A side-by-side translation of Act 2, Scene 1 of The Tempest from the original Shakespeare into modern English.
Original Text |
Translated Text |
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Source: Folger Shakespeare Library | |
Enter Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Gonzalo, Adrian, GONZALO, to Alonso | After washing up on the island, Gonzalo tells everyone that they can balance their sorrow with comfort—at least they've survived the terrible shipwreck. |
ALONSO Prithee, peace. 10 | The King, Alonso, tells Gonzalo to shut up. |
SEBASTIAN, aside to Antonio He receives comfort like ANTONIO The visitor will not give him o’er so. SEBASTIAN Look, he’s winding up the watch of his wit. | Sebastian and Antonio are amused by this exchange and the way Alonso so quickly dismissed Gonzalo. They know Gonzalo won't let it go, though—they can see him getting ready to argue his point. |
GONZALO, to Alonso Sir— SEBASTIAN One. Tell. GONZALO When every grief is entertained that’s offered, SEBASTIAN A dollar. 20 GONZALO Dolor comes to him indeed. You have spoken SEBASTIAN You have taken it wiselier than I meant you GONZALO, to Alonso Therefore, my lord— 25 ANTONIO Fie, what a spendthrift is he of his tongue. ALONSO, to Gonzalo I prithee, spare. GONZALO Well, I have done. But yet— | Gonzalo continues to press his point that they should be thankful for their survival and resist wallowing in their grief. All the while, Sebastian and Antonio interrupt and mock him, and Alonso again asks him to stop talking. Tough room. |
SEBASTIAN, aside to Antonio He will be talking. ANTONIO, aside to Sebastian Which, of he or Adrian, 30 SEBASTIAN The old cock. ANTONIO The cockerel. SEBASTIAN Done. The wager? ANTONIO A laughter. 35 SEBASTIAN A match! | Sebastian and Antonio amuse themselves by betting who will speak next: Gonzalo or Adrian. |
ADRIAN Though this island seem to be desert— ANTONIO Ha, ha, ha. SEBASTIAN So. You’re paid. | Antonio wins when Adrian pipes up to complain about the island. |
ADRIAN Uninhabitable and almost inaccessible— 40 SEBASTIAN Yet— ADRIAN Yet— ANTONIO He could not miss ’t. ADRIAN It must needs be of subtle, tender, and delicate ANTONIO Temperance was a delicate wench. SEBASTIAN Ay, and a subtle, as he most learnedly ADRIAN The air breathes upon us here most sweetly. SEBASTIAN As if it had lungs, and rotten ones. 50 ANTONIO Or as ’twere perfumed by a fen. GONZALO Here is everything advantageous to life. ANTONIO True, save means to live. SEBASTIAN Of that there’s none, or little. GONZALO How lush and lusty the grass looks! How 55 ANTONIO The ground indeed is tawny. SEBASTIAN With an eye of green in ’t. ANTONIO He misses not much. SEBASTIAN No, he doth but mistake the truth totally. 60 | Interestingly, different sets of people see entirely different things when they survey the island. Gonzalo sees thick, green grass while Antonio and Sebastian only see a nasty, uninhabitable place with brown vegetation and a stench in the air. Adrian comes down somewhere in the middle. He says that although the island seems uninhabitable, the air is sweet and fresh. (Reminds us of that parable about the blind men and the elephant.) |
GONZALO But the rarity of it is, which is indeed almost SEBASTIAN As many vouched rarities are. GONZALO That our garments, being, as they were, ANTONIO If but one of his pockets could speak, would SEBASTIAN Ay, or very falsely pocket up his report. 70 GONZALO Methinks our garments are now as fresh as SEBASTIAN ’Twas a sweet marriage, and we prosper 75 ADRIAN Tunis was never graced before with such a GONZALO Not since widow Dido’s time. ANTONIO Widow? A pox o’ that! How came that “widow” 80 SEBASTIAN What if he had said “widower Aeneas” too? ADRIAN, to Gonzalo “Widow Dido,” said you? You GONZALO This Tunis, sir, was Carthage. ADRIAN Carthage? GONZALO I assure you, Carthage. ANTONIO His word is more than the miraculous harp. 90 SEBASTIAN He hath raised the wall, and houses too. ANTONIO What impossible matter will he make easy SEBASTIAN I think he will carry this island home in his ANTONIO And sowing the kernels of it in the sea, bring GONZALO Ay. ANTONIO Why, in good time. | Gonzalo, the eternal optimist, notes their clothes are as fresh as the first time they were worn for the marriage of Alonso's daughter, Claribel, to the King of Tunis, which, of course, Antonio and Sebastian dispute...as they dispute pretty much everything Gonzalo says. Gonzalo takes their snarkiness in stride. |
GONZALO, to Alonso Sir, we were talking that our 100 ANTONIO And the rarest that e’er came there. SEBASTIAN Bate, I beseech you, widow Dido. 105 ANTONIO O, widow Dido? Ay, widow Dido. GONZALO, to Alonso Is not, sir, my doublet as fresh as ANTONIO That “sort” was well fished for. GONZALO, to Alonso When I wore it at your daughter’s 110 ALONSO | Gonzalo tries his "aren't our clothes cleaner than ever?" theory on Alonso, but the King won't hear it. He's full of grief and regrets that he married his daughter to a man in so far off a place. She's so far away he'll probably never see her again, and the voyage to marry her off has cost him his son, who's probably been eaten by a strange and exotic fish. |
FRANCISCO Sir, he may live. 120 ALONSO No, no, he’s gone. 130 | Francisco, an attendant lord, tries to reassure the King that Prince Ferdinand might still be alive, but the King won't hear any of this perky optimism. |
SEBASTIAN ALONSO Prithee, peace. SEBASTIAN ALONSO So is the dear’st o’ th’ loss. | Sebastian takes the opportunity to confirm that his brother, the King, needs a good kick in the teeth. As the King grieves his two lost children, Sebastian points out that the King's loss is his own fault; even though everyone harassed King Alonso about it, he chose to marry his daughter to a far-off African instead of a closer European. |
GONZALO My lord Sebastian, SEBASTIAN Very well. ANTONIO And most chirurgeonly. | Gonzalo gently tells Sebastian this is not the time for, "I told you sos." He's rubbing salt in the wound when he should be offering a band-aid. |
GONZALO, to Alonso SEBASTIAN Foul weather? 155 ANTONIO Very foul. GONZALO ANTONIO SEBASTIAN Or docks, or mallows. GONZALO SEBASTIAN Scape being drunk, for want of wine. GONZALO SEBASTIAN Yet he would be king on ’t. ANTONIO The latter end of his commonwealth forgets | Gonzalo changes the subject back to the island, which shows itself to him as beautiful. He says that if he were king of the island, there would be no trade in money—no politicians, no schools, no rich or poor, no slavery, no inheritance, no dividing up the land, no occupation of any kind—just idle, wholesome, idyllic men and women living happily. Brain Snack: Gonzalo's big speech is based on a famous passage from John Florio's 1603 translation of an essay called "Of Cannibals" by Montaigne. |
GONZALO SEBASTIAN No marrying ’mong his subjects? ANTONIO None, man, all idle: whores and knaves. GONZALO | Gonzalo's people would live off of the bounty of everything nature brings forth, and he announces he would govern to excel the Golden Age (according to classical mythology, this was the first of the "Ages of Man," when there was no violence, conflict, or injustice, and when nobody had to work for food or shelter). |
SEBASTIAN ’Save his Majesty! 185 ANTONIO GONZALO And do you mark me, sir? ALONSO GONZALO I do well believe your Highness, and did it to ANTONIO ’Twas you we laughed at. GONZALO Who in this kind of merry fooling am ANTONIO What a blow was there given! SEBASTIAN An it had not fallen flatlong. GONZALO You are gentlemen of brave mettle. You | Antonio and Sebastian make snide comments and the King tells everyone to pipe down, as they're all talking nonsense. Gonzalo agrees his words were foolish, but says he was only trying to give Sebastian and Antonio something to laugh at, since they love to poke fun at everything. They respond by poking fun at Gonzalo. Again. |
Enter Ariel invisible, playing solemn music. SEBASTIAN We would so, and then go a-batfowling. ANTONIO, to Gonzalo Nay, good my lord, be not angry. GONZALO No, I warrant you, I will not adventure my ANTONIO Go sleep, and hear us. All sink down asleep except Alonso, | Ariel enters playing a song, and everyone suddenly drifts off to sleep, lulled by the music, except for Alonso, Sebastian, and Antonio. |
ALONSO SEBASTIAN Please you, sir, ANTONIO We two, my lord, 215 ALONSO Thank you. Wondrous heavy. Alonso sleeps. Ariel exits. | Alonso says he, too, would like to go to sleep, and Antonio and Sebastian tell him to go for it. They'll keep watch over him while he rests. |
SEBASTIAN ANTONIO SEBASTIAN Why | Antonio and Sebastian are not at all sleepy, and they wonder what happened to make everyone else pass out so quickly. |
ANTONIO Nor I. My spirits are nimble. SEBASTIAN What, art thou waking? ANTONIO SEBASTIAN I do, and surely ANTONIO Noble Sebastian, 240 SEBASTIAN Thou dost snore distinctly. ANTONIO | Antonio, who we know took his brother's (Prospero's) dukedom through treachery, doesn't waste any time before implying that there's an opportunity here for Sebastian to get a crown, as in, become King. Sebastian can't quite believe what he's hearing and keeps asking Antonio if he's awake or just talking in his sleep, but Antonio insists he's both awake and serious. |
SEBASTIAN Well, I am standing water. ANTONIO SEBASTIAN Do so. To ebb 250 ANTONIO O, SEBASTIAN Prithee, say on. ANTONIO Thus, sir: SEBASTIAN I have no hope 270 | Sebastian says he's listening, but Antonio's going to have to spell it out for him, so Antonio does. He starts by telling Sebastian to stop joking around and take him seriously, and then asks if Sebastian has any hope that Ferdinand, his nephew and King Alonso's son, is alive. Sebastian admits he's sure Ferdinand has drowned. |
ANTONIO O, out of that no hope SEBASTIAN He’s gone. ANTONIO Then tell me, SEBASTIAN Claribel. ANTONIO SEBASTIAN What stuff is this? How say you? ANTONIO A space whose ev’ry cubit 295 SEBASTIAN | After firmly establishing that they both think Ferdinand is out of the picture, Antonio goes on to explain that the King's daughter, Claribel, lives too far away to rule the kingdom. He asks Sebastian if he's picking up what Antonio is laying down, and Sebastian says he thinks so. |
ANTONIO And how does your content SEBASTIAN I remember 310 ANTONIO True, SEBASTIAN But, for your conscience? ANTONIO | Sebastian quibbles a bit, and asks if Antonio's conscience doesn't bother him for stealing his brother's title. Antonio replies that he's led by practicality, not conscience. (Geesh. Who does Antonio think he is? Bad-brother Claudius from Hamlet?) |
SEBASTIAN Thy case, dear friend, ANTONIO Draw together, SEBASTIAN O, but one word. 340 They talk apart. | Sebastian comes around, and two plotters agree that if Antonio draws his sword to kill the King, Sebastian will draw on Gonzalo, and Sebastian's path to power will be clear. They unsheathe their swords, and Sebastian says, "Oh wait—one last thing." |
Enter Ariel, invisible, with music and song. ARIEL, to the sleeping Gonzalo ANTONIO, to Sebastian Then let us both be sudden. 350 | Ariel enters and whispers in Gonzalo's ear of their treachery. |
GONZALO, waking Now, good angels preserve the ALONSO, to Sebastian GONZALO, to Sebastian What’s the matter? 355 | Gonzalo wakes up and quickly wakes the King, too. Everyone rises to find Sebastian and Antonio with their swords drawn. |
SEBASTIAN ALONSO I heard nothing. 360 ANTONIO | Sebastian and Antonio claim they heard the howling of lions and only drew their swords to protect the King. |
ALONSO Heard you this, Gonzalo? GONZALO ALONSO GONZALO Heavens keep him from these beasts, ALONSO Lead away. 375 | King Alonso is freaked out by the possibility of lions and, not knowing Antonio and Sebastian's wicked plan, he suggests they all leave the place at once to see if they can find his son. |
ARIEL, aside They exit. | Ariel pledges to tattle to Prospero about Sebastian and Antonio's wickedness. Meanwhile, he will help the King safely seek the Prince. |