TPTT The Tempest: ACT I
Introduction
ACT I
SCENE I. On a ship at sea: a tempestuous noise of thunder and lightning heard.
SCENE II. The island. Before PROSPERO'S cell.
ACT II
ACT III
ACT IV
ACT V
About the Play
Feedback
  Search:   
for:

Amazon Honor System Click Here to Pay Learn More
SCENE I. On a ship at sea: a tempestuous noise of thunder and lightning heard.
Enter a Master and a Boatswain
Master
      Boatswain!
Boatswain
      Here, master: what cheer?
Master
      Good, speak to the mariners: fall to't, yarely,
      or we run ourselves aground: bestir, bestir.
Exit
Enter Mariners
Boatswain
5     Heigh, my hearts! cheerly, cheerly, my hearts!
      yare, yare! Take in the topsail. Tend to the
      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?
10    Play the men.
Boatswain
      I pray now, keep below.
ANTONIO
      Where is the master, boatswain?
Boatswain
      Do you not hear him? You mar our labour: keep your
      cabins: you do assist the storm.
GONZALO
15    Nay, good, be patient.
Boatswain
      When the sea is. Hence! What cares these 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
20    counsellor; 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
25    the hour, if it so hap. Cheerly, good hearts! Out
      of our way, I say.
Exit
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
30    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.
Exeunt
Re-enter Boatswain
Boatswain
      Down with the topmast! yare! lower, lower! Bring
      her to try with main-course.

A cry within

35    A plague upon this howling! they are louder than
      the weather or our office.

Re-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,
40    incharitable dog!
Boatswain
      Work you then.
ANTONIO
      Hang, cur! hang, you whoreson, insolent noisemaker!
      We are less afraid to be drowned than thou art.
GONZALO
      I'll warrant him for drowning; though the ship were
45    no stronger than a nutshell and as leaky as an
      unstanched wench.
Boatswain
      Lay her a-hold, a-hold! set her two courses off to
      sea again; lay her off.
Enter Mariners wet
Mariners
      All lost! to prayers, to prayers! all lost!
Boatswain
50    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'm out of patience.
ANTONIO
      We are merely cheated of our lives by drunkards:
55    This wide-chapp'd rascal--would thou mightst lie drowning
      The washing of ten tides!
GONZALO
      He'll be hang'd yet,
      Though every drop of water swear against it
      And gape at widest 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
60    Let's all sink with the king.
SEBASTIAN
      Let's take leave of him.
Exeunt ANTONIO and SEBASTIAN
GONZALO
      Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an
      acre of barren ground, long heath, brown furze, any
      thing. The wills above be done! but I would fain
65    die a dry death.
Exeunt
Return to top of page ... or ... Go to next scene