Original Text |
Translated Text |
Source: Folger Shakespeare Library |
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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 5 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 10 Have sunk the sea within the earth or ere It should the good ship so have swallowed, and The fraughting souls within her. | The action moves to an island, where we meet Prospero and his daughter, Miranda. (Psst! If you check out the character list, you'll see that Prospero is the former Duke of Milan—a position now held by his brother, Antonio...who just happens to be on the wrecked ship.) Miranda saw the ship sink and asks her father if he created the storm, cluing us in to the fact that Prospero has powerful magic, which they both call "art." |
PROSPERO Be collected. No more amazement. Tell your piteous heart 15 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 20 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. | Prospero doesn't deny he made the tempest, but instead says there was no harm done. He assures his daughter that everyone from the ship is safe, and that he only did it for her, which she would understand if she knew who he really was—and, for that matter, who she really is. |
MIRANDA More to know 25 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, 30 Lie there, my art.—Wipe thou thine eyes. Have comfort. The direful spectacle of the wrack, which touched The very virtue of compassion in thee, I have with such provision in mine art 35 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, 40 For thou must now know farther. They sit. | Miranda never realized there was more to know about who they were, but Prospero says the storm is a good occasion for him to finally reveal their family secret to her. He again assures her no one on the ship was hurt and then says they should probably sit down for this. |
MIRANDA You have often Begun to tell me what I am, but stopped And left me to a bootless inquisition, Concluding “Stay. Not yet.” 45 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 50 Out three years old. | Apparently, Prospero has started telling this tale to Miranda before but never finished. He promises to finish this time, and ask Miranda if she remembers anything of their lives before they came to the island. He doesn't expect her to, since she was not even three when they did. |
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. 55 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 60 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. 65 | To Prospero's surprise, Miranda does have a pre-island memory. She believes that she used to have four or five women that took care of her—which he confirms—but that's all she remembers. She doesn't have a clue how she and her father ended up on the island. |
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 70 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? 75 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 80 To think o’ th’ teen that I have turned you to, Which is from my remembrance. Please you, farther. | Prospero begins the tale by explaining that twelve years ago, Miranda's father was was the Duke of Milan. Miranda is shocked. Surely Prospero was never the Duke of Milan. Is he not her real father? Prospero replies that, to the best of his knowledge, he was the only one sleeping with Miranda's mother. So yes, he is her father, and yes, he was a Duke and Miranda was a princess. Miranda wonders what foul play brought them to the island, and whether it was a blessing or curse. Prospero says it was both. |
PROSPERO My brother and thy uncle, called Antonio— I pray thee, mark me—that a brother should 85 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 90 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— 95 Dost thou attend me? MIRANDA Sir, most heedfully. | The story that follows is long, and Prospero keeps poking Miranda to stay awake. Basically, it goes like this: Prospero has a brother, Antonio, whom he used to love and trust. Prospero was devoted to the study of magic. He trusted his brother so much that he let him run the affairs of state while Prospero closeted himself away in his library. |
PROSPERO Being once perfected how to grant suits, How to deny them, who t’ advance, and who To trash for overtopping, new created 100 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 105 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 110 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 115 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, 120 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— 125 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 Absolute Milan. Me, poor man, my library 130 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 135 The dukedom, yet unbowed—alas, poor Milan!— To most ignoble stooping. | Antonio, meanwhile, was busy learning how to run Milan, but also making all the right friends in all the right places. Eventually, he took advantage of Prospero's trust and, by sucking up constantly with tributes and compliments to the King of Naples. Antonio managed to get the King to give him his brother's title as Duke of Milan. (Hmm. Now, where have we seen an evil, usurping brother before? Oh, yeah, in Hamlet, where Claudius kills his brother and then takes his crown and his wife.) |
MIRANDA O, the heavens! | Miranda appears to be listening now! |
PROSPERO Mark his condition and th’ event. Then tell me If this might be a brother. 140 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 145 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, 150 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 155 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. 160 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. MIRANDA Wherefore did they not 165 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 170 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 175 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. | Antonio then sent an army at midnight, under the cover of darkness, to force Prospero and baby Miranda out of Milan. They weren't killed because Prospero was so well-loved by his people. Prospero and the baby were banished to sea on a used '83 Chevy Impala of a ship, which wasn't even fit for rats. And of course, while drifting on the ship, they encountered a beast of a storm. |
MIRANDA Alack, what trouble 180 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, 185 Under my burden groaned, which raised in me An undergoing stomach to bear up Against what should ensue. | During this storm, Miranda the toddler, far from being trouble, gave Prospero the strength to continue on. |
MIRANDA How came we ashore? PROSPERO By providence divine. 190 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, 195 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. 200 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 205 Have I, thy schoolmaster, made thee more profit Than other princes can, that have more time For vainer hours and tutors not so careful. | Finally they washed ashore onto their present island. They survived because Gonzalo (yep—the guy from the first scene) was so kind. Before they were shipped out, he stocked the boat with food and water, fine clothes, and also Prospero's books. Prospero was able to use his small library to educate Miranda for the last twelve years, affording her a better education than most princesses, who generally spend their time combing golden locks and looking out of windows. |
MIRANDA Heavens thank you for ’t. And now I pray you, sir— For still ’tis beating in my mind—your reason 210 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 215 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, 220 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. | Finally, Prospero explains the reason he created the recent storm: his enemies, the ones from all those years ago, were on the ship. According to the stars, now is the moment of Prospero's good fortune, but his power depends on good timing. Prospero then lulls Miranda to sleep with art (not impressionist or postmodern art—magic art) and calls his servant, the spirit Ariel, so they can go to work right away. |
Enter Ariel. ARIEL All hail, great master! Grave sir, hail! I come To answer thy best pleasure. Be ’t to fly, 225 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? 230 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, 235 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 240 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? 245 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, 250 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.” | We find out Ariel was in charge of the details of the tempest. He performed his duties down to the last detail: he appeared on the ship as fire, jumping between cabins and the deck. This, understandably, weirded out everyone on the ship, and while the mariners stayed on deck, everyone else jumped overboard. |
PROSPERO Why, that’s my spirit! But was not this nigh shore? 255 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, 260 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. 265 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 270 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, 275 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. 280 | Ariel then saw to it that they all made it ashore unharmed, but in separate groups. Most importantly, the King's son was separated from the rest of the group. Ariel left the mariners on their newly restored ship in an enchanted sleep, and sent the other vessels in the fleet back to Naples. |
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 285 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? 290 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, 295 Told thee no lies, made no mistakings, served Without or grudge or grumblings. Thou did promise To bate me a full year. | Prospero is glad of Ariel's good work, but demands that there is much more to do in the next four hours. Ariel reminds him then that he's already done lots of good work, and that Prospero promised that when his work was done, he would set the spirit-servant free. Essentially, Ariel is saying "Show me the money." (This line doesn't work as well for Ariel as it does for Jerry Maguire.) |
PROSPERO Dost thou forget From what a torment I did free thee? 300 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 305 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? 310 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, 315 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? 320 ARIEL Ay, sir. | Prospero flies into something of a rage. He reminds Ariel that he once rescued him from a witch named Sycorax, and therefore Ariel should be as indebted as a house-elf without socks for the rest of eternity. It seems this Sycorax was born in Algiers and banished from there because of her sorcery. She wasn't killed, probably because she was pregnant, but she was banished to the island, with Ariel as her servant. |
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 325 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, Into a cloven pine, within which rift 330 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, 335 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 340 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, 345 When I arrived and heard thee, that made gape The pine and let thee out. | Ariel was apparently too "delicate" to do the horrible things Sycorax commanded, so she had a fit and imprisoned Ariel in the cleft of a pine tree, where he stayed rather stuck for twelve years. That's when Prospero came to the island to find the loud, sad, unearthly moans of Ariel coming from a tree. By that time, Sycorax was long dead, and it was Prospero's magic that freed Ariel from the tree. That's when he committed Ariel to his service, with the promise of eventual liberty. |
ARIEL I thank thee, master. PROSPERO If thou more murmur’st, I will rend an oak And peg thee in his knotty entrails till 350 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 355 I will discharge thee. | After Prospero tells this long story, he chides Ariel that any more whining will get him locked back into the tree. However, if Ariel behaves, Prospero will free him in two days, once all the work is done. Brain Snack: The rest of the play actually takes place over the course of about four hours (not two days). In fact, The Tempest is one of two Shakespeare plays (including The Comedy of Errors) that takes place in a single day in a single location. Literary critics have a fancy name for this—the "unities" of time and place. |
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 360 To every eyeball else. Go, take this shape, 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 365 Heaviness in me. | Prospero sends Ariel off in the shape of an invisible water nymph (we don't know either), and wakes Miranda. Poor Miranda doesn't know that he used his magic to put her to sleep—she thinks his story just made her tired. |
PROSPERO Shake it off. Come on, We’ll visit Caliban, my slave, who never Yields us kind answer. MIRANDA, rising ’Tis a villain, sir, 370 I do not love to look on. | Prospero wants Miranda to come with him to talk to Caliban, and Miranda basically shudders. She says she can't stand to look at Caliban. |
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! 375 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, 380 Hark in thine ear. He whispers to Ariel. ARIEL My lord, it shall be done. He exits. | Prospero reminds Miranda that Caliban does all those pesky island chores that nobody else likes to do, like fetch wood and build fires. They'd miss him if he were gone. Prospero calls to Caliban, who is reluctant to come out, and then handles one more bit of secretive business with Ariel. |
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 385 With raven’s feather from unwholesome fen Drop on you both. A southwest blow on you And blister you all o’er. PROSPERO For this, be sure, tonight thou shalt have cramps, Side-stitches that shall pen thy breath up. Urchins 390 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. | Prospero again calls for Caliban to come out, this time referring to him as a slave and the child of his witch-hag mother and the devil. When Caliban comes out of his shack, the insults really fly. Caliban wishes for Prospero and Miranda to break out in blisters all over their bodies, and Prospero says that tonight Caliban will have such bad cramps it will be worse than being stung by a bunch of bees. |
CALIBAN I must eat my dinner. 395 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 400 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. 405 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 410 The rest o’ th’ island. | Caliban reveals that he's bitter because he thinks Prospero has treated him unfairly. This island should be Caliban's—he was here first. When Prospero first arrived, he initially took Caliban in, fed him, and taught him to speak. Caliban loved Prospero so that he showed him all the secrets of the island, and then Prospero made him a slave and restricted him to a small rocky part of the island, while Prospero and Miranda enjoyed the rest of it. |
PROSPERO Thou most lying slave, Whom stripes may move, not kindness, I have used thee, Filth as thou art, with humane care, and lodged 415 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 420 This isle with Calibans. | "Not so fast," says Prospero. "You left out the part where you tried to rape my daughter." Caliban doesn't deny this. In fact, he even admits that he was trying to populate the island with a bunch of little Calibandas (or maybe Miracals). |
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 425 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 430 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, 435 Who hadst deserved more than a prison. | Needless to say, Miranda's not real fond of Caliban. She helped him learn to speak and he tried to violate her. She thinks he deserves to be confined to his rock. |
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! 440 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 445 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. 450 PROSPERO So, slave, hence. Caliban exits. | Caliban says all he's gotten out of learning to speak is the ability to curse. He doesn't like taking orders from Prospero, but Prospero is too powerful to resist. Plus, he keeps threatening Caliban with terrible body cramps whenever he misbehaves or talks back. |
Enter Ferdinand; and Ariel, invisible, playing and singing. Song. ARIEL "Come unto these yellow sands, And then take hands. Curtsied when you have, and kissed The wild waves whist. 455 Foot it featly here and there, And sweet sprites bear The burden. Hark, hark! Burden dispersedly, within: Bow-wow. The watchdogs bark. 460 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? 465 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 470 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. 475 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. 480 Burden, within: Ding dong. Hark, now I hear them: ding dong bell." 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. 485 | Ferdinand (the stranded Prince) enters with Ariel who is invisible and sings a tune so beautiful that the amazed Ferdinand quits mourning his father (who Ferdinand thinks has died in the shipwreck) to follow the music. |
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. 490 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 495 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. 500 | Prospero tells Miranda to look at Ferdinand and tell him what she sees. Miranda announces that Ferdinand is the hottest guy she's ever seen (never mind the fact that the only men Miranda's seen for the past twelve years are the guy who tried to rape her and her father). Miranda thinks Ferdinand must be a god or a spirit. |
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 505 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!— 510 If you be maid or no. MIRANDA No wonder, sir, But certainly a maid. | Ferdinand declares that Miranda must be a goddess and then asks our girl if she's a "maid." (No, not the kind who washes your socks and cleans up your room. Ferdinand wants to know if Miranda's an unmarried virgin.) |
FERDINAND My language! Heavens! I am the best of them that speak this speech, 515 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, 520 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 525 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, 530 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 535 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. 540 | Ferdinand announces that he's the King of Naples (now that his dad has perished in a dramatic shipwreck). Prospero tells him to slow his roll, and Miranda gets nervous. This is only the third guy she's ever met, she really likes him, and now her dad wants a word with him? Da-ad! Ferdinand, undaunted, is ready to make Miranda the Queen of Naples. This is clearly a case of love at first sight, seeing as how they're talking marriage after just twenty-six lines of dialogue. |
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 545 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 From me, the lord on ’t. 550 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, though he has been making asides all along that his plan is going well, declares to himself that if things are too easy for the young couple, then they won't take their vows of love seriously. In order to add a bit of conflict to the romance, Prospero accuses Ferdinand of being a spy intending to steal the island. |
PROSPERO, to Ferdinand Follow me. 555 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 560 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. | Prospero threatens to chain up Ferdinand and enchant him, but the Prince rebels against the accusation. Of course, what with Prospero being magic and all, Ferdinand is frozen in place as soon as he draws his sword. |
MIRANDA O dear father, 565 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 570 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— 575 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, 580 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. 585 MIRANDA My affections Are then most humble. I have no ambition To see a goodlier man. | Miranda, newly in love, comes to the defense of Ferdinand and begs her father to have mercy. |
PROSPERO, to Ferdinand Come on, obey. Thy nerves are in their infancy again 590 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 595 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. 600 | Prospero tells Ferdinand to give it up, and Ferdinand does, but not just because Prospero's magic has reduced his muscles to Jello. No, it's because of Miranda. Losing his father and his friends, feeling weak as a baby, being put in prison by Prospero—he can endure it all if he can just look out his prison window and see Miranda once a day. |
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. 605 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 610 All points of my command. ARIEL To th’ syllable. PROSPERO, to Ferdinand Come follow. To Miranda. Speak not for him. They exit. | Prospero is pleased. He's glad to see the two falling in love, all according to his master plan. Prospero calls Ariel to do more work, and again promises the spirit will soon be free as the mountain winds in Pocahontas. |