Complete Plays, The

Home > Fiction > Complete Plays, The > Page 43
Complete Plays, The Page 43

by William Shakespeare


  Stephano

  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.

  Stephano

  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.

  Stephano

  My man-monster hath drown’d 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.

  Stephano

  We’ll not run, Monsieur Monster.

  Trinculo

  Nor go neither; but you’ll lie like dogs and yet say nothing neither.

  Stephano

  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’s not valiant.

  Trinculo

  Thou liest, most ignorant monster: I am in case to justle a constable. Why, thou deboshed fish thou, was there ever man a coward that hath drunk so much sack as I to-day? Wilt thou tell a monstrous 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!

  Caliban

  Lo, lo, again! bite him to death, I prithee.

  Stephano

  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?

  Stephano

  Marry, will I kneel and repeat it; I will stand, and so shall Trinculo.

  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

  Thou liest, thou 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 tale, by this hand, I will supplant some of your teeth.

  Trinculo

  Why, I said nothing.

  Stephano

  Mum, then, and no more. 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 darest,

  But this thing 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?

  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 bead.

  Ariel

  Thou liest; thou canst not.

  Caliban

  What a pied ninny’s this! Thou scurvy patch!

  I do beseech thy greatness, give him blows

  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 freshes are.

  Stephano

  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 stock-fish of thee.

  Trinculo

  Why, what did I? I did nothing. I’ll go farther off.

  Stephano

  Didst thou not say he lied?

  Ariel

  Thou liest.

  Stephano

  Do I so? take thou that.

  Beats Trinculo

  As you like this, give me the lie another time.

  Trinculo

  I did not give the lie. Out o’ your wits and bearing 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!

  Stephano

  Now, forward with your tale. Prithee, stand farther off.

  Caliban

  Beat him enough: after a little time

  I’ll beat him too.

  Stephano

  Stand farther. 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 wezand 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.

  Stephano

  Is it so brave a lass?

  Caliban

  Ay, lord; she will become thy bed, I warrant.

  And bring thee forth brave brood.

  Stephano

  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?

  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.

  Caliban

  Thou makest me merry; I am full of pleasure:

  Let us be jocund: will you troll the catch

  You taught me but while-ere?

  Stephano

  At thy request, monster, I will do reason, any reason. Come on, Trinculo, let us sing.

  Sings

  Flout ’em and scout ’em

  And scout ’em and flout ’em

  Thought is free.

  Caliban

  That’s not the tune.

  Ariel plays the tune on a tabour and pipe

  Stephano

  What is this same?

  Trinculo

  This is the tune of our catch, played by the picture of Nobody.

  Stephano

  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!

  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.

  Someti
mes 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.

  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.

  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 this tabourer; he lays it on.

  Trinculo

  Wilt come? I’ll follow, Stephano.

  Exeunt

  SCENE III. ANOTHER PART OF THE ISLAND.

  Enter Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Gonzalo, Adrian, Francisco, and others

  Gonzalo

  By’r lakin, I can go no further, sir;

  My old bones ache: here’s a maze trod indeed

  Through forth-rights and meanders! By your patience,

  I needs must rest me.

  Alonso

  Old lord, I cannot blame thee,

  Who am myself attach’d with weariness,

  To the 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 drown’d

  Whom thus we stray to find, and the sea mocks

  Our frustrate search on land. Well, let him go.

  Antonio

  [Aside to Sebastian] I am right glad that he’s so out of hope.

  Do not, for one repulse, forego the purpose

  That you resolved to effect.

  Sebastian

  [Aside to Antonio] The next advantage

  Will we take throughly.

  Antonio

  [Aside to Sebastian] Let it be to-night;

  For, now they are oppress’d with travel, they

  Will not, nor cannot, use such vigilance

  As when they are fresh.

  Sebastian

  [Aside to Antonio] I say, to-night: no more.

  Solemn and strange music

  Alonso

  What harmony is this? My good friends, hark!

  Gonzalo

  Marvellous sweet music!

  Enter Prospero above, invisible. Enter several strange Shapes, bringing in a banquet; they dance about it with gentle actions of salutation; and, inviting the King, & c. 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 vanish’d 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

  Dew-lapp’d 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

  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.

  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 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 such-like valour men hang and drown

  Their proper selves.

  Alonso, Sebastian & c. draw their swords

  You fools! I and my fellows

  Are ministers of Fate: the elements,

  Of whom your swords are temper’d, may as well

  Wound the loud winds, or with bemock’d-at stabs

  Kill the still-closing waters, as diminish

  One dowle 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. 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:

  Lingering perdition, worse than any death

  Can be at once, shall 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-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

  Prospero

  Bravely the figure of this harpy hast thou

  Perform’d, 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 drown’d,

  And his and mine loved darling.

  Exit above

  Gonzalo

  I’ the 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.

  Therefore my son i’ the 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

  ACT IV

  SCENE I. BEFORE PROSPERO’S CELL.

  Enter Prospero, Ferdinand, and Miranda

  Prospero

  If I have too austerely punish’d you,

  Your compensation makes amends, for I

  Have given you here a third of mine own life,

  Or that for which I live; who once again

  I tender to thy hand: all thy vexations

  Were but my trials of thy love and thou

  Hast strangely stood the test here, afore Heaven,

  I ratify this my rich gift. O Ferdinand,

  Do not smile at me that I boast her off,

  For thou shalt find she will outstrip all praise

  And make it halt behind her.

  Ferdinand

  I do believe it

  Against an oracle.

  Prospero

  Then, as my gift and thine own acquisition

  Worthily purchased take my daughter: but

  If thou dost break her virgin-knot before

  All sanctimonious ceremonies may

  With full and holy rite be minister’d,

  No sweet aspersion shall the heavens let fall

  To make this contract grow: but barren hate,

  Sour-eyed disdain and discord shall bestrew

  The union of your bed with weeds so loathly

  That you shall hate it both: therefore take heed,

  As Hymen’s lamps shall light you.

  Ferdinand

  As I hope

  For quiet days, fair issue and long life,

  With such love as ’tis now, the murkiest den,

  The most opportune place, the strong’st suggestion.

  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 founder’d,

  Or Night kept chain’d below.

 

‹ Prev