MR. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARES COMEDIES, HISTORIES, & TRAGEDIES. Published according to the True Originall Copies.

London Printed by Isaac Jaggard , and Ed. Blount . 1623.

The Scene, [A ship at sea and] an uninhabited Island .

Names of the actors

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 and Francisco, Lords
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, Ceres, Juno, Nymphs, Reapers, [presenting] Spirits

The Tempest

Act I, Scene I.

[A tempestuous noise of thunder and lightning [In 1611, when Shakespeare's The Tempest was first performed, theatres used a mechanism known as a thunder machine, which was essentially a long wooden box balanced like a seesaw, containing a large cannon ball that when rolled around produced a loud noise resembling thunder. To create the effect of lightening, stage hands would prepare powdered resin which would be thrown onto a flame. Lighting a firecracker attached to a wire extending from the roof of the stage to the floor would create the illusion of a lightening bolt ("Special Effects").]. Enter a Ship-master and a Boatswain]

Master. Boatswain! [Pronounced "bosun," a boatswain is the person who manages the crew of a ship and the ship's equipment (OED n.1).]

Boatswain. Here, master: what cheer?

Master. Good, speak to the mariners: fall to't, yarely [Now archaic, yarely derives from the Old English and means quick or nimble action (OED adv).],
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 [Here, the boatswain is directly addressing the tempest, challenging it to rage until it is out of wind, possibly in an attempt to encourage the men on deck to remain strong.],
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 [Gonzalo takes comfort from his belief that the boatswain's destiny in death is fated for the gallows (death by hanging), which disqualifies him for a death caused by drowning.] 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 [According to the Arden Shakespeare edition of The Tempest, the boatswain is wondering if, even if after all his efforts, the sailors must drown, or have their mouths become cold from drowning.]?

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 [The ship is splitting in half.], 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]

[According to the OED (I.1), "play" in this sense was used as an intransitive verb in the 1400s, meaning to engage something or someone in activity. Here, Alonso commands the boatswain to put his crew to work.]

[Gonzalo is comparing the ship to "an / unstanched wench." According to Shakespeare Navigator, which draws on the OED definition of "staunch," calling the boat an "unstanched wench" may be comparing the boat to a woman (a "wench") on her menstrual cycle. However, the verb "stanch" also suggests satisfying a desire (OED v3a), and it derives from the Old French that also means to make a ship watertight.]

[The Boatswain calls for the ship to be directed "two courses off to / sea." According to the OED, "two courses" has a specific nautical meaning, referring to the points on the compass where the ship is directed (course, n. 12a-b).]

[The washing of a tide is the act of sea water flowing up the shore during a high tide (OED, wash, III.12b). The Arden edition of The Tempest notes that pirates would be condemned to hang at the shore for the length of three tides. Antonio here is extending that length of time for the boatswain, whom he imagines would "lie drowning / [for the] washing of ten tides."]

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 [Miranda here imagines the stormy sky raining "stinking pitch" instead of water. Pitch is a resin commonly used for waterproofing boats.],
But that the sea, mounting to the welkin's cheek [The welkin is a poetic and now archaic term referring to the sky. Miranda uses figurative language to describe the the height of the waves, which "[mount or rise] to the welkin's cheek."],
Dashes the fire [The lightening.] 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 [A very small or humble dwelling.],
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. [Prospero is speaking to his robe, calling it his "art," and suggesting to us that the robe is lain down on some surface by Miranda.]. 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 [Befell or happened to (OED).] 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 [Ineffective questioning (OED).],
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 [An immense depth, a chasm which seems to have no end (OED).] of time?
If thou remember'st aught ere [Aught is an archaic adverb which means "to any extent, in any respect, at all" (OED C.1), and "ere" means before or formerly (OED 4.a).] 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 [This is the past participle of the word "help," spelled this way from the 14th to the 17th century (OED).] hither.

Miranda. O, my heart bleeds
To think o' the teen [Now rarely used, teen is a noun that refers to suffering or pain (OED n. 2a).] 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 [A historical term referring to governing bodies or assemblies specifically of an Italian state (OED n, 5).] 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 [According to the OED, this refers to the freshness of a flourishing green plant.] 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 [According to the OED, ignoble is defined as being dishonorable in terms of character or intent.] 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 [Entrenched, long-standing, persistent, with the suggestion of disease (OED).], 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 [An archaic past tense of the verb "to dare" (OED).] 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 [A bark is a small boat.],
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 [A cherub is a biblical angel, with a related sense common in the early 17th century that also means a beloved woman (OED n. 5b).]
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 [An alternative spelling of burden.] 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 [Prescience is both a quality attributed to God and the characteristic of foresight that a human might possess (OED).]
I find my zenith [A term from astronomy, the zenith is the highest point the sun or moon reaches in the sky (OED).] 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 [The Arden edition of The Tempest glosses this as "succumb to it." Prospero is commanding Miranda to fall asleep.]: I know thou canst not choose.
[Miranda sleeps]
Come away, servant, come. I am ready now.
Approach, my Ariel, come.

[Enter Ariel [After Miranda falls asleep, Prospero is typically understood to put his magical robe back on as Ariel comes onto the stage. The image here, an engraving after Henry Fusili, shows a late 18th century rendition of Miranda, Prospero, Caliban, and the airy spirit Ariel (Metropolitan Museum of Art).]]

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 [Jove, more famously known as Jupiter, is the most powerful Roman God and is known to overthrow his enemies using his bolt of lightening. His Greek equivalent is Zeus.], 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 [An old fashioned way of saying nearby or almost (OED).] 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 [Sleeping crossed armed (The Arden Shakespeare edition of The Tempest)].

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,
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 [Two hourglasses past midday would be 2 p.m. (The Arden Shakespeare edition of The Tempest).]. 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 [A hoop is a circular band; here, the witch Sycorax has acquired a hunchback with age (The Arden Shakespeare edition of The Tempest).]? 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 [Denoting how frequently a millwheel blade would strike the water (The Arden Shakespeare edition of The Tempest).]. 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 [Ariel exits the stage. He now speaks to Miranda.], dear heart, awake! thou hast slept well;
Awake!

Miranda. The strangeness of your story put
Heaviness [Miranda is unaware that her father put her to sleep.] 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 blow [Warm damp air carrying airborne diseases, according to the Arden Shakespeare edition of The Tempest.] 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 [Stop your breath (OED v).]; 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 [To confine.] 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 [Prospero is here using the word "print" as in "impression," but with connotations deriving from the new invention of printing.],
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 ["You are advised to" (The Arden Shakespeare edition of The Tempest).],
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.]

[Ariel]. 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 [Here, "burthen" doesn't mean burden; it is used instead in a musical sense, a bass accoompaniment (from the Middle English word "bourdon"), or perhaps the refrain of a song (OED IV.9-10)] (dispersedly, within)]
Bow-wow
The watch-dogs bark!
[Burthen]
Bow-wow
Hark, hark! I hear
The strain of strutting chanticleer [A dominating rooster in a courtyard.]
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]

[Ariel]. 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 [A disease that consumes vegetation (OED).] , 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 [To grant or bestow.] 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 [At low tide.], 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 [To kindly ask for silence (OED adv.).], 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 [Prospero accuses Ferdinand of "usurping" his father's position as king by claiming that he will make Miranda "queen of Naples".]; 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 [Ferdinand draws his sword. Prospero casts a spell to transfix Ferdinand while neither he nor Miranda are aware of this.]]

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 [Calling to attention, to listen, to harken to (OED).] 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 [Unusual]
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. [[To Ferdinand.]]
Come, follow.
[[To Miranda.]]
Speak not for him.

[Exeunt]

[It is often thought that Prospero was modeled by Shakespeare on John Dee , a well-known polymath, magus, and advisor to Queen Elizabeth I. According to the British Library, a magus someone who "understands the cosmos and man's place in it [sic]" through knowledge and experimentation in fields such as chemistry (then alchemy), mathematics, astrology, and hermetic studies of religion and culture. A "controversial figure" and force of both good and evil, the magus sought to attain ultimate wisdom about the working of the universe. The image included here, from the British Library, shows (right to left) Dee’s spirit mirror showstone, a crystal ball, mystically engraved wax discs, a wooden case, and an engraved gold disc illustrating a vision of Dee’s colleague, Edward Kelley. Dee's "showstone' was a reflective piece of volcanic ash he would use to conjure and converse with angels, recording his conversations into his ‘angelic diaries’. As an advisor to Queen Elizabeth I , Dee advocated for imperial expansion into the New World. To learn more about Dee's advocacy of the British Empire in the Atlantic, see Glyn Parry's scholarly article, "John Dee and the Elizabethan British Empire in Its European Context."]

[The Island of Bermuda was devoid of any habitation by indigenous groups before it was discovered by accident by the Spanish sailor Juan Bermúdez in 1503. A flotilla from England, includng the Sea Venture, was shipwrecked here on their way to restock the Jamestown Colony in Virginia (Virginia was named after Elizabeth I, the "Virgin Queen," and Jamestown, after King James I ). The wreck of the Sea Venture in 1609, is thought to be a contemporary inspiration for The Tempest. After almost a year, the crew was largely able to leave the Island with ships they built during that time. The Island wasn’t colonized until the seventeenth century, after the crew of the Sea Venture returned to England with their tale. Enslaved people were first brought to the Island in 1617. The image included here shows a 17th century map of the Island of Bermuda by Willem Janszoon Blaeu, from the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center. Content of annotation sourced from Barry Lawrence Ruderman.]

[Whatever Prospero is planning must happen between 2 and 6 p.m. (The Arden Shakespeare edition of The Tempest). It is important to keep in mind that in Elizabethan England, plays would have typically been performed in the afternoon. The action of the play roughly corresponds to the duratioon of the play being acted.]

[Sycorax seems to have been born in Argier or Algiers, the capital and chief sea port of Algeria in North Africa, on the Mediterranean coast. Invaded throughout its history, Algiers rose to prominence under the Berber dynasties in the 10th century. Algiers became became home to many Muslim and Jewish refugees escaping Spain in the begining of the 16th century. At the time The Tempest was written, Algiers was under Ottoman rule, and it became associated with piracy (Britannica). The image included here, from the Library of Congress’ first volume of Civitates Orbis Terrarum (1588), shows the white buildings of the fort--and which gave it its French name, “Alger la Blanche” (El-Bahdja in Arabic).]

[Here, Prospero hands Ariel a robe that represents a sea-nymph. Whenever the audience later sees Ariel in this robe, they are to assume that he is invisible to every other character on stage save Prospero (The Arden Shakespeare edition of The Tempest).]

[Caliban is a complex character. He is described as a misshapen creature, described as a "monster" "not honored with a human shape." He is treated as an inferior by the humans in the play. The image here, sourced from Wikimedia Commons, is an 18th century etching of Caliban by John Hamilton Mortimer (MET, 62.602.163).]

[When used to describe men, "honour" or "honor" refers to the virtues of nobility of spirit, distinction. However, when applied to women--like Miranda--the word most typically refers to sexual chastity or virginity (OED 7.a)]

[According to the OED, a surety in this sense is "a person who is liable for the default or misconduct of another, or for ensuring the performance of some act on another's part, such as payment of a debt or appearance in court" (surety n. 2a).]

Act II

Scene I. Another part of the island.

[Enter Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Gonzalo, Adrian, Francisco, and others]

Gonzalo. Beseech [To plead or beg with great earnest (OED v. 2a).] 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 [A synonym for the word "beseech." An archaic form of "I pray thee" (OED).], peace.

Sebastian. He receives comfort like cold porridge.

Antonio. The visitor will not give him o'er so.

Sebastian. Look he's winding up the watch of his wit;
by and by it will strike.

Gonzalo. Sir,--

Sebastian. One: tell.

Gonzalo. When every grief is entertain'd
that's offer'd, Comes to the entertainer--

Sebastian. A dollar [According to the OED, a dollar is the English word for the thaler, a German coin of varying value used from the 16th century. The image here, sourced from Wikimedia Commons, shows several thalers.].

Gonzalo. Dolour [Sorrow or grief (OED). Gonzalo is playing along with Sebastian's jesting.] comes to him, indeed: you have spoken truer than you purposed.

Sebastian. You have taken it wiselier than I meant you should.

Gonzalo. Therefore, my lord,--

Antonio. Fie [A Middle English expression of disgust, used to refer to children to "excite shame for some unbecoming action" (OED).], what a spendthrift [Someone who irresponsibly squanders his income (OED 2).] is he of his tongue!

Alonso. I prithee, spare.

Gonzalo. Well, I have done: but yet,--

Sebastian. He will be talking.

Antonio. Which, of he or Adrian, for a good wager,
first begins to crow?

Sebastian. The old cock.

Antonio. The cockerel.

Sebastian. Done. The wager?

Antonio. A laughter.

Sebastian. A match!

Adrian. Though this island seem to be desert,--

Sebastian. Ha, ha, ha! So, you're paid.

Adrian. Uninhabitable and almost inaccessible,--

Sebastian. Yet,--

Adrian. Yet,--

Antonio. He could not miss't.

Adrian. It must needs be of subtle, tender and delicate temperance.

Antonio. Temperance was a delicate wench.

Sebastian. Ay, and a subtle; as he most learnedly delivered.

Adrian. The air breathes upon us here most sweetly.

Sebastian. As if it had lungs and rotten ones.

Antonio. Or as 'twere perfumed by a fen [Smelly marsh lands.].

Gonzalo. Here is everything advantageous to life.

Antonio. True; save means to live.

Sebastian. Of that there's none, or little.

Gonzalo. How lush and lusty the grass looks! how green!

Antonio. The ground indeed is tawny.

Sebastian. With an eye of green in't.

Antonio. He misses not much.

Sebastian. No; he doth but mistake the truth totally.

Gonzalo. But the rarity of it is,--which is indeed almost beyond credit,--

Sebastian. As many vouched rarities are.

Gonzalo. That our garments, being, as they were, drenched
in the sea, hold notwithstanding their freshness and
glosses, being rather new-dyed than stained with salt
water.

Antonio. If but one of his pockets could speak, would
it not say he lies?

Sebastian. Ay, or very falsely pocket up his report

Gonzalo. Methinks our garments are now as fresh as
when we put them on first in Afric [An old form of Africa (OED).], at the marriage
of the king's fair daughter Claribel to the King of Tunis [Tunis is the capital city in Tunisia, a country in North Africa. The northern coast of the country, where Tunis is, is on the Mediterranean Sea.].

Sebastian. 'Twas a sweet marriage, and we prosper well in
our return.

Adrian. Tunis was never graced before with such a
Paragon to their Queen.

Gonzalo. Not since widow Dido [In Greek mythology, Dido, a widow, falls in love with Aeneas and kills herself after he leaves her to go and build the city of Rome (The Arden Shakespeare edition of The Tempest).]'s time.

Antonio. Widow! a pox o' that! How came that widow
in? widow Dido!

Sebastian. What if he had said 'widower AEneas' too?
Good Lord, how you take it!

Adrian. 'Widow Dido' said you? you make me study of that:
she was of Carthage [Carthage and Tunis weren't the same city, but later on, Carthage was usurped, and Tunis took it's place as the main powerful state of the region (The Arden Shakespeare edition of The Tempest).], not of Tunis.

Gonzalo. This Tunis, sir, was Carthage.

Adrian. Carthage?

Gonzalo. I assure you, Carthage.

Sebastian. His word is more than the miraculous harp [Sebastian is referring to the harp that Amphion, son of Zeus is known to have used when constructing the walls of Thebes, a city in Boeotia, Greece (The Arden Shakespeare edition of The Tempest).]; he hath raised the wall and houses too.

Antonio. What impossible matter will he make easy next?

Sebastian. I think he will carry this island home in
his pocket and give it his son for an apple.

Antonio. And, sowing the kernels of it in the sea,
bring forth more islands.

Gonzalo. Ay.

Antonio. Why, in good time.

Gonzalo. Sir, we were talking that our garments seem now
as fresh as when we were at Tunis at the marriage
of your daughter, who is now queen.

Antonio. And the rarest that e'er came there.

Sebastian. Bate, I beseech you, widow Dido.

Antonio. O, widow Dido! ay, widow Dido.

Gonzalo. Is not, sir, my doublet as fresh as the
first day I wore it? I mean, in a sort.

Antonio. That sort was well fished for.

Gonzalo. When I wore it at your daughter's marriage?

Alonso. You cram these words into mine ears against
The stomach of my sense. Would I had never
Married my daughter there! for, coming thence,
My son is lost and, in my rate, she too,
Who is so far from Italy 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?

Francisco. Sir, he may live:
I saw him beat the surges under him,
And ride upon their backs; he trod the water,
Whose enmity he flung aside, and breasted
The surge most swoln that met him; his bold head
'Bove the contentious waves he kept, and oar'd
Himself with his good arms in lusty stroke
To the shore, that o'er his wave-worn basis bow'd,
As stooping to relieve him: I not doubt
He came alive to land.

Alonso. No, no, he's gone.

Sebastian. Sir, you may thank yourself for this great loss,
That would not bless our Europe with your daughter,
But rather lose her to an African;
Where she at least is banish'd from your eye,
Who hath cause to wet the grief on't.

Alonso. Prithee, peace.

Sebastian. You were kneel'd to and importuned otherwise
By all of us, and the fair soul herself
Weigh'd between loathness and obedience, at
Which end o' the beam should bow. We have lost your son,
I fear, for ever: Milan and Naples have
More widows in them of this business' making
Than we bring men to comfort them:
The fault's your own.

Alonso. So is the dear'st o' the loss.

Gonzalo. My lord Sebastian,
The truth you speak doth lack some gentleness
And time to speak it in: you rub the sore,
When you should bring the plaster.

Sebastian. Very well.

Antonio. And most chirurgeonly ["Chirurgeon" is an older spelling of "surgeon" (OED).].

Gonzalo. It is foul weather in us all, good sir,
When you are cloudy.

Sebastian. Foul weather?

Antonio. Very foul.

Gonzalo. Had I plantation of this isle, my lord,--

Antonio. He'ld sow't with nettle-seed.

Sebastian. Or docks, or mallows.

Gonzalo. And were the king on't, what would I do?

Sebastian. 'scape being drunk for want of wine.

Gonzalo. I' the commonwealth I would by contraries
Execute all things; for no kind of traffic
Would I admit; no name of magistrate;
Letters should not be known; riches, poverty,
And use of service, none; contract, succession,
Bourn, bound of land, tilth, vineyard, none;
No use of metal, corn, or wine, or oil;
No occupation; all men idle, all;
And women too, but innocent and pure;
No sovereignty;--

Sebastian. Yet he would be king on't.

Antonio. The latter end of his commonwealth forgets the beginning.

Gonzalo. All things in common nature should produce [Gonzalo seems to be suggesting that the trappings of modern civilization lead to corruptiono and want. He imagines a pure, idyllic place without violence, commerce, or vice.]
Without sweat or endeavour: treason, felony,
Sword, pike, knife, gun, or need of any engine,
Would I not have; but nature should bring forth,
Of its own kind, all foison, all abundance,
To feed my innocent people.

Sebastian. No marrying 'mong his subjects?

Antonio. None, man; all idle: whores and knaves [Dishonorable men.].

Gonzalo. I would with such perfection govern, sir,
To excel the golden age.

Sebastian. God save his majesty!

Antonio. Long live Gonzalo!

Gonzalo. And,--do you mark me, sir?

Alonso. Prithee, no more: thou dost talk nothing to me.

Gonzalo. I do well believe your highness; and did it to
minister occasion to these gentlemen, who are of
such sensible and nimble lungs that they always use
to laugh at nothing.

Antonio. 'Twas you we laughed at.

Gonzalo. Who in this kind of merry fooling am nothing
to you: so you may continue and laugh at nothing still.

Antonio. What a blow was there given!

Sebastian. An it had not fallen flat-long.

Gonzalo. You are gentlemen of brave metal; you would
lift the moon out of her sphere, if she would continue
in it five weeks without changing.

[Enter Ariel, invisible, playing solemn music]

Sebastian. We would so, and then go a bat-fowling [A way of catching birds at night by flashing them with a bright light, so as to disorient them (OED).].

Antonio. Nay, good my lord, be not angry.

Gonzalo. No, I warrant you; I will not adventure my
discretion so weakly. Will you laugh me asleep, for I
am very heavy [Ariel is working magic to put them to sleep.]?

Antonio. Go sleep, and hear us.

[All sleep except Alonso, Sebastian, and Antonio]

Alonso. What, all so soon asleep! I wish mine eyes Would,
with themselves, shut up my thoughts:
I find They are inclined to do so.

Sebastian. Please you, sir,
Do not omit the heavy offer of it:
It seldom visits sorrow; when it doth,
It is a comforter.

Antonio. We two, my lord,
Will guard your person while you take your rest,
And watch your safety.

Alonso. Thank you. Wondrous heavy.

[Alonso sleeps. Exit Ariel]

Sebastian. What a strange drowsiness possesses them!

Antonio. It is the quality o' the climate.

Sebastian. Why
Doth it not then our eyelids sink? I find not
Myself disposed to sleep.

Antonio. Nor I; my spirits are nimble.
They fell together all, as by consent;
They dropp'd, as by a thunder-stroke. What might,
Worthy Sebastian? O, what might?--No more:--
And yet me thinks I see it in thy face,
What thou shouldst be: the occasion speaks thee, and
My strong imagination sees a crown
Dropping upon thy head.

Sebastian. What, art thou waking?

Antonio. Do you not hear me speak?

Sebastian. I do; and surely
It is a sleepy language and thou speak'st
Out of thy sleep. What is it thou didst say?
This is a strange repose, to be asleep
With eyes wide open; standing, speaking, moving,
And yet so fast asleep.

Antonio. Noble Sebastian,
Thou let'st thy fortune sleep--die, rather; wink'st
Whiles thou art waking.

Sebastian. Thou dost snore distinctly;
There's meaning in thy snores.

Antonio. I am more serious than my custom: you
Must be so too, if heed me; which to do
Trebles thee o'er.

Sebastian. Well, I am standing water.

Antonio. I'll teach you how to flow.

Sebastian. Do so: to ebb
Hereditary sloth [Sebastian says that he is naturally slothful or slow; he is naturally driven to ebb, and not to flow.] instructs me.

Antonio. O,
If you but knew how you the purpose cherish
Whiles thus you mock it! how, in stripping it,
You more invest it! Ebbing men, indeed,
Most often do so near the bottom run
By their own fear or sloth.

Sebastian. Prithee, say on:
The setting of thine eye and cheek proclaim
A matter from thee, and a birth indeed
Which throes thee much to yield.

Antonio. Thus, sir:
Although this lord of weak remembrance, this,
Who shall be of as little memory
When he is earth'd, hath here almost persuade,--
For he's a spirit of persuasion, only
Professes to persuade,--the king his son's alive,
'Tis as impossible that he's undrown'd
And he that sleeps here swims.

Sebastian. I have no hope
That he's undrown'd.

Antonio. O, out of that 'no hope'
What great hope have you! no hope that way is
Another way so high a hope that even
Ambition cannot pierce a wink beyond,
But doubt discovery there. Will you grant with me
That Ferdinand is drown'd?

Sebastian. He's gone.

Antonio. Then, tell me,
Who's the next heir of Naples?

Sebastian. Claribel.

Antonio. She that is queen of Tunis; she that dwells
Ten leagues beyond man's life; she that from Naples
Can have no note, unless the sun were post--
The man i' the moon's too slow--till new-born chins
Be rough and razorable; she that--from whom?
We all were sea-swallow'd, though some cast again,
And by that destiny to perform an act
Whereof what's past is prologue, what to come
In yours and my discharge.

Sebastian. What stuff is this! how say you?
'Tis true, my brother's daughter's queen of Tunis;
So is she heir of Naples; 'twixt which regions
There is some space.

Antonio. A space whose every cubit
Seems to cry out, 'How shall that Claribel
Measure us back to Naples? Keep in Tunis,
And let Sebastian wake.' Say, this were death
That now hath seized them; why, they were no worse
Than now they are. There be that can rule Naples
As well as he that sleeps; lords that can prate [To chatter irrelevantly.]
As amply and unnecessarily
As this Gonzalo; I myself could make
A chough [A chatterer.] of as deep chat. O, that you bore
The mind that I do! what a sleep were this
For your advancement! Do you understand me?

Sebastian. Methinks I do.

Antonio. And how does your content
Tender your own good fortune?

Sebastian. I remember
You did supplant your brother Prospero.

Antonio. True:
And look how well my garments sit upon me;
Much feater [A better fit.] than before: my brother's servants
Were then my fellows; now they are my men.

Sebastian. But, for your conscience?

Antonio. Ay, sir; where lies that? if 'twere a kibe [According to the OED 1a., a kibe is a Middle English word meaning "A chapped or ulcerated chilblain, esp. one on the heel." A chilblain is a red, rough, patchy area of skin.],
'Twould put me to my slipper: but I feel not
This deity in my bosom: twenty consciences,
That stand 'twixt me and Milan, candied be they
And melt ere they molest! Here lies your brother,
No better than the earth he lies upon,
If he were that which now he's like, that's dead;
Whom I, with this obedient steel, three inches of it,
Can lay to bed for ever; whiles you, doing thus,
To the perpetual wink for aye might put
This ancient morsel, this Sir Prudence, who
Should not upbraid our course. For all the rest,
They'll take suggestion as a cat laps milk;
They'll tell the clock to any business that
We say befits the hour.

Sebastian. Thy case, dear friend,
Shall be my precedent; as thou got'st Milan,
I'll come by Naples. Draw thy sword: one stroke
Shall free thee from the tribute which thou payest;
And I the king shall love thee.

Antonio. Draw together;
And when I rear my hand, do you the like,
To fall it on Gonzalo.

Sebastian. O, but one word.

[They talk apart]
[Re-enter Ariel, invisible]

Ariel. My master through his art foresees the danger
That you, his friend, are in; and sends me forth--
For else his project dies--to keep them living.
[Sings in Gonzalo's ear]
While you here do snoring lie,
Open-eyed conspiracy
His time doth take.
If of life you keep a care,
Shake off slumber, and beware:
Awake, awake!

Antonio. Then let us both be sudden.

Gonzalo. Now, good angels Preserve the king.

[They wake]

Alonso. Why, how now? ho, awake! Why are you drawn?
Wherefore this ghastly looking?

Gonzalo. What's the matter?

Sebastian. Whiles we stood here securing your repose,
Even now, we heard a hollow burst of bellowing
Like bulls, or rather lions: did't not wake you?
It struck mine ear most terribly.

Alonso. I heard nothing.

Antonio. O, 'twas a din to fright a monster's ear,
To make an earthquake! sure, it was the roar
Of a whole herd of lions.

Alonso. Heard you this, Gonzalo?

Gonzalo. Upon mine honour, sir, I heard a humming,
(And that a strange one too) which did awake me:
I shaked you, sir, and cried: as mine eyes open'd,
I saw their weapons drawn: there was a noise,
That's verily. 'Tis best we stand upon our guard,
Or that we quit this place; let's draw our weapons.

Alonso. Lead off this ground; and let's make further search
For my poor son.

Gonzalo. Heavens keep him from these beasts!
For he is, sure, i' the island.

Alonso. Lead away.

Ariel. Prospero my lord shall know what I have done:
So, king, go safely on to seek thy son.

[Exeunt]

[This phrase may be a reference to the sea creatures that were often depicted in the oceans of early modern maps. While in earlier periods, when little was known about the shapes of land masses, these sea creatures were signs of danger and the unknown; however, by the late 16th and 17th centuries, sea travel and exploration was on the rise, and this led to more and more complete maps. As the unknown declined, so too did representationos of sea monsters. They transitioned into less threatening and more whimsical fish or whales, and in the modern world, they all but disappeared cartographically. To learn more about the "strange fish" of early modern cartography, see "Mapping the Oceans: How Cartographers Saw the World in the Age of Discovery" at Lapham's Quarterly.]

[According to the OED (IV. 5a), breasted in this sense means "To move forwards directly into, to confront head-on; to climb." Francisco means to say that he witnessed Ferdinand survive contact with a large wave.]

[The word "plantation" is significant in the early modern period, as it refers to colonization; Gonzalo imagines his dominion over the island. It also has another sense, meaning a site of planting, which Antonio plays on in the next line.]

Scene II. Another part of the island.

[Enter Caliban with a burden of wood. A noise of thunder heard]

Caliban. All the infections that the sun sucks up
From bogs, fens, flats, on Prosper fall and make him
By inch-meal [As cited from the OED, "Little by little, by every inch."] a disease! His spirits hear me
And yet I needs must curse. But they'll nor pinch,
Fright me with urchin-shows [Apparitions of goblins or elves which sometimes resembled the form of a hedgehog (OED n.1c).], pitch me i' the mire,
Nor lead me, like a firebrand, in the dark
Out of my way, unless he bid 'em; but
For every trifle are they set upon me;
Sometime like apes that mow and chatter at me
And after bite me, then like hedgehogs which
Lie tumbling in my barefoot way and mount
Their pricks at my footfall; sometime am I
All wound with adders [Any of the various types of venomous snakes or serpents (OED).] who with cloven tongues
Do hiss me into madness.
[Enter Trinculo]
Lo, now, lo!
Here comes a spirit of his, and to torment me
For bringing wood in slowly. I'll fall flat;
Perchance he will not mind me.

Trinculo. Here's neither bush nor shrub, to bear off any
weather at all, and another storm brewing; I hear it
sing i' the wind: yond same black cloud, yond
huge one, looks like a foul bombard that would shed
his liquor. If it should thunder as it did before, I know
not where to hide my head: yond same cloud cannot
choose but fall by pailfuls. What have we here?
a man or a fish? dead or alive? A fish: he smells
like a fish; a very ancient and fish-like smell; a kind of
not of the newest Poor-John [Poor-John is a "fish salted and dried for food" (OED).]. A strange fish! Were I
in England now, as once I was, and had but this fish painted,
not a holiday fool there but would give a piece
of silver: there would this monster make [According to the The Arden Shakespeare edition of The Tempest, the archaic phrase "to make a man" meant to make a man's fortune.] a man;
any strange beast there makes a man: when they will
not give a doit ["The half of an English farthing, as the type of a very small sum" (OED 1.a).] to relieve a lame beggar, they will lazy
out ten to see a dead Indian. Legged like a man and
his fins like arms! Warm o' my troth! I do now let
loose my opinion; hold it no longer: this is no fish,
but an islander, that hath lately suffered by a
thunderbolt.
[Thunder]
Alas, the storm is come again! my
best way is to creep under his gaberdine [A loose upper garment for men, which worked as a coat or gown woven from coarse fabric (OED A.1.a)]; there is no
other shelter hereabouts: misery acquaints a man with
strange bed-fellows. I will here shroud till the dregs of
the storm be past.

[Enter Stephano, singing: [a bottle in his hand]]

Stephano. I shall no more to sea, to sea,
Here shall I die ashore--
This 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
Loved Mall, Meg and Marian and Margery,
But none of us cared for Kate;
For she had a tongue with a tang [According to the OED, a pungent or stinging effect (II.5.c); could also mean the strong ringing sound produced when a large bell or an object with sonorous quality is struck (n.2).],
Would cry to a sailor, Go hang!
She loved not the savour of tar nor of pitch,
Yet a tailor might scratch her where'er she did itch:
Then to sea, boys, and let her go hang!
This is a scurvy tune too: but here's my comfort.

[Drinks]

Caliban. Do not torment me: Oh!

Stephano. What's the matter? Have we devils here? Do
you put tricks upon's with savages and men of Ind ,
ha? I have not scaped drowning to be afeard now of
your four legs; for it hath been said, As proper a
man as ever went on four legs cannot make him give
ground; and it shall be said so again while Stephano
breathes at's nostrils.

Caliban. The spirit torments me; Oh!

Stephano. This is some monster of the isle with four legs,
who hath got, as I take it, an ague [A state of distress, fear, causing the body to shake or shiver (OED 2).]. Where the devil
should he learn our language? I will give him some
relief, if it be but for that. If I can recover him, and
keep him tame and get to Naples with him, he's a
present for any emperor that ever trod on neat's-leather.

Caliban. Do not torment me, prithee; I'll bring my
wood home faster.

Stephano. He's in his fit now and does not talk after the
wisest. He shall taste of my bottle: if he have never
drunk wine afore will go near to remove his fit.
If I can recover him and keep him tame, I will not take
too much for him; he shall pay for him that hath him,
and that soundly.

Caliban. Thou dost me yet but little hurt; thou wilt
anon, I know it by thy trembling: now Prosper works
upon thee.

Stephano. Come on your ways; open your mouth; here
is that which will give language to you, cat: open your
mouth; this will shake your shaking, I can tell you,
and that soundly: you cannot tell who's your friend:
open your chaps again.

[[Caliban drinks.]]

Trinculo. I should know that voice: it should be--but
he is drowned; and these are devils: O defend me!

Stephano. Four legs and two voices: a most delicate
monster! His forward voice now is to speak well
of his friend; his backward voice is to utter foul
speeches and to detract. If all the wine in my bottle
will recover him, I will help his ague. Come.
[[Caliban drinks.]]
Amen! I will pour some in thy other
mouth.

Trinculo. Stephano!

Stephano. Doth thy other mouth call me? Mercy, mercy!
This is a devil, and no monster: I will leave him; I have
no long spoon.

Trinculo. Stephano! If thou beest Stephano, touch me and
speak to me: for I am Trinculo--be not afeard--thy
good friend Trinculo.

Stephano. If thou beest Trinculo, come forth: I'll pull
thee by the lesser legs: if any be Trinculo's legs, these
are they. Thou art very Trinculo indeed! How
camest thou to be the siege of this moon-calf? can he
vent Trinculos?

Trinculo. I took him to be killed with a thunder-stroke.
But art thou not drowned, Stephano? I hope now thou
art not drowned. Is the storm overblown? I hid
me under the dead moon-calf's gaberdine for fear of the
storm. And art thou living, Stephano? O Stephano,
two Neapolitans [A citizen of the former kingdom of Naples in Southern Italy (OED).] 'scaped!

Stephano. Prithee, do not turn me about; my stomach is
not constant.

Caliban. [Aside]
These be fine things, an if they be not sprites
That's a brave god and bears celestial liquor.
I will kneel to him.

Stephano. How didst thou 'scape? How camest thou
hither? swear by this bottle how thou camest
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.

Caliban. I'll swear upon that bottle to be thy true subject;
for the liquor is not earthly.

Stephano. Here; swear then how thou escapedst.

Trinculo. Swum ashore. man, like a duck: I can swim
like a duck, I'll be sworn.

Stephano. Here, kiss the book. [[Passing the bottle.]]
Though thou canst swim like a duck, thou art made like
a goose.

Trinculo. O Stephano. hast any more of this?

Stephano. The whole butt, man: my cellar is in a rock by the
sea-side where my wine is hid. How now, moon-calf!
how does thine ague?

Caliban. Hast thou not dropp'd from heaven?

Stephano. Out o' the moon, I do assure thee: I was the man i'
the moon when time was.

Caliban. I have seen thee in her and I do adore thee:
My mistress show'd me thee and thy dog and thy bush.

Stephano. Come, swear to that; kiss the book: I will furnish
it anon with new contents swear.

[[Caliban drinks.]]

Trinculo. By this good light, this is a very shallow
monster! I afeard of him! A very weak monster!
The man [Trinculo is referring to the folktale about a man who was banished to the moon because he was caught working on the sabbath day (Arden Shakespeare edition of The Tempest).]i' the moon! A most poor credulous
monster! Well drawn, monster, in good sooth!

Caliban. I'll show thee every fertile inch o' th' island;
And I will kiss thy foot: I prithee, be my god.

Trinculo. By this light, a most perfidious and drunken
monster! when 's god's asleep, he'll rob his bottle.

Caliban. I'll kiss thy foot; I'll swear myself thy subject.

Stephano. Come on then; down, and swear.

Trinculo. I shall laugh myself to death at this puppy-headed
monster. A most scurvy monster! I could find in my
heart to beat him,--

Stephano. Come, kiss.

Trinculo. But that the poor monster's in drink:
an abominable monster!

Caliban. I'll show thee the best springs; I'll pluck thee berries;
I'll fish for thee and get thee wood enough.
A plague upon the tyrant that I serve!
I'll bear him no more sticks, but follow thee,
Thou wondrous man.

Trinculo. A most ridiculous monster, to make a wonder of a
Poor drunkard!

Caliban. I prithee, let me bring thee where crabs grow;
And I with my long nails will dig thee pignuts ;
Show thee a jay's nest and instruct thee how
To snare the nimble marmoset [A small monkey to be captured as a pet or for eating]; I'll bring thee
To clustering filberts ["The fruit or nut of the cultivated hazel" (OED)] and sometimes I'll get thee
Young scamels from the rock. Wilt thou go with me?

Stephano. I prithee now, lead the way without any more
talking. Trinculo, the king and all our company
else being drowned, we will inherit here: here;
bear my bottle: fellow Trinculo, we'll fill him by
and by again.

Caliban. [(Sings drunkenly.)] Farewell master; farewell, farewell!

Trinculo. A howling monster: a drunken monster!

Caliban. No more dams I'll make for fish
Nor fetch in firing
At requiring;
Nor scrape trencher, nor wash dish
'Ban, 'Ban, CaCaliban
Has a new master: get a new man.
Freedom, hey-day! hey-day, freedom! freedom,
hey-day, freedom!

Stephano. O brave monster! Lead the way.

[Exeunt]

[As cited from the Arden Shakespeare edition of The Tempest, Stephano refers to Caliban as a "savage" and compares him to the "men of Ind," whether they are referring to the West Indies (in the Caribbean Sea) or East India is contested. The East India Company was chartered by Elizabeth I in 1600. To read more about Shakespeare and India, see this somewhat dated essay by John Draper.]

[According to notes in most annotated versions of the play, Stephano here uses a proverbial expression: "As proper a man as ever went on two legs." However, he substitutes "four legs" for "two," given the monstrous creature he sees.]

[From the OED, 'The sweetish edible tuber of Conopodium majus, a fine-leaved plant of the family Apiaceae (Umbelliferae) of acid pastures and woods in western Europe; the plant itself. Also called earthnut.']

[As noted in the Arden Shakespeare, the meaning of this word is heavily contested, possibly because of printing errors. Scholars assume that it could mean "seamews," a bird that feeds on fish, or a custacean, bird or a fish that frequent rocks. The OED defines the meaning as uncertain.]

Act III

Scene I. Before Prospero's Cell.

[Enter Ferdinand, bearing a log]

Ferdinand. There be some sports are painful, and their labour
Delight in them sets off: some kinds of baseness
Are nobly undergone and most poor matters
Point to rich ends. This my mean task
Would be as heavy to me as odious, but
The mistress which I serve quickens what's dead
And makes my labours pleasures: O, she is
Ten times more gentle than her father's crabbed [A verb that originated in the 1400's, which means to be Irritated or enraged. (OED v. 1a)],
And he's composed of harshness. I must remove
Some thousands of these logs and pile them up,
Upon a sore injunction: my sweet mistress
Weeps when she sees me work, and says, such baseness
Had never like executor. I forget:
But these sweet thoughts do even refresh my labours,
Most busy lest, when I do it.

[Enter Miranda; and Prospero at a distance, unseen]

Miranda. Alas, now, pray you,
Work not so hard: I would the lightning had
Burnt up those logs that you are enjoin'd to pile!
Pray, set it down and rest you: when this burns,
'Twill weep for having wearied you. My father
Is hard at study; pray now, rest yourself;
He's safe for these three hours.

Ferdinand. O most dear mistress,
The sun will set before I shall discharge
What I must strive to do.

Miranda. If you'll sit down,
I'll bear your logs the while: pray, give me that;
I'll carry it to the pile.

Ferdinand. No, precious creature;
I had rather crack my sinews [Fibrous chords that connect the muscles to the bone (OED).], break my back,
Than you should such dishonour undergo,
While I sit lazy by.

Miranda. It would become me
As well as it does you: and I should do it
With much more ease; for my good will is to it,
And yours it is against.

Prospero. [[Aside.]]
Poor worm [Prospero is using the noun worm as a term of endearment when speaking about his daughter, also working as a metaphor her delicate and simple nature.], thou art infected!
This visitation shows it.

Miranda. You look wearily.

Ferdinand. No, noble mistress;'tis fresh morning with me
When you are by at night. I do beseech you--
Chiefly that I might set it in my prayers--
What is your name?

Miranda. Miranda.--O my father,
I have broke your hest [An archaic word that means command or behest (OED).] to say so!

Ferdinand. Admired Miranda [The name Miranda means "to be wondered at" or to be admired. Ferdinand is seen to be using word-play.]!
Indeed the top of admiration! worth
What's dearest to the world! Full many a lady
I have eyed with best regard and many a time
The harmony of their tongues hath into bondage
Brought my too diligent ear: for several virtues
Have I liked several women; never any
With so fun soul, but some defect in her
Did quarrel with the noblest grace she owed
And put it to the foil [Here, foil either refers to a fencing sword or to a verb that means to thwart.]: but you, O you,
So perfect and so peerless, are created
Of every creature's best!

Miranda. I do not know
One of my sex; no woman's face remember,
Save, from my glass, mine own; nor have I seen
More that I may call men than you, good friend,
And my dear father: how features are abroad,
I am skilless of; but, by my modesty,
The jewel in my dower , I would not wish
Any companion in the world but you,
Nor can imagination form a shape,
Besides yourself, to like of. But I prattle
Something too wildly and my father's precepts
I therein do forget.

Ferdinand. I am in my condition
A prince, Miranda; I do think, a king;
I would, not so!--and would no more endure
This wooden slavery than to suffer
flesh-fly [Flies that generally lay their eggs in carcasses.] blow my mouth. Hear my soul speak:
The very instant that I saw you, did
My heart fly to your service; there resides,
To make me slave to it; and for your sake
Am I this patient log--man.

Miranda. Do you love me?

Ferdinand. O heaven, O earth, bear witness to this sound
And crown what I profess with kind event
If I speak true! if hollowly, invert
What best is boded me to mischief! I
Beyond all limit of what else i' the world
Do love, prize, honour you.

Miranda. I am a fool
To weep at what I am glad of.

Prospero. [[Aside.]]
Fair encounter
Of two most rare affections! Heavens rain grace
On that which breeds between 'em!

Ferdinand. Wherefore weep you?

Miranda. At mine unworthiness that dare not offer
What I desire to give, and much less take
What I shall die to want. But this is trifling;
And all the more it seeks to hide itself,
The bigger bulk it shows. Hence, bashful cunning!
And prompt me, plain and holy innocence!
I am your wife, if you will marry me;
If not, I'll die your maid: to be your fellow
You may deny me; but I'll be your servant,
Whether you will or no.

Ferdinand. My mistress, dearest;
And I thus humble ever.

Miranda. My husband, then?

Ferdinand. Ay, with a heart as willing
As bondage e'er of freedom: here's my hand.

Miranda. And mine, with my heart in't; and now farewell
Till half an hour hence [Another indication of the procession of time in this play.].

Ferdinand. A thousand thousand!

[Exeunt [Ferdinand and Miranda severally] [They exit at different points from the stage.]]

Prospero. 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 supper-time must I perform
Much business appertaining.

[Exit]

[Miranda presents her modesty, which also may refer to her virginity, as her greatly priced jewel that she is able to offer Ferdinand as dowry for marriage which represents what society greatly valued in a young woman when it came to marriage.]

Scene II. Another part of the island.

[Enter Caliban, Stephano, and Trinculo]

Stephano. Tell not me; when the butt is out, we will drink
water; not a drop before: therefore bear up, and
board 'em. Servant-monster, drink to me.

Trinculo. Servant-monster! the folly of this island! They
say there's but five upon this isle: we are three
of them; if th' other two be brained like us, the
state totters [An unsteady or shaky movement (OED).].

Stephano. Drink, servant-monster, when I bid thee: thy eyes
are almost set in thy head.

Trinculo. Where should they be set else? he were a brave
monster indeed, if they were set in his tail.

Stephano. My man-monster hath drown'd his tongue in sack:
for my part, the sea cannot drown me; I swam, ere I
could recover the shore, five and thirty leagues off
and on. By this light, thou shalt be my lieutenant,
monster, or my standard [According to the OED, A standard is an obsolete term, referring to "a person who carries a standard, often as a permanent duty'.].

Trinculo. Your lieutenant, if you list; he's no standard.

Stephano. We'll not run, Monsieur Monster.

Trinculo. Nor go neither; but you'll lie like dogs and yet say
nothing neither.

Stephano. Moon-calf, speak once in thy life, if thou beest a
good moon-calf.

Caliban. How does thy honour? Let me lick thy shoe.
I'll not serve him; he's not valiant.

Trinculo. Thou liest, most ignorant monster: I am in case to
justle a constable [Trinculo claims that he is ready to fight a constable, who is the chief officer of the court (OED).]. Why, thou deboshed [A variant of the term debauched--over-indulging in sensual pleasures, including drinking (OED).] fish thou,
was there ever man a coward that hath drunk so much
sack as I to-day? Wilt thou tell a monstrous lie,
being but half a fish and half a monster?

Caliban. Lo, how he mocks me! wilt thou let him, my lord?

Trinculo. 'Lord' quoth he! That a monster should be such a natural!

Caliban. Lo, lo, again! bite him to death, I prithee.

Stephano. Trinculo, keep a good tongue in your head: if you
prove a mutineer,--the next tree! The poor monster's
my subject and he shall not suffer indignity.

Caliban. I thank my noble lord. Wilt thou be pleased to
hearken once again to the suit I made to thee?

Stephano. Marry, will I kneel and repeat it; I will stand,
and so shall Trinculo.

[Enter Ariel, invisible [Ariel is accompanied by his fellow spirits as he sings his song.]]

Caliban. As I told thee before, I am subject to a tyrant, a
sorcerer, that by his cunning hath cheated me of the island.

Ariel. Thou liest.

Caliban. Thou liest, thou jesting monkey, thou: I would my
valiant master would destroy thee! I do not lie.

Stephano. Trinculo, if you trouble him any more in's tale, by
this hand, I will supplant some of your teeth.

Trinculo. Why, I said nothing.

Stephano. Mum, then, and no more. Proceed.

Caliban. I say, by sorcery he got this isle;
From me he got it. if thy greatness will
Revenge it on him,--for I know thou darest,
But this thing dare not,--

Stephano. That's most certain.

Caliban. Thou shalt be lord of it and I'll serve thee.

Stephano. How now shall this be compassed?
Canst thou bring me to the party?

Caliban. Yea, yea, my lord: I'll yield him thee asleep,
Where thou mayst knock a nail into his bead.

Ariel. Thou liest; thou canst not.

Caliban. What a pied ninny ["Pied" refers to the many-colored or mixed-up costume a jester would wear. A "ninny" is a simpleton.]'s this! Thou scurvy patch!
I do beseech thy greatness, give him blows
And take his bottle from him: when that's gone
He shall drink nought but brine [Salty sea water.]; for I'll not show him
Where the quick freshes are.

Stephano. Trinculo, run into no further danger:
interrupt the monster one word further, and,
by this hand, I'll turn my mercy out o' doors
and make a stock-fish of thee.

Trinculo. Why, what did I? I did nothing. I'll go farther
off.

Stephano. Didst thou not say he lied?

Ariel. Thou liest.

Stephano. Do I so? take thou that.
[Beats Trinculo]
As you like this, give me the lie another time.

Trinculo. I did not give the lie. Out o' your
wits and bearing too? A pox [An exclamation of frustration or anger; Trinculo wishes the pox--syphillis--upon Stephano's drinking. (OED).] o' your bottle!
this can sack and drinking do. A murrain [a deadly infectious disease (OED).] on
your monster, and the devil take your fingers!

Caliban. Ha, ha, ha!

Stephano. Now, forward with your tale. Prithee, stand farther
off.

Caliban. Beat him enough: after a little time
I'll beat him too.

Stephano. Stand farther. Come, proceed.

Caliban. Why, as I told thee, 'tis a custom with him,
I' th' afternoon to sleep: there thou mayst brain him,
Having first seized his books, or with a log
Batter his skull, or paunch [To stab or wound in the stomach (OED).] him with a stake,
Or cut his wezand [The throat or windpipe.] with thy knife. Remember
First to possess his books; for without them
He's but a sot, as I am, nor hath not
One spirit to command: they all do hate him
As rootedly as I. Burn but his books.
He has brave utensils,--for so he calls them--
Which when he has a house, he'll deck withal
And that most deeply to consider is
The beauty of his daughter; he himself
Calls her a nonpareil [incomparable]: I never saw a woman,
But only Sycorax my dam and she;
But she as far surpasseth Sycorax
As great'st does least.

Stephano. Is it so brave a lass?

Caliban. Ay, lord; she will become thy bed, I warrant.
And bring thee forth brave brood.

Stephano. Monster, I will kill this man: his daughter and I
will be king and queen--save our graces!--and
Trinculo and thyself shall be viceroys. Dost thou
like the plot, Trinculo?

Trinculo. Excellent.

Stephano. Give me thy hand: I am sorry I beat thee; but,
while thou livest, keep a good tongue in thy head.

Caliban. Within this half hour will he be asleep:
Wilt thou destroy him then?

Stephano. Ay, on mine honour.

Ariel. This will I tell my master.

Caliban. Thou makest me merry; I am full of pleasure:
Let us be jocund: will you troll the catch
You taught me but while-ere?

Stephano. At thy request, monster, I will do reason, any
reason. Come on, Trinculo, let us sing.
[Sings]
Flout 'em and scout 'em
And scout 'em and flout 'em
Thought is free.

Caliban. That's not the tune.

[Ariel plays the tune on a tabour and pipe]

Stephano. What is this same?

Trinculo. This is the tune of our catch, played by the picture
of Nobody.

Stephano. If thou beest a man, show thyself in thy likeness:
if thou beest a devil, take't as thou list.

Trinculo. O, forgive me my sins!

Stephano. He that dies pays all debts: I defy thee. Mercy upon us!

Caliban. Art thou afeard?

Stephano. No, monster, not I.

Caliban. Be not afeard [The following speech by Caliban is one of the most famous and studied passages of the play. Caliban who had lived his entire life on the island feels a deeper connection to its beauty and richness.]; the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime 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
Ready to drop upon me that, when I waked,
I cried to dream again.

Stephano. This will prove a brave kingdom to me, where I shall
have my music for nothing.

Caliban. When Prospero is destroyed.

Stephano. That shall be by and by: I remember the story.

Trinculo. The sound is going away; let's follow it, and
after do our work.

Stephano. Lead, monster; we'll follow. I would I could see
this tabourer; he lays it on.

Trinculo. Wilt come? I'll follow, Stephano.

[Exeunt]

Scene III. Another part of the island.

[Enter Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Gonzalo, Adrian, Francisco, and others]

Gonzalo. By'r lakin [An obsolete form of the phrase 'by our Lady', denoting the Virgin Mary (OED n.2).], I can go no further, sir;
My old bones ache: here's a maze trod indeed
Through forth-rights and meanders! By your patience,
I needs must rest me.

Alonso. Old lord, I cannot blame thee,
Who am myself attach'd with weariness,
To the dulling of my spirits: sit down, and rest.
Even here I will put off my hope and keep it
No longer for my flatterer: he is drown'd
Whom thus we stray to find, and the sea mocks
Our frustrate search on land. Well, let him go.

Antonio. [Aside to Sebastian] I am right glad that he's so out of hope.
Do not, for one repulse, forego the purpose
That you resolved to effect.

Sebastian. [Aside to Antonio] The next advantage
Will we take throughly.

Antonio. [Aside to Sebastian] Let it be to-night;
For, now they are oppress'd with travel, they
Will not, nor cannot, use such vigilance
As when they are fresh.

Sebastian. [Aside to Antonio] I say, to-night: no more.

[Solemn and strange music]

Alonso. What harmony is this? My good friends, hark!

Gonzalo. Marvellous sweet music!

[Enter Prospero above [In this scene, the upper stage allows Prospero's character secretly observe the plot transpiring below on the main stage.], invisible. Enter several strange Shapes, bringing in a banquet; they dance about it with gentle actions of salutation; and, inviting the King, &c. to eat, they depart]

Alonso. Give us kind keepers, heavens! What were these?

Sebastian. A living drollery [A comical entertainment in the form of a puppet-show (OED 2.a)]. Now I will believe
That there are unicorns, that in Arabia
There is one tree, the phoenix' throne, one phoenix
At this hour reigning there.

Antonio. I'll believe both;
And what does else want credit [lacking in credibility], come to me,
And I'll be sworn 'tis true: travellers ne'er did lie,
Though fools at home condemn 'em.

Gonzalo. If in Naples
I should report this now, would they believe me?
If I should say, I saw such islanders--
For, certes [An archaic form of the term meaning certainly, assuredly (OED).], these are people of the island--
Who, though they are of monstrous shape, yet, note,
Their manners are more gentle-kind than of
Our human generation you shall find
Many, nay, almost any.

Prospero. [Aside] Honest lord,
Thou hast said well; for some of you there present
Are worse than devils.

Alonso. I cannot too much muse
Such shapes, such gesture and such sound, expressing,
Although they want the use of tongue, a kind
Of excellent dumb discourse.

Prospero. [Aside] Praise in departing.

Francisco. They vanish'd strangely.

Sebastian. No matter, since
They have left their viands behind; for we have stomachs.
Will't please you taste of what is here?

Alonso. Not I.

Gonzalo. Faith, sir, you need not fear. When we were boys,
Who would believe that there were mountaineers
Dew-lapp'd like bulls , whose throats had hanging at 'em
Wallets of flesh? or that there were such men
Whose heads stood in their breasts? which now we find
Each putter-out of five for one will bring us
Good warrant of.

Alonso. I will stand to and feed,
Although my last: no matter, since I feel
The best is past. Brother, my lord the duke,
Stand to and do as we.

[Thunder and lightning. Enter Ariel, like a harpy [Ariel appears in the form of a harpy, a greedy and fearsome mythological creature that metes out divine justice and vengeance. Harpies have the head and body of a woman and the wings and claws of a bird. Ariel is imagined as wreaking the 'divine' vengeance of Prospero. This annotation and image are sourced from World History Encyclopedia. The image here, also from the World History Encyclopedia, is an illustration of the harpy from Ulisse Aldrovandi's Monstrorum Historia, Bologna, 1642.]; claps his wings upon the table; and, with a quaint device, the banquet vanishes]

Ariel. You are three men of sin, whom Destiny,
That hath to instrument this lower world
And what is in't, the never-surfeited [The insatiable nature of the sea.] sea
Hath caused to belch up you; and on this island
Where man doth not inhabit; you 'mongst men
Being most unfit to live. I have made you mad;
And even with such-like valour men hang and drown
Their proper selves.
[Alonso, Sebastian &c. draw their swords]
You fools! I and my fellows
Are ministers of Fate: the elements,
Of whom your swords are temper'd, may as well
Wound the loud winds, or with bemock'd-at stabs
Kill the still-closing waters, as diminish
One dowle [The OED define dowl as "One of the filaments of fibres of a feather'] that's in my plume: my fellow-ministers
Are like invulnerable. If you could hurt,
Your swords are now too massy for your strengths
And will not be uplifted. But remember--
For that's my business to you--that you three
From Milan did supplant good Prospero;
Exposed unto the sea, which hath requit [To repay, compensation (OED)] it,
Him 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,
They have bereft; and do pronounce by me:
Lingering perdition, worse than any death
Can be at once, shall step by step attend
You and your ways; whose wraths to guard you from--
Which here, in this most desolate isle, else falls
Upon your heads--is nothing but heart-sorrow
And a clear life ensuing.

[He vanishes in thunder; then, to soft music enter the Shapes again, and dance, with mocks [grimacing facial expressions], and carrying out the table]

Prospero. Bravely the figure of this harpy hast thou
Perform'd, my Ariel; a grace it had, devouring:
Of my instruction hast thou nothing bated
In what thou hadst to say: so, with good life
And observation strange, my meaner ministers
Their several kinds have done. My high charms work
And these mine enemies are all knit [Entangled by their temporary madness] up
In their distractions; they now are in my power;
And in these fits I leave them, while I visit
Young Ferdinand, whom they suppose is drown'd,
And his and mine loved darling.

[Exit above]

Gonzalo. I' the name of something holy, sir, why stand you
In this strange stare?

Alonso. O, it is monstrous, monstrous:
Methought the billows spoke and told me of it;
The winds did sing it to me, and the thunder,
That deep and dreadful organ-pipe, pronounced
The name of Prosper: it did bass my trespass.
Therefore my son i' the ooze is bedded, and
I'll seek him deeper than e'er plummet [As cited from the OED, 'A piece of lead or other heavy material attached to a line, used for measuring the depth of water; a sounding lead' or a plumb.] sounded
And with him there lie mudded.

[Exit]

Sebastian. But one fiend at a time,
I'll fight their legions o'er.

Antonio. I'll be thy second.

[Exeunt Sebastian, and Antonio]

Gonzalo. All three of them are desperate: their great guilt,
Like poison given to work a great time after,
Now 'gins to bite the spirits. I do beseech you
That are of suppler joints, follow them swiftly
And hinder them from what this ecstasy
May now provoke them to.

Adrian. Follow, I pray you.

[Exeunt]

[Gonzalo describes the physical attributes of the indigenous people living on the island, commenting that their necks have a similar folding of excessive loose skin that hangs from the throats of cattle (OED).]

Act IV

Scene I. Before Prospero's cell.

[Enter Prospero, Ferdinand, and Miranda]

Prospero. If I have too austerely punish'd you,
Your compensation makes amends, for I
Have given you here a third of mine own life ,
Or that for which I live; who once again
I tender to thy hand: all thy vexations
Were but my trials of thy love and thou
Hast strangely stood the test here, afore Heaven,
I ratify this my rich gift. O Ferdinand,
Do not smile at me that I boast her off,
For thou shalt find she will outstrip all praise
And make it halt behind her.

Ferdinand. I do believe it
Against an oracle. .

Prospero. Then, as my gift and thine own acquisition
Worthily purchased take my daughter: but
If thou dost break her virgin-knot [Prospero warns Ferdinand against taking his daughter’s virginity before their official union.] before
All sanctimonious ceremonies may
With full and holy rite be minister'd,
No sweet aspersion shall the heavens let fall
To make this contract grow: but barren hate,
Sour-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.

Ferdinand. As I hope
For quiet days, fair issue and long life,
With such love as 'tis now, the murkiest den,
The most opportune place, the strong'st suggestion.
Our worser genius can, shall never melt
Mine honour into lust, to take away
The edge of that day's celebration
When I shall think: or Phoebus' steeds are founder'd,
Or Night kept chain'd below.

Prospero. Fairly spoke.
Sit then and talk with her; she is thine own.
What, Ariel! my industrious servant, Ariel!

[Enter Ariel]

Ariel. What would my potent master? here I am.

Prospero. Thou and thy meaner fellows your last service
Did worthily perform; and I must use you
In such another trick. Go bring the rabble [A loud and disorderly crowd (OED). Prospero gives Ariel the power to summon the spirits Iris, Ceres and Juno. The word rabble here is used in a derogatory sense.],
O'er whom I give thee power, here to this place:
Incite them to quick motion; for I must
Bestow upon the eyes of this young couple
Some vanity of mine art : it is my promise,
And they expect it from me.

Ariel. Presently?

Prospero. Ay, with a twink ["A winking of the eye" or the time taken to perform this action (OED n.1). The modern equivalent of the phrase 'with/in a twink' is 'in the blink of an eye'.].

Ariel. Before you can say 'come' and 'go,'
And breathe twice and cry 'so, so,'
Each one, tripping on his toe,
Will be here with mop and mow.
Do you love me, master? no?

Prospero. Dearly my delicate Ariel. Do not approach
Till thou dost hear me call.

Ariel. Well, I conceive [understand].

[Exit]

Prospero. Look thou be true; do not give dalliance
Too much the rein: the strongest oaths are straw
To the fire i' the blood: be more abstemious,
Or else, good night your vow!

Ferdinand. I warrant you sir;
The white cold virgin snow upon my heart
Abates the ardour of my liver [According to the OED (II.4.a), the liver was understood in the early modern period to be the location of the passions, especially love, bitterness, and anger.].

Prospero. Well.
Now come, my Ariel! bring a [An obsolete term for something additional (OED 4). Prospero wants Ariel to summon an extra sprit just so they have enough.],
Rather than want a spirit: appear and pertly!
No tongue! all eyes! be silent.

[Soft music]
[Enter Iris [Ariel conjures up spirits disguised as goddesses to entertain and celebrate the betrothal of the young couple. The first to appear is the spirit imitating Iris, the goddess of the rainbow and the messenger to the gods. She plays the 'presenter' of the masque. This annotation is referenced from the "Hudson Shakespeare Company".]]

Iris. Ceres, most bounteous lady, thy rich leas [pastures or meadows]
Of wheat, rye, barley, vetches [Various kinds of leguminous plants of the genus Vicia, used mainly as fodder (OED)], oats and pease;
Thy turfy mountains, where live nibbling sheep,
And flat meads thatch'd with stover [A meadow covered with hay or straw for fodder.], them to keep;
Thy banks with pioned [Banks that are formed through the excavation or trenching of the ground caused by the currents of springs. (The Arden Shakespeare edition of The Tempest")] and twilled brims [The weaving of ridges in 'brims' or bodies of water (OED).],
Which spongy [The rainy season of April]April at thy hest betrims,
To make cold nymphs chaste crowns; and thy broom -groves [A groove covered with beautiful yellow papilionaceous flowers (OED).],
Whose shadow the dismissed bachelor loves,
Being lass-lorn [As the word "love-lorn" means having lost a lover, "lass-lorn" means having lost a "lass"--a girl or woman.]: thy pole-clipt vineyard;
And thy sea-marge [Margin of the sea or the sea-coast.], sterile and rocky-hard,
Where thou thyself dost air;--the queen o' the sky,
Whose watery arch [A rainbow, which is also the sign of Iris.] and messenger am I,
Bids thee leave these, and with her sovereign grace,
Here on this grass-plot, in this very place,
To come and sport: her peacocks fly amain:
Approach, rich Ceres, her to entertain.

[Enter Ceres [The second spirit presented is Ceres, the fertility goddess of the harvest, motherhood and earth. She only participates in the masque after making sure that Venus and Cupid, the goddess and god of love responsible for the kidnapping of her daughter, do not make an appearance. This further establishes Prospero's demand that Miranda remain chaste until their union. This annotation is referenced from the "Hudson Shakespeare Company".]]

Ceres. Hail, many-colour'd messenger, that ne'er
Dost disobey the wife of Jupiter [Juno, the Greek goddess of marriage and the wife of Jupiter, the king of the gods.];
Who with thy saffron wings upon my flowers
Diffusest honey-drops, refreshing showers,
And with each end of thy blue bow dost crown
My bosky [As cited from the OED, bosky is defined as "Consisting of or covered with bushes or underwood; full of thickets, bushy".] acres and my unshrubb'd down,
Rich scarf to my proud earth; why hath thy queen
Summon'd me hither, to this short-grass'd green?

Iris. A contract of true love to celebrate;
And some donation freely to estate
On the blest lovers.

Ceres. Tell me, heavenly bow [Iris is frequently depicted with a rainbow, or bow.],
If Venus [The Roman goddess of love, beauty, desire and fertility. She is also known as Aphrodite in the Greek mythology.] or her son [Ceres here is referring to Cupid, the Roman god of love, born to Venus and Mercury, the god of translators and interpreters.], as thou dost know,
Do now attend the queen? Since they did plot
The means that dusky Dis my daughter got,
Her and her blind boy's scandal'd company
I have forsworn.

Iris. Of her society
Be not afraid: I met her deity
Cutting the clouds towards Paphos [The sacred home of the goddess Venus on the Island of Cyprus.] and her son
Dove-drawn with her. Here thought they to have done
Some wanton charm upon this man and maid,
Whose vows are, that no bed-right shall be paid
Till Hymen's torch [Prospero is forbidding Ferdinand and Miranda from having sex before they are married, or before the torch of Hymen, the Greek God of marriage, is lit.] be lighted: but vain;
Mars's hot minion is returned again;
Her waspish-headed son has broke his arrows,
Swears he will shoot no more but play with sparrows
And be a boy right out.

Ceres. High'st queen of state,
Great Juno, comes; I know her by her gait.

[Enter Juno [The third spirit enters the masque fashioned as Juno, the roman queen of the gods.]]

Juno. How does my bounteous sister? Go with me
To bless this twain, that they may Prosperous be
And honour'd in their issue.

[They sing:]

Juno. Honour, riches, marriage-blessing,
Long continuance, and increasing,
Hourly joys be still upon you!
Juno sings her blessings upon you.

Ceres. Earth's increase, foison [An archaic term for abundance or bountiful supply (OED 1.a).]plenty,
Barns and garners never empty,
Vines and clustering bunches growing,
Plants with goodly burthen bowing [Plants bending from the weight of their growth.];
Spring come to you at the farthest
In the very end of harvest!
Scarcity and want shall shun you;
Ceres' blessing so is on you.

Ferdinand. This is a most majestic vision, and
Harmoniously charmingly. May I be bold
To think these spirits?

Prospero. Spirits, which by mine art
I have from their confines call'd to enact
My present fancies.

Ferdinand. Let me live here ever;
So rare a wonder'd father and a wife
Makes this place Paradise.

[Juno and Ceres whisper, and send Iris on employment]

Prospero. Sweet, now, silence!
Juno and Ceres whisper seriously;
There's something else to do: hush, and be mute,
Or else our spell is marr'd.

Iris. You nymphs , call'd Naiads, of the windring brooks,
With your sedged crowns and ever-harmless looks,
Leave your crisp channels and on this green land
Answer your summons; Juno does command:
Come, temperate nymphs, and help to celebrate
A contract of true love; be not too late.
[Enter certain Nymphs]
You sunburnt sicklemen, of August weary,
Come hither from the furrow and be merry:
Make holiday; your rye-straw hats put on
And these fresh nymphs encounter every one
In country footing.

[Enter certain Reapers, properly habited: they join with the Nymphs in a graceful dance; towards the end whereof Prospero starts suddenly, and speaks; after which, to a strange, hollow, and confused noise, they heavily vanish]

Prospero. [Aside] I had forgot that foul conspiracy
Of the beast Caliban and his confederates
Against my life: the minute of their plot
Is almost come.
[To the Spirits]
Well done! avoid; no more!

Ferdinand. This is strange: your father's in some passion
That works him strongly.

Miranda. Never till this day
Saw I him touch'd with anger so distemper'd.

Prospero. You do look, my son, in a moved sort,
As if you were dismay'd: be cheerful, sir.
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Ye all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep. Sir, I am vex'd;
Bear with my weakness; my, brain is troubled:
Be not disturb'd with my infirmity:
If you be pleased, retire into my cell
And there repose: a turn or two I'll walk,
To still my beating mind.

Ferdinand and Miranda. We wish your peace.

[Exeunt]

Prospero. Come with a thought I thank thee, Ariel: come.

[Enter Ariel]

Ariel. Thy thoughts I cleave to. What's thy pleasure?

Prospero. Spirit,
We must prepare to meet with Caliban.

Ariel. Ay, my commander: when I presented Ceres,
I thought to have told thee of it, but I fear'd
Lest I might anger thee.

Prospero. Say again, where didst thou leave these varlets [According to the OED, a varlet was a term for a man or a young lad acting as a lowly servant. In this context however, Prospero uses it as an "abusive form of address" (OED 2.a).]?

Ariel. I told you, sir, they were red-hot with drinking;
So fun of valour that they smote the air
For breathing in their faces; beat the ground
For kissing of their feet; yet always bending
Towards their project. Then I beat my tabour [Tabour/Tabor is an archaic term from the eleventh century for a small drum (OED).];
At which, like unback'd colts, they prick'd their ears,
Advanced their eyelids, lifted up their noses
As they smelt music: so I charm'd their ears
That calf-like they my lowing follow'd through
Tooth'd briers, sharp furzes, pricking goss and thorns,
Which entered their frail shins: at last I left them
I' the filthy-mantled pool beyond your cell,
There dancing up to the chins, that the foul lake
O'erstunk their feet.

Prospero. This was well done, my bird.
Thy shape invisible retain thou still:
The trumpery in my house, go bring it hither,
For stale to catch these thieves.

Ariel. I go, I go.

[Exit]

Prospero. A devil, a born devil, on whose nature
Nurture can never stick; on whom my pains,
Humanely taken, all, all lost, quite lost;
And as with age his body uglier grows,
So his mind cankers. I will plague them all,
Even to roaring.
[Re-enter Ariel, loaden with glistering apparel, &c]
Come, hang them on this line.

[Prospero and Ariel remain invisible. Enter Caliban, Stephano, and Trinculo, all wet]

Caliban. Pray you, tread softly, that the blind mole may not
Hear a foot fall: we now are near his cell.

Stephano. Monster, your fairy, which you say is
a harmless fairy, has done little better than
played the Jack with us.

Trinculo. Monster, I do smell all horse-piss; at
which my nose is in great indignation.

Stephano. So is mine. Do you hear, monster? If I should take
a displeasure against you, look you,--

Trinculo. Thou wert but a lost monster.

Caliban. Good my lord, give me thy favour still.
Be patient, for the prize I'll bring thee to
Shall hoodwink this mischance: therefore speak softly.
All's hush'd as midnight yet.

Trinculo. Ay, but to lose our bottles in the pool,--

Stephano. There is not only disgrace and dishonour in that,
monster, but an infinite loss.

Trinculo. That's more to me than my wetting: yet this is your
harmless fairy, monster.

Stephano. I will fetch off my bottle, though I be o'er ears
for my labour.

Caliban. Prithee, my king, be quiet. Seest thou here,
This is the mouth o' the cell: no noise, and enter.
Do that good mischief which may make this island
Thine own for ever, and I, thy Caliban,
For aye thy foot-licker.

Stephano. Give me thy hand. I do begin to have bloody thoughts.

Trinculo. O king Stephano! O peer! O worthy Stephano! look
what a wardrobe here is for thee!

Caliban. Let it alone, thou fool; it is but trash.

Trinculo. O, ho, monster! we know what belongs to a frippery [A store where previously-owned but quality cloghing is sold (OED). Trinculo chides Caliban for not knowing the value of the clothing.].
O king Stephano!

Stephano. Put off that gown, Trinculo; by this hand, I'll have
that gown.

Trinculo. Thy grace shall have it.

Caliban. The dropsy drown this fool I what do you mean
To dote thus on such luggage? Let's alone
And do the murder first: if he awake,
From toe to crown he'll fill our skins with pinches,
Make us strange stuff.

Stephano. Be you quiet, monster. Mistress line [Stephano and Trinculo engage in a riff on the multiple meanings of the word "line." Here, Stephano is comically addressing the clothesline (or line) in a formal manner.],
is not this my jerkin? Now is the jerkin [A men's jacket made of leather either with sleaves or without, and having a short skirt. The historical equivalent of the waistcoat. (OED)] under
the line ["Under the line" during this period was a reference to the equator (OED n, 10.b).]: now, jerkin, you are like to lose your
hair and prove a bald jerkin.

Trinculo. Do, do: we steal by line and level [To do something by line and level means to do it methodically and with care (OED n, 4.b).], an't like your grace.

Stephano. I thank thee for that jest; here's a garment for't:
wit shall not go unrewarded while I am king of this
country. 'Steal by line and level' is an excellent
pass of pate [The OED defines 'pass of pate' as a "witty or cutting remark". In the literal sense, 'pate' was an archaic noun for the head or skull. Stephano creates his own pun Trinculo's clever wordplay.]; there's another garment for't.

Trinculo. Monster, come, put some lime upon your fingers [According to the OED, lime or birdlime is a sticky material from holly bark, mistletoe berries and other plants, used to capture birds by applying it to branches where they might alight.], and
away with the rest.

Caliban. I will have none on't: we shall lose our time,
And all be turn'd to barnacles, or to apes
With foreheads villanous low.

Stephano. Monster, lay-to your fingers: help to bear this
away where my hogshead of wine is, or I'll turn you
out of my kingdom: go to, carry this.

Trinculo. And this.

Stephano. Ay, and this.

[A noise of hunters heard. Enter divers Spirits [These noises mimicking the sounds of animals are produced by the actors off-stage.], in shape of dogs and hounds, and hunt them about, Prospero and Ariel setting them on]

Prospero. Hey, Mountain, hey!

Ariel. Silver I there it goes, Silver!

Prospero. Fury, Fury! there, Tyrant, there! hark! hark!
[Caliban, Stephano, and Trinculo, are driven out]
Go charge my goblins that they grind their joints
With dry convulsions, shorten up their sinews
With aged cramps, and more pinch-spotted make them
Than pard or cat o' mountain.

Ariel. Hark, they roar!

Prospero. Let them be hunted soundly. At this hour
Lie at my mercy all mine enemies:
Shortly shall all my labours end, and thou
Shalt have the air at freedom: for a little
Follow, and do me service.

[Exeunt]

[As noted in the Arden Shakespeare edition of The Tempest, there could be several explanations for this line; some scholars believe that it is an indication of Prospero's age being 45 years as Miranda is known to 15 years of age in the play, others also believe that he his speaking metaphorically claiming that his daughter is one of the three most valuable treasures of this life, apart from his dukedom and his art.]

[An oracle, in ancient Greece and Rome, was a person who was believed to be a medium through which the Gods would use to communicate with the masses. These people were often priests and priestesses (OED).]

[Hymen is the God of marriage of Greek and Roman mythology, who with his torches/lamps would signify if the union between a couple would prosper or perish, depending on whether the flame burned clear, or smoked. (Shakespeare Navigators)]

[Phoebus Apollo, the God of light or of the sun, was often characterized by riding his chariot of the sun drawn by his steeds. Here, Ferdinand vows to uphold Miranda's honor by not engaging in the consummation of their union until they are wed, lest the sun never set not the night ever arrive for their wedding night. (The Arden edition of Shakespeare The Tempest)]

[Prospero plans to use his magic to create the fantastic entertainment of a masque for the young couple. According to material hosted by the Royal Historic Palaces, masques were elaborate court entertainments staged for and often by nobility. They involved a variety of performance types--ballet, opera, music, and theater--combined in a highly visual and stylized manner. By the early 17th century, when Shakespeare wrote and performed The Tempest, they had become highly elaborate. The Royal Banqueting House, designed by Inigo Jones and completed in 1622, was purpose-built for the staging of masques. The most popular early court masques were developed by Jones in partnership with Ben Jonson.

Thematically, masques represented and reinforced the divinity of the monarchy and symbolized a world of order in opposition to the baseness and disorder that reigned before the emergence of the Stuart Court. In The Tempest, Prospero conjures the masque as a gift for the young couple, Miranda and Ferdinand, who will marry upon their return to Naples and return order to the throne. This masque, like all masques, then, is a statement of political power.

The image included here, from the illustrated catalog of masque designs owned by the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, shows a page dressed as a fiery spirit--this character, like the nymphs and reapers in Prospero’s masque, would likely have been a dancing role rather than a more important speaking role.

An exceptional illustrated source is “Designs by Inigo Jones for Masques & Plays at Court,” a descriptive catalog of a key collection of masque designs, now hosted in JSTOR. The image included here, from that illustrated catalog of masque designs, shows a page dressed as a fiery spirit.]

[Dis is another name for Pluto, god of the underworld. In mythology, he kidnaps Ceres' daughter Proserpina with help from Venus and Cupid, her 'blind' and 'waspish-headed' son of the next lines, who is typically depicted as blindly shooting his arrows of love. Ceres bargains with Pluto, and according to their deal, Proserpina spends half the year with her mother and half, with Pluto. During the spring and summer months, when mother and daughter are toogether, all is light and warmth; when Prosperpina is in the underworld, Ceres's sadness brings us the fall and winter months.]

[According to Britannica, nymphs are a class of low-ranking female deities from Greek mythology, often associated with sources of growing life such as trees and water. The Naiads presided over freshwater brooks, lakes, springs, and rivers.]

Act V

Scene I. Before Prospero's cell.

[Enter Prospero in his magic robes, and Ariel]

Prospero. Now does my project gather to a head:
My charms crack not; my spirits obey; and time
Goes upright with his carriage. How's the day?

Ariel. On the sixth hour; at which time, my lord,
You said our work should cease.

Prospero. I did say so,
When first I raised the tempest. Say, my spirit,
How fares the king and's followers?

Ariel. Confined together
In the same fashion as you gave in charge,
Just as you left them; all prisoners, sir,
In the line-grove [A small group of trees that provide shade (OED). Here, the grove is acting as a barrier for Prospero's cell.] which weather-fends your cell;
They cannot budge till your release. The king,
His brother and yours, abide all three distracted
And the remainder mourning over them,
Brimful of sorrow and dismay; but chiefly
Him that you term'd, sir, 'The good old lord Gonzalo;'
His tears run down his beard, like winter's drops
From eaves [Eaves is an Old English term, signifying the edge of the roof over a building which overhangs off the sides, made typically of straws or reeds (OED)] of reeds. Your charm so strongly works 'em
That if you now beheld them, your affections
Would become tender.

Prospero. Dost thou think so, spirit?

Ariel. Mine would, sir, were I human.

Prospero. And mine shall.
Hast thou, which art but air, a touch, a feeling
Of their afflictions, and shall not myself,
One of their kind, that relish all as sharply,
Passion as they, be kindlier moved than thou art?
Though with their high wrongs I am struck to the quick,
Yet with my nobler reason 'gaitist my fury
Do I take part: the rarer action is
In virtue than in vengeance: they being penitent,
The sole drift of my purpose doth extend
Not a frown further. Go release them, Ariel:
My charms I'll break, their senses I'll restore,
And they shall be themselves.

Ariel. I'll fetch them, sir.

[Exit]

Prospero. Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes and groves,
And ye that on the sands with printless foot
Do chase the ebbing Neptune and do fly him
When he comes back; you demi-puppets that
By moonshine do the green sour ringlets make,
Whereof the ewe not bites, and you whose pastime
Is to make midnight mushrooms, that rejoice
To hear the solemn curfew; by whose aid,
Weak masters though ye be, I have bedimm'd
The noontide sun, call'd forth the mutinous winds,
And 'twixt the green sea and the azured vault
Set roaring war: to the dread rattling thunder
Have I given fire and rifted Jove's stout oak
With his own bolt; the strong-based promontory
Have I made shake and by the spurs pluck'd up
The pine and cedar: graves at my command
Have waked their sleepers, oped [According to the OED, oped is a transitive verb which means, " To open. Frequently of an eye, door, or window."], and let 'em forth
By my so potent art. But this rough magic
I here abjure, and, when I have required
Some heavenly music, which even now I do,
To work mine end upon their senses that
This airy charm is for, I'll break my staff,
Bury it certain fathoms in the earth,
And deeper than did ever plummet sound
I'll drown my book.
[Solemn music]
[Re-enter 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, boil'd within thy skull! There stand [Around this time, the actors who are yet transfixed by Prospero's sorcery enter the stage led by Ariel. Prospero then addresses each of the afflicted before releasing them from their state.],
For you are spell-stopp'd.
Holy Gonzalo, honourable man,
Mine eyes, even sociable to the show of thine,
Fall fellowly drops. The charm dissolves apace,
And as the morning steals upon the night,
Melting the darkness, so their rising senses
Begin to chase the ignorant fumes that mantle
Their clearer reason. O good Gonzalo,
My true preserver, and a loyal sir
To him you follow'st! I will pay thy graces
Home both in word and deed. Most cruelly
Didst thou, Alonso, use me and my daughter:
Thy brother was a furtherer in the act.
Thou art pinch'd fort now, Sebastian. Flesh and blood,
You, brother mine, that entertain'd ambition,
Expell'd remorse and nature; who, with Sebastian,
Whose inward pinches therefore are most strong,
Would here have kill'd your king; I do forgive thee,
Unnatural though thou art. Their understanding
Begins to swell, and the approaching tide
Will shortly fill the reasonable 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:
I will discase me , and myself present
As I was sometime Milan: quickly, spirit;
Thou shalt ere long be free.

Ariel. [Ariel sings and helps to attire him]
Where the bee sucks. there suck I:
In a cowslip's bell I lie;
There I couch when owls do cry.
On the bat's back I do fly
After summer merrily.
Merrily, merrily shall I live now
Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.

Prospero. Why, that's my dainty Ariel! I shall miss thee:
But yet thou shalt have freedom: so, so, so.
To the king's ship, invisible as thou art:
There shalt thou find the mariners asleep
Under the hatches; the master and the boatswain
Being awake, enforce them to this place,
And presently, I prithee.

Ariel. I drink the air before me, and return
Or ere your pulse twice beat.

[Exit]

Gonzalo. All torment, trouble, wonder and amazement
Inhabits here: some heavenly power guide us
Out of this fearful country!

Prospero. Behold, sir king,
The wronged Duke of Milan, Prospero:
For more assurance that a living prince
Does now speak to thee, I embrace thy body;
And to thee and thy company I bid
A hearty welcome.

Alonso. Whether thou best he or no,
Or some enchanted trifle to abuse me,
As late I have been, I not know: thy pulse
Beats as of flesh and blood; and, since I saw thee,
The affliction of my mind amends, with which,
I fear, a madness held me: this must crave,
An if this be at all, a most strange story.
Thy dukedom I resign and do entreat
Thou pardon me my wrongs. But how should Prospero
Be living and be here?

Prospero. First, noble friend,
Let me embrace thine age, whose honour cannot
Be measured or confined.

Gonzalo. Whether this be
Or be not, I'll not swear.

Prospero. You do yet taste
Some subtilties o' the isle, that will not let you
Believe things certain. Welcome, my friends all!
[Aside to Sebastian and Antonio]
But you, my brace of lords, were I so minded,
I here could pluck his highness' frown upon you
And justify you traitors: at this time
I will tell no tales.

Sebastian. [Aside] The devil speaks in him.

Prospero. No.
For you, most wicked sir, whom to call brother
Would even infect my mouth, I do forgive
Thy rankest fault; all of them; and require
My dukedom of thee, which perforce, I know,
Thou must restore.

Alonso. If thou be'st Prospero,
Give us particulars of thy preservation;
How thou hast met us here, who three hours since
Were wreck'd upon this shore; where I have lost--
How sharp the point of this remembrance is!--
My dear son Ferdinand.

Prospero. I am woe for't, sir.

Alonso. Irreparable is the loss, and patience
Says it is past her cure.

Prospero. I rather think
You have not sought her help, of whose soft grace
For the like loss I have her sovereign aid
And rest myself content.

Alonso. You the like loss!

Prospero. As great to me as late; and, supportable
To make the dear loss, have I means much weaker
Than you may call to comfort you, for I
Have lost my daughter.

Alonso. A daughter?
O heavens, that they were living both in Naples,
The king and queen there! that they were, I wish
Myself were mudded in that oozy bed
Where my son lies. When did you lose your daughter?

Prospero. In this last tempest. I perceive these lords
At this encounter do so much admire
That they devour their reason and scarce think
Their eyes do offices of truth, their words
Are natural breath: but, howsoe'er you have
Been justled from your senses, know for certain
That I am Prospero and that very duke
Which was thrust forth of Milan, who most strangely
Upon this shore, where you were wreck'd, was landed,
To be the lord on't. No more yet of this;
For 'tis a chronicle of day by day [It is a very long narrative to be recounted over the course of many days.],
Not a relation for a breakfast nor
Befitting this first meeting. Welcome, sir;
This cell's my court: here have I few attendants
And subjects none abroad: pray you, look in.
My dukedom since you have given me again,
I will requite you with as good a thing;
At least bring forth a wonder, to content ye
As much as me my dukedom.

[Here Prospero discovers [A discovery space on the stage is an area enclosed by curtains which is used to reveal objects or characters. Sometimes the color of the curtains will also indicate the theme of the tale, as in the case of the tragedy Doctor Faustus where black curtains are sometimes used to signal the dark events of the play ("Reconstructing the Rose").] Ferdinand and Miranda playing at chess]

Miranda. Sweet lord, you play me false.

Ferdinand. No, my dear'st love,
I would not for the world.

Miranda. Yes, for a score of kingdoms you should wrangle,
And I would call it, fair play.

Alonso. If this prove
A vision of the Island, one dear son
Shall I twice lose.

Sebastian. A most high miracle!

Ferdinand. [[Sees his father and the others]]
Though the seas threaten, they are merciful;
I have cursed them without cause.

[Kneels]

Alonso. Now all the blessings
Of a glad father compass thee about!
Arise, and say how thou camest here.

Miranda. O, wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in't!

Prospero. 'Tis new to thee.

Alonso. What is this maid with whom thou wast at play?
Your eld'st acquaintance cannot be three hours:
Is she the goddess that hath sever'd us,
And brought us thus together?

Ferdinand. Sir, she is mortal;
But by immortal Providence she's mine:
I chose her when I could not ask my father
For his advice, nor thought I had one. She
Is daughter to this famous Duke of Milan,
Of whom so often I have heard renown,
But never saw before; of whom I have
Received a second life; and second father
This lady makes him to me.

Alonso. I am hers:
But, O, how oddly will it sound that I
Must ask my child forgiveness!

Prospero. There, sir, stop:
Let us not burthen our remembrance with
A heaviness that's gone.

Gonzalo. I have inly wept,
Or should have spoke ere this. Look down, you god,
And on this couple drop a blessed crown!
For it is you that have chalk'd forth the way
Which brought us hither.

Alonso. I say, Amen, Gonzalo!

Gonzalo. Was Milan thrust from Milan, that his issue
Should become kings of Naples? O, rejoice
Beyond a common joy, and set it down
With gold on lasting pillars: In one voyage
Did Claribel her husband find at Tunis,
And Ferdinand, her brother, found a wife
Where he himself was lost, Prospero his dukedom
In a poor isle and all of us ourselves
When no man was his own.

Alonso. [To Ferdinand and Miranda] Give me your hands:
Let grief and sorrow still embrace his heart
That doth not wish you joy!

Gonzalo. Be it so! Amen!
[Re-enter Ariel, with the Master and Boatswain amazedly following]
O, look, sir, look, sir! here is more of us:
I prophesied, if a gallows were on land,
This fellow could not drown. [[to Boatswain]] Now, blasphemy,
That swear'st grace o'erboard, not an oath on shore?
Hast thou no mouth by land? What is the news?

Boatswain. The best news is, that we have safely found
Our king and company; the next, our ship--
Which, but three glasses since, we gave out split--
Is tight and yare and bravely rigg'd as when
We first put out to sea.

Ariel. [Aside to Prospero]
Sir, all this service
Have I done since I went.

Prospero. [Aside to Ariel]
My tricksy spirit!

Alonso. These are not natural events; they strengthen
From strange to stranger. Say, how came you hither?

Boatswain. If I did think, sir, I were well awake,
I'ld strive to tell you. We were dead of sleep,
And--how we know not--all clapp'd under hatches;
Where but even now with strange and several noises
Of roaring, shrieking, howling, jingling chains,
And more diversity of sounds, all horrible,
We were awaked; straightway, at liberty;
Where we, in all her trim, freshly beheld
Our royal, good and gallant ship, our master
Capering to eye her: on a trice, so please you,
Even in a dream, were we divided from them
And were brought moping hither.

Ariel. [Aside to Prospero]
Was't well done?

Prospero. [Aside to Ariel] Bravely, my diligence. Thou shalt be free.

Alonso. This is as strange a maze as e'er men trod
And there is in this business more than nature
Was ever conduct of: some oracle
Must rectify our knowledge.

Prospero. Sir, my liege,
Do not infest your mind with beating on
The strangeness of this business; at pick'd leisure
Which shall be shortly, single I'll resolve you,
Which to you shall seem probable, of every
These happen'd accidents; till when, be cheerful
And think of each thing well. [Aside to Ariel]
Come hither, spirit:
Set Caliban and his companions free;
Untie the spell. [Exit Ariel]
How fares my gracious sir?
There are yet missing of your company
Some few odd lads that you remember not.

[Re-enter Ariel, driving in Caliban, Stephano and Trinculo, in their stolen apparel]

Stephano. Every man shift for all the rest, andlet no man
take care for himself; for all is but fortune. Coragio [An exhortatory Italian exclamation for "Courage!" (OED)],
bully-monster, coragio!

Trinculo. If these be true spies which I wear in my head,
here's a goodly sight.

Caliban. O Setebos, these be brave spirits indeed!
How fine my master is! I am afraid
He will chastise me.

Sebastian. Ha, ha!
What things are these, my lord Antonio?
Will money buy 'em?

Antonio. Very like; one of them
Is a plain fish, and, no doubt, marketable.

Prospero. Mark but the badges of these men, my lords,
Then say if they be true. This mis-shapen knave,
His mother was a witch, and one so strong
That could control the moon, make flows and ebbs,
And deal in her command without her power.
These three have robb'd me; and this demi-devil--
For he's a bastard one--had plotted with them
To take my life. Two of these fellows you
Must know and own; this thing of darkness I
Acknowledge mine.

Caliban. I shall be pinch'd to death.

Alonso. Is not this Stephano, my drunken butler?

Sebastian. He is drunk now: where had he wine?

Alonso. And Trinculo is reeling ripe: where should they
Find this grand liquor that hath gilded 'em?
How camest thou in this pickle?

Trinculo. I have been in such a pickle since I saw you
last that, I fear me, will never out of my bones: I shall
not fear fly-blowing.

Sebastian. Why, how now, Stephano!

Stephano. O, touch me not; I am not Stephano, but a
cramp.

Prospero. You'ld be king o' the isle, sirrah [According to the OED, it's an archaic "term of address used to men or boys, expressing contempt, reprimand, or assumption of authority on the part of the speaker".]?

Stephano. I should have been a sore one then.

Alonso. This is a strange thing as e'er I look'd on.

[Pointing to Caliban]

Prospero. He is as disproportion'd in his manners
As in his shape. Go, sirrah, to my cell;
Take with you your companions; as you look
To have my pardon, trim it handsomely.

Caliban. Ay, that I will; and I'll be wise hereafter
And seek for grace. What a thrice-double ass
Was I, to take this drunkard for a god
And worship this dull fool!

Prospero. Go to; away!

Alonso. Hence, and bestow your luggage where you found it.

Sebastian. Or stole it, rather.

[Exeunt Caliban, Stephano, and Trinculo]

Prospero. Sir, I invite your highness and your train
To my poor cell, where you shall take your rest
For this one night; which, part of it, I'll waste
With such discourse as, I not doubt, shall make it
Go quick away; the story of my life
And the particular accidents gone by
Since I came to this isle: and in the morn
I'll bring you to your ship and so to Naples,
Where I have hope to see the nuptial
Of these our dear-beloved solemnized;
And thence retire me to my Milan, where
Every third thought shall be my grave.

Alonso. I long
To hear the story of your life, which must
Take the ear strangely.

Prospero. I'll deliver all;
And promise you calm seas, auspicious gales
And sail so expeditious that shall catch
Your royal fleet far off.
[Aside to Ariel]
[[aside to Ariel]] My Ariel, chick,
That is thy charge: then to the elements
Be free, and fare thou well! [[to the others]] Please you, draw near.

[Exeunt]

[Prospero, with Ariel's help, removes his magical robe and staff, and dresses himself in the clothes he had worn while he was still Duke of Milan perhaps to keep them in the dark about his association with the tempest. "Discase" literally means to take something out of its case, but colloquially it means to undress.]

EPILOGUE [An epilogue serves as a conclusionary poem or speech to a play, with the main purpose of tying up the many subplots and providing some closure for the characters at the end of the tale. It is usually performed in the form of a monologue in which applause is sought, addressed directly to the audience.]

spoken by Prospero

[Prospero]. Now my charms are all o'erthrown,
And what strength I have's mine own,
Which is most faint: now, 'tis true,
I must be here confined by you,
Or sent to Naples. Let me not,
Since I have my dukedom got
And pardon'd the deceiver, dwell
In this bare island by your spell;
But release me from my bands
With the help of your good hands:
Gentle breath of yours my sails
Must fill, or else my project fails,
Which was to please. Now I want
Spirits to enforce, art to enchant,
And my ending is despair,
Unless I be relieved by prayer,
Which pierces so that it assaults
Mercy itself and frees all faults.
As you from crimes would pardon'd be,
Let your indulgence set me free.

FINIS

[During the early modern period, knowledge of the world was expanding greatly. It is likely, given the plot of the tale, that the fictional Island Prospero is stranded on is somewhere in the Mediterranean sea. Throughout the play, you will note references to many places across the globe, including Tunisia, Algeria, the Island of Bermuda, and "Arabia." By 1611, when The Tempest was first performed, England had established colonies in the Americas; the Spanish and Portuguese were the most powerful imperial force in Western Europe, until the 1588 defeat of the Spanish Armada, which marked the rise of the early British Empire. The 16th and 17th centuries are often thought of as an age of exploration; explorers traveled the world, bringing back strange objects and stories to spur scientific discovery and commerce, including the traffic in human beings. People during Shakespeare’s time lived during an era that also saw the wide dissemination of maps helped by the invention of the printing press. Through cartography, people could visually comprehend the geographical layout of lands familiar and new. To learn more about exploration and map-making in the early modern period, see the Folger Shakespeare Library's exhibition site, "Mapping Early Modern Worlds.]