THE TEMPEST.

ACT I.

Scene ii. The island. Before Prospero's cell.

Enter Prospero and Miranda.

Miranda: If by your art, my dearest father, you have Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them. The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch, But that the sea, mounting to the welkin’s cheek, 5Dashes the fire out. O, I have suffer'd 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! 10 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: 15 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, 20 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: 25 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.]30Lie 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 order'd, that there is no soul, 35No, 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 40Begun 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; 45Obey, 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: 50By 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 55That 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? 60If thou remember’st ought ere thou camest here, How thou camest here thou mayst.
Miranda: But that I do not.
Prospero: Twelve year since, Miranda, twelve year since, Thy father was the Duke of Milan, and 65A 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 70And 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: 75By foul play, as thou say'st, were we heaved thence; But blessedly holp hither.
Miranda: O, my heart bleeds To think o' the teen that I have turn'd you to. Which is from my remembrance! Please you, farther.
Prospero: 80My 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, 85Through 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, 90And 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, 95How to deny them, whom to advance, and whom 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 100To what tune pleased his ear; that now he was The ivy which had hid my princely trunk, And suck'd my verdure out on't. Thou attend'st not.
Miranda: O, good sir, I do.
Prospero: I pray thee, mark me. 105I, 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, 110Like 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, 115But 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, 120And 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 125And 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 130To 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: 135Mark 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: 140 Now the condition. This King of Naples, being an enemy To me inveterate, hearkens my brother's suit; Which was, that he, in lieu o' the premises, Of homage and I know not how much tribute, 145Should 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 150The 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, 155Will 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 160Were most impertinent.
Miranda: Wherefore did they not That hour destroy us?
Prospero: Well demanded, wench: My tale provokes that question. Dear, they durst not, 165So 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 170A rotten carcass of a boat, not rigg'd, Nor tackle, sail, nor mast; the very rats Instinctively have quit it: there they hoist us, To cry to the sea that roar'd to us; to sigh To the winds, whose pity, sighing back again, 175Did 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, 180Infused with a fortitude from heaven, When I have deck'd the sea with drops full salt, Under my burthen groan'd; which raised in me An undergoing stomach, to bear up Against what should ensue.
Miranda: 185 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 190Master 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 195I 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. 200Here 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, 205For 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 210Brought 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: 215Thou art inclined to sleep; 'tis a good dulness, And give it way: I know thou canst not choose. Miranda sleeps. Come away, servant, come. I am ready now. Approach, my Ariel, come.

Enter Ariel

Ariel: All hail, great master! grave sir, hail! I come 220To 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, 225Perform’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, 230And burn in many places; on the topmast, The yards and bowsprit, would I flame distinctly, Then meet and join. Jove's lightnings, the precursors O' the dreadful thunder-claps, more momentary And sight-outrunning were not: the fire and cracks 235Of 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 240Would 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, 245Then 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! 250But 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, 255But 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, 260His arms in this sad knot.
Prospero: Of the king's ship The mariners, say how thou hast disposed, And all the rest o' the fleet.
Ariel: Safely in harbour 265Is 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, 270I have left asleep: and for the rest o' the fleet, Which I dispersed, they all have met again, And are upon the Mediterranean flote, Bound sadly home for Naples; Supposing that they saw the king's ship wreck'd, 275And 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: 280At least two glasses. The time 'twixt six and now Must by us both be spent most preciously.
Ariel: Is there more toil? Since thou dost give me pains, Let me remember thee what thou hast promised, Which is not yet perform'd me.
Prospero: 285 How now? moody? What is't thou canst demand?
Ariel: My liberty.
Prospero: Before the time be out? no more!
Ariel: I prithee, 290Remember 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 295From 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, 300To 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 305Was 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 310Once 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 315They 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; 320And, 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, 325Into 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- 330Save 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, 335Whom 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 340Could 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, 345And 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: 350 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: 355Be 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: 360The 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: 365 '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 370That 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.375Fine 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: 380As 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, 385Side-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: 390I 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 395To name the bigger light, and how the less,
Prospero: 405 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: 410O ho, O ho! would 't had been done! Thou didst prevent me; I had peopled else
Miranda: Abhorred slave, Which any print of goodness wilt not take, 415Being 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 420With 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: 425You 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, 430To 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: 435 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.

440Come 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; 445And, sweet sprites, the burthen bear.

Burthen [dispersedly]. Hark, hark! Bow-wow. The watch-dogs bark: Bow-wow.

Ariel. Hark, hark! I hear 450The strain of strutting chanticleer Cry, Cock-a-diddle-dow.

Ferdinand

Where should this music be? i' th' air or th' earth? It sounds no more: and, sure, it waits upon Some god o' th' island. Sitting on a bank, 455Weeping 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. 460No, it begins again.

Ariel sings.

Full fathom five thy father lies; Of his bones are coral made; Those are pearls that were his eyes: Nothing of him that doth fade, 465But doth suffer a sea-change Into something rich and strange. Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell:

Burthen: Ding-dong.

Ariel: Hark! now I hear them,—Ding-dong, bell.
Ferdinand: 470The 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: 475 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 480Was in the wreck; and, but he's something stain’d With grief, that's beauty's canker, thou mightst call him A goodly person: he hath lost his fellows, And strays about to find 'em.
Miranda: I might call him 485A 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: 490 Most sure, the goddess On whom these airs attend! Vouchsafe my prayer May know if you remain upon this island; And that you will some good instruction give How I may bear me here: my prime request, 495Which 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! 500I 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 505To hear thee speak of Naples. He does hear me; And that he does I weep: myself am Naples, Who with mine eyes, never since at ebb, beheld The king my father wreck'd.
Miranda: Alack, for mercy!
Ferdinand: 510Yes, faith, and all his lords; the Duke of Milan And his brave son being twain.dd>
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 515They 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 520That 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: 525 Soft, sir! one word more. [Aside] They are both in either's powers: but this swift business I must uneasy make, lest too light winning Make the prize light. [To Ferdinand] One word more; I charge thee That thou attend me: thou dost here usurp 530The name thou owest not; and hast put thyself Upon this island as a spy, to win it From me, the lord on't.
Ferdinand: No, as I am a man.
Miranda: There's nothing ill can dwell in such a temple: 535If 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: 540Sea-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 545Mine enemy has more power. Draws, and is charmed from moving.
Miranda: O dear father, Make not too rash a trial of him, for He's gentle, and not fearful.
Prospero: What! I say, 550My 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: 555 Beseech you, father.
Prospero: Hence! hang not on my garments.
Miranda: Sir, have pity; I'll be his surety.
Prospero: Silence! one word more 560Shall make me chide thee, if not hate thee. What! An advocate for an impostor! hush! Thou think’st there is no more such shapes as he, Having seen but him and Caliban: foolish wench! To the most of men this is a Caliban, 565And 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: 570Thy 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, 575The 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' th' earth Let liberty make use of; space enough 580Have I in such a prison.
Prospero: [Aside] It works. [To Ferdinand] Come on. Thou hast done well, fine Ariel! [To Ferdinand] Follow me. [To Ariel] Hark what thou else shalt do me.
Miranda: Be of comfort; 585My father's of a better nature, sir, Than he appears by speech: this is unwonted Which now came from him.
Prospero: Thou shalt be as free As mountain winds: but then exactly do 590All points of my command.
Ariel: To the syllable.
Prospero: Come, follow. Speak not for him. Exeunt.