SCENE I. On a ship at sea; a tempestuous noise of thunder and lightning heard.
Enter aย Shipmasterย and aย Boatswainย severally.
MASTER.
Boatswain!
BOATSWAIN.
Here, master: what cheer?
MASTER.
Good! Speak to the mariners: fall to โt yarely, or we run ourselves aground: bestir, bestir.
[Exit.]
Enterย Mariners.
BOATSWAIN.
Heigh, my hearts! cheerly, cheerly, my hearts! yare, yare! Take in the topsail. Tend to thโ masterโs whistle. Blow till thou burst thy wind, if room enough.
Enterย Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Ferdinand, Gonzaloย and others.
ALONSO.
Good boatswain, have care. Whereโs the master?
Play the men.
BOATSWAIN.
I pray now, keep below.
ANTONIO.
Where is the master, boson?
BOATSWAIN.
Do you not hear him? You mar 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 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: 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 the hour, if it so hap.โCheerly, good hearts!โOut 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 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 hangโd, our case is miserable.
[Exeunt.]
Re-enterย Boatswain.
BOATSWAIN.
Down with the topmast! yare! lower, lower! Bring her to try wiโ thโ maincourse.
[A cry within.]
A plague upon this howling! They are louder than the weather or our office.
Enterย Sebastian, Antonioย andย Gonzalo.
Yet again! What do you here? Shall we give oโer, and drown? Have you a mind to sink?
SEBASTIAN.
A pox oโ your throat, you bawling, blasphemous, 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.
Iโll warrant him for drowning, though the ship were 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.
Enterย Mariners,ย wet.
MARINERS.
All lost! to prayers, to prayers! all lost!
[Exeunt.]
BOATSWAIN.
What, must our mouths be cold?
GONZALO.
The King and Prince at prayers! Letโs assist them,
For our case is as theirs.
SEBASTIAN.
I am out of patience.
ANTONIO.
We are merely cheated of our lives by drunkards.
This wide-chappโd rascalโwould thou mightโst lie drowning
The washing of ten tides!
GONZALO.
Heโll be hangโd yet,
Though every drop of water swear against it,
And gape at widโst to glut him.
A confused noise within:ย โMercy on us!โโ
โWe split, we split!โโโFarewell, my wife and children!โโ
โFarewell, brother!โโโWe split, we split, we split!โ
ANTONIO.
Letโs all sink wiโ thโ King.
[Exit.]
SEBASTIAN.
Letโs take leave of him.
[Exit.]
GONZALO.
Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of barren ground. Long heath, brown furze, anything. The wills above be done! but I would fain die a dry death.
[Exit.]
SCENE II. The Island. Before the cell of Prospero.
Enterย Prosperoย andย 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 thโ welkinโs cheek,
Dashes the fire out. O! I have suffered
With those that I saw suffer! A brave vessel,
Who had, no doubt, some noble creature in her,
Dashโd all to pieces. O, the cry did knock
Against my very heart. Poor souls, they perishโd.
Had I been any god of power, I would
Have sunk the sea within the earth, or ere
It should the good ship so have swallowโd and
The fraughting souls within her.
PROSPERO.
Be collected:
No more amazement: tell your piteous heart
Thereโs 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
Than Prospero, master of a full poor cell,
And thy no greater father.
MIRANDA.
More to know
Did never meddle with my thoughts.
PROSPERO.
โTis time
I should inform thee farther. Lend thy hand,
And pluck my magic garment from me.โSo:
[Lays down his mantle.]
Lie there my art. Wipe thou thine eyes; have comfort.
The direful spectacle of the wrack, which touchโd
The very virtue of compassion in thee,
I have with such provision in mine art
So safely ordered that there is no soulโ
No, not so much perdition as an hair
Betid to any creature in the vessel
Which thou heardโst cry, which thou sawโst sink. Sit down;
For thou must now know farther.
MIRANDA.
You have often
Begun to tell me what I am, but stoppโd,
And left me to a bootless inquisition,
Concluding โStay; not yet.โ
PROSPERO.
The hourโs 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
Out three years old.
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.
MIRANDA.
โTis 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
That this lives in thy mind? What seest thou else
In the dark backward and abysm of time?
If thou remembโrest aught ere thou camโst here,
How thou camโst 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 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.
MIRANDA.
O, the heavens!
What foul play had we that we came from thence?
Or blessed wasโt we did?
PROSPERO.
Both, both, my girl.
By foul play, as thou sayโst, were we heavโd thence;
But blessedly holp hither.
MIRANDA.
O, my heart bleeds
To think oโ thโ teen that I have turnโd you to,
Which is from my remembrance. Please you, farther.
PROSPERO.
My brother and thy uncle, callโd Antonioโ
I pray thee, mark me, that a brother should
Be so perfidious!โhe whom next thyself
Of all the world I lovโd, 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
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 uncleโ
Dost thou attend me?
MIRANDA.
Sir, most heedfully.
PROSPERO.
Being once perfected how to grant suits,
How to deny them, who tโ advance, and who
To trash for over-topping, new created
The creatures that were mine, I say, or changโd โem,
Or else new formโd โem: having both the key
Of officer and office, set all hearts iโ thโ state
To what tune pleasโd his ear: that now he was
The ivy which had hid my princely trunk,
And suckโd my verdure out on โt. Thou attendโst 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
With that which, but by being so retirโd,
Oโer-prizโd all popular rate, in my false brother
Awakโd an evil nature; and my trust,
Like a good parent, did beget of him
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
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 oโ the substitution,
And executing thโ outward face of royalty,
With all prerogative. Hence his ambition growingโ
Dost thou hear?
MIRANDA.
Your tale, sir, would cure deafness.
PROSPERO.
To have no screen between this part he playโd
And him he playโd it for, he needs will be
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, wiโ thโ King of Naples
To give him annual tribute, do him homage,
Subject his coronet to his crown, and bend
The dukedom, yet unbowโdโalas, poor Milan!โ
To most ignoble stooping.
MIRANDA.
O the heavens!
PROSPERO.
Mark his condition, and the event; then tell me
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.
This King of Naples, being an enemy
To me inveterate, hearkens my brotherโs suit;
Which was, that he, in lieu oโ thโ premises
Of homage and I know not how much tribute,
Should presently extirpate 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 thโ purpose, did Antonio open
The gates of Milan; and, iโ thโ dead of darkness,
The ministers for thโ purpose hurried thence
Me and thy crying self.
MIRANDA.
Alack, for pity!
I, not remembโring how I cried out then,
Will cry it oโer again: it is a hint
That wrings mine eyes to โt.
PROSPERO.
Hear a little further,
And then Iโll bring thee to the present business
Which nowโs upon us; without the which this story
Were most impertinent.
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
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 butt, not riggโd,
Nor tackle, sail, nor mast; the very rats
Instinctively have quit it. There they hoist us,
To cry to thโ sea, that roarโd to us; to sigh
To thโ winds, whose pity, sighing back again,
Did us but loving wrong.
MIRANDA.
Alack, what trouble
Was I then to you!
PROSPERO.
O, a cherubin
Thou wast that did preserve me. Thou didst smile,
Infused with a fortitude from heaven,
When I have deckโd the sea with drops full salt,
Under my burden groanโd: which raisโd in me
An undergoing stomach, to bear up
Against what should ensue.
MIRANDA.
How came we ashore?
PROSPERO.
By Providence divine.
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,
Which since have steaded much: so, of his gentleness,
Knowing I lovโd my books, he furnishโd me
From mine own library with volumes that
I prize above my dukedom.
MIRANDA.
Would I might
But ever see that man!
PROSPERO.
Now I arise.
Sit still, and hear the last of our sea-sorrow.
Here in this island we arrivโd; and here
Have I, thy schoolmaster, made thee more profit
Than other princes can, that have more time
For vainer hours, and tutors not so careful.
MIRANDA.
Heavens thank you for โt! And now, I pray you, sir,
For still โtis 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
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;
Thou art inclinโd to sleep; โtis a good dulness,
And give it way. I know thou canst not choose.
[Mirandaย sleeps.]
Come away, servant, come! I am ready now.
Approach, my Ariel. Come!
Enterย Ariel.
ARIEL.
All hail, great master! grave sir, hail! I come
To answer thy best pleasure; beโt to fly,
To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride
On the curlโd clouds, to thy strong bidding task
Ariel and all his quality.
PROSPERO.
Hast thou, spirit,
Performโd to point the tempest that I bade thee?
ARIEL.
To every article.
I boarded the Kingโs ship; now on the beak,
Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin,
I flamโd amazement; sometime Iโd divide,
And burn in many places; on the topmast,
The yards, and bowsprit, would I flame distinctly,
Then meet and join. Joveโs lightning, the precursors
Oโ thโ 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.
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 playโd
Some tricks of desperation. All but mariners
Plunged in the foaming brine and quit the vessel,
Then all afire with me: the Kingโs son, Ferdinand,
With hair up-staringโthen like reeds, not hairโ
Was the first man that leapt; cried โHell is empty,
And all the devils are here.โ
PROSPERO.
Why, thatโs my spirit!
But was not this nigh shore?
ARIEL.
Close by, my master.
PROSPERO.
But are they, Ariel, safe?
ARIEL.
Not a hair perishโd;
On their sustaining garments not a blemish,
But fresher than before: and, as thou badโst me,
In troops I have dispersโd them โbout the isle.
The Kingโs 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.
PROSPERO.
Of the Kingโs ship
The mariners, say how thou hast disposโd,
And all the rest oโ thโ fleet?
ARIEL.
Safely in harbour
Is the Kingโs ship; in the deep nook, where once
Thou callโdst me up at midnight to fetch dew
From the still-vexโd Bermoothes; there sheโs hid:
The mariners all under hatches stowed;
Who, with a charm joinโd to their suffโred labour,
I have left asleep: and for the rest oโ thโ fleet,
Which I dispersโd, they all have met again,
And are upon the Mediterranean flote
Bound sadly home for Naples,
Supposing that they saw the Kingโs ship wrackโd,
And his great person perish.
PROSPERO.
Ariel, thy charge
Exactly is performโd; but thereโs more work.
What is the time oโ thโ day?
ARIEL.
Past the mid season.
PROSPERO.
At least two glasses. The time โtwixt six and now
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 promisโd,
Which is not yet performโd me.
PROSPERO.
How now! moody?
What isโt thou canst demand?
ARIEL.
My liberty.
PROSPERO.
Before the time be out? No more!
ARIEL.
I prithee,
Remember I have done thee worthy service;
Told thee no lies, made no mistakings, servโd
Without or grudge or grumblings: thou didst promise
To bate me a full year.
PROSPERO.
Dost thou forget
From what a torment I did free thee?
ARIEL.
No.
PROSPERO.
Thou dost, and thinkโst 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 oโ thโ earth
When it is bakโd 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?
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,
Which thou forgetโst. This damnโd witch Sycorax,
For mischiefs manifold, and sorceries terrible
To enter human hearing, from Argier,
Thou knowโst, was banishโd: for one thing she did
They would not take her life. Is not this true?
ARIEL.
Ay, sir.
PROSPERO.
This blue-eyโd hag was hither brought with child,
And here was left by thโ sailors. Thou, my slave,
As thou reportโst thyself, wast then her servant;
And, for thou wast a spirit too delicate
To act her earthy and abhorrโd 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
Imprisonโd, 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 islandโ
Save for the son that she did litter here,
A frecklโd whelp, hag-bornโnot honourโd 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 knowโst
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 damnโd, which Sycorax
Could not again undo; it was mine art,
When I arrivโd and heard thee, that made gape
The pine, and let thee out.
ARIEL.
I thank thee, master.
PROSPERO.
If thou more murmurโst, I will rend an oak
And peg thee in his knotty entrails till
Thou hast howlโd away twelve winters.
ARIEL.
Pardon, master:
I will be correspondent to command,
And do my spriting gently.
PROSPERO.
Do so; and after two days
I will discharge thee.
ARIEL.
Thatโs my noble master!
What shall I do? Say what? What shall I do?
PROSPERO.
Go make thyself like a nymph oโ thโ sea. Be subject
To no sight but thine and mine; invisible
To every eyeball else. Go, take this shape,
And hither come in โt. Go, hence with diligence!
[Exitย Ariel.]
Awake, dear heart, awake! thou hast slept well;
Awake!
MIRANDA.
[Waking.] The strangeness of your story put
Heaviness in me.
PROSPERO.
Shake it off. Come on;
Weโll visit Caliban my slave, who never
Yields us kind answer.
MIRANDA.
โTis a villain, sir,
I do not love to look on.
PROSPERO.
But as โtis,
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.] Thereโs wood enough within.
PROSPERO.
Come forth, I say; thereโs other business for thee.
Come, thou tortoise! when?
Re-enterย Arielย like a water-nymph.
Fine apparition! My quaint Ariel,
Hark in thine ear.
ARIEL.
My lord, it shall be done.
[Exit.]
PROSPERO.
Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil himself
Upon thy wicked dam, come forth!
Enterย Caliban.
CALIBAN.
As wicked dew as eโer my mother brushโd
With ravenโs feather from unwholesome fen
Drop on you both! A south-west blow on ye,
And blister you all oโer!
PROSPERO.
For this, be sure, tonight thou shalt have cramps,
Side-stitches that shall pen thy breath up; urchins
Shall forth at vast of night that they may work
All exercise on thee. Thou shalt be pinchโd
As thick as honeycomb, each pinch more stinging
Than bees that made them.
CALIBAN.
I must eat my dinner.
This islandโs mine, by Sycorax my mother,
Which thou takโst from me. When thou camโst first,
Thou strokโst me and made much of me; wouldst give me
Water with berries in โt; and teach me how
To name the bigger light, and how the less,
That burn by day and night: and then I lovโd thee,
And showโd thee all the qualities oโ thโ isle,
The fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place, and fertile.
Cursโd 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
The rest oโ thโ island.
PROSPERO.
Thou most lying slave,
Whom stripes may move, not kindness! I have usโd thee,
Filth as thou art, with human care, and lodgโd thee
In mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate
The honour of my child.
CALIBAN.
Oh ho! Oh ho! Would โt had been done!
Thou didst prevent me; I had peopled else
This isle with Calibans.
PROSPERO.
Abhorred 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 hour
One thing or other: when thou didst not, savage,
Know thine own meaning, but wouldst gabble like
A thing most brutish, I endowโd thy purposes
With words that made them known. But thy vile race,
Though thou didst learn, had that in โt which good natures
Could not abide to be with; therefore wast thou
Deservedly confinโd into this rock,
Who hadst deservโd more than a prison.
CALIBAN.
You taught me language, and my profit on โt
Is, I know how to curse. The red plague rid you,
For learning me your language!
PROSPERO.
Hag-seed, hence!
Fetch us in fuel; and be quick, thou โrt best,
To answer other business. Shrugโst thou, malice?
If thou neglectโst, or dost unwillingly
What I command, Iโll rack thee with old cramps,
Fill all thy bones with aches, make thee roar,
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 damโs god, Setebos,
And make a vassal of him.
PROSPERO.
So, slave, hence!
[Exitย Caliban.]
Re-enterย Ariel,ย playing and singing;ย Ferdinandย following.
ARIELโS SONG.
Come unto these yellow sands,
And then take hands:
Curtsied when you have, and kissโd
The wild waves whist.
Foot it featly here and there,
And sweet sprites bear
The burden. Hark, hark!
Burden dispersedly.ย Bow-wow.
The watch dogs bark.
[Burden dispersedly.]ย Bow-wow.
Hark, hark! I hear
The strain of strutting chanticleer
Cry cock-a-diddle-dow.
FERDINAND.
Where should this music be? iโ thโ air or thโ earth?
It sounds no more; and sure it waits upon
Some god oโ thโ island. Sitting on a bank,
Weeping again the King my fatherโs wrack,
This music crept by me upon the waters,
Allaying both their fury and my passion
With its sweet air: thence I have followโd it,
Or it hath drawn me rather,โbut โtis gone.
No, it begins again.
ARIEL.
[Sings.]
Full fathom five thy father lies.
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.
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell:
Burden:ย Ding-dong.
Hark! now I hear them: ding-dong, bell.
FERDINAND.
The ditty does remember my drownโd father.
This is no mortal business, nor no sound
That the earth owes:โI hear it now above me.
PROSPERO.
The fringed curtains of thine eye advance,
And say what thou seest yond.
MIRANDA.
What isโt? a spirit?
Lord, how it looks about! Believe me, sir,
It carries a brave form. But โtis 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 wrack; and, but heโs something stainโd
With grief,โthatโs beautyโs canker,โthou mightst call him
A goodly person: he hath lost his fellows
And strays about to find โem.
MIRANDA.
I might call him
A thing divine; for nothing natural
I ever saw so noble.
PROSPERO.
[Aside.] It goes on, I see,
As my soul prompts it. Spirit, fine spirit! Iโll free thee
Within two days for this.
FERDINAND.
Most sure, the goddess
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!
If you be maid or no?
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 โtis 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;
And that he does I weep: myself am Naples,
Who with mine eyes, never since at ebb, beheld
The King my father wrackโd.
MIRANDA.
Alack, for mercy!
FERDINAND.
Yes, faith, and all his lords, the Duke of Milan,
And his brave son being twain.
PROSPERO.
[Aside.] The Duke of Milan
And his more braver daughter could control thee,
If now โtwere fit to doโt. At the first sight
They have changed eyes. Delicate Ariel,
Iโll 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 eโer I saw; the first
That eโer I sighโd for. Pity move my father
To be inclinโd my way!
FERDINAND.
O! if a virgin,
And your affection not gone forth, Iโll make you
The Queen of Naples.
PROSPERO.
Soft, sir; one word more.
[Aside.] They are both in eitherโs powers. But this swift business
I must uneasy make, lest too light winning
Make the prize light. [To Ferdinand.] One word more. I charge thee
That thou attend me. Thou dost here usurp
The name thou owโst not; and hast put thyself
Upon this island as a spy, to win it
From me, the lord on โt.
FERDINAND.
No, as I am a man.
MIRANDA.
Thereโs nothing ill can dwell in such a temple:
If the ill spirit have so fair a house,
Good things will strive to dwell with โt.
PROSPERO.
[To Ferdinand.] Follow me.โ
[To Miranda.] Speak not you for him; heโs a traitor.
[To Ferdinand.] Come;
Iโll manacle thy neck and feet together:
Sea-water shalt thou drink; thy food shall be
The fresh-brook mussels, witherโd roots, and husks
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.]
MIRANDA.
O dear father!
Make not too rash a trial of him, for
Heโs gentle, and not fearful.
PROSPERO.
What! I say,
My foot my tutor? Put thy sword up, traitor;
Who makโst a show, but darโst not strike, thy conscience
Is so possessโd with guilt: come from thy ward,
For I can here disarm thee with this stick
And make thy weapon drop.
MIRANDA.
Beseech you, father!
PROSPERO.
Hence! Hang not on my garments.
MIRANDA.
Sir, have pity;
Iโll be his surety.
PROSPERO.
Silence! One word more
Shall make me chide thee, if not hate thee. What!
An advocate for an impostor? hush!
Thou thinkโst there is no more such shapes as he,
Having seen but him and Caliban: foolish wench!
To thโ most of men this is a Caliban,
And they to him are angels.
MIRANDA.
My affections
Are then most humble; I have no ambition
To see a goodlier man.
PROSPERO.
[To Ferdinand.] Come on; obey:
Thy nerves are in their infancy again,
And have no vigour in them.
FERDINAND.
So they are:
My spirits, as in a dream, are all bound up.
My fatherโs loss, the weakness which I feel,
The wrack of all my friends, nor this manโs threats,
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 oโ thโ earth
Let liberty make use of; space enough
Have I in such a prison.
PROSPERO.
[Aside.] It works. [To Ferdinand.] Come on.
Thou hast done well, fine Ariel! [To Ferdinand.] Follow me.
[To Ariel.] Hark what thou else shalt do me.
MIRANDA.
Be of comfort;
My fatherโs of a better nature, sir,
Than he appears by speech: this is unwonted
Which now came from him.
PROSPERO.
Thou shalt be as free
As mountain winds; but then exactly do
All points of my command.
ARIEL.
To thโ syllable.
PROSPERO.
[To Ferdinand.] Come, follow. Speak not for him.
[Exeunt.]