noble master!
What shall I do? Say what? What
shall I do?
PROSPERO.
Go make thyself like a nymph
o' th' sea: be subject
To no sight but thine and mine;
invisible
To every eyeball else. Go, take
this shape,
And hither come in 't: go, hence
with diligence!
[Exit ARIEL]
Awake, dear heart, awake! thou
hast slept well;
Awake!
MIRANDA.
[Waking] The strangeness of your
story put
Heaviness in me.
PROSPERO.
Shake it off. Come on;
We'll visit Caliban my slave,
who never
Yields us kind answer.
MIRANDA.
'Tis a villain, sir,
I do not love to look on.
PROSPERO.
But as 'tis,
We cannot miss him: he does make
our fire,
Fetch in our wood; and serves
in offices
That profit us.--What ho! slave!
Caliban!
Thou earth, thou! Speak.
CALIBAN.
[Within] There's wood enough
within.
PROSPERO.
Come forth, I say; there's other
business for thee:
Come, thou tortoise! when?
[Re-enter ARIEL like a water-nymph.]
Fine apparition! My quaint Ariel,
Hark in thine ear.
ARIEL.
My lord, it shall be done.
[Exit]
PROSPERO.
Thou poisonous slave, got by
the devil himself
Upon thy wicked dam, come forth!
[Enter CALIBAN]
CALIBAN.
As wicked dew as e'er my mother
brush'd
With raven's feather from unwholesome
fen
Drop on you both! A south-west
blow on ye,
And blister you all o'er!
PROSPERO.
For this, be sure, to-night thou
shalt have cramps,
Side-stitches that shall pen
thy breath up; urchins
Shall forth at vast of night
that they may work
All exercise on thee: thou shalt
be pinch'd
As thick as honeycomb, each pinch
more stinging
Than bees that made them.
CALIBAN.
I must eat my dinner.
This island's mine, by Sycorax
my mother,
Which thou tak'st from me. When
thou cam'st first,
Thou strok'st me and made much
of me; wouldst give me
Water with berries in't; and
teach me how
To name the bigger light, and
how the less,
That burn by day and night: and
then I lov'd thee,
And show'd thee all the qualities
o' th' isle,
The fresh springs, brine-pits,
barren place, and fertile.
Curs'd be I that did so! All
the charms
Of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats,
light on you!
For I am all the subjects that
you have,
Which first was mine own king;
and here you sty me
In this hard rock, whiles you
do keep from me
The rest o' th' island.
PROSPERO.
Thou most lying slave,
Whom stripes may move, not kindness!
I have us'd thee,
Filth as thou art, with human
care, and lodg'd thee
In mine own cell, till thou didst
seek to violate
The honour of my child.
CALIBAN.
Oh ho! Oh ho! Would it had been
done!
Thou didst prevent me; I had
peopl'd else
This isle with Calibans.
PROSPERO.
Abhorred slave,
Which any print of goodness wilt
not take,
Being capable of all ill! I pitied
thee,
Took pains to make thee speak,
taught thee each hour
One thing or other: when thou
didst not, savage,
Know thine own meaning, but wouldst
gabble like
A thing most brutish, I endow'd
thy purposes
With words that made them known:
but thy vile race,
Though thou didst learn, had
that in't which good natures
Could not abide to be with; therefore
wast thou
Deservedly confin'd into this
rock, who hadst
Deserv'd more than a prison.
CALIBAN.
You taught me language, and my
profit on't
Is, I know how to curse: the
red plague rid you,
For learning me your language!
PROSPERO.
Hag-seed, hence!
Fetch us in fuel; and be quick,
thou 'rt best,
To answer other business. Shrug'st
thou, malice?
If thou neglect'st, or dost unwillingly
What I command, I'll rack thee
with old cramps,
Fill all thy bones with aches;
make thee roar,
That beasts shall tremble at
thy din.
CALIBAN.
No, pray thee.--
[Aside] I must obey. His art
is of such power,
It would control my dam's god,
Setebos,
And make a vassal of him.
PROSPERO.
So, slave: hence!
[Exit CALIBAN]
[Re-enter ARIEL invisible, playing
and singing;
FERDINAND following]
[ARIEL'S SONG.]
Come unto these yellow sands,
And then take hands:
Curtsied when you have, and kiss'd,--
The wild waves whist,--
Foot it featly here and there;
And, sweet sprites, the burden
bear.
Hark, hark!
[Burden: Bow, wow, dispersedly.]
The watch dogs bark:
[Burden: Bow, wow, dispersedly.]
Hark, hark! I hear
The strain of strutting Chanticleer
[Cry, Cock-a-diddle-dow.]
FERDINAND.
Where should this music be? i'
th' air or th' earth?
It sounds no more;--and sure
it waits upon
Some god o' th' island. Sitting
on a bank,
Weeping again the king my father's
wrack,
This music crept by me upon the
waters,
Allaying both their fury and
my passion,
With its sweet air: thence I
have follow'd it,--
Or it hath drawn me rather,--but
'tis gone.
No, it begins again.
[ARIEL sings]
Full fathom five thy father lies:
Of his bones are coral made:
Those are pearls that were his
eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell:
[Burden: Ding-dong.]
Hark! now I hear them--ding-dong, bell.
FERDINAND.
The ditty does remember my drown'd
father.
This is no mortal business, nor
no sound
That the earth owes:--I hear
it now above me.
PROSPERO.
The fringed curtains of thine
eye advance,
And say what thou seest yond.
MIRANDA.
What is't? a spirit?
Lord, how it looks about! Believe
me, sir,
It carries a brave form:--but
'tis a spirit.
PROSPERO.
No, wench; it eats and sleeps,
and hath such senses
As we have, such; this gallant
which thou see'st
Was in the wrack; and but he's
something stain'd
With grief,--that beauty's canker,--thou
mightst call him
A goodly person: he hath lost
his fellows
And strays about to find 'em.
MIRANDA.
I might call him
A thing divine; for nothing natural
I ever saw so noble.
PROSPERO.
[Aside] It goes on, I see,
As my soul prompts it.--Spirit,
fine spirit! I'll free thee
Within two days for this.
FERDINAND.
Most sure, the goddess
On whom these airs attend!--Vouchsafe,
my prayer
May know if you remain upon this
island;
And that you will some good instruction
give
How I may bear me here: my prime
request,
Which I do last pronounce, is,--O
you wonder!--
If you be maid or no?
MIRANDA.
No wonder, sir;
But certainly a maid.
FERDINAND.
My language! Heavens!--
I am the best of them that speak
this speech,
Were I but where 'tis spoken.
PROSPERO.
How! the best?
What wert thou, if the King of
Naples heard thee?
FERDINAND.
A single thing, as I am now,
that wonders
To hear thee speak of Naples.
He does hear me;
And, that he does, I weep: myself
am Naples,
Who with mine eyes,--never since
at ebb,--beheld
The King, my father wrack'd.
MIRANDA.
Alack, for mercy!
FERDINAND.
Yes, faith, and all his lords,
the Duke of Milan,
And his brave son being twain.
PROSPERO.
[Aside.] The Duke of Milan,
And his more braver daughter
could control thee,
If now 'twere fit to do't.--At
the first sight [Aside.]
They have changed eyes;--delicate
Ariel,
I'll set thee free for this!--[To
FERDINAND] A word, good sir:
I fear you have done yourself
some wrong: a word.
MIRANDA.
[Aside.] Why speaks my father
so ungently? This
Is the third man that e'er I
saw; the first
That e'er I sigh'd for; pity
move my father
To be inclin'd my way!
FERDINAND.
[Aside.] O! if a virgin,
And your affection not gone forth,
I'll make you
The Queen of Naples.
PROSPERO.
Soft, sir; one word more--
[Aside] They are both in either's
powers: but this swift
business I must uneasy make,
lest too light winning
Make the prize light. [To FERDINAND]
One word more:
I charge thee
That thou attend me. Thou dost here usurp
The name thou ow'st not; and hast put thyself
Upon this island as a spy, to win it
From me, the lord on't.
FERDINAND.
No, as I am a man.
MIRANDA.
There's nothing ill can dwell
in such a temple:
If the ill spirit have so fair
a house,
Good things will strive to dwell
with't.
PROSPERO.
{To FERDINAND] Follow me.--
[To MIRANDA] Speak not you for
him; he's a traitor.--
[To FERDINAND] Come;
I'll manacle thy neck and feet
together:
Sea-water shalt thou drink; thy
food shall be
The fresh-brook mussels, wither'd
roots, and husks
Wherein the acorn cradled. Follow.
FERDINAND.
No;
I will resist such entertainment
till
Mine enemy has more power.
[He draws, and is charmed from
moving.]
MIRANDA.
O dear father!
Make not too rash a trial of
him, for
He's gentle, and not fearful.
PROSPERO.
What! I say,
My foot my tutor? Put thy sword
up, traitor;
Who mak'st a show, but dar'st
not strike, thy conscience
Is so possess'd with guilt: come
from thy ward,
For I can here disarm thee with
this stick
And make thy weapon drop.
MIRANDA.
Beseech you, father!
PROSPERO.
Hence! Hang not on my garments.
MIRANDA.
Sir, have pity;
I'll be his surety.
PROSPERO.
Silence! One word more
Shall make me chide thee, if
not hate thee. What!
An advocate for an impostor?
hush!
Thou think'st there is no more
such shapes as he,
Having seen but him and Caliban:
foolish wench!
To the most of men this is a
Caliban,
And they to him are angels.
MIRANDA.
My affections
Are then most humble; I have
no ambition
To see a goodlier man.
PROSPERO.
[To FERDINAND] Come on; obey:
Thy nerves are in their infancy
again,
And have no vigour in them.
FERDINAND.
So they are:
My spirits, as in a dream, are
all bound up.
My father's loss, the weakness
which I feel,
The wrack of all my friends,
nor this man's threats,
To whom I am subdued, are but
light to me,
Might I but through my prison
once a day
Behold this maid: all corners
else o' th' earth
Let liberty make use of; space
enough
Have I in such a prison.
PROSPERO.
[Aside] It works.--[To FERDINAND]
Come on.--
Thou hast done well, fine Ariel!
[To FERDINAND] Follow me.--
[To ARIEL] Hark what thou else
shalt do me.
MIRANDA.
Be of comfort;
My father's of a better nature,
sir,
Than he appears by speech: this
is unwonted,
Which now came from him.
PROSPERO.
Thou shalt be as free
As mountain winds; but then exactly
do
All points of my command.
ARIEL.
To the syllable.
PROSPERO.
[To FERDINAND] Come, follow.--Speak
not for him.
[Exeunt]
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