Scene 1
A tempestuous noise of thunder and lightning heard .
Enter a Shipmaster and a Boatswain .
MASTER
Boatswain !
BOATSWAIN
Here , master . What cheer ?
MASTER
Good , speak to th’ mariners . Fall to ’t yarely ,
or we run ourselves aground . Bestir , bestir !
He exits .
Enter Mariners .
BOATSWAIN
Heigh , my hearts ! Cheerly , cheerly , my
hearts ! Yare , yare ! Take in the topsail . Tend to th’
Master’s whistle . — Blow till thou burst thy wind , if
room enough !
Enter Alonso , Sebastian , Antonio , Ferdinand , Gonzalo ,
and others .
ALONSO
Good boatswain , have care . Where’s the Master ?
Play the men .
BOATSWAIN
I pray now , keep below .
ANTONIO
Where is the Master , boatswain ?
BOATSWAIN
Do you not hear him ? You mar our labor .
Keep your cabins . You do assist the storm .
GONZALO
Nay , good , be patient .
BOATSWAIN
When the sea is . Hence ! What cares these
[9] ACT 1. SC. 1 roarers for the name of king ? To cabin ! Silence !
Trouble us not .
GONZALO
Good , yet remember whom thou hast
aboard .
BOATSWAIN
None that I more love than myself . You are
a councillor ; if you can command these elements
to silence , and work the peace of the present , we
will not hand a rope more . Use your authority . If
you cannot , give thanks you have lived so long , and
make yourself ready in your cabin for the mischance
of the hour , if it so hap . — Cheerly , good
hearts ! — Out of our way , I say !
He exits .
GONZALO
I have great comfort from this fellow . Methinks
he hath no drowning mark upon him . His
complexion is perfect gallows . Stand fast , good
Fate , to his hanging . Make the rope of his destiny
our cable , for our own doth little advantage . If he be
not born to be hanged , our case is miserable .
He exits with Alonso , Sebastian ,
and the other courtiers .
Enter Boatswain .
BOATSWAIN
Down with the topmast ! Yare ! Lower , lower !
Bring her to try wi’ th’ main course .
( A cry
within . ) A plague upon this howling ! They are
louder than the weather or our office .
Enter Sebastian , Antonio , and Gonzalo .
Yet again ? What do you here ? Shall we give o’er and
drown ? Have you a mind to sink ?
SEBASTIAN
A pox o’ your throat , you bawling , blasphemous ,
incharitable dog !
BOATSWAIN
Work you , then .
ANTONIO
Hang , cur , hang , you whoreson , insolent
noisemaker ! We are less afraid to be drowned than
thou art .
[11]ACT 1. SC. 1
GONZALO
I’ll warrant him for drowning , though the
ship were no stronger than a nutshell and as leaky
as an unstanched wench .
BOATSWAIN
Lay her ahold , ahold ! Set her two courses .
Off to sea again ! Lay her off !
Enter more Mariners , wet .
MARINERS
All lost ! To prayers , to prayers ! All lost !
Mariners exit .
BOATSWAIN
What , must our mouths be cold ?
GONZALO
The King and Prince at prayers . Let’s assist
them , for our case is as theirs .
SEBASTIAN
I am out of patience .
ANTONIO
We are merely cheated of our lives by drunkards .
This wide-chopped rascal — would thou
mightst lie drowning the washing of ten tides !
Boatswain exits .
GONZALO
He’ll be hanged yet , though every drop of
water swear against it and gape at wid’st to glut him .
A confused noise within : ‘Mercy on us !’ — ‘We split , we
split !’ — ‘Farewell , my wife and children !’ —
‘Farewell , brother !’ — ‘We split , we split , we
split !’
ANTONIO
Let’s all sink wi’ th’ King .
SEBASTIAN
Let’s take leave of him .
He exits with Antonio .
GONZALO
Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea
for an acre of barren ground : long heath , brown
furze , anything . The wills above be done , but I
would fain die a dry death .
He exits .
ACT 1. SC. 2
Scene 2
Enter Prospero and Miranda .
MIRANDA
If by your art , my dearest father , you have
Put the wild waters in this roar , allay them .
The sky , it seems , would pour down stinking pitch ,
But that the sea , mounting to th’ welkin’s cheek ,
Dashes the fire out . O , I have suffered
With those that I saw suffer ! A brave vessel ,
Who had , no doubt , some noble creature in her ,
Dashed all to pieces . O , the cry did knock
Against my very heart ! Poor souls , they perished .
Had I been any god of power , I would
Have sunk the sea within the earth or ere
It should the good ship so have swallowed , and
The fraughting souls within her .
PROSPERO
Be collected .
No more amazement . Tell your piteous heart
There’s no harm done .
MIRANDA
O , woe the day !
PROSPERO
No harm .
I have done nothing but in care of thee ,
Of thee , my dear one , thee , my daughter , who
Art ignorant of what thou art , naught knowing
Of whence I am , nor that I am more better
Than Prospero , master of a full poor cell ,
And thy no greater father .
MIRANDA
More to know
Did never meddle with my thoughts .
PROSPERO
’Tis time
I should inform thee farther . Lend thy hand
And pluck my magic garment from me .
Putting aside his cloak .
So ,
Lie there , my art . — Wipe thou thine eyes . Have
comfort .
[15] ACT 1. SC. 2 The direful spectacle of the wrack , which touched
The very virtue of compassion in thee ,
I have with such provision in mine art
So safely ordered that there is no soul —
No , not so much perdition as an hair ,
Betid to any creature in the vessel
Which thou heard’st cry , which thou saw’st sink . Sit
down ,
For thou must now know farther .
They sit .
MIRANDA
You have often
Begun to tell me what I am , but stopped
And left me to a bootless inquisition ,
Concluding ‘Stay . Not yet .’
PROSPERO
The hour’s now come .
The very minute bids thee ope thine ear .
Obey , and be attentive . Canst thou remember
A time before we came unto this cell ?
I do not think thou canst , for then thou wast not
Out three years old .
MIRANDA
Certainly , sir , I can .
PROSPERO
By what ? By any other house or person ?
Of anything the image tell me that
Hath kept with thy remembrance .
MIRANDA
’Tis far off
And rather like a dream than an assurance
That my remembrance warrants . Had I not
Four or five women once that tended me ?
PROSPERO
Thou hadst , and more , Miranda . But how is it
That this lives in thy mind ? What seest thou else
In the dark backward and abysm of time ?
If thou rememb’rest aught ere thou cam’st here ,
How thou cam’st here thou mayst .
MIRANDA
But that I do not .
[17]ACT 1. SC. 2
PROSPERO
Twelve year since , Miranda , twelve year since ,
Thy father was the Duke of Milan and
A prince of power .
MIRANDA
Sir , are not you my father ?
PROSPERO
Thy mother was a piece of virtue , and
She said thou wast my daughter . And thy father
Was Duke of Milan , and his only heir
And princess no worse issued .
MIRANDA
O , the heavens !
What foul play had we that we came from thence ?
Or blessèd was ’t we did ?
PROSPERO
Both , both , my girl .
By foul play , as thou sayst , were we heaved thence ,
But blessedly holp hither .
MIRANDA
O , my heart bleeds
To think o’ th’ teen that I have turned you to ,
Which is from my remembrance . Please you ,
farther .
PROSPERO
My brother and thy uncle , called Antonio —
I pray thee , mark me — that a brother should
Be so perfidious ! — he whom next thyself
Of all the world I loved , and to him put
The manage of my state , as at that time
Through all the signories it was the first ,
And Prospero the prime duke , being so reputed
In dignity , and for the liberal arts
Without a parallel . Those being all my study ,
The government I cast upon my brother
And to my state grew stranger , being transported
And rapt in secret studies . Thy false uncle —
Dost thou attend me ?
MIRANDA
Sir , most heedfully .
[19]ACT 1. SC. 2
PROSPERO
Being once perfected how to grant suits ,
How to deny them , who t’ advance , and who
To trash for overtopping , new created
The creatures that were mine , I say , or changed ’em ,
Or else new formed ’em , having both the key
Of officer and office , set all hearts i’ th’ state
To what tune pleased his ear , that now he was
The ivy which had hid my princely trunk
And sucked my verdure out on ’t . Thou attend’st not .
MIRANDA
O , good sir , I do .
PROSPERO
I pray thee , mark me .
I , thus neglecting worldly ends , all dedicated
To closeness and the bettering of my mind
With that which , but by being so retired ,
O’erprized all popular rate , in my false brother
Awaked an evil nature , and my trust ,
Like a good parent , did beget of him
A falsehood in its contrary as great
As my trust was , which had indeed no limit ,
A confidence sans bound . He being thus lorded ,
Not only with what my revenue yielded
But what my power might else exact , like one
Who , having into truth by telling of it ,
Made such a sinner of his memory
To credit his own lie , he did believe
He was indeed the Duke , out o’ th’ substitution
And executing th’ outward face of royalty
With all prerogative . Hence , his ambition growing —
Dost thou hear ?
MIRANDA
Your tale , sir , would cure deafness .
PROSPERO
To have no screen between this part he played
And him he played it for , he needs will be
[21] ACT 1. SC. 2 Absolute Milan . Me , poor man , my library
Was dukedom large enough . Of temporal royalties
He thinks me now incapable ; confederates ,
So dry he was for sway , wi’ th’ King of Naples
To give him annual tribute , do him homage ,
Subject his coronet to his crown , and bend
The dukedom , yet unbowed — alas , poor Milan ! —
To most ignoble stooping .
MIRANDA
O , the heavens !
PROSPERO
Mark his condition and th’ event . Then tell me
If this might be a brother .
MIRANDA
I should sin
To think but nobly of my grandmother .
Good wombs have borne bad sons .
PROSPERO
Now the condition .
This King of Naples , being an enemy
To me inveterate , hearkens my brother’s suit ,
Which was that he , in lieu o’ th’ premises
Of homage and I know not how much tribute ,
Should presently extirpate me and mine
Out of the dukedom , and confer fair Milan ,
With all the honors , on my brother ; whereon ,
A treacherous army levied , one midnight
Fated to th’ purpose did Antonio open
The gates of Milan , and i’ th’ dead of darkness
The ministers for th’ purpose hurried thence
Me and thy crying self .
MIRANDA
Alack , for pity !
I , not rememb’ring how I cried out then ,
Will cry it o’er again . It is a hint
That wrings mine eyes to ’t .
PROSPERO
Hear a little further ,
And then I’ll bring thee to the present business
Which now ’s upon ’s , without the which this story
Were most impertinent .
[23]ACT 1. SC. 2
MIRANDA
Wherefore did they not
That hour destroy us ?
PROSPERO
Well demanded , wench .
My tale provokes that question . Dear , they durst not ,
So dear the love my people bore me , nor set
A mark so bloody on the business , but
With colors fairer painted their foul ends .
In few , they hurried us aboard a bark ,
Bore us some leagues to sea , where they prepared
A rotten carcass of a butt , not rigged ,
Nor tackle , sail , nor mast ; the very rats
Instinctively have quit it . There they hoist us
To cry to th’ sea that roared to us , to sigh
To th’ winds , whose pity , sighing back again ,
Did us but loving wrong .
MIRANDA
Alack , what trouble
Was I then to you !
PROSPERO
O , a cherubin
Thou wast that did preserve me . Thou didst smile ,
Infusèd with a fortitude from heaven ,
When I have decked the sea with drops full salt ,
Under my burden groaned , which raised in me
An undergoing stomach to bear up
Against what should ensue .
MIRANDA
How came we ashore ?
PROSPERO
By providence divine .
Some food we had , and some fresh water , that
A noble Neapolitan , Gonzalo ,
Out of his charity , who being then appointed
Master of this design , did give us , with
Rich garments , linens , stuffs , and necessaries ,
Which since have steaded much . So , of his
gentleness ,
Knowing I loved my books , he furnished me
From mine own library with volumes that
I prize above my dukedom .
[25]ACT 1. SC. 2
MIRANDA
Would I might
But ever see that man .
PROSPERO
, standing
Now I arise .
Sit still , and hear the last of our sea-sorrow .
Here in this island we arrived , and here
Have I , thy schoolmaster , made thee more profit
Than other princes can , that have more time
For vainer hours and tutors not so careful .
MIRANDA
Heavens thank you for ’t . And now I pray you , sir —
For still ’tis beating in my mind — your reason
For raising this sea storm ?
PROSPERO
Know thus far forth :
By accident most strange , bountiful Fortune ,
Now my dear lady , hath mine enemies
Brought to this shore ; and by my prescience
I find my zenith doth depend upon
A most auspicious star , whose influence
If now I court not , but omit , my fortunes
Will ever after droop . Here cease more questions .
Thou art inclined to sleep . ’Tis a good dullness ,
And give it way . I know thou canst not choose .
Miranda falls asleep .
Prospero puts on his cloak .
Come away , servant , come . I am ready now .
Approach , my Ariel . Come .
Enter Ariel .
ARIEL
All hail , great master ! Grave sir , hail ! I come
To answer thy best pleasure . Be ’t to fly ,
To swim , to dive into the fire , to ride
On the curled clouds , to thy strong bidding task
Ariel and all his quality .
PROSPERO
Hast thou , spirit ,
Performed to point the tempest that I bade thee ?
[27]ACT 1. SC. 2
ARIEL
To every article .
I boarded the King’s ship ; now on the beak ,
Now in the waist , the deck , in every cabin ,
I flamed amazement . Sometimes I’d divide
And burn in many places . On the topmast ,
The yards , and bowsprit would I flame distinctly ,
Then meet and join . Jove’s lightning , the precursors
O’ th’ dreadful thunderclaps , more momentary
And sight-outrunning were not . The fire and cracks
Of sulfurous roaring the most mighty Neptune
Seem to besiege and make his bold waves tremble ,
Yea , his dread trident shake .
PROSPERO
My brave spirit !
Who was so firm , so constant , that this coil
Would not infect his reason ?
ARIEL
Not a soul
But felt a fever of the mad , and played
Some tricks of desperation . All but mariners
Plunged in the foaming brine and quit the vessel ,
Then all afire with me . The King’s son , Ferdinand ,
With hair up-staring — then like reeds , not hair —
Was the first man that leaped ; cried ‘Hell is empty ,
And all the devils are here .’
PROSPERO
Why , that’s my spirit !
But was not this nigh shore ?
ARIEL
Close by , my master .
PROSPERO
But are they , Ariel , safe ?
ARIEL
Not a hair perished .
On their sustaining garments not a blemish ,
But fresher than before ; and , as thou bad’st me ,
In troops I have dispersed them ’bout the isle .
The King’s son have I landed by himself ,
Whom I left cooling of the air with sighs
In an odd angle of the isle , and sitting ,
His arms in this sad knot .
He folds his arms .
[29]ACT 1. SC. 2
PROSPERO
Of the King’s ship ,
The mariners say how thou hast disposed ,
And all the rest o’ th’ fleet .
ARIEL
Safely in harbor
Is the King’s ship . In the deep nook , where once
Thou called’st me up at midnight to fetch dew
From the still-vexed Bermoothes , there she’s hid ;
The mariners all under hatches stowed ,
Who , with a charm joined to their suffered labor ,
I have left asleep . And for the rest o’ th’ fleet ,
Which I dispersed , they all have met again
And are upon the Mediterranean float ,
Bound sadly home for Naples ,
Supposing that they saw the King’s ship wracked
And his great person perish .
PROSPERO
Ariel , thy charge
Exactly is performed . But there’s more work .
What is the time o’ th’ day ?
ARIEL
Past the mid season .
PROSPERO
At least two glasses . The time ’twixt six and now
Must by us both be spent most preciously .
ARIEL
Is there more toil ? Since thou dost give me pains ,
Let me remember thee what thou hast promised ,
Which is not yet performed me .
PROSPERO
How now ? Moody ?
What is ’t thou canst demand ?
ARIEL
My liberty .
PROSPERO
Before the time be out ? No more .
ARIEL
I prithee ,
Remember I have done thee worthy service ,
Told thee no lies , made no mistakings , served
Without or grudge or grumblings . Thou did promise
To bate me a full year .
[31]ACT 1. SC. 2
PROSPERO
Dost thou forget
From what a torment I did free thee ?
ARIEL
No .
PROSPERO
Thou dost , and think’st it much to tread the ooze
Of the salt deep ,
To run upon the sharp wind of the North ,
To do me business in the veins o’ th’ Earth
When it is baked with frost .
ARIEL
I do not , sir .
PROSPERO
Thou liest , malignant thing . Hast thou forgot
The foul witch Sycorax , who with age and envy
Was grown into a hoop ? Hast thou forgot her ?
ARIEL
No , sir .
PROSPERO
Thou hast . Where was she born ? Speak . Tell me .
ARIEL
Sir , in Argier .
PROSPERO
O , was she so ? I must
Once in a month recount what thou hast been ,
Which thou forget’st . This damned witch Sycorax ,
For mischiefs manifold , and sorceries terrible
To enter human hearing , from Argier ,
Thou know’st , was banished . For one thing she did
They would not take her life . Is not this true ?
ARIEL
Ay , sir .
PROSPERO
This blue-eyed hag was hither brought with child
And here was left by th’ sailors . Thou , my slave ,
As thou report’st thyself , was then her servant ,
And for thou wast a spirit too delicate
To act her earthy and abhorred commands ,
Refusing her grand hests , she did confine thee ,
By help of her more potent ministers
And in her most unmitigable rage ,
[33] ACT 1. SC. 2 Into a cloven pine , within which rift
Imprisoned thou didst painfully remain
A dozen years ; within which space she died
And left thee there , where thou didst vent thy groans
As fast as mill wheels strike . Then was this island
( Save for the son that she did litter here ,
A freckled whelp , hag-born ) not honored with
A human shape .
ARIEL
Yes , Caliban , her son .
PROSPERO
Dull thing , I say so ; he , that Caliban
Whom now I keep in service . Thou best know’st
What torment I did find thee in . Thy groans
Did make wolves howl , and penetrate the breasts
Of ever-angry bears . It was a torment
To lay upon the damned , which Sycorax
Could not again undo . It was mine art ,
When I arrived and heard thee , that made gape
The pine and let thee out .
ARIEL
I thank thee , master .
PROSPERO
If thou more murmur’st , I will rend an oak
And peg thee in his knotty entrails till
Thou hast howled away twelve winters .
ARIEL
Pardon , master .
I will be correspondent to command
And do my spriting gently .
PROSPERO
Do so , and after two days
I will discharge thee .
ARIEL
That’s my noble master .
What shall I do ? Say , what ? What shall I do ?
PROSPERO
Go make thyself like a nymph o’ th’ sea . Be subject
To no sight but thine and mine , invisible
To every eyeball else . Go , take this shape ,
[35] ACT 1. SC. 2 And hither come in ’t . Go , hence with diligence !
Ariel exits .
Awake , dear heart , awake . Thou hast slept well .
Awake .
Miranda wakes .
MIRANDA
The strangeness of your story put
Heaviness in me .
PROSPERO
Shake it off . Come on ,
We’ll visit Caliban , my slave , who never
Yields us kind answer .
MIRANDA
, rising
’Tis a villain , sir ,
I do not love to look on .
PROSPERO
But , as ’tis ,
We cannot miss him . He does make our fire ,
Fetch in our wood , and serves in offices
That profit us . — What ho , slave , Caliban !
Thou earth , thou , speak !
CALIBAN
, within
There’s wood enough within .
PROSPERO
Come forth , I say . There’s other business for thee .
Come , thou tortoise . When ?
Enter Ariel like a water nymph .
Fine apparition ! My quaint Ariel ,
Hark in thine ear .
He whispers to Ariel .
ARIEL
My lord , it shall be done .
He exits .
PROSPERO
, to Caliban
Thou poisonous slave , got by the devil himself
Upon thy wicked dam , come forth !
Enter Caliban .
CALIBAN
As wicked dew as e’er my mother brushed
With raven’s feather from unwholesome fen
Drop on you both . A southwest blow on you
And blister you all o’er .
[37]ACT 1. SC. 2
PROSPERO
For this , be sure , tonight thou shalt have cramps ,
Side-stitches that shall pen thy breath up . Urchins
Shall forth at vast of night that they may work
All exercise on thee . Thou shalt be pinched
As thick as honeycomb , each pinch more stinging
Than bees that made ’em .
CALIBAN
I must eat my dinner .
This island’s mine by Sycorax , my mother ,
Which thou tak’st from me . When thou cam’st first ,
Thou strok’st me and made much of me , wouldst
give me
Water with berries in ’t , and teach me how
To name the bigger light and how the less ,
That burn by day and night . And then I loved thee ,
And showed thee all the qualities o’ th’ isle ,
The fresh springs , brine pits , barren place and
fertile .
Cursed be I that did so ! All the charms
Of Sycorax , toads , beetles , bats , light on you ,
For I am all the subjects that you have ,
Which first was mine own king ; and here you sty me
In this hard rock , whiles you do keep from me
The rest o’ th’ island .
PROSPERO
Thou most lying slave ,
Whom stripes may move , not kindness , I have used
thee ,
Filth as thou art , with humane care , and lodged
thee
In mine own cell , till thou didst seek to violate
The honor of my child .
CALIBAN
O ho , O ho ! Would ’t had been done !
Thou didst prevent me . I had peopled else
This isle with Calibans .
[39]ACT 1. SC. 2
MIRANDA
Abhorrèd 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
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
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
For learning me your language !
PROSPERO
Hagseed , hence !
Fetch us in fuel ; and be quick , thou ’rt best ,
To answer other business . Shrugg’st thou , malice ?
If thou neglect’st or dost unwillingly
What I command , I’ll rack thee with old cramps ,
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 .
Caliban exits .
Enter Ferdinand ; and Ariel , invisible ,
playing and singing .
[41]ACT 1. SC. 2
Song .ARIEL
Come unto these yellow sands ,
And then take hands .
Curtsied when you have , and kissed
The wild waves whist .
Foot it featly here and there ,
And sweet sprites bear
The burden . Hark , hark !
Burden dispersedly , within : Bow-wow .
The watchdogs bark .
Burden dispersedly , within : Bow-wow .
Hark , hark ! I hear
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 ,
Weeping again the King my father’s wrack ,
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 .
No , it begins again .
Song .ARIEL
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 .
Burden , within : Ding dong .
Hark , now I hear them : ding dong bell .
[43]ACT 1. SC. 2
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 fringèd 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 wrack ; and , but he’s something stained
With grief — that’s beauty’s canker — thou might’st
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 .
To Ariel .
Spirit , fine spirit ,
I’ll free thee
Within two days for this .
FERDINAND
, seeing Miranda
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 !
[45] ACT 1. SC. 2 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 wracked .
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 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 .
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
[47] ACT 1. SC. 2 The name thou ow’st 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
, to Ferdinand
Follow me .
To Miranda .
Speak not you for him . He’s a traitor .
To Ferdinand .
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 ,
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 ,
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 .
I’ll be his surety .
PROSPERO
Silence ! One word more
Shall make me chide thee , if not hate thee . What ,
[49] ACT 1. SC. 2 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 ,
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
And have no vigor 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 wrack 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’ th’ Earth
Let liberty make use of . Space enough
Have I in such a prison .
PROSPERO
, aside
It works . — Come on . —
Thou hast done well , fine Ariel . — Follow me .
To Ariel .
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
All points of my command .
ARIEL
To th’ syllable .
PROSPERO
, to Ferdinand
Come follow .
To Miranda .
Speak not for him .
They exit .