The Tempest

1612

by William Shakespeare

Dramatis personae

ALONSO, King of Naples

SEBASTIAN, his brother

PROSPERO, the right Duke of Milan

ANTONIO, his brother, the usurping Duke of Milan

FERDINAND, son to the King of Naples

GONZALO, an honest old counsellor

ADRIAN, 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, spirits

Other Spirits attending on Prospero

Scene :

A ship at sea ; afterwards an uninhabited island

Act I.

@Scene 1

On a ship at sea ; a tempestuous noise of thunder and lightning heard

Enter a SHIPMASTER and a BOATSWAIN

MASTER

Boatswain !

BOATSWAIN

Here, master ; what cheer ?

MASTER

Good ! Speak to th' mariners ; fall to't yarely, or

we run ourselves aground ; bestir, bestir. Exit

Enter MARINERS

BOATSWAIN

Heigh, my hearts ! cheerly, cheerly, my hearts !

yare, yare ! Take in the topsail. Tend to th' master's

whistle. Blow till thou burst thy wind, if room enough.

Enter ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, FERDINAND, GONZALO, and OTHERS

ALONSO

Good boatswain, have care. Where's the master ?

Play the men.

BOATSWAIN

I pray now, keep below.

ANTONIO

Where is the master, boson ?

BOATSWAIN

Do you not hear him ? You mar our labour ;

keep your cabins ; you do assist the storm.

GONZALO

Nay, good, be patient.

BOATSWAIN

When the sea is. Hence ! What cares these

roarers for the name of king ? To cabin ! silence ! Trouble

us not.

GONZALO

Good, yet remember whom thou hast aboard.

BOATSWAIN

None that I more love than myself. You are

counsellor ; if you can command these elements to

silence, and work the peace of the present, we will not

hand a rope more. Use your authority ; if you cannot, give

thanks you have liv'd so long, and make yourself ready

in your cabin for the mischance of the hour, if it so

hap.-Cheerly, good hearts !-Out of our way, I say.

Exit

GONZALO

I have great comfort from this fellow. Methinks

he hath no drowning mark upon him ; his complexion is

perfect gallows. Stand fast, good Fate, to his hanging ;

make the rope of his destiny our cable, for our own doth

little advantage. If he be not born to be hang'd, our

case is miserable. Exeunt

Re-enter BOATSWAIN

BOATSWAIN

Down with the topmast. Yare, lower, lower !

Bring her to try wi' th' maincourse. [A cry within] A

plague upon this howling ! They are louder than the

weather or our office.

Re-enter SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, and GONZALO

Yet again ! What do you here ? Shall we give o'er, and

drown ? Have you a mind to sink ?

SEBASTIAN

A pox o' your throat, you bawling, blasphemous,

incharitable dog !

BOATSWAIN

Work you, then.

ANTONIO

Hang, cur ; hang, you whoreson, insolent noisemaker ;

we are less afraid to be drown'd than thou art.

GONZALO

I'll warrant him for drowning, though the ship were

no stronger than a nutshell, and as leaky as an unstanched

wench.

BOATSWAIN

Lay her a-hold, a-hold ; set her two courses ; off

to sea again ; lay her off.

Enter MARINERS, Wet

MARINERS

All lost ! to prayers, to prayers ! all lost !

Exeunt

BOATSWAIN

What, must our mouths be cold ?

GONZALO

The King and Prince at prayers !

Let's assist them,

For our case is as theirs.

SEBASTIAN

I am out of patience.

ANTONIO

We are merely cheated of our lives by drunkards.

This wide-chopp'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 wid'st to glut him.

[A confused noise within : Mercy on us !

We split, we split ! Farewell, my wife and children !

Farewell, brother ! We split, we split, we split !]

ANTONIO

Let's all sink wi' th' 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

dry death. Exeunt

@Scene 2

The Island. Before PROSPERO'S cell

Enter PROSPERO and MIRANDA

MIRANDA

If by your art, my dearest father, you have

Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them.

The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch,

But that the sea, mounting to th' welkin's cheek,

Dashes the fire out. O, I have suffered

With those that I saw suffer ! A brave vessel,

Who had no doubt some noble 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 conected ;

No more amazement ; tell your piteous heart

There's no harm done.

MIRANDA

O, woe the day !

PROSPERO

No harm.

I have done nothing but in care of thee,

Of thee, my dear one, thee, my daughter, who

Art ignorant of what thou art, nought knowing

Of whence I am, nor that I am more better

Than Prospero, master of a full poor cell,

And thy no greater father.

MIRANDA

More to know

Did never meddle with my thoughts.

PROSPERO

'Tis time

I should inform thee farther. Lend thy hand,

And pluck my magic garment from me. So,

[Lays down his mantle]

Lie there my art. Wipe thou thine eyes ; have comfort.

The direful spectacle of the wreck, which touch'd

The very virtue of compassion in thee,

I have with such provision in mine art

So safely ordered that there is no soul-

No, not so much perdition as an hair

Betid to any creature in the vessel

Which thou heard'st cry, which thou saw'st sink.

Sit down, for thou must now know farther.

MIRANDA

You have often

Begun to tell me what I am ; but stopp'd,

And left me to a bootless inquisition,

Concluding 'Stay ; not yet.'

PROSPERO

The hour's now come ;

The very minute bids thee ope thine ear.

Obey, and be attentive. Canst thou remember

A time before we came unto this cell ?

I do not think thou canst ; for then thou wast not

Out three years old.

MIRANDA

Certainly, sir, I can.

PROSPERO

By what ? By any other house, or person ?

Of any thing the image, tell me, that

Hath kept with thy remembrance ?

MIRANDA

'Tis far off,

And rather like a dream than an assurance

That my remembrance warrants. Had I not

Four, or five, women once, that tended me ?

PROSPERO

Thou hadst, and more, Miranda. But how is it

That this lives in thy mind ? What seest thou else

In the dark backward and abysm of time ?

If thou rememb'rest aught, ere thou cam'st here,

How thou cam'st here thou mayst.

MIRANDA

But that I do not.

PROSPERO

Twelve year since, Miranda, twelve year since,

Thy father was the Duke of Milan, and

A prince of power.

MIRANDA

Sir, are not you my father ?

PROSPERO

Thy mother was a piece of virtue, and

She said thou wast my daughter ; and thy father

Was Duke of Milan, and his only heir

And princess no worse issued.

MIRANDA

O, the heavens !

What foul play had we that we came from thence ?

Or blessed was't we did ?

PROSPERO

Both, both, my girl.

By foul play, as thou say'st, were we heav'd thence ;

But blessedly holp hither.

MIRANDA

O, my heart bleeds

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

Which is from my remembrance. Please you, 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 lov'd, and to him put

The manage of my state ; as at that time

Through all the signories it was the first,

And Prospero the prime duke, being so reputed

In dignity, and for the liberal arts

Without a parallel, those being all my study-

The government I cast upon my brother

And to my state grew stranger, being transported

And rapt in secret studies. Thy false uncle-

Dost thou attend me ?

MIRANDA

Sir, most heedfully.

PROSPERO

Being once perfected how to grant suits,

How to deny them, who t' advance, and who

To trash for over-topping, new created

The creatures that were mine, I say, or chang'd 'em,

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

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

To what tune pleas'd his ear ; that now he was

The ivy which had hid my princely trunk

And suck'd my verdure out on't. Thou attend'st not.

MIRANDA

O, good sir, I do !

PROSPERO

I pray thee, mark me.

I thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicated

To closeness and the bettering of my mind

With that which, but by being so retir'd,

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

Awak'd an evil nature ; and my trust,

Like a good parent, did beget of him

A falsehood, in its contrary as great

As my trust was ; which had indeed no limit,

A confidence sans bound. He being thus lorded,

Not only with what my revenue yielded,

But what my power might else exact, like one

Who having into truth, by telling of it,

Made such a sinner of his memory,

To credit his own lie-he did believe

He was indeed the Duke ; out o' th' substitution,

And executing th' outward face of royalty

With all prerogative. Hence his ambition growing-

Dost thou hear ?

MIRANDA

Your tale, sir, would cure deafness.

PROSPERO

To have no screen between this part he play'd

And him he play'd it for, he needs will be

Absolute Milan. Me, poor man-my library

Was dukedom large enough-of temporal royalties

He thinks me now incapable ; confederates,

So dry he was for sway, wi' th' King of Naples,

To give him annual tribute, do him homage,

Subject his coronet to his crown, and bend

The dukedom, yet unbow'd-alas, poor Milan !-

To most ignoble stooping.

MIRANDA

O the heavens !

PROSPERO

Mark his condition, and th' event, then tell me

If this might be a brother.

MIRANDA

I should sin

To think but nobly of my grandmother :

Good wombs have borne bad sons.

PROSPERO

Now the condition :

This King of Naples, being an enemy

To me inveterate, hearkens my brother's suit ;

Which was, that he, in lieu o' th' 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 th' purpose, did Antonio open

The gates of Milan ; and, i' th' dead of darkness,

The ministers for th' purpose hurried thence

Me and thy crying self.

MIRANDA

Alack, for pity !

I, not rememb'ring how I cried out then,

Will cry it o'er again ; it is a hint

That wrings mine eyes to't.

PROSPERO

Hear a little further,

And then I'll bring thee to the present busines

Which now's upon 's ; without the which this story

Were most impertinent.

MIRANDA

Wherefore did they not

That hour destroy us ?

PROSPERO

Well demanded, wench !

My tale provokes that question. Dear, they durst not,

So dear the love my people bore me ; nor set

A mark so bloody on the business ; but

With colours fairer painted their foul ends.

In few, they hurried us aboard a bark ;

Bore us some leagues to sea, where they prepared

A rotten carcass of a butt, not rigg'd,

Nor tackle, sail, nor mast ; the very rats

Instinctively have quit it. There they hoist us,

To cry to th' sea, that roar'd to us ; to sigh

To th' winds, whose pity, sighing back again,

Did us but loving wrong.

MIRANDA

Alack, what trouble

Was I then to you !

PROSPERO

O, a cherubin

Thou wast that did preserve me ! Thou didst smile,

Infused with a fortitude from heaven,

When I have deck'd the sea with drops full salt,

Under my burden groan'd ; which rais'd in me

An undergoing stomach, to bear up

Against what should ensue.

MIRANDA

How came we ashore ?

PROSPERO

By Providence divine.

Some food we had and some fresh water that

A noble Neapolitan, Gonzalo,

Out of his charity, who being then appointed

Master of this design, did give us, with

Rich garments, linens, stuffs, and necessaries,

Which since have steaded much ; so, of his gentleness,

Knowing I lov'd my books, he furnish'd me

From mine own library with volumes that

I prize above my dukedom.

MIRANDA

Would I might

But ever see that man !

PROSPERO

Now I arise. [Puts on his mantle]

Sit still, and hear the last of our sea-sorrow.

Here in this island we arriv'd ; and here

Have I, thy schoolmaster, made thee more profit

Than other princess' can, that have more time

For vainer hours, and tutors not so careful.

MIRANDA

Heavens thank you for't ! And now, I pray you,

sir,

For still 'tis beating in my mind, your reason

For raising this sea-storm ?

PROSPERO

Know thus far forth :

By accident most strange, bountiful Fortune,

Now my dear lady, hath mine enemies

Brought to this shore ; and by my prescience

I find my zenith doth depend upon

A most auspicious star, whose influence

If now I court not, but omit, my fortunes

Will ever after droop. Here cease more questions ;

Thou art inclin'd to sleep ; 'tis a good dullness,

And give it way. I know thou canst not choose.

[MIRANDA sleeps]

Come away, servant ; come ; I am ready now.

Approach, my Ariel. Come.

Enter ARIEL

ARIEL

All hail, great master ! grave sir, hail ! I come

To answer thy best pleasure ; be't to fly,

To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride

On the curl'd clouds. To thy strong bidding task

Ariel and all his quality.

PROSPERO

Hast thou, spirit,

Perform'd to point the tempest that I bade thee ?

ARIEL

To every article.

I boarded the King's ship ; now on the beak,

Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin,

I flam'd amazement. Sometime I'd divide,

And burn in many places ; on the topmast,

The yards, and bowsprit, would I flame distinctly,

Then meet and join Jove's lightning, the precursors

O' th' dreadful thunder-claps, more momentary

And sight-outrunning were not ; the fire and cracks

Of sulphurous roaring the most mighty Neptune

Seem to besiege, and make his bold waves tremble,

Yea, his dread trident shake.

PROSPERO

My brave spirit !

Who was so firm, so constant, that this coil

Would not infect his reason ?

ARIEL

Not a soul

But felt a fever of the mad, and play'd

Some tricks of desperation. All but mariners

Plung'd in the foaming brine, and quit the vessel,

Then all afire with me ; the King's son, Ferdinand,

With hair up-staring-then like reeds, not hair-

Was the first man that leapt ; cried 'Hell is empty,

And all the devils are here.'

PROSPERO

Why, that's my spirit !

But was not this nigh shore ?

ARIEL

Close by, my master.

PROSPERO

But are they, Ariel, safe ?

ARIEL

Not a hair perish'd ;

On their sustaining garments not a blemish,

But fresher than before ; and, as thou bad'st me,

In troops I have dispers'd them 'bout the isle.

The King's son have I landed by himself,

Whom I left cooling of the air with sighs

In an odd angle of the isle, and sitting,

His arms in this sad knot.

PROSPERO

Of the King's ship,

The mariners, say how thou hast dispos'd,

And all the rest o' th' fleet ?

ARIEL

Safely in harbour

Is the King's ship ; in the deep nook, where once

Thou call'dst me up at midnight to fetch dew

From the still-vex'd Bermoothes, there she's hid ;

The mariners all under hatches stowed,

Who, with a charm join'd to their suff'red labour,

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

Which I dispers'd, they all have met again,

And are upon the Mediterranean flote

Bound sadly home for Naples,

Supposing that they saw the King's ship 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' th' day ?

ARIEL

Past the mid season.

PROSPERO

At least two glasses. The time 'twixt six and now

Must by us both be spent most preciously.

ARIEL

Is there more toil ? Since thou dost give me pains,

Let me remember thee what thou hast promis'd,

Which is not yet perform'd me.

PROSPERO

How now, moody ?

What is't thou canst demand ?

ARIEL

My liberty.

PROSPERO

Before the time be out ? No more !

ARIEL

I prithee,

Remember I have done thee worthy service,

Told thee no lies, made thee no mistakings, serv'd

Without or grudge or grumblings. Thou didst promise

To bate me a full year.

PROSPERO

Dost thou forget

From what a torment I did free thee ?

ARIEL

No.

PROSPERO

Thou dost ; and think'st it much to tread the ooze

Of the salt deep,

To run upon the sharp wind of the north,

To do me business in the veins o' th' earth

When it is bak'd with frost.

ARIEL

I do not, sir.

PROSPERO

Thou liest, malignant thing. Hast thou forgot

The foul witch Sycorax, who with age and envy

Was grown into a hoop ? Hast thou forgot her ?

ARIEL

No, sir.

PROSPERO

Thou hast. Where was she born ?

Speak ; tell me.

ARIEL

Sir, in Argier.

PROSPERO

O, was she so ? I must

Once in a month recount what thou hast been,

Which thou forget'st. This damn'd witch Sycorax,

For mischiefs manifold, and sorceries terrible

To enter human hearing, from Argier

Thou know'st was banish'd ; for one thing she did

They would not take her life. Is not this true ?

ARIEL

Ay, sir.

PROSPERO

This blue-ey'd hag was hither brought with child,

And here was left by th'sailors. Thou, my slave,

As thou report'st thyself, wast then her servant ;

And, for thou wast a spirit too delicate

To act her earthy and abhorr'd commands,

Refusing her grand hests, she did confine thee,

By help of her more potent ministers,

And in her most unmitigable rage,

Into a cloven pine ; within which rift

Imprison'd thou didst painfully remain

A dozen years ; within which space she died,

And left thee there, where thou didst vent thy groans

As fast as mill-wheels strike. Then was this island-

Save for the son that she did litter here,

A freckl'd whelp, hag-born-not honour'd with

A human shape.

ARIEL

Yes, Caliban her son.

PROSPERO

Dull thing, I say so ; he, that Caliban

Whom now I keep in service. Thou best know'st

What torment I did find thee in ; thy groans

Did make wolves howl, and penetrate the breasts

Of ever-angry bears ; it was a torment

To lay upon the damn'd, which Sycorax

Could not again undo. It was mine art,

When I arriv'd and heard thee, that made gape

The pine, and let thee out.

ARIEL

I thank thee, master.

PROSPERO

If thou more murmur'st, I will rend an oak

And peg thee in his knotty entrails, till

Thou hast howl'd away twelve winters.

ARIEL

Pardon, master ;

I will be correspondent to command,

And do my spriting gently.

PROSPERO

Do so ; and after two days

I will discharge thee.

ARIEL

That's my noble master !

What shall I do ? Say what. What shall I do ?

PROSPERO

Go make thyself like a nymph o' th' sea ; be subject

To no sight but thine and mine, invisible

To every eyeball else. Go take this shape,

And hither come in 't. Go, hence with diligence !

Exit ARIEL

Awake, dear heart, awake ; thou hast slept well ;

Awake.

MIRANDA

The strangeness of your story put

Heaviness in me.

PROSPERO

Shake it off. Come on,

We'll visit Caliban, my slave, who never

Yields us kind answer.

MIRANDA

'Tis a villain, sir,

I do not love to look on.

PROSPERO

But as 'tis,

We cannot miss him : he does make our fire,

Fetch in our wood, and serves in offices

That profit us. What ho ! slave ! Caliban !

Thou earth, thou ! Speak.

CALIBAN

[ Within] There's wood enough within.

PROSPERO

Come forth, I say ; there's other business for thee.

Come, thou tortoise ! when ?

Re-enter ARIEL like a water-nymph

Fine apparition ! My quaint Ariel,

Hark in thine ear.

ARIEL

My lord, it shall be done. Exit

PROSPERO

Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil himself

Upon thy wicked dam, come forth !

Enter CALIBAN

CALIBAN

As wicked dew as e'er my mother brush'd

With raven's feather from unwholesome fen

Drop on you both ! A south-west blow on ye

And blister you all o'er !

PROSPERO

For this, be sure, to-night thou shalt have cramps,

Side-stitches that shall pen thy breath up ; urchins

Shall, for that vast of night that they may work,

All exercise on thee ; thou shalt be pinch'd

As thick as honeycomb, each pinch more stinging

Than bees that made 'em.

CALIBAN

I must eat my dinner.

This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother,

Which thou tak'st from me. When thou cam'st first,

Thou strok'st me and made much of me, wouldst give me

Water with berries in't, and teach me how

To name the bigger light, and how the less,

That burn by day and night ; and then I lov'd thee,

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

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

Curs'd be I that did so ! All the charms

Of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats, light on you !

For I am all the subjects that you have,

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

In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me

The rest o' th' island.

PROSPERO

Thou most lying slave,

Whom stripes may move, not kindness ! I have us'd thee,

Filth as thou art, with human care, and lodg'd thee

In mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate

The honour of my child.

CALIBAN

O ho, O ho ! Would't had been done.

Thou didst prevent me ; I had peopl'd else

This isle with Calibans.

MIRANDA

Abhorred slave,

Which any print of goodness wilt not take,

Being capable of all ill ! I pitied thee,

Took pains to make thee speak, taught thee each hour

One thing or other. When thou didst not, savage,

Know thine own meaning, but wouldst gabble like

A thing most brutish, I endow'd thy purposes

With words that made them known. But thy vile race,

Though thou didst learn, had that in't which good natures

Could not abide to be with ; therefore wast thou

Deservedly confin'd into this rock, who hadst

Deserv'd more than a prison.

CALIBAN

You taught me language, and my profit on't

Is, I know how to curse. The red plague rid you

For learning me your language !

PROSPERO

Hag-seed, hence !

Fetch us in fuel. And be quick, thou 'rt best,

To answer other business. Shrug'st thou, malice ?

If thou neglect'st, or dost unwillingly

What I command, I'll rack thee with old cramps,

Fill all thy bones with aches, make thee roar,

That beasts shall tremble at thy din.

CALIBAN

No, pray thee.

[Aside] I must obey. His art is of such pow'r,

It would control my dam's god, Setebos,

And make a vassal of him.

PROSPERO<