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 II. The island. Before PROSPERO'S cell.
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 the welkin's cheek,
5     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,
      Dash'd all to pieces. O, the cry did knock
      Against my very heart. Poor souls, they perish'd.
10    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 swallow'd and
      The fraughting souls within her.
PROSPERO
      Be collected:
15    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,
20    Of thee, my dear one, thee, my daughter, who
      Art ignorant of what thou art, nought 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
25    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. So:

Lays down his mantle

30    Lie there, my art. Wipe thou thine eyes; have comfort.
      The direful spectacle of the wreck, which touch'd
      The very virtue of compassion in thee,
      I have with such provision in mine art
      So safely ordered that there is no soul--
35    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.
MIRANDA
      You have often
40    Begun to tell me what I am, but stopp'd
      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;
45    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
50    By what? by any other house or person?
      Of any thing the image tell me that
      Hath kept with thy remembrance.
MIRANDA
      'Tis far off
      And rather like a dream than an assurance
55    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?
60    If thou remember'st aught ere thou camest here,
      How thou camest here thou mayst.
MIRANDA
      But that I do not.
PROSPERO
      Twelve year since, Miranda, twelve year since,
      Thy father was the Duke of Milan and
65    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 thou his only heir
70    And princess no worse issued.
MIRANDA
      O the heavens!
      What foul play had we, that we came from thence?
      Or blessed was't we did?
PROSPERO
      Both, both, my girl:
75    By foul play, as thou say'st, were we heaved thence,
      But blessedly holp hither.
MIRANDA
      O, my heart bleeds
      To think o' the teen that I have turn'd you to,
      Which is from my remembrance! Please you, farther.
PROSPERO
80    My brother and thy uncle, call'd 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
85    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
90    And to my state grew stranger, being transported
      And rapt in secret studies. Thy false uncle--
      Dost thou attend me?
MIRANDA
      Sir, most heedfully.
PROSPERO
      Being once perfected how to grant suits,
95    How to deny them, who to advance and who
      To trash for over-topping, new created
      The creatures that were mine, I say, or changed 'em,
      Or else new form'd 'em; having both the key
      Of officer and office, set all hearts i' the state
100   To what tune pleased his ear; that now he was
      The ivy which had hid my princely trunk,
      And suck'd my verdure out on't. Thou attend'st not.
MIRANDA
      O, good sir, I do.
PROSPERO
      I pray thee, mark me.
105   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
      Awaked an evil nature; and my trust,
110   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,
115   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' the substitution
120   And executing the 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 play'd
125   And him he play'd 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--
      So dry he was for sway--wi' the King of Naples
130   To give him annual tribute, do him homage,
      Subject his coronet to his crown and bend
      The dukedom yet unbow'd--alas, poor Milan!--
      To most ignoble stooping.
MIRANDA
      O the heavens!
PROSPERO
135   Mark his condition and the 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
140   Now the condition.
      The King of Naples, being an enemy
      To me inveterate, hearkens my brother's suit;
      Which was, that he, in lieu o' the premises
      Of homage and I know not how much tribute,
145   Should presently extirpate me and mine
      Out of the dukedom and confer fair Milan
      With all the honours on my brother: whereon,
      A treacherous army levied, one midnight
      Fated to the purpose did Antonio open
150   The gates of Milan, and, i' the dead of darkness,
      The ministers for the purpose hurried thence
      Me and thy crying self.
MIRANDA
      Alack, for pity!
      I, not remembering how I cried out then,
155   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
160   Were most impertinent.
MIRANDA
      Wherefore did they not
      That hour destroy us?
PROSPERO
      Well demanded, wench:
      My tale provokes that question. Dear, they durst not,
165   So dear the love my people bore me, nor set
      A mark so bloody on the business, but
      With colours fairer painted their foul ends.
      In few, they hurried us aboard a bark,
      Bore us some leagues to sea; where they prepared
170   A rotten carcass of a boat, not rigg'd,
      Nor tackle, sail, nor mast; the very rats
      Instinctively had quit it: there they hoist us,
      To cry to the sea that roar'd to us, to sigh
      To the winds whose pity, sighing back again,
175   Did us but loving wrong.
MIRANDA
      Alack, what trouble
      Was I then to you!
PROSPERO
      O, a cherubim
      Thou wast that did preserve me. Thou didst smile.
180   Infused with a fortitude from heaven,
      When I have deck'd the sea with drops full salt,
      Under my burthen groan'd; which raised in me
      An undergoing stomach, to bear up
      Against what should ensue.
MIRANDA
185   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, being then appointed
190   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 furnish'd me
      From mine own library with volumes that
195   I prize above my dukedom.
MIRANDA
      Would I might
      But ever see that man!
PROSPERO
      Now I arise:

Resumes his mantle

      Sit still, and hear the last of our sea-sorrow.
200   Here in this island we arrived; and here
      Have I, thy schoolmaster, made thee more profit
      Than other princesses 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,
205   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
210   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:
215   Thou art inclined to sleep; 'tis a good dulness,
      And give it way: I know thou canst not choose.

MIRANDA sleeps

      Come away, servant, come. I am ready now.
      Approach, my Ariel, come.
Enter ARIEL
ARIEL
      All hail, great master! grave sir, hail! I come
220   To answer thy best pleasure; be't to fly,
      To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride
      On the curl'd clouds, to thy strong bidding task
      Ariel and all his quality.
PROSPERO
      Hast thou, spirit,
225   Perform'd 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,
      I flamed amazement: sometime I'ld divide,
230   And burn in many places; on the topmast,
      The yards and bowsprit, would I flame distinctly,
      Then meet and join. Jove's lightnings, the precursors
      O' the dreadful thunder-claps, more momentary
      And sight-outrunning were not; the fire and cracks
235   Of sulphurous 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
240   Would not infect his reason?
ARIEL
      Not a soul
      But felt a fever of the mad and play'd
      Some tricks of desperation. All but mariners
      Plunged in the foaming brine and quit the vessel,
245   Then all afire with me: the king's son, Ferdinand,
      With hair up-staring,--then like reeds, not hair,--
      Was the first man that leap'd; cried, 'Hell is empty
      And all the devils are here.'
PROSPERO
      Why that's my spirit!
250   But was not this nigh shore?
ARIEL
      Close by, my master.
PROSPERO
      But are they, Ariel, safe?
ARIEL
      Not a hair perish'd;
      On their sustaining garments not a blemish,
255   But fresher than before: and, as thou badest 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,
260   His arms in this sad knot.
PROSPERO
      Of the king's ship
      The mariners say how thou hast disposed
      And all the rest o' the fleet.
ARIEL
      Safely in harbour
265   Is the king's ship; in the deep nook, where once
      Thou call'dst me up at midnight to fetch dew
      From the still-vex'd Bermoothes, there she's hid:
      The mariners all under hatches stow'd;
      Who, with a charm join'd to their suffer'd labour,
270   I have left asleep; and for the rest o' the fleet
      Which I dispersed, they all have met again
      And are upon the Mediterranean flote,
      Bound sadly home for Naples,
      Supposing that they saw the king's ship wreck'd
275   And his great person perish.
PROSPERO
      Ariel, thy charge
      Exactly is perform'd: but there's more work.
      What is the time o' the day?
ARIEL
      Past the mid season.
PROSPERO
280   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 perform'd me.
PROSPERO
285   How now? moody?
      What is't thou canst demand?
ARIEL
      My liberty.
PROSPERO
      Before the time be out? no more!
ARIEL
      I prithee,
290   Remember I have done thee worthy service;
      Told thee no lies, made thee no mistakings, served
      Without or grudge or grumblings: thou didst promise
      To bate me a full year.
PROSPERO
      Dost thou forget
295   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,
300   To do me business in the veins o' the 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
305   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
310   Once in a month recount what thou hast been,
      Which thou forget'st. This damn'd witch Sycorax,
      For mischiefs manifold and sorceries terrible
      To enter human hearing, from Argier,
      Thou know'st, was banish'd: for one thing she did
315   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 the sailors. Thou, my slave,
      As thou report'st thyself, wast then her servant;
320   And, for thou wast a spirit too delicate
      To act her earthy and abhorr'd commands,
      Refusing her grand hests, she did confine thee,
      By help of her more potent ministers
      And in her most unmitigable rage,
325   Into a cloven pine; within which rift
      Imprison'd 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--
330   Save for the son that she did litter here,
      A freckled whelp hag-born--not honour'd with
      A human shape.
ARIEL
      Yes, Caliban her son.
PROSPERO
      Dull thing, I say so; he, that Caliban
335   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 damn'd, which Sycorax
340   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
345   And peg thee in his knotty entrails till
      Thou hast howl'd away twelve winters.
ARIEL
      Pardon, master;
      I will be correspondent to command
      And do my spiriting gently.
PROSPERO
350   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' the sea: be subject
355   To no sight but thine and mine, invisible
      To 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!
MIRANDA
      The strangeness of your story put
360   Heaviness in me.
PROSPERO
      Shake it off. Come on;
      We'll visit Caliban my slave, who never
      Yields us kind answer.
MIRANDA
      'Tis a villain, sir,
365   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!
370   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?

Re-enter ARIEL like a water-nymph

      Fine apparition! My quaint Ariel,
375   Hark in thine ear.
ARIEL
      My lord it shall be done.
Exit
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 brush'd
380   With raven's feather from unwholesome fen
      Drop on you both! a south-west blow on ye
      And blister you all o'er!
PROSPERO
      For this, be sure, to-night thou shalt have cramps,
      Side-stitches that shall pen thy breath up; urchins
385   Shall, for that vast of night that they may work,
      All exercise on thee; thou shalt be pinch'd
      As thick as honeycomb, each pinch more stinging
      Than bees that made 'em.
CALIBAN
      I must eat my dinner.
390   This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother,
      Which thou takest from me. When thou camest first,
      Thou strokedst me and madest much of me, wouldst give me
      Water with berries in't, and teach me how
      To name the bigger light, and how the less,
395   That burn by day and night: and then I loved thee
      And show'd thee all the qualities o' the 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!
400   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' the island.
PROSPERO
      Thou most lying slave,
405   Whom 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 honour of my child.
CALIBAN
      O ho, O ho! would't had been done!
410   Thou didst prevent me; I had peopled else
      This isle with Calibans.
PROSPERO
      Abhorred slave,
      Which any print of goodness wilt not take,
      Being capable of all ill! I pitied thee,
415   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 endow'd thy purposes
      With words that made them known. But thy vile race,
420   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
425   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
      Hag-seed, hence!
      Fetch us in fuel; and be quick, thou'rt best,
430   To answer other business. Shrug'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
435   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!

Exit CALIBAN

Re-enter ARIEL, invisible, playing and singing; FERDINAND following

ARIEL'S song.

440   Come unto these yellow sands,
      And then take hands:
      Courtsied when you have and kiss'd
      The wild waves whist,
      Foot it featly here and there;
445   And, sweet sprites, the burthen bear.
      Hark, hark!
      The watch-dogs bark!

Burthen Bow-wow

      Hark, hark! I hear
450   The strain of strutting chanticleer
      Cry, Cock-a-diddle-dow.
FERDINAND
      Where should this music be? i' the air or the earth?
      It sounds no more: and sure, it waits upon
      Some god o' the island. Sitting on a bank,
455   Weeping again the king my father's wreck,
      This music crept by me upon the waters,
      Allaying both their fury and my passion
      With its sweet air: thence I have follow'd it,
      Or it hath drawn me rather. But 'tis gone.
460   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
465   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.
470   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?
475   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
480   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
485   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
490   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!
495   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,
500   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;
505   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
510   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,
515   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
520   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
525   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
530   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
535   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;
540   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;
545   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
550   What? I say,