You may deny me, but I'll be your servant
Whether you will or no.
FERDINAND My mistress102, dearest, Kneels
And I thus humble ever.
MIRANDA My husband, then?
FERDINAND Ay, with a heart as willing
As bondage e'er of freedom106: here's my hand.
MIRANDA And mine, with my heart in't: and now farewell Till half an hour hence.
FERDINAND A thousand109 thousand!
Exeunt [Ferdinand and Miranda, separately]
PROSPERO So glad of this as they I cannot be,
Who are surprised withal: but my rejoicing111
At nothing can be more. I'll to my book,
For yet ere supper-time must I perform
Much business appertaining.114
Exit
Act 3 Scene 2
running scene 6
Enter Caliban, Stephano and Trinculo
STEPHANO Tell not me: when the butt is out1 we will drink water: not a drop before; therefore bear up, and board 'em.2
Servant-monster, drink to me.
TRINCULO Servant-monster? The folly of this island!--
Aside
They say there's but five upon this isle: we are three of them:
if th'other two be brained6 like us, the state totters.
STEPHANO Drink, servant-monster, when I bid thee: thy eyes
are almost set8 in thy head.
Caliban drinks
TRINCULO Where should they be set else? He were a brave monster indeed, if they were set in his tail.10
STEPHANO My man-monster hath drowned 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.13 By this light, thou shalt be my lieutenant, monster, or my standard.14
TRINCULO Your lieutenant, if you list15: he's no standard.
STEPHANO We'll not run16, Monsieur Monster.
TRINCULO Nor go neither: but you'll lie17 like dogs and yet say nothing neither.
STEPHANO Moon-calf, speak once in thy life, if thou be'st a good moon-calf.
CALIBAN How does thy honour? Let me lick thy shoe. I'll not serve him: he is not valiant.22
TRINCULO Thou liest, most ignorant monster: I am in case23 to justle a constable. Why, thou deboshed24 fish thou, was there ever man a coward that hath drunk so much sack as I today?
Wilt thou tell a monstrous26 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!30
CALIBAN Lo, lo, again! Bite him to death, I prithee.
STEPHANO Trinculo, keep a good tongue in your head: if you32
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 stand37, and so shall Trinculo.
Enter Ariel, invisible
CALIBAN As I told thee before, I am subject to a tyrant, a sorcerer, that by his cunning40 hath cheated me of the island.
ARIEL Thou liest.
CALIBAN Thou liest, thou
To Trinculo
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 tale45, by this hand, I will supplant46 some of your teeth.
TRINCULO Why, I said nothing.
STEPHANO Mum48 then, and no more.-- Proceed.
To Trinculo/To Caliban
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 dar'st,
But this thing52 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?55
Canst thou bring me to the party?56
CALIBAN Yea, yea, my lord: I'll yield him thee57 asleep, Where thou mayst knock a nail into his head.
ARIEL Thou liest, thou canst not.
CALIBAN What a pied ninny's this? Thou scurvy patch60 --
To Trinculo
I do beseech thy greatness give him blows,
To Stephano
And take his bottle from him: when that's gone
He shall drink nought but brine, for I'll not show him
Where the quick freshes64 are.
STEPHANO Trinculo, run into no further danger: interrupt the monster one word further, and by this hand, I'll turn my66
mercy out o'doors and make a stockfish67 of thee.
TRINCULO Why, what did I? I did nothing. I'll go further off.
STEPHANO Didst thou not say he lied?
ARIEL Thou liest.
STEPHANO Do I so? Take thou that. As you like this, give me the71
lie another time.
Beats Trinculo
TRINCULO I did not give the lie. Out o'your wits and hearing too? A pox o'your bottle! This can sack and drinking do: a
murrain75 on your monster, and the devil take your fingers!
CALIBAN Ha, ha, ha!
STEPHANO Now, forward77 with your tale.-- Prithee, stand
To Caliban/To Trinculo
further off.
CALIBAN Beat him enough79: after a little time, I'll beat him too.
STEPHANO Stand further.-- Come, proceed.
To Trinculo/To Caliban
CALIBAN Why, as I told thee, 'tis a custom with him
I'th'afternoon to sleep: there thou mayst brain83 him, Having first seized his books: or with a log
Batter his skull, or paunch85 him with a stake, Or cut his weasand86 with thy knife. Remember First to possess his books; for without them
He's but a sot88, as I am, nor hath not One spirit to command: they all do hate him
As rootedly90 as I. Burn but his books.
He has brave utensils91 -- for so he calls them --
Which when he has a house, he'll deck withal.92
And that most deeply to consider is
The beauty of his daughter: he himself
Calls her a nonpareil95: 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 become100 thy bed, I warrant, And bring thee forth brave brood.101
STEPHANO Monster, I will kill this man: his daughter and I will be king and queen --'save our graces!103 -- and Trinculo and thyself shall be viceroys.104 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.
Aside
CALIBAN Thou mak'st me merry: I am full of pleasure, Let us be jocund. Will you troll the catch113
You taught me but while-ere?114
STEPHANO At thy request, monster, I will do reason115, any reason: come on, Trinculo, let us sing.
Flout 'em and scout 'em117
Sings
And scout 'em and flout 'em,
Thought is free.
CALIBAN That's not the tune.
Ariel plays the tune on a tabor and pipe
STEPHANO What is this same?
TRINCULO This is the tune of our catch, played by the picture of122
Nobody.
STEPHANO If thou be'st a man, show thyself in thy likeness: if thou be'st a devil, take't as thou list.125
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 isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not:
Sometimes a thousand twangling133 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.143
[Exit Ariel, playing music]
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 this146
taborer: he lays it on.147
TRINCULO Wilt come? I'll follow Stephano.
To Caliban
Exeunt
Act 3 Scene 3
running scene 7
Enter Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Gonzalo, Adrian, Francisco and others
GONZALO By'r lakin1, I can go no further, sir, My old bones ache. Here's a maze2 trod indeed Through forth-rights and meanders.3 By your patience, I needs must rest me.
ALONSO Old lord, I cannot blame thee,
Who am myself attached6 with weariness To th'dulling of my spirits: sit down and rest.
Even here I will put off8 my hope, and keep it No longer for my flatterer9: he is drowned Whom thus we stray to find, and the sea mocks
Our frustrate11 search on land. Well, let him go.
ANTONIO I am right glad that he's so out of hope.
Aside to Sebastian
Do not for one repulse forgo13 the purpose That you resolved t'effect.
SEBASTIAN The next advantage will we take thoroughly.
Aside to Antonio
ANTONIO Let it be tonight:
Aside to Sebastian
For now they are oppressed with travail17, they Will not, nor cannot use such vigilance
As when they are fresh.
Solemn and strange music: and [enter] Prospero on the top, invisible. Enter several strange shapes, bringing in a banquet, and dance about it with gentle actions of salutations, and inviting the king and others to eat, they depart
SEBASTIAN I say tonight: no more.
Aside to Antonio
ALONSO What harmony is this? My good friends, hark!
GONZALO Marvellous sweet music.
ALONSO Give us kind keepers23, heavens. What were these?
SEBASTIAN A living drollery.24 Now I will believe That there are unicorns: that in Arabia
There is one tree, the phoenix'26 throne, one phoenix At this hour reigning there.
ANTONIO I'll believe both:
And what does else want credit29, 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 certes35 these are people of the island --
Who though they are of monstrous36 shape, yet note Their manners are more gentle, kind, than of
Our human generation38 you shall find Many, nay almost any.
Aside
PROSPERO Honest lord,
Thou hast said well: for some of you there present
Are worse than devils.
ALONSO I cannot too much muse43
Such shapes, such gesture, and such sound, expressing --
Although they want the use of tongue -- a kind
Of excellent dumb discourse.
Aside
PROSPERO Praise in departing.47
FRANCISCO They vanished strangely.48
SEBASTIAN No matter, since
They have left their viands behind: for we have stomachs.50
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 mountaineers54, Dewlapped55 like bulls, whose throats had hanging at 'em Wallets56 of flesh? Or that there were such men Whose heads stood in their breasts? Which now we find
Each putter-out of five for one58 will bring us Good warrant of.
ALONSO I will stand to60, and feed, Although61 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: 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 world65
And what is in't, the never-surfeited65 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 suchlike valour70 men hang and drown
Their proper selves.71 You fools: I and my fellows Alonso, Sebastian, and Antonio draw their swords
Are ministers of Fate: the elements72
Of whom your swords are tempered may as well
Wound the loud winds, or with bemocked-at74 stabs Kill the still-closing waters75, as diminish One dowl that's in my plume.76 My fellow ministers Are like77 invulnerable. If you could hurt, Your swords are now too massy78 for your strengths, And will not be uplifted. But remember --
For that's my business80 to you -- that you three From Milan did supplant good Prospero,
Exposed unto the sea -- which hath requit82 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
Ling'ring perdition88 -- worse than any death Can be at once -- shall step by step attend
You and your ways: whose wraths to guard you from90, Which here in this most desolate isle else falls
Upon your heads, is nothing but heart's sorrow
And a clear life ensuing.
He vanishes in thunder: then, to soft music, enter the shapes again, and dance, with mocks and mows, and carrying out the table [depart]
PROSPERO Bravely the figure of this harpy hast thou
Performed, my Ariel: a grace it had, devouring95: Of my instruction hast thou nothing bated96
In what thou hadst to say. So, with good life97
And observation strange, my meaner98 ministers Their several kinds have done. My high99 charms work, And these, mine enemies, are all knit up100
In their distractions101: they now are in my power, And in these fits102 I leave them, while I visit Young Ferdinand -- whom they suppose is drowned --
And his and mine loved darling.
[Exit above]
GONZALO I'th'name of something holy, sir, why stand you In this strange stare?
ALONSO O, it is monstrous, monstrous:
Methought the billows108 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.111
Therefore my son i'th'ooze112 is bedded: and I'll seek him deeper than e'er plummet sounded113
And with him there lie mudded.114
Exit
SEBASTIAN But one fiend at a time115, I'll fight their legions o'er.
ANTONIO I'll be thy second.117
Exeunt [Sebastian and Antonio]
GONZALO All three of them are desperate: their great guilt, Like poison g
iven to work a great time after,
Now 'gins to bite the spirits.120 I do beseech you --
That are of suppler joints -- follow them swiftly
And hinder them from what this ecstasy122
May now provoke them to.
ADRIAN Follow, I pray you.
Exeunt omnes
Act 4 Scene 1
running scene 8
Enter Prospero, Ferdinand and Miranda
To Ferdinand
PROSPERO If I have too austerely1 punished you, Your compensation2 makes amends, for I Have given you here a third3 of mine own life, Or that for which I live: who once again
I tender to thy hand. All thy vexations5
Were but my trials of thy love, and thou
Hast strangely7 stood the test: here, afore heaven, I ratify8 this my rich gift. O Ferdinand, Do not smile at me that I boast her of9, For thou shalt find she will outstrip all praise
And make it halt11 behind her.
FERDINAND I do believe it gainst12 an oracle.
PROSPERO Then, as my guest, and thine own acquisition Worthily purchased14, take my daughter: but If thou dost break her virgin-knot before
All sanctimonious16 ceremonies may With full and holy rite be ministered,
No sweet aspersion18 shall the heavens let fall To make this contract grow; but barren hate,
Sour-eyed disdain and discord shall bestrew20
The union of your bed, with weeds so loathly21
That you shall hate it both. Therefore take heed,
As Hymen's22 lamps shall light you.
FERDINAND As I hope
For quiet days, fair issue25 and long life, With such love as 'tis now, the murkiest den,
The most opportune place, the strong'st suggestion27
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 foundered31, Or night kept chained below.
PROSPERO Fairly spoke.
Sit then and talk with her: she is thine own.
Ferdinand and Miranda sit and talk
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 rabble39, 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 vanity43 of mine art: it is my promise, And they expect it from me.
ARIEL Presently?45
PROSPERO Ay, with a twink.46
The Tempest Page 7