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The Tempest (Modern)

Author: William Shakespeare
Editors: Brent Whitted, Paul Yachnin
Peer Reviewed
80[1.2]
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
85But that the sea, mounting to th'welkin's cheek,
Dashes the fire out. Oh! 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. Oh, the cry did knock
90Against 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.
95Prospero
Be collected.
No more amazement; tell your piteous heart
There's no harm done.
Miranda
Oh, woe the day!
Prospero
No harm!
100I have done nothing but in care of thee --
Of thee my dear one, thee my daughter -- who
Art ignorant of what thou art, not knowing
Of whence I am, nor that I am more better
Than Prospero, master of a full poor cell,
105And 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
110And pluck my magic garment from me. So
Lie there, my art. Wipe thou thine eyes; have comfort.
The direful spectacle of the wreck, which touched
The very virtue of compassion in thee,
I have, with such provision in mine art,
115So safely ordered that there is no soul
(No, not so much perdition as an hair!)
Betide to any creature in the vessel
Which thou heard'st cry, which thou saw'st sink. Sit down,
For thou must now know farther.
120Miranda
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.
125The 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.
130Miranda
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 --
135And rather like a dream than an assurance
That my remembrance warrants. Had I not
Four or five women once that tended me?
Prospero Thou had'st, and more, Miranda. But how is it
That this lives in thy mind? What seest thou else
140In the dark backward and abysm of time?
If thou remember'st aught ere thou cam'st here,
How thou cam'st here, thou mayst.
Miranda
But that I do not.
Prospero Twelve years since, Miranda, twelve years since,
145Thy 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
150Was Duke of Milan -- and his only heir
And princess no worse issued.
Miranda
Oh, the heavens!
What foul play had we that we came from thence --
Or blessèd was't we did?
155Prospero
Both, both, my girl.
By foul play (as thou say'st) were we heaved thence,
But blessedly holp hither.
Miranda
Oh, my heart bleeds
To think o'th'teen that I have turned you to,
160Which 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
165The manage of my state as, at that time,
Through all the seigniories, 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),
170The 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 --
175Prospero Being once perfected how to grant suits
(How to deny them, who t'advance, and who
To trash for over-topping), new created
The creatures that were mine, I say, or changed'em,
Or else new formed them; having both the key
180Of 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.
185Prospero
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'er-prized all popular rate) in my false brother
190Awaked 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,
195Not 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
200He was indeed the duke out o'th'substitution
And executing the outward face of royalty
With all prerogative; hence, his ambition growing --
Dost thou hear?
Miranda
Your tale, sir, would cure deafness.
205Prospero To have no screen between this part he played
And him he played it for -- he needs will be
Absolute Milan. Me (poor man), my library
Was dukedom large enough. Of temporal royalties
He thinks me now incapable. Confederates
210(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.
215Miranda
Oh, 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:
220Good wombs have born 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
225Of 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
230Fated to the purpose, did Antonio open
The gates of Milan, and i'th'dead of darkness
The ministers for the purpose hurried thence
Me and thy crying self.
Miranda
Alack, for pity!
235I, not remembering 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
240Which now's upon's, without the which this story
Were most impertinent.
Miranda
Wherefore did they not
That hour destroy us?
Prospero
Well demanded, wench.
245My 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,
250Bore 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
255To th'winds, whose pity, sighing back again,
Did us but loving wrong.
Miranda
Alack, what trouble
Was I then to you?
Prospero
Oh, a cherubin
260Thou 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
265Against 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,
270Out 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
275From mine own library with volumes that
I prize above my dukedom.
Miranda
Would I might
But ever see that man.
Prospero
Now I arise.
280Sit 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.
285Miranda 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
290(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
295Will 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.
Come away, servant, come, I am ready now.
Approach, my Ariel, come.
Enter Ariel.
300Ariel 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!
305Prospero
Hast thou, spirit,
Performed to point the tempest that I bade thee?
Ariel To every article.
I boarded the King's ship -- now on the beak,
Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin,
310I flamed amazement. Sometime I'ld 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
315And sight out-running were not. The fire and cracks
Of sulphurous roaring, the most mighty Neptune
Seemed to besiege and made his bold waves tremble --
Yea, his dread trident shake!
Prospero
My brave spirit,
320Who 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
325Plunged 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 leapt, cried, "Hell is empty,
And all the devils are here!"
330Prospero
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;
335On 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
340In an odd angle of the isle, and sitting,
His arms in this sad knot.
Prospero
Of the King's ship,
The mariners -- say how thou hast disposed,
And all the rest o'th'fleet.
345Ariel
Safely in harbor
Is the King's ship, in the deep nook, where once
Thou called me up at midnight to fetch dew
From the still-vexed Bermudas, there she's hid.
The mariners all under hatches stowed,
350Who, 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,
355Supposing 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?
360Ariel
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,
365Which 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!
370Ariel
I prithee,
Remember I have done thee worthy service,
Told thee no lies, made thee no mistakings, served
Without or grudge or grumblings. Thou did promise
To bate me a full year.
375Prospero
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,
380To 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
385Was grown into a hoop? Hast thou forgot her?
Ariel No, sir.
Prospero Thou hast. Where was she born? Speak: tell me.
Ariel
Sir, in Algiers.
Prospero
Oh, was she so? I must
390Once 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 Algiers
Thou know'st was banished. For one thing she did,
395They 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
400To act her earthy and abhorred commands,
Refusing her grand hests, she did confine thee,
By help of her more potent ministers
And her most unmitigable rage,
Into a cloven pine, within which rift
405Imprisoned, 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 millwheels strike. Then was this island
(Save for the son that she did litter here,
410A 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
415What 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,
420When 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
425Thou 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
430I 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
435To every eyeball else. Go take this shape
And hither come in't. Go hence
With diligence.
Exit [Ariel].
Awake, dear heart, awake, thou hast slept well,
Awake.
440Miranda
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.
445Miranda '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!
450Thou 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:
455Hark in thine ear.
Ariel
My Lord, it shall be done.
Exit [Ariel].
Prospero 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
460With raven's feather from unwholesome fen
Drop on you both! A southwest blow on ye
And blister you all over.
Prospero For this be sure: tonight thou shalt have cramps,
Side-stitches that shall pen thy breath up; urchins
465Shall, for that 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 them.
Caliban
I must eat my dinner.
470This 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
475That 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!
480For 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,
485Whom stripes may move, not kindness -- I have used thee
(Filth as thou art) with human care, and lodged thee
In mine own cell till thou didst seek to violate
The honor of my child.
Caliban Oh ho! Oh ho! Would't had been done!
490Thou didst prevent me. I had peopled else
This isle with Calibans.
Miranda
Abhorrèd slave,
Which any print of goodness wilt not take,
Being capable of all ill! I pitied thee,
495Took 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 wild race
500(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
505Is -- I know how to curse. The red plague rid you
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?
510If 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.
515[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.
Exit Caliban.
Enter Ferdinand, and Ariel invisible, playing [music] and singing.
520Ariel Song.
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, 525bear 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 [within]. Cock-a-diddle-dow!
530Ferdinand 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,
535Allaying 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!
Ariel Song.
Full fathom five thy father lies,
540Of 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.
545Sea nymphs hourly ring his knell.
Burden.
Hark, now I hear them, ding-dong bell!
Ferdinand The ditty does remember my drowned father.
This is no mortal business, nor no sound
550That 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,
555It 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 mightst call him
560A 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.
565Prospero
[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
Most sure, the goddess
On whom these airs attend. [To Miranda] Vouchsafe my prayer
570May 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?
575Miranda
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.
580Prospero
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,
585Who 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.
590Prospero
[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. [To Ariel] Delicate Ariel,
I'll set thee free for this. [To Ferdinand] A word good, sir --
595I fear you have done yourself some wrong. A word.
Miranda [Aside] 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.
600Ferdinand
Oh, 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
605I 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
Upon this island as a spy to win it
610From 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.
615Prospero
[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
620Wherein the acorn cradled. Follow.
Ferdinand
No.
I will resist such entertainment till
Mine enemy has more power.
He draws [a sword], and is charmed from moving.
625Miranda
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? [To Ferdinand] Put thy sword up, traitor,
630Who 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!
635Prospero
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,
640An 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.
645Miranda
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
650And 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
655To 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.
660Prospero
[Aside] It works! [To Ferdinand] Come on!
[To Ariel] Thou hast done well, fine Ariel; follow me:
Hark what thou else shalt do me.
Miranda
[To Ferdinand] Be of comfort --
My father's of a better nature, sir,
665Than 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.
670Ariel
To th'syllable.
Prospero [To Ferdinand] Come, follow. [To Miranda] Speak not for him!
Exeunt.