The Tempest: ACT V , SCENE I. Before PROSPERO'S cell.

The Tempest: ACT V


	Introduction

	ACT I

	ACT II

	ACT III

	ACT IV

	ACT V

		SCENE I. Before PROSPERO'S cell.

		EPILOGUE

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SCENE I. Before PROSPERO'S cell.

Enter PROSPERO in his magic robes, and ARIEL

PROSPERO

      Now does my project gather to a head:
      My charms crack not; my spirits obey; and time
      Goes upright with his carriage. How's the day?

ARIEL

On the sixth hour; at which time, my lord,
5 You said our work should cease.

PROSPERO

      I did say so,
      When first I raised the tempest. Say, my spirit,
      How fares the king and's followers?

ARIEL

      Confined together
10    In the same fashion as you gave in charge,
      Just as you left them; all prisoners, sir,
      In the line-grove which weather-fends your cell;
      They cannot budge till your release. The king,
      His brother and yours, abide all three distracted
15    And the remainder mourning over them,
      Brimful of sorrow and dismay; but chiefly
      Him that you term'd, sir, 'The good old lord Gonzalo;'
      His tears run down his beard, like winter's drops
      From eaves of reeds. Your charm so strongly works 'em
20    That if you now beheld them, your affections
      Would become tender.

PROSPERO

Dost thou think so, spirit?

ARIEL

Mine would, sir, were I human.

PROSPERO

      And mine shall.
25    Hast thou, which art but air, a touch, a feeling
      Of their afflictions, and shall not myself,
      One of their kind, that relish all as sharply,
      Passion as they, be kindlier moved than thou art?
      Though with their high wrongs I am struck to the quick,
30    Yet with my nobler reason 'gaitist my fury
      Do I take part: the rarer action is
      In virtue than in vengeance: they being penitent,
      The sole drift of my purpose doth extend
      Not a frown further. Go release them, Ariel:
35    My charms I'll break, their senses I'll restore,
      And they shall be themselves.

ARIEL

I'll fetch them, sir.

Exit

PROSPERO

      Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes and groves,
      And ye that on the sands with printless foot
40    Do chase the ebbing Neptune and do fly him
      When he comes back; you demi-puppets that
      By moonshine do the green sour ringlets make,
      Whereof the ewe not bites, and you whose pastime
      Is to make midnight mushrooms, that rejoice
45    To hear the solemn curfew; by whose aid,
      Weak masters though ye be, I have bedimm'd
      The noontide sun, call'd forth the mutinous winds,
      And 'twixt the green sea and the azured vault
      Set roaring war: to the dread rattling thunder
50    Have I given fire and rifted Jove's stout oak
      With his own bolt; the strong-based promontory
      Have I made shake and by the spurs pluck'd up
      The pine and cedar: graves at my command
      Have waked their sleepers, oped, and let 'em forth
55    By my so potent art. But this rough magic
      I here abjure, and, when I have required
      Some heavenly music, which even now I do,
      To work mine end upon their senses that
      This airy charm is for, I'll break my staff,
60    Bury it certain fathoms in the earth,
      And deeper than did ever plummet sound
      I'll drown my book.

Solemn music

Re-enter ARIEL before: then ALONSO, with a frantic gesture, attended by GONZALO; SEBASTIAN and ANTONIO in like manner, attended by ADRIAN and FRANCISCO they all enter the circle which PROSPERO had made, and there stand charmed; which PROSPERO observing, speaks:

      A solemn air and the best comforter
      To an unsettled fancy cure thy brains,
65    Now useless, boil'd within thy skull! There stand,
      For you are spell-stopp'd.
      Holy Gonzalo, honourable man,
      Mine eyes, even sociable to the show of thine,
      Fall fellowly drops. The charm dissolves apace,
70    And as the morning steals upon the night,
      Melting the darkness, so their rising senses
      Begin to chase the ignorant fumes that mantle
      Their clearer reason. O good Gonzalo,
      My true preserver, and a loyal sir
75    To him you follow'st! I will pay thy graces
      Home both in word and deed. Most cruelly
      Didst thou, Alonso, use me and my daughter:
      Thy brother was a furtherer in the act.
      Thou art pinch'd fort now, Sebastian. Flesh and blood,
80    You, brother mine, that entertain'd ambition,
      Expell'd remorse and nature; who, with Sebastian,
      Whose inward pinches therefore are most strong,
      Would here have kill'd your king; I do forgive thee,
      Unnatural though thou art. Their understanding
85    Begins to swell, and the approaching tide
      Will shortly fill the reasonable shore
      That now lies foul and muddy. Not one of them
      That yet looks on me, or would know me Ariel,
      Fetch me the hat and rapier in my cell:
90    I will discase me, and myself present
      As I was sometime Milan: quickly, spirit;
      Thou shalt ere long be free.

ARIEL sings and helps to attire him

      Where the bee sucks. there suck I:
      In a cowslip's bell I lie;
95    There I couch when owls do cry.
      On the bat's back I do fly
      After summer merrily.
      Merrily, merrily shall I live now
      Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.

PROSPERO

100   Why, that's my dainty Ariel! I shall miss thee:
      But yet thou shalt have freedom: so, so, so.
      To the king's ship, invisible as thou art:
      There shalt thou find the mariners asleep
      Under the hatches; the master and the boatswain
105   Being awake, enforce them to this place,
      And presently, I prithee.

ARIEL

I drink the air before me, and return
Or ere your pulse twice beat.

Exit

GONZALO

      All torment, trouble, wonder and amazement
110   Inhabits here: some heavenly power guide us
      Out of this fearful country!

PROSPERO

      Behold, sir king,
      The wronged Duke of Milan, Prospero:
      For more assurance that a living prince
115   Does now speak to thee, I embrace thy body;
      And to thee and thy company I bid
      A hearty welcome.

ALONSO

      Whether thou best he or no,
      Or some enchanted trifle to abuse me,
120   As late I have been, I not know: thy pulse
      Beats as of flesh and blood; and, since I saw thee,
      The affliction of my mind amends, with which,
      I fear, a madness held me: this must crave,
      An if this be at all, a most strange story.
125   Thy dukedom I resign and do entreat
      Thou pardon me my wrongs. But how should Prospero
      Be living and be here?

PROSPERO

      First, noble friend,
      Let me embrace thine age, whose honour cannot
130   Be measured or confined.

GONZALO

Whether this be
Or be not, I'll not swear.

PROSPERO

      You do yet taste
      Some subtilties o' the isle, that will not let you
135   Believe things certain. Welcome, my friends all!

Aside to SEBASTIAN and ANTONIO

      But you, my brace of lords, were I so minded,
      I here could pluck his highness' frown upon you
      And justify you traitors: at this time
      I will tell no tales.

SEBASTIAN

140 (Aside) The devil speaks in him.

PROSPERO

      No.
      For you, most wicked sir, whom to call brother
      Would even infect my mouth, I do forgive
      Thy rankest fault; all of them; and require
145   My dukedom of thee, which perforce, I know,
      Thou must restore.

ALONSO

      If thou be'st Prospero,
      Give us particulars of thy preservation;
      How thou hast met us here, who three hours since
150   Were wreck'd upon this shore; where I have lost--
      How sharp the point of this remembrance is!--
      My dear son Ferdinand.

PROSPERO

I am woe for't, sir.

ALONSO

Irreparable is the loss, and patience
155 Says it is past her cure.

PROSPERO

      I rather think
      You have not sought her help, of whose soft grace
      For the like loss I have her sovereign aid
      And rest myself content.

ALONSO

160 You the like loss!

PROSPERO

      As great to me as late; and, supportable
      To make the dear loss, have I means much weaker
      Than you may call to comfort you, for I
      Have lost my daughter.

ALONSO

165   A daughter?
      O heavens, that they were living both in Naples,
      The king and queen there! that they were, I wish
      Myself were mudded in that oozy bed
      Where my son lies. When did you lose your daughter?

PROSPERO

170   In this last tempest. I perceive these lords
      At this encounter do so much admire
      That they devour their reason and scarce think
      Their eyes do offices of truth, their words
      Are natural breath: but, howsoe'er you have
175   Been justled from your senses, know for certain
      That I am Prospero and that very duke
      Which was thrust forth of Milan, who most strangely
      Upon this shore, where you were wreck'd, was landed,
      To be the lord on't. No more yet of this;
180   For 'tis a chronicle of day by day,
      Not a relation for a breakfast nor
      Befitting this first meeting. Welcome, sir;
      This cell's my court: here have I few attendants
      And subjects none abroad: pray you, look in.
185   My dukedom since you have given me again,
      I will requite you with as good a thing;
      At least bring forth a wonder, to content ye
      As much as me my dukedom.

Here PROSPERO discovers FERDINAND and MIRANDA playing at chess

MIRANDA

Sweet lord, you play me false.

FERDINAND

190 No, my dear'st love,
I would not for the world.

MIRANDA

Yes, for a score of kingdoms you should wrangle,
And I would call it, fair play.

ALONSO

      If this prove
195   A vision of the Island, one dear son
      Shall I twice lose.

SEBASTIAN

A most high miracle!

FERDINAND

Though the seas threaten, they are merciful;
I have cursed them without cause.

Kneels

ALONSO

200   Now all the blessings
      Of a glad father compass thee about!
      Arise, and say how thou camest here.

MIRANDA

      O, wonder!
      How many goodly creatures are there here!
205   How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
      That has such people in't!

PROSPERO

'Tis new to thee.

ALONSO

      What is this maid with whom thou wast at play?
      Your eld'st acquaintance cannot be three hours:
210   Is she the goddess that hath sever'd us,
      And brought us thus together?

FERDINAND

      Sir, she is mortal;
      But by immortal Providence she's mine:
      I chose her when I could not ask my father
215   For his advice, nor thought I had one. She
      Is daughter to this famous Duke of Milan,
      Of whom so often I have heard renown,
      But never saw before; of whom I have
      Received a second life; and second father
220   This lady makes him to me.

ALONSO

      I am hers:
      But, O, how oddly will it sound that I
      Must ask my child forgiveness!

PROSPERO

      There, sir, stop:
225   Let us not burthen our remembrance with
      A heaviness that's gone.

GONZALO

      I have inly wept,
      Or should have spoke ere this. Look down, you god,
      And on this couple drop a blessed crown!
230   For it is you that have chalk'd forth the way
      Which brought us hither.

ALONSO

I say, Amen, Gonzalo!

GONZALO

      Was Milan thrust from Milan, that his issue
      Should become kings of Naples? O, rejoice
235   Beyond a common joy, and set it down
      With gold on lasting pillars: In one voyage
      Did Claribel her husband find at Tunis,
      And Ferdinand, her brother, found a wife
      Where he himself was lost, Prospero his dukedom
240   In a poor isle and all of us ourselves
      When no man was his own.

ALONSO

      (To FERDINAND and MIRANDA) Give me your hands:
      Let grief and sorrow still embrace his heart
      That doth not wish you joy!

GONZALO

245 Be it so! Amen!

Re-enter ARIEL, with the Master and Boatswain amazedly following

      O, look, sir, look, sir! here is more of us:
      I prophesied, if a gallows were on land,
      This fellow could not drown. Now, blasphemy,
      That swear'st grace o'erboard, not an oath on shore?
250   Hast thou no mouth by land? What is the news?

Boatswain

      The best news is, that we have safely found
      Our king and company; the next, our ship--
      Which, but three glasses since, we gave out split--
      Is tight and yare and bravely rigg'd as when
255   We first put out to sea.

ARIEL

(Aside to PROSPERO) Sir, all this service
Have I done since I went.

PROSPERO

(Aside to ARIEL) My tricksy spirit!

ALONSO

These are not natural events; they strengthen
260 From strange to stranger. Say, how came you hither?

Boatswain

      If I did think, sir, I were well awake,
      I'ld strive to tell you. We were dead of sleep,
      And--how we know not--all clapp'd under hatches;
      Where but even now with strange and several noises
265   Of roaring, shrieking, howling, jingling chains,
      And more diversity of sounds, all horrible,
      We were awaked; straightway, at liberty;
      Where we, in all her trim, freshly beheld
      Our royal, good and gallant ship, our master
270   Capering to eye her: on a trice, so please you,
      Even in a dream, were we divided from them
      And were brought moping hither.

ARIEL

(Aside to PROSPERO) Was't well done?

PROSPERO

(Aside to ARIEL) Bravely, my diligence. Thou shalt be free.

ALONSO

275   This is as strange a maze as e'er men trod
      And there is in this business more than nature
      Was ever conduct of: some oracle
      Must rectify our knowledge.

PROSPERO

      Sir, my liege,
280   Do not infest your mind with beating on
      The strangeness of this business; at pick'd leisure
      Which shall be shortly, single I'll resolve you,
      Which to you shall seem probable, of every
      These happen'd accidents; till when, be cheerful
285   And think of each thing well.

Aside to ARIEL

      Come hither, spirit:
      Set Caliban and his companions free;
      Untie the spell.

Exit ARIEL

      How fares my gracious sir?
290   There are yet missing of your company
      Some few odd lads that you remember not.

Re-enter ARIEL, driving in CALIBAN, STEPHANO and TRINCULO, in their stolen apparel

STEPHANO

      Every man shift for all the rest, and
      let no man take care for himself; for all is
      but fortune. Coragio, bully-monster, coragio!

TRINCULO

295 If these be true spies which I wear in my head,
here's a goodly sight.

CALIBAN

      O Setebos, these be brave spirits indeed!
      How fine my master is! I am afraid
      He will chastise me.

SEBASTIAN

300   Ha, ha!
      What things are these, my lord Antonio?
      Will money buy 'em?

ANTONIO

Very like; one of them
Is a plain fish, and, no doubt, marketable.

PROSPERO

305   Mark but the badges of these men, my lords,
      Then say if they be true. This mis-shapen knave,
      His mother was a witch, and one so strong
      That could control the moon, make flows and ebbs,
      And deal in her command without her power.
310   These three have robb'd me; and this demi-devil--
      For he's a bastard one--had plotted with them
      To take my life. Two of these fellows you
      Must know and own; this thing of darkness!
      Acknowledge mine.

CALIBAN

315 I shall be pinch'd to death.

ALONSO

Is not this Stephano, my drunken butler?

SEBASTIAN

He is drunk now: where had he wine?

ALONSO

      And Trinculo is reeling ripe: where should they
      Find this grand liquor that hath gilded 'em?
320   How camest thou in this pickle?

TRINCULO

      I have been in such a pickle since I
      saw you last that, I fear me, will never out of
      my bones: I shall not fear fly-blowing.

SEBASTIAN

Why, how now, Stephano!

STEPHANO

325 O, touch me not; I am not Stephano, but a cramp.

PROSPERO

You'ld be king o' the isle, sirrah?

STEPHANO

I should have been a sore one then.

ALONSO

This is a strange thing as e'er I look'd on.

Pointing to Caliban

PROSPERO

      He is as disproportion'd in his manners
330   As in his shape. Go, sirrah, to my cell;
      Take with you your companions; as you look
      To have my pardon, trim it handsomely.

CALIBAN

      Ay, that I will; and I'll be wise hereafter
      And seek for grace. What a thrice-double ass
335   Was I, to take this drunkard for a god
      And worship this dull fool!

PROSPERO

Go to; away!

ALONSO

Hence, and bestow your luggage where you found it.

SEBASTIAN

Or stole it, rather.

Exeunt CALIBAN, STEPHANO, and TRINCULO

PROSPERO

340   Sir, I invite your highness and your train
      To my poor cell, where you shall take your rest
      For this one night; which, part of it, I'll waste
      With such discourse as, I not doubt, shall make it
      Go quick away; the story of my life
345   And the particular accidents gone by
      Since I came to this isle: and in the morn
      I'll bring you to your ship and so to Naples,
      Where I have hope to see the nuptial
      Of these our dear-beloved solemnized;
350   And thence retire me to my Milan, where
      Every third thought shall be my grave.

ALONSO

      I long
      To hear the story of your life, which must
      Take the ear strangely.

PROSPERO

355   I'll deliver all;
      And promise you calm seas, auspicious gales
      And sail so expeditious that shall catch
      Your royal fleet far off.

Aside to ARIEL

      My Ariel, chick,
360   That is thy charge: then to the elements
      Be free, and fare thou well! Please you, draw near.

Exeunt

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