The gates of Milan, and i'th'dead of darkness
The ministers for th'purpose hurried thence151
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 hint155
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.160
MIRANDA Wherefore did they not
That hour destroy us?
PROSPERO Well demanded, wench:
My tale provokes that question. Dear, they durst164 not, So dear the love my people bore me: nor set
A mark so bloody on the business: but
With colours fairer, painted167 their foul ends.
In few, they hurried us aboard a barque168, Bore us some leagues to sea, where they prepared
A rotten carcass of a butt170, not rigged, Nor tackle, sail, nor mast: the very rats
Instinctively have quit it. There they hoist172 us, To cry to th'sea that roared to us; to sigh
To th'winds, whose pity sighing back again,
Did us but loving wrong.175
MIRANDA Alack, what trouble
Was I then to you!
PROSPERO O, a cherubin178
Thou wast that did preserve me. Thou didst smile,
Infused with a fortitude from heaven,
When I have decked the sea with drops full salt181, Under my burden groaned, which182 raised in me An undergoing stomach183, to bear up Against what should ensue.
MIRANDA How came we ashore?
Prospero sits
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 design190 -- did give us, with Rich garments, linens, stuffs191 and necessaries, Which since have steaded much. So, of his gentleness192, Knowing I loved my books, he furnished me
From mine own library with volumes that
I prize above my dukedom.
MIRANDA Would196 I might But ever see that man.
PROSPERO Now I arise:
Prospero stands
Sit still199, and hear the last of our sea-sorrow.
Here in this island we arrived, and here
Have I, thy schoolmaster, made thee more profit201
Than other princes can that have more time
For vainer hours, and tutors not so careful.203
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 lady209 -- hath mine enemies Brought to this shore: and by my prescience210
I find my zenith211 doth depend upon A most auspicious star, whose influence212
If now I court not, but omit213, my fortunes Will ever after droop. Here cease more questions:
Thou art inclined to sleep. 'Tis a good dullness215,
And give it way216: I know thou canst not choose.--
Miranda sleeps
Come away, servant, come. I am ready now.
Approach, my Ariel218, come.
Enter Ariel
ARIEL All hail, great master! Grave219 sir, hail! I come To answer thy best pleasure; be't to fly,
To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride
On the curled clouds: to thy strong bidding task222
Ariel and all his quality.223
PROSPERO Hast thou, spirit,
Performed to point225 the tempest that I bade thee?
ARIEL To every article.
I boarded the king's ship: now on the beak227, Now in the waist228, the deck, in every cabin, I flamed amazement229: sometime I'd divide And burn in many places; on the topmast,
The yards and bowsprit231 would I flame distinctly, Then meet and join. Jove's lightning, the precursors232
O'th'dreadful thunderclaps, more momentary
And sight-outrunning234 were not; the fire and cracks Of sulphurous roaring, the most mighty Neptune235
Seem to besiege and make his bold waves tremble,
Yea, his dread trident237 shake.
PROSPERO My brave spirit!
Who was so firm, so constant, that this coil239
Would not infect his reason?
ARIEL Not a soul
But felt a fever of the mad and played242
Some tricks of desperation. All but mariners
Plunged in the foaming brine and quit the vessel,
Then all afire245 with me: the king's son, Ferdinand, With hair up-staring246 -- then like reeds, not hair --
Was the first man that leaped; cried 'Hell is empty
And all the devils are here.'
PROSPERO Why, that's my spirit!
But was not this nigh250 shore?
ARIEL Close by, my master.
PROSPERO But are they, Ariel, safe?
ARIEL Not a hair perished:
On their sustaining254 garments not a blemish, But fresher than before: and, as thou bad'st me,
In troops256 I have dispersed them 'bout the isle.
The king's son have I landed by himself,
Whom I left cooling of258 the air with sighs In an odd angle259 of the isle, and sitting,
His arms in this sad knot.260
Folds his arms
PROSPERO Of the king's ship,
The mariners, say how thou hast disposed,
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 dew266
From the still-vexed Bermudas267, there she's hid; The mariners all under hatches268 stowed, Who, with a charm joined to their suffered labour269, I have left asleep: and for the rest o'th'fleet --
Which I dispersed -- they all have met again,
And are upon the Mediterranean float272
Bound sadly home for Naples,
Supposing that they saw the king's ship wrecked
And his great person perish.
PROSPERO Ariel, thy charge
Exactly is performed; but there's more work:
What is the time o'th'day?
ARIEL Past the mid season.279
PROSPERO At least two glasses.280 The time 'twixt six and now Must by us both be spent most preciously.281
ARIEL Is there more toil? Since thou dost give me pains282, Let me remember283 thee what thou hast promised, Which is not yet performed me.
PROSPERO How now? Moody?285
What is't thou canst demand?
ARIEL My liberty.
PROSPERO Before the time be out?288 No more!
ARIEL I prithee,
Remember I have done thee worthy service,
Told thee no lies, made thee no mistakings, served
Without or292 grudge or grumblings: thou did promise To bate me293 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 ooze297
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 baked with frost.
ARIEL I do not, sir.
PROSPERO Thou liest, malignant thing. Hast thou forgot The foul witch Sycorax304, who with age and envy Was grown into a hoop?305 Hast thou forgot her?
ARIEL No, sir.
PROSPERO Thou hast. Where was she born? Speak: tell me.
ARIEL Sir, in Algiers.308
PROSPERO O, was she so? I must
Once in a month recount what thou hast bee
n,
Which thou forget'st. This damned witch Sycorax,
For mischiefs manifold, and sorceries terrible
To enter human hearing, from Algiers,
Thou know'st, was banished: for one thing she did314
They would not take her life. Is not this true?
ARIEL Ay, sir.
PROSPERO This blue-eyed hag was hither brought with child317, And here was left by th'sailors. Thou, my slave,
As thou report'st thyself, was then her servant:
And, for thou wast a spirit too delicate320
To act her earthy321 and abhorred commands, Refusing her grand hests322, she did confine thee By help of her more potent ministers323, And in her most unmitigable324 rage, Into a cloven325 pine, within which rift Imprisoned 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.329 Then was this island --
Save for the son that she did litter330 here, A freckled whelp, hag-born331 -- not honoured with A human shape.
ARIEL Yes: Caliban333 her son.
PROSPERO Dull thing334, I say so: he, that Caliban Whom now I keep in service.335 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;337 it was a torment To lay upon the damned, which Sycorax
Could not again undo. It was mine art,
When I arrived and heard thee, that made gape341
The pine and let thee out.
ARIEL I thank thee, master.
PROSPERO If thou more murmur'st, I will rend344 an oak And peg thee in his knotty entrails345 till Thou hast howled away twelve winters.
ARIEL Pardon, master:
I will be correspondent348 to command And do my spriting gently.349
PROSPERO Do so: and after two days
I will discharge351 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.
To Miranda
MIRANDA The strangeness of your story put
Heaviness360 in me.
PROSPERO Shake it off. Come on:
We'll visit Caliban, my slave, who never
Yields us kind answer.
MIRANDA 'Tis a villain364, sir, I do not love to look on.
PROSPERO But, as 'tis,
We cannot miss366 him: he does make our fire, Fetch in our wood and serves in offices367
That profit us. What, ho! Slave! Caliban!
Thou earth369, thou! Speak!
CALIBAN There's wood enough within.
Within
PROSPERO Come forth, I say! There's other business for thee: Come, thou tortoise! When?
Enter Ariel like a water-nymph
Fine apparition: my quaint373 Ariel, Hark in thine ear.
ARIEL My lord, it shall be done.
Exit
PROSPERO Thou poisonous slave, got376 by the devil himself Upon thy wicked dam377: come forth!
Enter Caliban
CALIBAN As wicked dew as e'er my mother brushed
With raven's feather from unwholesome fen379
Drop on you both! A southwest380 blow on ye And blister you all o'er!
PROSPERO For this, be sure, tonight thou shalt have cramps, Side-stitches that shall pen thy breath up: urchins383
Shall, for that vast384 of night that they may work, All exercise385 on thee: thou shalt be pinched As thick as honeycomb386, each pinch more stinging Than bees that made 'em.387
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 berries392 in't, and teach me how To name the bigger light, and how the less393, That burn by day and night: and then I loved thee
And showed thee all the qualities o'th'isle,
The fresh springs, brine-pits396, barren place and fertile.
Cursed be I that did so! All the charms397
Of Sycorax -- toads, beetles, bats -- light398 on you!
For I am all the subjects that you have,
Which first was mine own king: and here you sty400 me In this hard rock401, whiles you do keep from me The rest o'th'island.
PROSPERO Thou most lying slave,
Whom stripes may move, not kindness! I have used404 thee --
Filth as thou art -- with humane405 care, and lodged thee In mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate406
The honour of my child.
CALIBAN O ho, O ho! Would't had been done!
Thou didst prevent me: I had peopled else409
This isle with Calibans.
MIRANDA Abhorred slave,
Which any print412 of goodness wilt not take, Being capable of all ill.413 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 endowed thy purposes
With words that made them known. But thy vile race418 --
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 more422 than a prison.
CALIBAN You taught me language, and my profit on't
Is, I know how to curse. The red-plague rid424 you For learning425 me your language.
PROSPERO Hag-seed426, hence!
Fetch us in fuel, and be quick: thou'rt best427
To answer other business. Shrug'st thou, malice?
If thou neglect'st or dost unwillingly
What I command, I'll rack thee with old cramps430, 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, Setebos435, And make a vassal436 of him.
PROSPERO So, slave, hence!
Exit Caliban
Enter Ferdinand, and Ariel, invisible, playing and singing
Song
ARIEL Come unto these yellow sands,
And then take hands:
Curtsied when you have, and kissed
The wild waves whist441: Foot it featly442 here and there, And, sweet sprites, bear
The burden.444
[SPIRITS Within, sing the] (burden, dispersedly)
Hark, hark! Bow-wow!
The watch-dogs bark: bow-wow.
ARIEL Hark, hark! I hear
The strain of strutting chanticleer448
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 upon451
Some god o'th'island. Sitting on a bank,
Weeping again the453 king my father's wreck, This music crept by me upon the waters,
Allaying both their fury and my passion455
With its sweet air: thence I have followed it --
Or it hath drawn me rather -- but 'tis gone.
No, it begins again.
Song
ARIEL Full fathom five459 thy father lies, Of his bones are coral made:
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade462, But doth suffer463 a sea-change Into something rich and strange.
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell465: [SPIRITS Within
, sing the] (burden) Ding-dong.
ARIEL Hark! Now I hear them: ding-dong, bell.
FERDINAND The ditty does remember468 my drowned father.
This is no mortal469 business, nor no sound That the earth owes.470 I hear it now above me.
PROSPERO The fringed curtains of thine eye advance471
And say what thou see'st yond.472
MIRANDA What is't? A spirit?
Lord, how it looks about! Believe me, sir,
It carries a brave475 form. But 'tis a spirit.
PROSPERO No, wench: it eats, and sleeps, and hath such senses As we have, such. This gallant477 which thou see'st Was in the wreck: and, but he's something478 stained With grief -- that's beauty's canker479 -- thou mightst call him A goodly480 person: he hath lost his fellows And strays about to find 'em.
MIRANDA I might call him
A thing divine, for nothing natural483
I ever saw so noble.
Aside
PROSPERO It goes on, I see,
As my soul prompts486 it.-- Spirit, fine spirit: I'll free thee To Ariel
Within two days for this.
FERDINAND Most sure, the goddess
On whom these airs attend! Vouchsafe489 my prayer May know if you remain490 upon this island, And that you will some good instruction give
How I may bear me492 here: my prime request, Which I do last pronounce, is -- O you wonder!493 --
If you be maid494 or no?
MIRANDA No wonder, sir,
But certainly a maid.
FERDINAND My language? Heavens!
I am the best498 of them that speak this speech, Were I but where499 'tis spoken.
PROSPERO How? The best?
What wert thou if the King of Naples heard thee?
FERDINAND A single thing502, as I am now, that wonders To hear thee speak of Naples. He503 does hear me: And that he does, I weep. Myself am Naples,
Who with mine eyes, never since at ebb505, beheld The king my father wrecked.
MIRANDA Alack, for mercy!
FERDINAND Yes, faith, and all his lords, the Duke of Milan And his brave son being twain.509
PROSPERO The Duke of Milan
Aside
And his more braver daughter could control511 thee If now 'twere fit to do't. At the first sight
They have changed eyes.-- Delicate513 Ariel,
To Ariel
I'll set thee free for this.-- A word, good sir,
To Ferdinand
I fear you have done yourself some wrong515: a word.
MIRANDA Why speaks my father so ungently?516 This Is the third man that e'er I saw: the first
That e'er I sighed for. Pity move my father
To be inclined my way.
FERDINAND O, if a virgin,
And your affection not gone forth521, I'll make you The Queen of Naples.
PROSPERO Soft523, sir, one word more.--
They are both in either's524 powers: but this swift business Aside
I must uneasy make, lest too light525 winning
Make the prize light.-- One word more: I charge526 thee
To Ferdinand
The Tempest Page 4