The Tempest (14 page)

PROSPERO
    Ye elves of hills, brooks,
standing
³⁸
lakes and groves,

And ye that on the sands
with printless foot
³⁹

Do chase the ebbing Neptune, and do
fly
⁴⁰
him

When he comes back: you
demi-puppets
⁴¹
that

By moonshine do the green
sour ringlets
⁴²
make,

Whereof the
ewe not bites
⁴³
: and you whose pastime

Is to make
midnight mushrooms
⁴⁴
, that rejoice

To hear the
solemn curfew
⁴⁵
, by whose aid —

Weak
masters
though ye be — I have
bedimmed
⁴⁶

The noontide sun, called forth the mutinous winds,

And ’twixt the green sea and the
azured vault
⁴⁸

Set
roaring war
⁴⁹
: to the dread rattling thunder

Have I given
fire
, and
rifted
Jove’s stout
oak
⁵⁰

With his own bolt: the
strong-based promontory
⁵¹

Have I made shake and by the
spurs
⁵²
plucked up

The pine and cedar. Graves at my command

Have waked their sleepers,
oped
⁵⁴
, and let ’em forth

By my so potent art. But this
rough
⁵⁵
magic

Prospero traces a
circle with his staff

I here
abjure
: and when I have
required
⁵⁶

Some heavenly music — which even now I do —

To work mine
end
⁵⁸
upon their senses that

This airy charm is for, I’ll break my staff,

Bury it
certain
fathoms
⁶⁰
in the earth,

And deeper than did ever
plummet
sound
⁶¹

I’ll drown my book.

A solemn
air
⁶³
, and the best comforter

To an unsettled
fancy
⁶⁴
, cure thy brains,

Now useless,
boil
⁶⁵
within thy skull!— There stand,

For you are
spell-stopped.
⁶⁶

Holy Gonzalo, honourable man,

Mine eyes, ev’n
sociable
to the
show
⁶⁸
of thine,

Fall fellowly
drops.— The charm dissolves
apace
⁶⁹
,

And as the morning steals upon the night,

Melting the darkness, so their
rising
⁷¹
senses

Begin to chase the
ignorant
fumes that
mantle
⁷²

Their clearer reason.— O good Gonzalo,

My
true
⁷⁴
preserver, and a loyal sir

To him thou
follow’st
, I will
pay thy graces
⁷⁵

Home both in word and deed.— Most cruelly

Didst thou, Alonso, use me and my daughter:

Thy brother was a
furtherer
⁷⁸
in the act.—

Thou art pinched for’t now, Sebastian.— Flesh and blood,

You, brother mine, that
entertain
⁸⁰
ambition,

Expelled
remorse and nature
⁸¹
: whom, with Sebastian —

Whose
inward pinches
⁸²
therefore are most strong —

Would here have killed your king: I do forgive thee,

Unnatural though thou art. Their understanding

Begins to swell, and
the approaching tide
⁸⁵

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
⁸⁹
in my cell:

I will
discase
⁹⁰
me, and myself present

As I was sometime Milan.
⁹¹
Quickly, spirit:

Thou shalt ere long be free.

ARIEL
    Where the bee sucks, there suck I:

       In a
cowslip’s bell
⁹⁴
I lie:

       There I
couch
⁹⁵
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
    Why, that’s my dainty Ariel. I shall miss

Thee: but yet thou shalt have freedom. So, so, so.

Arranges
his attire

To the king’s ship, invisible as thou art:

There shalt thou find the mariners asleep

Under the hatches: the master and the boatswain

Being awake,
enforce
¹⁰⁵
them to this place;

And
presently
¹⁰⁶
, I prithee.

ARIEL
    I
drink the air
¹⁰⁷
before me, and return

Or ere
¹⁰⁸
your pulse twice beat.

GONZALO
    All torment, trouble, wonder, and amazement

Inhabits here: some heavenly power guide us

Out of this
fearful
¹¹¹
country!

PROSPERO
    Behold, sir king,

The wrongèd Duke of Milan, Prospero:

For more assurance that a living prince

Does now speak to thee, I embrace thy body,

And to thee and thy company, I bid

Embraces him

A hearty welcome.

ALONSO
    Whether thou be’st he or no,

Or some enchanted
trifle
to
abuse
¹¹⁹
me —

As late I have been — I not know: thy pulse

Beats as of flesh and blood: and since I saw thee

Th’affliction of my mind
amends
¹²²
, with which

I fear a madness held me: this must crave —

An if this
be at all
¹²⁴
— a most strange story.

Thy dukedom I resign
¹²⁵
, and do entreat

Thou pardon me my wrongs. But how should Prospero

Be living and be here?

PROSPERO
    First, noble friend,

To Gonzalo

Let me embrace thine age, whose honour cannot

Be measured or confined.

GONZALO
    Whether this
be
¹³¹

Or be not, I’ll not swear.

PROSPERO
    You do yet taste

Some
subtleties
¹³⁴
o’th’isle, that will not let you

Believe things certain. Welcome, my friends all.—

But you, my
brace
¹³⁶
of lords, were I so minded,

I here could pluck his highness’ frown upon you,

And justify
you
¹³⁸
traitors: at this time,

I will tell no tales.

SEBASTIAN
    The devil speaks in him.

PROSPERO
    No.—

For you, most wicked sir, whom to call brother

To Antonio

Would even infect my mouth, I do forgive

Thy
rankest
¹⁴⁴
fault — all of them — and require

My dukedom of thee, which
perforce
¹⁴⁵
I know

Thou must restore.

ALONSO
    If thou be’st Prospero,

Give us particulars of thy preservation:

How thou hast met us here, whom three hours since

Were wrecked upon this shore? Where I have lost —

How sharp the point of this remembrance is —

My dear son Ferdinand.

PROSPERO
    I am
woe
¹⁵³
for’t, sir.

ALONSO
    Irreparable is the loss, and Patience

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
¹⁵⁸
aid,

And rest myself
content.
¹⁵⁹

ALONSO
    You the like loss?

PROSPERO
    As great to me
as late
, and
supportable
¹⁶¹

To make the dear loss have I means much weaker

Than you may call to comfort you: for I

Have lost my daughter.

ALONSO
    A daughter?

O heavens, that they were living both in Naples,

The king and queen there!
That
¹⁶⁷
they were, I wish

Myself were mudded in that oozy bed

Where my son lies. When did you lose your daughter?

PROSPERO
    In this last tempest. I perceive these lords

At this encounter
do so much admire
¹⁷¹

That they
devour their reason
and scarce
think
¹⁷²

Their eyes do offices of truth:
their words
¹⁷³

Are natural breath. But, howsoe’er you have

Been
justled
¹⁷⁵
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 wrecked, was landed

To be the lord
on’t.
¹⁷⁹
No more yet of this,

For ’tis a
chronicle of day by day
¹⁸⁰
,

Not a
relation
¹⁸¹
for a breakfast, nor

Befitting this first meeting. Welcome, sir:

This cell’s my court: here have I few attendants,

And subjects none
abroad
¹⁸⁴
: pray you look in.

My dukedom since you have given me again,

I will
requite
¹⁸⁶
you with as good a thing,

At least bring forth a
wonder
¹⁸⁷
, to content ye

As much as me my dukedom.

MIRANDA
    Sweet lord, you
play me false.
¹⁸⁹

FERDINAND
    No, my dearest love,

I would not for the world.

MIRANDA
    Yes, for
a score
of kingdoms you should
wrangle
¹⁹²
,

And I would call it fair play.

ALONSO
    If this prove

A vision of the island, one dear son

Shall I twice lose.

SEBASTIAN
    A most high
miracle.
¹⁹⁷

FERDINAND
    Though the seas threaten, they are merciful:

I have cursed them without cause.

Kneels

ALONSO
    Now all the blessings

Of a glad father
compass
²⁰¹
thee about.

Arise, and say how thou cam’st here.

MIRANDA
    O wonder!

How many
goodly
²⁰⁴
creatures are there here!

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?

To Ferdinand

Your
eld’st
²⁰⁹
acquaintance cannot be three hours:

Is she the goddess that hath severed 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

For his advice, nor thought I had
one.
²¹⁵
She

Is daughter to this famous Duke of Milan,

Of whom so often I have heard
renown
²¹⁷
,

But never saw before: of whom I have

Received a second life: and second father

This lady makes him to me.

ALONSO
    I am
hers.
²²¹

But, O, how oddly will it sound that I

Must ask my child forgiveness.

PROSPERO
    There sir, stop:

Let us not burden our remembrances with

A
heaviness
²²⁶
that’s gone.

GONZALO
    I have
inly
²²⁷
wept,

Or should have spoke ere this. Look down you gods,

And on this couple drop a blessèd crown.

For it is you that have
chalked forth
²³⁰
the way

Which brought us hither.

ALONSO
    I say amen, Gonzalo.

GONZALO
    Was
Milan thrust from Milan
²³³
that his issue

Should become kings of Naples? O, rejoice

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

In a poor isle, and all of us our selves

When no man was his own.