(Filth as thou art) with humane 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;
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Thou didst prevent me, I had peopled 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
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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 race
(Though thou didst learn) had that in’t which good natures
360
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
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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,
370
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.
375
Exit Caliban.
Enter FERDINAND, and ARIEL, invisible, playing and singing.
ARIEL [Sings.]
Come unto these yellow sands, And then take hands;
And then take hands;
Curtsied when you have, and kissed The wild waves whist;
The wild waves whist;
Foot it featly here and there,
380
And sweet sprites bear
The burden.
[Burden dispersedly]
SPIRITS Hark, hark! Bow-wow,
The watch dogs bark, bow-wow.
ARIEL Hark hark, I hear,
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The 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,
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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 followed it
(Or it hath drawn me, rather) but ’tis gone.
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No, 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
400
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Sea nymphs hourly ring his knell.
SPIRITS Ding dong.
ARIEL Hark, now I hear them.
SPIRITS Ding dong bell.
405
FERDINAND
The ditty does remember my drowned father;
This is no mortal business nor no sound
That the earth owes. I hear it now above me.
PROSPERO [to Miranda]
The fringed curtains of thine eye advance, And say what thou seest yond.
And say what thou seest yond.
MIRANDA What is’t, a spirit?
410
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 stained
415
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
A thing divine, for nothing natural I ever saw so noble.
PROSPERO [aside] It goes on, I see,
420
As my soul prompts it. [to Ariel] Spirit, fine spirit,
I’ll free thee
Within two days for this.
FERDINAND 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
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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,
430
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,
435
Who, with mine eyes, never since at ebb, 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.
PROSPERO [aside] The Duke of Milan
And his more braver daughter could control thee
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If now ’twere fit to do’t. At the first sight
They have changed eyes. [to Ariel] 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 [aside]
Why speaks my father so ungently? This
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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 forth, I’ll make you
The Queen of Naples.
PROSPERO Soft, sir, one word more.
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[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 ow’st not and hast put thyself
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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 [to Ferdinand] Follow me. –
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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 mussels, withered roots,
and husks
Wherein the acorn cradled. Follow!
FERDINAND No,
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I will resist such entertainment till
Mine enemy has more power.
[He 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,
My foot my tutor? Put thy sword up, traitor,
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Who mak’st a show but dar’st not strike, thy conscience
Is so possessed 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;
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I’ll be his surety.
PROSPERO Silence! One word more
Shall 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,
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To th’ 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 [to Ferdinand] Come on, obey:
Thy nerves are in their infancy again
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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,
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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
Have I in such a prison.
PROSPERO [aside] It works. [to Ferdinand] Come on. –
Thou hast done well, fine Ariel. – Follow me; –
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Hark what thou else shalt do me.
MIRANDA [to Ferdinand] Be of comfort;
My father’s of a better nature, sir,
Than he appears by speech. This is unwonted
Which now came from him.
PROSPERO [to Ariel] Thou shalt be as free
As mountain winds, but then exactly do
500
All points of my command.
ARIEL To th’ syllable.
PROSPERO [to Ferdinand]
Come, follow; – speak not for him.
Exeunt.
2.1 Enter ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, GONZALO, ADRIAN, FRANCISCO and others.
GONZALO Beseech 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,
5
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, peace.
SEBASTIAN [to Antonio] He receives comfort like cold
10
porridge.
ANTONIO [to Sebastian] 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 –
15
GONZALO [to Alonso] Sir –
SEBASTIAN One. Tell.
GONZALO When every grief is entertained that’s
offered, comes to th’entertainer –
SEBASTIAN A dollar.
20
GONZALO Dolour 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 –
25
ANTONIO Fie, what a spendthrift 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,
30
first begins to crow?
The Arden Shakespeare Complete Works Page 472