Read The Tempest Online

Authors: William Shakespeare

The Tempest (4 page)

Line Numbers
are editorial, for reference and to key the explanatory and textual notes.

Explanatory Notes
explain allusions and gloss obsolete and difficult words, confusing phraseology, occasional major textual cruxes, and so on. Particular attention is given to non-standard usage, bawdy innuendo, and technical terms (e.g. legal and military language). Where more than one sense is given, commas indicate shades of related meaning, slashes alternative or double meanings.

Textual Notes
at the end of the play indicate major departures from the Folio. They take the following form: the reading of our text is given in bold and its source given after an equals sign, with “F2” indicating that it derives from the Second Folio of 1632 and “Ed” that it derives from the subsequent editorial tradition. The rejected Folio (“F”) reading is then given. Thus for Act 4 Scene 1 line 57: “
4.1.57 abstemious
= F2. F = abstenious.” This means that the Folio compositor erroneously printed the word “abstenious” and the Second Folio corrected it to “abstemious.”

KEY FACTS

MAJOR PARTS:
(
with percentage of lines/number of speeches/scenes on stage
) Prospero (30%/115/5), Ariel (9%/45/6), Caliban (8%/50/5), Stephano (7%/60/4), Gonzalo (7%/52/4), Sebastian (5%/67/4), Antonio (6%/57/4), Miranda (6%/49/4), Ferdinand (6%/31/4), Alonso (5%/40/4), Trinculo (4%/39/4).

LINGUISTIC MEDIUM:
80% verse, 20% prose.

DATE:
1611. Performed at court, 1 November 1611; uses source material not available before autumn 1610.

SOURCES:
No known source for main plot, but some details of the tempest and the island seem to derive from William Strachey,
A True Reportory of the Wreck and Redemption of Sir Thomas Gates, Knight
(written 1610, published in
Purchas his Pilgrims
, 1625) and perhaps Sylvester Jourdain,
A Discovery of the Bermudas
(1610) and the Virginia Company’s pamphlet
A True Declaration of the Estate of the Colony in Virginia
(1610); several allusions to Virgil’s
Aeneid
and Ovid’s
Metamorphoses
(most notably the imitation in Act 5 Scene 1 of Arthur Golding’s 1567 translation of Medea’s incantation in Ovid’s 7th book); Gonzalo’s “golden age” oration in Act 2 Scene 1 based closely on Michel de Montaigne’s essay “Of the Cannibals,” translated by John Florio (1603).

TEXT:
First Folio of 1623 is the only early printed text. Based on a transcript by Ralph Crane, professional scribe working for the King’s Men. Generally good quality of printing.

THE TEMPEST
LIST OF PARTS

PROSPERO
, the right Duke of Milan

MIRANDA
, his daughter

ALONSO
, King of Naples

SEBASTIAN
, his brother

ANTONIO
, Prospero’s brother, the usurping Duke of Milan

FERDINAND
, son to the King of Naples

GONZALO
, an honest old councillor

ADRIAN and FRANCISCO
, lords

TRINCULO
, a jester

STEPHANO
, a drunken butler

MASTER
, of a ship

BOATSWAIN MARINERS

CALIBAN
, a savage and deformed slave

ARIEL
, an airy spirit

Spirits commanded by Prospero playing roles of

IRIS

CERES

JUNO

NYMPHS

REAPERS

The Scene: an uninhabited island


Act 1 Scene 1

running scene 1

A tempestuous noise of thunder and lightning heard. Enter a Shipmaster and a
Boatswain

MASTER
    Boatswain!

BOATSWAIN
    Here, master. What
cheer?
2

MASTER
    
Good
: speak to th’mariners. Fall to’t
yarely
3
, or we

run ourselves aground!
Bestir
4
, bestir!

Exit

Enter Mariners

BOATSWAIN
    Heigh, my
hearts!
Cheerly
, cheerly, my hearts!
Yare
5
,

yare!
Take in the topsail.
Tend
to th’master’s whistle.—
Blow
6
,

till thou burst thy wind, if room enough.

To the storm

Enter Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Ferdinand, Gonzalo and others

ALONSO
    Good boatswain,
have
8
care. Where’s the master?

Play the
9
men.

BOATSWAIN
    I pray now, keep below.

ANTONIO
    Where is the master, boatswain?

BOATSWAIN
    Do you not hear him? You
mar
12
our labour. Keep

your cabins! You do assist the storm.

GONZALO
    Nay, good, be patient.

BOATSWAIN
    When the sea is.
Hence!
What cares these
roarers
15

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

counsellor
19
: if you can command these elements to silence,

and
work the peace of the present
, we will not
hand
20
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

To the Mariners

mischance of the hour, if it so
hap.
23
— Cheerly,

To the Courtiers

good hearts!— Out of our way, I say.

Exeunt [Boatswain with Mariners, followed by Alonso
,
Sebastian, Antonio and Ferdinand
]

GONZALO
    I have great comfort from this fellow: methinks
he
25

hath no drowning
mark
26
upon him: his complexion is perfect

gallows. Stand fast, good Fate, to his hanging: make the
rope
27

of his destiny our
cable
28
, for our own doth little advantage. If

he be not born to be hanged, our case is miserable.

Exit

Enter Boatswain

BOATSWAIN
    
Down with the topmast!
30
Yare! Lower, lower! Bring

her
to try with main course.
31
(A cry within)
A plague upon

this howling! They are louder than the weather or
our office.
32

Enter Sebastian, Antonio and Gonzalo

Yet again? What do you here? Shall we give
o’er
33
and drown?

Have you a mind to sink?

SEBASTIAN
    A
pox
35
o’your throat, you bawling, blasphemous,

incharitable dog!

BOATSWAIN
    Work you then.

ANTONIO
    Hang,
cur!
38
Hang, you whoreson, insolent noise-

maker! We are less afraid to be drowned than thou art.

GONZALO
    I’ll
warrant him for drowning
40
, though the ship were

no stronger than a nutshell and as leaky as an
unstanched
41

wench.

BOATSWAIN
    
Lay her ahold
, ahold!
Set her two courses off to
43
sea

again! Lay her off!

Enter Mariners, wet

MARINERS
    All lost! To prayers, to prayers! All lost!

BOATSWAIN
    What,
must our mouths be cold?
46

GONZALO
    The king and prince at prayers: let’s assist them, for

our case is as theirs.

SEBASTIAN
    I’m out of patience.

ANTONIO
    We are
merely
50
cheated of our lives by drunkards.

This
wide-chopped
51
rascal: would thou mightst lie drowning,

the washing of
ten tides!
52

GONZALO
    He’ll be
hanged yet
53
,

Though every drop of water swear against it

And gape
at wid’st
to
glut
55
him.

[Exeunt Boatswain and Mariners]

A confused noise within

[VOICES OFF-STAGE]
    Mercy on us! —
We split
56
, we split! —

Farewell, my wife and children! — Farewell, brother! — We

split, we split, we split!

ANTONIO
    Let’s all sink wi’th’king.

SEBASTIAN
    Let’s take leave of him.

Exeunt [Antonio and Sebastian]

GONZALO
    Now would I give a thousand
furlongs
61
of sea for an

acre
of barren ground:
long heath
,
brown furze
62
, anything.

The wills above be done! But I would
fain
63
die a dry death.

Exit

Act 1 Scene 2

running scene 2

Enter
Prospero
and
Miranda

MIRANDA
    If by your
art
1
, my dearest father, you have

Put the wild waters in this roar,
allay
2
them.

The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking
pitch
3
,

But that the sea, mounting to th’
welkin’s
4
cheek,

Dashes the
fire
5
out. O, I have suffered

With those that I saw suffer: a
brave
6
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

Have sunk the sea within the earth,
or ere
11

It should the good ship so have swallowed, and

The
fraughting souls
13
within her.

PROSPERO
    Be
collected
14
:

No more
amazement.
15
Tell your piteous heart

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

Art ignorant of what thou art: nought knowing

Of
whence I am
, nor that I am
more better
22

Than Prospero, master of a
full poor cell
23
,

And thy
no greater father.
24

MIRANDA
    
More to know
25

Did never
meddle with
26
my thoughts.

PROSPERO
    ’Tis time

I should inform thee further. Lend thy hand

And pluck my magic garment from me. So:

Lays down
his magic cloak

Lie there, my art. Wipe thou thine eyes, have comfort.

The direful spectacle of the wreck, which touched

The very virtue of compassion in thee,

I have with such
provision
33
in mine art

So safely ordered that there is no soul —

No, not so much
perdition
35
as an hair

Betid
36
to any creature in the vessel

Which thou heard’st cry, which thou saw’st sink. Sit down,

Miranda sits

For thou must now know further.

MIRANDA
    You have often

Begun to tell me what I am, but stopped

And left me to a
bootless inquisition
41
,

Concluding ‘Stay: not yet.’

PROSPERO
    The hour’s now come,

The very minute bids thee
ope
44
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

Out
48
three years old.

MIRANDA
    Certainly, sir, I can.

PROSPERO
    By what? By any other house or person?

Of any thing the image, tell me, that

Hath kept with thy remembrance.
52

MIRANDA
    ’Tis far off,

And rather like a dream than an
assurance
54

That my remembrance
warrants.
55
Had I not

Four or five women once that
tended
56
me?

PROSPERO
    Thou hadst; and more, Miranda. But how is it

That this lives in thy mind? What see’st thou else

In the dark
backward
and
abysm
59
of time?

If thou rememb’rest
aught
60
ere thou cam’st here,

How thou cam’st 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.

MIRANDA
    Sir, are not you my father?

PROSPERO
    Thy mother was a
piece
67
of virtue, and

She said thou wast my daughter; and thy father

Was Duke of Milan, and his only heir

And princess,
no worse issued.
70

MIRANDA
    O the heavens!

What foul play had we, that we came from thence?

Or
blessèd
73
wast we did?

PROSPERO
    Both, both, my girl.

By foul play — as thou say’st — were we heaved thence,

But blessedly
holp
76
hither.

MIRANDA
    O, my heart bleeds

To think
o’th’teen
that I have
turned you to
78
,

Which is
from
79
my remembrance. Please you, further.

PROSPERO
    My brother and thy uncle, called Antonio —

I pray thee,
mark
81
me — that a brother should

Be so
perfidious
82
— he whom next thyself

Of all the world I loved, and to him put

The
manage
84
of my state, as at that time

Through all the
signories
85
it was the first,

And Prospero the
prime
86
duke, being so reputed

In dignity, and for the
liberal arts
87

Without a parallel; those being all my study,

The government I cast upon my brother

And to my
state
grew
stranger
, being
transported
90

And rapt in secret studies. Thy false uncle —

Dost thou attend me?

MIRANDA
    Sir, most heedfully.

PROSPERO
    Being once
perfected
how to grant
suits
94
,

How to deny them, who t’advance and who

To
trash for over-topping
,
new created
96

The creatures that were mine, I say, or
changed ’em
97
,

Or else
new formed ’em
; having both the
key
98

Of officer and office, set all hearts i’th’state

To what tune pleased his ear,
that
100
now he was

The
ivy which had hid my princely trunk
101

And sucked my
verdure
102
out on’t.— Thou attend’st not.

MIRANDA
    O good sir, I do.

PROSPERO
    I pray thee, mark me:

I, thus neglecting
worldly ends
105
, all dedicated

To
closeness
106
and the bettering of my mind

With that, which
but
by being so
retired
107
,

O’er-prized all popular rate
108
, in my false brother

Awaked an evil nature, and my trust,

Like a
good parent
, did
beget of
110
him

A
falsehood in its contrary
111
, as great

As my trust was, which had indeed no limit,

A confidence
sans
bound. He being thus
lorded
113
,

Not only with what my revenue yielded,

But what my power might
else exact
: like
one
115

Who having
into
truth, by telling of
it
116
,

Made such a sinner of his memory

To credit his own lie, he did believe

He was indeed the duke,
out o’th’substitution
119

And executing
th’outward face
120
of royalty

With all prerogative: hence his ambition growing —

Dost thou hear?

MIRANDA
    Your tale, sir, would cure deafness.

PROSPERO
    To have no
screen
124
between this part he played,

And
him
125
he played it for, he needs will be

Absolute Milan.
126
Me — poor man — my library

Was dukedom large enough: of
temporal royalties
127

He thinks me now incapable.
Confederates
128

So
dry
he was for
sway
129
— wi’th’King of Naples

To give him annual
tribute
130
, do him homage,

Subject his coronet to his crown
131
, and bend

The dukedom
yet
132
unbowed — alas, poor Milan —

To most ignoble stooping.

MIRANDA
    O the heavens!

PROSPERO
    Mark his
condition
and th’
event
135
, then tell me

If this might be a brother.
136

MIRANDA
    I should sin

To think
but
138
nobly of my grandmother:

Good wombs have borne bad sons.

PROSPERO
    Now the condition.

This King of Naples, being an enemy

To me
inveterate
,
hearkens
142
my brother’s suit,

Which was, that
he
,
in lieu o’th’premises
143

Of homage, and I know not how much
tribute
144
,

Should
presently extirpate
145
me and mine

Out of the dukedom, and confer fair Milan,

With all the honours, 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
151

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
155

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.
160

MIRANDA
    Wherefore did they not

That hour destroy us?

PROSPERO
    Well demanded, wench:

My tale provokes that question. Dear, they
durst
164
not,

So dear the love my people bore me: nor set

A mark so bloody on the business: but

With colours fairer,
painted
167
their foul ends.

In
few
, they hurried us aboard a
barque
168
,

Bore us some leagues to sea, where they prepared

A rotten carcass of a
butt
170
, not rigged,

Nor tackle, sail, nor mast: the very rats

Instinctively have quit it. There they
hoist
172
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.
175

MIRANDA
    Alack, what trouble

Was I then to you!

PROSPERO
    O, a
cherubin
178

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
181
,

Under my burden groaned,
which
182
raised in me

An
undergoing stomach
183
, to bear up

Against what should ensue.

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