The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works
Page 397
Wherefore weep you?
MIRANDA
At mine unworthiness, that dare not offer
What I desire to give, and much less take
What I shall die to want. But this is trifling,
And all the more it seeks to hide itself
The bigger bulk it shows. Hence, bashful cunning,
And prompt me, plain and holy innocence.
I am your wife, if you will marry me.
If not, I’ll die your maid. To be your fellow
You may deny me, but I’ll be your servant
Whether you will or no.
FERDINAND ⌈kneeling⌉
My mistress, dearest;
And I thus humble ever.
MIRANDA My husband then?
FERDINAND Ay, with a heart as willing
As bondage e’er of freedom. Here’s my hand.
MIRANDA
And mine, with my heart in’t. And now farewell
Till half an hour hence.
FERDINAND
A thousand thousand.
Exeunt severally Miranda and Ferdinand
PROSPERO
So glad of this as they I cannot be,
Who are surprised with all; but my rejoicing
At nothing can be more. I’ll to my book,
For yet ere supper-time must I perform
Much business appertaining.
Exit
3.2 Enter Caliban, Stefano, and Trinculo
STEFANO (to Caliban) Tell not me. When the butt is out we will drink water, not a drop before. Therefore bear up and board ’em. Servant monster, drink to me.
TRINCULO Servant monster? The folly of this island! They say there’s but five upon this isle. We are three of them; if th’other two be brained like us, the state totters.
STEFANO Drink, servant monster, when I bid thee. Thy eyes are almost set in thy head.
TRINCULO Where should they be set else? He were a brave monster indeed if they were set in his tail.
STEFANO 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. By this light, thou shalt be my lieutenant, monster, or my standard.
TRINCULO Your lieutenant if you list; he’s no standard.
STEFANO We’ll not run, Monsieur Monster.
TRINCULO Nor go neither; but you’ll lie like dogs, and yet say nothing neither.
STEFANO Moon-calf, speak once in thy life, if thou beest a good moon-calf.
CALIBAN
How does thy honour? Let me lick thy shoe.
I’ll not serve him; he is not valiant.
TRINCULO Thou liest, most ignorant monster! I am in case to jostle a constable. Why, thou debauched fish, thou, was there ever man a coward that hath drunk so much sack as I today? Wilt thou tell a monstrous lie, being but half a fish and half a monster?
CALIBAN (to Stefano) Lo, how he mocks me! Wilt thou let him, my lord?
TRINCULO ‘Lord’ quoth he? That a monster should be such a natural!
CALIBAN (to Stefano) Lo, lo, again! Bite him to death, I prithee.
STEFANO Trinculo, keep a good tongue in your head. If you 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?
STEFANO Marry, will I. Kneel and repeat it. I will stand, and so shall Trinculo.
⌈Caliban kneels.⌉
Enter Ariel, invisible
CALIBAN As I told thee before, I am subject to a tyrant, a sorcerer, that by his cunning hath cheated me of the island.
ARIEL Thou liest.
CALIBAN (to Trinculo)
Thou liest, thou jesting monkey, thou.
I would my valiant master would destroy thee.
I do not lie.
STEFANO Trinculo, if you trouble him any more in’s tale, by this hand, I will supplant some of your teeth.
TRINCULO Why, I said nothing.
STEFANO Mum, then, and no more. (To Caliban) Proceed.
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 thing dare not—
STEFANO That’s most certain.
CALIBAN
Thou shalt be lord of it, and I’ll serve thee.
STEFANO How now shall this be compassed? Canst thou bring me to the party?
CALIBAN
Yea, yea, my lord. I’ll yield him thee asleep
Where thou mayst knock a nail into his head.
ARIEL Thou liest, thou canst not.
CALIBAN
What a pied ninny’s thisl (To Tririculo) Thou scurvy
patch!
(To Stefano) I do beseech thy greatness give him blows,
And take his bottle from him. When that’s gone
He shall drink naught but brine, for I’ll not show him
Where the quick freshes are.
STEFANO Trinculo, run into no further danger. Interrupt the monster one word further, and, by this hand, I’ll turn my mercy out o’doors and make a stockfish of thee.
TRINCULO Why, what did I? I did nothing. I’ll go farther off.
STEFANO Didst thou not say he lied?
ARIEL Thou liest.
STEFANO Do I so? (Striking Trinculo) Take thou that. As you like this, give me the lie another time.
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 murrain on your monster, and the devil take your fingers.
CALIBAN Ha, ha, ha!
STEFANO Now forward with your tale. (To Trinculo) Prithee, stand further off.
CALIBAN
Beat him enough; after a little time
I’ll beat him too.
STEFANO (to Trinculo)
Stand farther. (To Caliban) Come, proceed.
CALIBAN
Why, as I told thee, ’tis a custom with him
I’th’ afternoon to sleep. There thou mayst brain him,
Having first seized his books; or with a log
Batter his skull, or paunch him with a stake,
Or cut his weasand with thy knife. Remember
First to possess his books, for without them
He’s but a sot as I am, nor hath not
One spirit to command—they all do hate him
As rootedly as I. Burn but his books.
He has brave utensils, for so he calls them,
Which when he has a house he’ll deck withal.
And that most deeply to consider is
The beauty of his daughter. He himself
Calls her a nonpareil. I never saw a woman
But only Sycorax my dam and she,
But she as far surpasseth Sycorax
As great’st does least.
STEFANO
Is it so brave a lass?
CALIBAN
Ay, lord. She will become thy bed, I warrant,
And bring thee forth brave brood.
STEFANO Monster, I will kill this man. His daughter and I will be king and queen—save our graces!—and Trinculo and thyself shall be viceroys. Dost thou like the plot, Trinculo? no
TRINCULO Excellent.
STEFANO Give me thy hand. I am sorry I beat thee. But while thou liv’st, keep a good tongue in thy head.
CALIBAN
Within this half hour will he be asleep.
Wilt thou destroy him then?
STEFANO Ay, on mine honour.
ARIEL (aside) This will I tell my master.
CALIBAN
Thou mak’st me merry; I am full of pleasure.
Let us be jocund. Will you troll the catch
You taught me but while-ere?
STEFANO At thy request, monster, I will do reason, any reason.—Come on, Trinculo, let us sing.
(Sings)
Flout ’em and cout ’em, And scout ’em and flout ’em.
Thought is free.
CALIBAN That’s not the tune.
Ariel plays the tune on a tabor and pipe
STEFANO What is this same?
TRINCULO This is the tune of our catch, played by the picture of Nobody.
STEFANO (calls towards Ariel) If thou beest a man, show thyself in thy likeness. If thou beest a devil, take’t as thou list.
TRINCULO O, forgive me my sins!
STEFANO He that dies pays all debts. (Calls) I defy thee.—Mercy upon us!
CALIBAN Art thou afeard?
STEFANO 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 twangling 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.
STEFANO This will prove a brave kingdom to me, where I shall have my music for nothing.
CALIBAN When Prospero is destroyed.
STEFANO That shall be by and by. I remember the story.
Exit Ariel, playing music
TRINCULO The sound is going away. Let’s follow it, and after do our work.
STEFANO Lead, monster; we’ll follow.—I would I could see this taborer. He lays it on.
TRICULO (to Caliban) Wilt come? I’ll follow Stefano.
Exeunt
3.3 Enter Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Gonzalo, Adrian, and Francisco
GONZALO (to Alonso)
By’r la’kin, I can go no further, sir.
My old bones ache. Here’s a maze trod indeed
Through forthrights and meanders. By your patience,
I needs must rest me.
ALONSO
Old lord, I cannot blame thee,
Who am myself attached with weariness
To th’ dulling of my spirits. Sit down and rest.
Even here I will put off my hope, and keep it
No longer for my flatterer. He is drowned
Whom thus we stray to find, and the sea mocks
Our frustrate search on land. Well, let him go.
⌈They sit⌉
ANTONIO (aside to Sebastian)
I am right glad that he’s so out of hope.
Do not for one repulse forgo the purpose
That you resolved t’effect.
SEBASTIAN (aside to Antonio) The next advantage
Will we take throughly.
ANTONIO (aside to Sebastian) Let it be tonight,
For now they are oppressed with travel. They
Will not nor cannot use such vigilance
As when they are fresh.
SEBASTIAN (aside to Antonio) I say tonight. No more.
Solemn and strange music. Enter Prospero on the top, invisible
ALONSO
What harmony is this? My good friends, hark.
GONZALO Marvellous sweet music.
Enter spirits, in several strange shapes, bringing in a table and a banquet, and dance about it with gentle actions of salutations, and, inviting the King and his companions to eat, they depart
ALONSO
Give us kind keepers, heavens! What were these?
SEBASTIAN
A living drollery. Now I will believe
That there are unicorns; that in Arabia
There is one tree, the phoenix’ throne, one phoenix
At this hour reigning there.
ANTONIO
I’ll believe both;
And what does else want credit 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 certes these are people of the island,
Who though they are of monstrous shape, yet note
Their manners are more gentle-kind than of
Our human generation you shall find
Many, nay, almost any.
PROSPERO (aside)
Honest lord,
Thou hast said well, for some of you there present
Are worse than devils.
ALONSO
I cannot too much muse.
Such shapes, such gesture, and such sound,
expressing—
Although they want the use of tongue—a kind
Of excellent dumb discourse.
PROSPERO (aside)
Praise in departing.
FRANCISCO
They vanished strangely.
SEBASTIAN
No matter, since
They have left their viands behind, for we have
stomachs.
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 mountaineers
Dewlapped like bulls, whose throats had hanging at ’em
Wallets of flesh? Or that there were such men
Whose heads stood in their breasts? Which now we
find
Each putter-out of five for one will bring us
Good warrant of.
ALONSO ⌈rising⌉ I will stand to and feed,
Although my last—no matter, since I feel
The best is past. Brother, my lord the Duke,
Stand to, and do as we.
⌈Alonso, Sebastian, and Antonio approach the table.⌉ Thunder and lightning. Ariel ⌈descends⌉ 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 world
And what is in’t—the never-surfeited 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 valour men hang and drown
Their proper selves.
Alonso, Sebastian, and Antonio draw
You fools! I and my fellows
Are ministers of fate. The elements
Of whom your swords are tempered may as well
Wound the loud winds, or with bemocked-at stabs
Kill the still-closing waters, as diminish
One dowl that’s in my plume. My fellow ministers
Are like invulnerable. If you could hurt,
Your swords are now too massy for your strengths
And will not be uplifted.
Alonso, Sebastian, and Antonio stand amazed
But remember,
For that’s my business to you, that you three
From Milan did supplant good Prospero;
Exposed unto the sea, which hath requit 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 perdition—worse than any death
Can be at once—shatt step by step attend
You and your ways; whose wraths to guard you
from—
Which here in this most desolate isle else falls
Upon your heads—is nothing but heart’s sorrow
And a clear life ensuing.
He ⌈ascends and⌉ vanishes in thunder.
Then, to soft music, enter the spirits again, and dance with mocks and mows, and they depart, carrying out the table
PROSPERO
Bravely the figure of this harpy hast thou
Performed, my Ariel; a grace it had devouring.
Of my instruction hast thou nothing bated
In what thou hadst to say. So with good life
And observation strange my meaner ministers
Their several kinds have done. My high charms work,
And these mine enemies are all knit up
In their distractions. They now are in my power;
And in these fits I leave them, while I visit
Young Ferdinand, whom they suppose is drowned,
And his and mine loved darling.
Exit
⌈Gonzalo, Adrian, and Francisco go towards the others⌉
GONZALO
I’th’ name of something holy, sir, why stand you
In this strange stare?
ALONSO
O, it is monstrous, monstrous!
Methought the billows 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.
Therefor my son i’th’ ooze is bedded, and
I’ll seek him deeper than e’er plummet sounded,
And with him there lie mudded.
Exit
SEBASTIAN
But one fiend at a time,
I’ll fight their legions o’er.
ANTONIO
I’ll be thy second.
Exeunt Sebastian and Antonio
GONZALO
All three of them are desperate. Their great guilt,
Like poison given to work a great time after,
Now ’gins to bite the spirits. I do beseech you
That are of suppler joints, follow them swiftly,
And hinder them from what this ecstasy
May now provoke them to.
ADRIAN
Follow, I pray you. Exeunt
4.1 Enter Prospero, Ferdinand, and Miranda
PROSPFRO (to Ferdinand)
If I have too austerely punished you,
Your compensation makes amends, for I
Have given you here a third of mine own tife—
Or that for which I live—who once again
I tender to thy hand. All thy vexations