Open Source Shakespeare

The Tempest

Act I

Scene 1. On a ship at sea: a tempestuous noise

Scene 2. The island. Before PROSPERO’S cell.

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Act I, Scene 1

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, 5
    or we run ourselves aground: bestir, bestir.

[Exit]

[Enter Mariners]

  • Boatswain. Heigh, my hearts! cheerly, cheerly, my hearts!
    yare, yare! Take in the topsail. Tend to the 10
    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? 15
    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. 20
  • Gonzalo. 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 25
    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 30
    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 35
    perfect gallows. Stand fast, good Fate, to his
    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]
    A plague upon this howling! they are louder than 45
    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, 50
    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 55
    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. 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. 65
  • Antonio. We are merely cheated of our lives by drunkards:
    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 70
    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!'] 75
  • Antonio. 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 80
    thing. The wills above be done! but I would fain
    die a dry death.

[Exeunt]


       

Act I, Scene 2

The island. Before PROSPERO’S cell.

       

[Enter PROSPERO and MIRANDA]

  • Miranda. If by your art, my dearest father, you have 85
    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,
    Dashes the fire out. O, I have suffered
    With those that I saw suffer: a brave vessel, 90
    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.
    Had I been any god of power, I would
    Have sunk the sea within the earth or ere 95
    It should the good ship so have swallow'd and
    The fraughting souls within her.
  • Prospero. Be collected:
    No more amazement: tell your piteous heart
    There's no harm done. 100
  • 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
    Art ignorant of what thou art, nought knowing 105
    Of whence I am, nor that I am more better
    Than Prospero, master of a full poor cell,
    And thy no greater father.
  • Miranda. More to know
    Did never meddle with my thoughts. 110
  • Prospero. 'Tis time
    I should inform thee farther. Lend thy hand,
    And pluck my magic garment from me. So:
    [Lays down his mantle]
    Lie there, my art. Wipe thou thine eyes; have comfort. 115
    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—
    No, not so much perdition as an hair 120
    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
    Begun to tell me what I am, but stopp'd 125
    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;
    Obey and be attentive. Canst thou remember 130
    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. By what? by any other house or person? 135
    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
    That my remembrance warrants. Had I not 140
    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?
    If thou remember'st aught ere thou camest here, 145
    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
    A prince of power. 150
  • 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
    And princess no worse issued. 155
  • 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:
    By foul play, as thou say'st, were we heaved thence, 160
    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. My brother and thy uncle, call'd Antonio— 165
    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
    Through all the signories it was the first 170
    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
    And to my state grew stranger, being transported 175
    And rapt in secret studies. Thy false uncle—
    Dost thou attend me?
  • Miranda. Sir, most heedfully.
  • Prospero. Being once perfected how to grant suits,
    How to deny them, who to advance and who 180
    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
    To what tune pleased his ear; that now he was 185
    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.
    I, thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicated 190
    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,
    Like a good parent, did beget of him 195
    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,
    But what my power might else exact, like one 200
    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
    And executing the outward face of royalty, 205
    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
    And him he play'd it for, he needs will be 210
    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
    To give him annual tribute, do him homage, 215
    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. Mark his condition and the event; then tell me 220
    If this might be a brother.
  • Miranda. I should sin
    To think but nobly of my grandmother:
    Good wombs have borne bad sons.
  • Prospero. Now the condition. 225
    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,
    Should presently extirpate me and mine 230
    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
    The gates of Milan, and, i' the dead of darkness, 235
    The ministers for the purpose hurried thence
    Me and thy crying self.
  • Miranda. Alack, for pity!
    I, not remembering how I cried out then,
    Will cry it o'er again: it is a hint 240
    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
    Were most impertinent. 245
  • Miranda. Wherefore did they not
    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 250
    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
    A rotten carcass of a boat, not rigg'd, 255
    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,
    Did us but loving wrong. 260
  • Miranda. Alack, what trouble
    Was I then to you!
  • Prospero. O, a cherubim
    Thou wast that did preserve me. Thou didst smile.
    Infused with a fortitude from heaven, 265
    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. How came we ashore? 270
  • Prospero. By Providence divine.
    Some food we had and some fresh water that
    A noble Neapolitan, Gonzalo,
    Out of his charity, being then appointed
    Master of this design, did give us, with 275
    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
    I prize above my dukedom. 280
  • 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. 285
    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, 290
    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 295
    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: 300
    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. 305

[Enter ARIEL]

  • Ariel. All hail, great master! grave sir, hail! I come
    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 310
    Ariel and all his quality.
  • Prospero. Hast thou, spirit,
    Perform'd to point the tempest that I bade thee?
  • Ariel. To every article.
    I boarded the king's ship; now on the beak, 315
    Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin,
    I flamed amazement: sometime I'ld divide,
    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 320
    O' the dreadful thunder-claps, more momentary
    And sight-outrunning were not; the fire and cracks
    Of sulphurous roaring the most mighty Neptune
    Seem to besiege and make his bold waves tremble,
    Yea, his dread trident shake. 325
  • Prospero. My brave spirit!
    Who was so firm, so constant, that this coil
    Would not infect his reason?
  • Ariel. Not a soul
    But felt a fever of the mad and play'd 330
    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,
    With hair up-staring,—then like reeds, not hair,—
    Was the first man that leap'd; cried, 'Hell is empty 335
    And all the devils are here.'
  • Prospero. Why that's my spirit!
    But was not this nigh shore?
  • Ariel. Close by, my master.
  • Prospero. But are they, Ariel, safe? 340
  • Ariel. Not a hair perish'd;
    On their sustaining garments not a blemish,
    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; 345
    Whom I left cooling of the air with sighs
    In an odd angle of the isle and sitting,
    His arms in this sad knot.
  • Prospero. Of the king's ship
    The mariners say how thou hast disposed 350
    And all the rest o' the fleet.
  • Ariel. Safely in harbour
    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: 355
    The mariners all under hatches stow'd;
    Who, with a charm join'd to their suffer'd labour,
    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, 360
    Bound sadly home for Naples,
    Supposing that they saw the king's ship wreck'd
    And his great person perish.
  • Prospero. Ariel, thy charge
    Exactly is perform'd: but there's more work. 365
    What is the time o' the day?
  • Ariel. Past the mid season.
  • Prospero. 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, 370
    Let me remember thee what thou hast promised,
    Which is not yet perform'd me.
  • Prospero. How now? moody?
    What is't thou canst demand?
  • Ariel. My liberty. 375
  • Prospero. Before the time be out? no more!
  • Ariel. I prithee,
    Remember I have done thee worthy service;
    Told thee no lies, made thee no mistakings, served
    Without or grudge or grumblings: thou didst promise 380
    To bate me a full year.
  • Prospero. Dost thou forget
    From what a torment I did free thee?
  • Ariel. No.
  • Prospero. Thou dost, and think'st it much to tread the ooze 385
    Of the salt deep,
    To run upon the sharp wind of the north,
    To do me business in the veins o' the earth
    When it is baked with frost.
  • Ariel. I do not, sir. 390
  • 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?
  • Ariel. No, sir.
  • Prospero. Thou hast. Where was she born? speak; tell me. 395
  • Ariel. Sir, in Argier.
  • Prospero. O, was she so? I must
    Once in a month recount what thou hast been,
    Which thou forget'st. This damn'd witch Sycorax,
    For mischiefs manifold and sorceries terrible 400
    To enter human hearing, from Argier,
    Thou know'st, was banish'd: for one thing she did
    They would not take her life. Is not this true?
  • Ariel. Ay, sir.
  • Prospero. This blue-eyed hag was hither brought with child 405
    And here was left by the sailors. Thou, my slave,
    As thou report'st thyself, wast then her servant;
    And, for thou wast a spirit too delicate
    To act her earthy and abhorr'd commands,
    Refusing her grand hests, she did confine thee, 410
    By help of her more potent ministers
    And in her most unmitigable rage,
    Into a cloven pine; within which rift
    Imprison'd thou didst painfully remain
    A dozen years; within which space she died 415
    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,
    A freckled whelp hag-born—not honour'd with
    A human shape. 420
  • Ariel. Yes, Caliban her son.
  • Prospero. Dull thing, I say so; he, that Caliban
    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 425
    Of ever angry bears: it was a torment
    To lay upon the damn'd, which Sycorax
    Could not again undo: it was mine art,
    When I arrived and heard thee, that made gape
    The pine and let thee out. 430
  • Ariel. I thank thee, master.
  • Prospero. If thou more murmur'st, I will rend an oak
    And peg thee in his knotty entrails till
    Thou hast howl'd away twelve winters.
  • Ariel. Pardon, master; 435
    I will be correspondent to command
    And do my spiriting gently.
  • Prospero. Do so, and after two days
    I will discharge thee.
  • Ariel. That's my noble master! 440
    What shall I do? say what; what shall I do?
  • Prospero. Go make thyself like a nymph o' the sea: be subject
    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! 445
    [Exit ARIEL]
    Awake, dear heart, awake! thou hast slept well; Awake!
  • Miranda. The strangeness of your story put
    Heaviness in me.
  • Prospero. Shake it off. Come on; 450
    We'll visit Caliban my slave, who never
    Yields us kind answer.
  • Miranda. 'Tis a villain, sir,
    I do not love to look on.
  • Prospero. But, as 'tis, 455
    We cannot miss him: he does make our fire,
    Fetch in our wood and serves in offices
    That profit us. What, ho! slave! Caliban!
    Thou earth, thou! speak.
  • Caliban. [Within] There's wood enough within. 460
  • 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,
    Hark in thine ear. 465
  • 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
    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, 475
    Side-stitches that shall pen thy breath up; urchins
    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. 480
  • Caliban. I must eat my dinner.
    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 485
    To name the bigger light, and how the less,
    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 490
    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
    The rest o' the island. 495
  • Prospero. Thou most lying slave,
    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. 500
  • Caliban. O ho, O ho! would't had been done!
    Thou didst prevent me; I had peopled else
    This isle with Calibans.
  • Miranda. Abhorred slave,
    Which any print of goodness wilt not take, 505
    Being capable of all ill! I pitied thee,
    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 510
    With words that made them known. But thy vile 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, 515
    Who hadst deserved more than a prison.
  • 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. Hag-seed, hence! 520
    Fetch us in fuel; and be quick, thou'rt best,
    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 525
    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, 530
    and make a vassal of him.
  • Prospero. So, slave; hence!
    [Exit CALIBAN]
    [Re-enter ARIEL, invisible, playing and singing;]
    FERDINAND following] 535
    ARIEL'S song.
    Come unto these yellow sands,
    And then take hands:
    Courtsied when you have and kiss'd
    The wild waves whist, 540
    Foot it featly here and there;
    And, sweet sprites, the burthen bear.
    Hark, hark!
    [Burthen [dispersedly, within] Bow-wow]
    The watch-dogs bark! 545
    [Burthen Bow-wow]
    Hark, hark! I hear
    The strain of strutting chanticleer
    Cry, Cock-a-diddle-dow.
  • Ferdinand. Where should this music be? i' the air or the earth? 550
    It sounds no more: and sure, it waits upon
    Some god o' the island. Sitting on a bank,
    Weeping again the king my father's wreck,
    This music crept by me upon the waters,
    Allaying both their fury and my passion 555
    With its sweet air: thence I have follow'd it,
    Or it hath drawn me rather. But 'tis gone.
    No, it begins again.
    [ARIEL sings]
    Full fathom five thy father lies; 560
    Of his bones are coral made;
    Those are pearls that were his eyes:
    Nothing of him that doth fade
    But doth suffer a sea-change
    Into something rich and strange. 565
    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.
    This is no mortal business, nor no sound 570
    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?
    Lord, how it looks about! Believe me, sir, 575
    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
    With grief that's beauty's canker, thou mightst call him 580
    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. 585
  • 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
    On whom these airs attend! Vouchsafe my prayer 590
    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!
    If you be maid or no? 595
  • Miranda. No wonder, sir;
    But certainly a maid.
  • Ferdinand. My language! heavens!
    I am the best of them that speak this speech,
    Were I but where 'tis spoken. 600
  • 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;
    And that he does I weep: myself am Naples, 605
    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
    And his brave son being twain. 610
  • 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,
    I'll set thee free for this. 615
    [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 620
    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. 625
  • 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. 630
    [To FERDINAND]
    One word more; I charge thee
    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 635
    From me, the lord on't.
  • 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. 640
  • Prospero. Follow me.
    Speak not you for him; he's a traitor. Come;
    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 645
    Wherein the acorn cradled. Follow.
  • Ferdinand. No;
    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. What? I say,
    My foot my tutor? Put thy sword up, traitor; 655
    Who makest a show but darest not strike, thy conscience
    Is so possess'd with guilt: come from thy ward,
    For I can here disarm thee with this stick
    And make thy weapon drop.
  • Miranda. Beseech you, father. 660
  • 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! 665
    An advocate for an imposter! hush!
    Thou think'st there is no more such shapes as he,
    Having seen but him and Caliban: foolish wench!
    To the most of men this is a Caliban
    And they to him are angels. 670
  • Miranda. My affections
    Are then most humble; I have no ambition
    To see a goodlier man.
  • Prospero. Come on; obey:
    Thy nerves are in their infancy again 675
    And have no vigour 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 wreck of all my friends, nor this man's threats, 680
    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' the earth
    Let liberty make use of; space enough
    Have I in such a prison. 685
  • Prospero. [Aside] It works.
    [To FERDINAND]
    Come on.
    Thou hast done well, fine Ariel!
    [To FERDINAND] 690
    Follow me.
    [To ARIEL]
    Hark what thou else shalt do me.
  • Miranda. Be of comfort;
    My father's of a better nature, sir, 695
    Than he appears by speech: this is unwonted
    Which now came from him.
  • Prospero. Thou shalt be free
    As mountain winds: but then exactly do
    All points of my command. 700
  • Ariel. To the syllable.
  • Prospero. Come, follow. Speak not for him.

[Exeunt]