Complete Plays, The

Home > Fiction > Complete Plays, The > Page 40
Complete Plays, The Page 40

by William Shakespeare


  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

  But doth suffer a sea-change

  Into something rich and strange.

  Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell

  Burthen Ding-dong

  Hark! now I hear them,— Ding-dong, bell.

  Ferdinand

  The 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

  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

  Was 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

  A 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

  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,

  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,

  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,

  Who with mine eyes, never since at ebb, beheld

  The king my father wreck’d.

  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,

  If now ’twere fit to do’t. At the first sight

  They 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

  That 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

  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

  The 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:

  If 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:

  Sea-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

  Mine 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,

  My 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

  Beseech you, father.

  Prospero

  Hence! hang not on my garments.

  Miranda

  Sir, have pity;

  I’ll be his surety.

  Prospero

  Silence! one word more

  Shall make me chide thee, if not hate thee. What!

  An advocate for an imposter! 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

  And 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:

  Thy 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,

  The 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’ the 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!

  To Ferdinand

  Follow me.

  To Ariel

  Hark what thou else shalt do me.

  Miranda

  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

  Thou shalt be free

  As mountain winds: but then exactly do

  All points of my command.

  Ariel

  To the syllable.

  Prospero

  Come, follow. Speak not for him.

  Exeunt

  ACT II

  SCENE I. ANOTHER PART OF THE ISLAND.

  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 c
ommon; every day some sailor’s wife,

  The masters of some merchant and the merchant

  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

  He receives comfort like cold porridge.

  Antonio

  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.

  Gonzalo

  Sir,—

  Sebastian

  One: tell.

  Gonzalo

  When every grief is entertain’d that’s offer’d,

  Comes to the entertainer —

  Sebastian

  A dollar.

  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,—

  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, first begins to crow?

  Sebastian

  The old cock.

  Antonio

  The cockerel.

  Sebastian

  Done. The wager?

  Antonio

  A laughter.

  Sebastian

  A match!

  Adrian

  Though this island seem to be desert,—

  Sebastian

  Ha, ha, ha! So, you’re paid.

  Adrian

  Uninhabitable and almost inaccessible,—

  Sebastian

  Yet,—

  Adrian

  Yet,—

  Antonio

  He could not miss’t.

  Adrian

  It must needs be of subtle, tender and delicate temperance.

  Antonio

  Temperance was a delicate wench.

  Sebastian

  Ay, and a subtle; as he most learnedly delivered.

  Adrian

  The air breathes upon us here most sweetly.

  Sebastian

  As if it had lungs and rotten ones.

  Antonio

  Or as ’twere perfumed by a fen.

  Gonzalo

  Here is everything advantageous to life.

  Antonio

  True; save means to live.

  Sebastian

  Of that there’s none, or little.

  Gonzalo

  How lush and lusty the grass looks! how green!

  Antonio

  The ground indeed is tawny.

  Sebastian

  With an eye of green in’t.

  Antonio

  He misses not much.

  Sebastian

  No; he doth but mistake the truth totally.

  Gonzalo

  But the rarity of it is,— which is indeed almost beyond credit,—

  Sebastian

  As many vouched rarities are.

  Gonzalo

  That our garments, being, as they were, drenched in the sea, hold notwithstanding their freshness and glosses, being rather new-dyed than stained with salt water.

  Antonio

  If but one of his pockets could speak, would it not say he lies?

  Sebastian

  Ay, or very falsely pocket up his report

  Gonzalo

  Methinks our garments are now as fresh as when we put them on first in Afric, at the marriage of the king’s fair daughter Claribel to the King of Tunis.

  Sebastian

  ’Twas a sweet marriage, and we prosper well in our return.

  Adrian

  Tunis was never graced before with such a paragon to their queen.

  Gonzalo

  Not since widow Dido’s time.

  Antonio

  Widow! a pox o’ that! How came that widow in? widow Dido!

  Sebastian

  What if he had said ‘widower Aeneas’ too? Good Lord, how you take it!

  Adrian

  ‘Widow Dido’ said you? you make me study of that: she was of Carthage, not of Tunis.

  Gonzalo

  This Tunis, sir, was Carthage.

  Adrian

  Carthage?

  Gonzalo

  I assure you, Carthage.

  Sebastian

  His word is more than the miraculous harp; he hath raised the wall and houses too.

  Antonio

  What impossible matter will he make easy next?

  Sebastian

  I think he will carry this island home in his pocket and give it his son for an apple.

  Antonio

  And, sowing the kernels of it in the sea, bring forth more islands.

  Gonzalo

  Ay.

  Antonio

  Why, in good time.

  Gonzalo

  Sir, we were talking that our garments seem now as fresh as when we were at Tunis at the marriage of your daughter, who is now queen.

  Antonio

  And the rarest that e’er came there.

  Sebastian

  Bate, I beseech you, widow Dido.

  Antonio

  O, widow Dido! ay, widow Dido.

  Gonzalo

  Is not, sir, my doublet as fresh as the first day I wore it? I mean, in a sort.

  Antonio

  That sort was well fished for.

  Gonzalo

  When I wore it at your daughter’s marriage?

  Alonso

  You cram these words into mine ears against

  The stomach of my sense. Would I had never

  Married my daughter there! for, coming thence,

  My son is lost and, in my rate, she too,

  Who is so far from Italy removed

  I ne’er again shall see her. O thou mine heir

  Of Naples and of Milan, what strange fish

  Hath made his meal on thee?

  Francisco

  Sir, he may live:

  I saw him beat the surges under him,

  And ride upon their backs; he trod the water,

  Whose enmity he flung aside, and breasted

  The surge most swoln that met him; his bold head

  ’Bove the contentious waves he kept, and oar’d

  Himself with his good arms in lusty stroke

  To the shore, that o’er his wave-worn basis bow’d,

  As stooping to relieve him: I not doubt

  He came alive to land.

  Alonso

  No, no, he’s gone.

  Sebastian

  Sir, you may thank yourself for this great loss,

  That would not bless our Europe with your daughter,

  But rather lose her to an African;

  Where she at least is banish’d from your eye,

  Who hath cause to wet the grief on’t.

  Alonso

  Prithee, peace.

  Sebastian

  You were kneel’d to and importuned otherwise

  By all of us, and the fair soul herself

  Weigh’d between loathness and obedience, at

  Which end o’ the beam should bow. We have lost your son,

  I fear, for ever: Milan and Naples have

  More widows in them of this business’ making

  Than we bring men to comfort them:

  The fault’s your own.

  Alonso

  So is the dear’st o’ the loss.

  Gonzalo

  My lord Sebastian,

  The truth you speak doth lack some gentleness

  And time to speak it in: you rub the sore,


  When you should bring the plaster.

  Sebastian

  Very well.

  Antonio

  And most chirurgeonly.

  Gonzalo

  It is foul weather in us all, good sir,

  When you are cloudy.

  Sebastian

  Foul weather?

  Antonio

  Very foul.

  Gonzalo

  Had I plantation of this isle, my lord,—

  Antonio

  He’ld sow’t with nettle-seed.

  Sebastian

  Or docks, or mallows.

  Gonzalo

  And were the king on’t, what would I do?

  Sebastian

  ’Scape being drunk for want of wine.

  Gonzalo

  I’ the commonwealth I would by contraries

  Execute all things; for no kind of traffic

  Would I admit; no name of magistrate;

  Letters should not be known; riches, poverty,

  And use of service, none; contract, succession,

  Bourn, bound of land, tilth, vineyard, none;

  No use of metal, corn, or wine, or oil;

  No occupation; all men idle, all;

  And women too, but innocent and pure;

  No sovereignty;—

  Sebastian

  Yet he would be king on’t.

  Antonio

  The latter end of his commonwealth forgets the beginning.

  Gonzalo

  All things in common nature should produce

  Without sweat or endeavour: treason, felony,

  Sword, pike, knife, gun, or need of any engine,

  Would I not have; but nature should bring forth,

  Of its own kind, all foison, all abundance,

  To feed my innocent people.

  Sebastian

  No marrying ’mong his subjects?

  Antonio

  None, man; all idle: whores and knaves.

  Gonzalo

  I would with such perfection govern, sir,

  To excel the golden age.

  Sebastian

  God save his majesty!

  Antonio

  Long live Gonzalo!

  Gonzalo

  And,— do you mark me, sir?

  Alonso

  Prithee, no more: thou dost talk nothing to me.

  Gonzalo

  I do well believe your highness; and did it to minister occasion to these gentlemen, who are of such sensible and nimble lungs that they always use to laugh at nothing.

  Antonio

  ’Twas you we laughed at.

  Gonzalo

  Who in this kind of merry fooling am nothing to you: so you may continue and laugh at nothing still.

  Antonio

  What a blow was there given!

  Sebastian

  An it had not fallen flat-long.

  Gonzalo

  You are gentlemen of brave metal; you would lift the moon out of her sphere, if she would continue in it five weeks without changing.

  Enter Ariel, invisible, playing solemn music

  Sebastian

  We would so, and then go a bat-fowling.

  Antonio

  Nay, good my lord, be not angry.

  Gonzalo

  No, I warrant you; I will not adventure my discretion so weakly. Will you laugh me asleep, for I am very heavy?

 

‹ Prev