| ACT V SCENE I | Before PROSPERO'S cell. | |
| [Enter PROSPERO in his magic robes, and ARIEL] |
| PROSPERO | Now does my project gather to a head: |
| My charms crack not; my spirits obey; and time |
| Goes upright with his carriage. How's the day? |
| ARIEL | On the sixth hour; at which time, my lord, |
| You said our work should cease. | 5 |
| PROSPERO | I did say so, |
| When first I raised the tempest. Say, my spirit, |
| How fares the king and's followers? |
| ARIEL | Confined together |
| In the same fashion as you gave in charge, | 10 |
| Just as you left them; all prisoners, sir, |
| In the line-grove which weather-fends your cell; |
| They cannot budge till your release. The king, |
| His brother and yours, abide all three distracted |
| And the remainder mourning over them, | 15 |
| Brimful of sorrow and dismay; but chiefly |
| Him that you term'd, sir, 'The good old lord Gonzalo;' |
| His tears run down his beard, like winter's drops |
| From eaves of reeds. Your charm so strongly works 'em |
| That if you now beheld them, your affections | 20 |
| Would become tender. |
| PROSPERO | Dost thou think so, spirit? |
| ARIEL | Mine would, sir, were I human. |
| PROSPERO | And mine shall. |
| Hast thou, which art but air, a touch, a feeling | 25 |
| Of their afflictions, and shall not myself, |
| One of their kind, that relish all as sharply, |
| Passion as they, be kindlier moved than thou art? |
| Though with their high wrongs I am struck to the quick, |
| Yet with my nobler reason 'gaitist my fury | 30 |
| Do I take part: the rarer action is |
| In virtue than in vengeance: they being penitent, |
| The sole drift of my purpose doth extend |
| Not a frown further. Go release them, Ariel: |
| My charms I'll break, their senses I'll restore, | 35 |
| And they shall be themselves. |
| ARIEL | I'll fetch them, sir. |
| [Exit] |
| PROSPERO | Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes and groves, |
| And ye that on the sands with printless foot |
| Do chase the ebbing Neptune and do fly him | 40 |
| When he comes back; you demi-puppets that |
| By moonshine do the green sour ringlets make, |
| Whereof the ewe not bites, and you whose pastime |
| Is to make midnight mushrooms, that rejoice |
| To hear the solemn curfew; by whose aid, | 45 |
| Weak masters though ye be, I have bedimm'd |
| The noontide sun, call'd forth the mutinous winds, |
| And 'twixt the green sea and the azured vault |
| Set roaring war: to the dread rattling thunder |
| Have I given fire and rifted Jove's stout oak | 50 |
| With his own bolt; the strong-based promontory |
| Have I made shake and by the spurs pluck'd up |
| The pine and cedar: graves at my command |
| Have waked their sleepers, oped, and let 'em forth |
| By my so potent art. But this rough magic | 55 |
| I here abjure, and, when I have required |
| Some heavenly music, which even now I do, |
| To work mine end upon their senses that |
| This airy charm is for, I'll break my staff, |
| Bury it certain fathoms in the earth, | 60 |
| And deeper than did ever plummet sound |
| I'll drown my book. |
[Solemn music] |
[
Re-enter ARIEL before: then ALONSO, with a
frantic gesture, attended by GONZALO;
SEBASTIAN and ANTONIO in like manner,
attended by ADRIAN and FRANCISCO they all
enter the circle which PROSPERO had made,
and there stand charmed; which PROSPERO
observing, speaks:
] |
| A solemn air and the best comforter |
| To an unsettled fancy cure thy brains, |
| Now useless, boil'd within thy skull! There stand, | 65 |
| For you are spell-stopp'd. |
| Holy Gonzalo, honourable man, |
| Mine eyes, even sociable to the show of thine, |
| Fall fellowly drops. The charm dissolves apace, |
| And as the morning steals upon the night, | 70 |
| Melting the darkness, so their rising senses |
| Begin to chase the ignorant fumes that mantle |
| Their clearer reason. O good Gonzalo, |
| My true preserver, and a loyal sir
|
| To him you 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 in the act. |
| Thou art pinch'd fort now, Sebastian. Flesh and blood, |
| You, brother mine, that entertain'd ambition, | 80 |
| Expell'd remorse and nature; who, with Sebastian, |
| Whose inward pinches therefore are most strong, |
| Would here have kill'd 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 in my cell: |
| I will discase me, and myself present | 90 |
| As I was sometime Milan: quickly, spirit; |
| Thou shalt ere long be free. |
[ARIEL sings and helps to attire him] |
| Where the bee sucks. there suck I: |
| In a cowslip's bell I lie; |
| There I couch when owls do cry. | 95 |
| 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: | 100 |
| But yet thou shalt have freedom: so, so, so. |
| 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 them to this place, | 105 |
| And presently, I prithee. |
| ARIEL | I drink the air before me, and return |
| Or ere your pulse twice beat. |
| [Exit] |
| GONZALO | All torment, trouble, wonder and amazement |
| Inhabits here: some heavenly power guide us | 110 |
| Out of this fearful country! |
| PROSPERO | Behold, sir king, |
| The wronged Duke of Milan, Prospero: |
| For more assurance that a living prince |
| Does now speak to thee, I embrace thy body; | 115 |
| And to thee and thy company I bid |
| A hearty welcome. |
| ALONSO | Whether thou best he or no, |
| Or some enchanted trifle to abuse me, |
| As late I have been, I not know: thy pulse | 120 |
| Beats as of flesh and blood; and, since I saw thee, |
| The affliction of my mind amends, with which, |
| I fear, a madness held me: this must crave, |
| An if this be at all, a most strange story. |
| Thy dukedom I resign and do entreat | 125 |
| Thou pardon me my wrongs. But how should Prospero |
| Be living and be here? |
| PROSPERO | First, noble friend, |
| Let me embrace thine age, whose honour cannot |
| Be measured or confined. | 130 |
| GONZALO | Whether this be |
| Or be not, I'll not swear. |
| PROSPERO | You do yet taste |
| Some subtilties o' the isle, that will not let you |
| Believe things certain. Welcome, my friends all! | 135 |
[Aside to SEBASTIAN and ANTONIO] |
| But you, my brace of lords, were I so minded, |
| I here could pluck his highness' frown upon you |
| And justify you traitors: at this time |
| I will tell no tales. |
| SEBASTIAN | [Aside] The devil speaks in him.
| 140 |
| PROSPERO | No. |
| For you, most wicked sir, whom to call brother |
| Would even infect my mouth, I do forgive |
| Thy rankest fault; all of them; and require |
| My dukedom of thee, which perforce, I know, | 145 |
| Thou must restore. |
| ALONSO | If thou be'st Prospero, |
| Give us particulars of thy preservation; |
| How thou hast met us here, who three hours since |
| Were wreck'd upon this shore; where I have lost-- | 150 |
| How sharp the point of this remembrance is!-- |
| My dear son Ferdinand. |
| PROSPERO | I am woe for't, sir. |
| ALONSO | Irreparable is the loss, and patience |
| Says it is past her cure. | 155 |
| PROSPERO | I rather think |
| You have not sought her help, of whose soft grace |
| For the like loss I have her sovereign aid |
| And rest myself content. |
| ALONSO | You the like loss! | 160 |
| PROSPERO | As great to me as late; and, supportable |
| 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? | 165 |
| O heavens, that they were living both in Naples, |
| The king and queen there! that 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 | 170 |
| At this encounter do so much admire |
| That they devour their reason and scarce think |
| Their eyes do offices of truth, their words |
| Are natural breath: but, howsoe'er you have |
| Been justled from your senses, know for certain | 175 |
| That I am Prospero and that very duke |
| Which was thrust forth of Milan, who most strangely |
| Upon this shore, where you were wreck'd, was landed, |
| To be the lord on't. No more yet of this; |
| For 'tis a chronicle of day by day, | 180 |
| Not a relation for a breakfast nor |
| Befitting this first meeting. Welcome, sir; |
| This cell's my court: here have I few attendants |
| And subjects none abroad: pray you, look in. |
| My dukedom since you have given me again, | 185 |
| I will requite you with as good a thing; |
| At least bring forth a wonder, to content ye |
| As much as me my dukedom. |
| [
Here PROSPERO discovers FERDINAND and MIRANDA
playing at chess
] |
| MIRANDA | Sweet lord, you play me false. |
| FERDINAND | No, my dear'st love, | 190 |
| I would not for the world. |
| MIRANDA | Yes, for a score of kingdoms you should wrangle, |
| And I would call it, fair play. |
| ALONSO | If this prove |
| A vision of the Island, one dear son | 195 |
| Shall I twice lose. |
| SEBASTIAN | A most high miracle! |
| FERDINAND | Though the seas threaten, they are merciful; |
| I have cursed them without cause. |
| [Kneels] |
| ALONSO | Now all the blessings | 200 |
| Of a glad father compass thee about! |
| Arise, and say how thou camest here. |
| MIRANDA | O, wonder! |
| How many goodly creatures are there here! |
| How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world, | 205 |
| That has such people in't! |
| PROSPERO | 'Tis new to thee. |
| ALONSO | What is this maid with whom thou wast at play? |
| Your eld'st acquaintance cannot be three hours: |
| Is she the goddess that hath sever'd us, | 210 |
| 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. She | 215 |
| Is daughter to this famous Duke of Milan, |
| Of whom so often I have heard renown, |
| But never saw before; of whom I have |
| Received a second life; and second father |
| This lady makes him to me. | 220 |
| ALONSO | I am hers: |
| But, O, how oddly will it sound that I |
| Must ask my child forgiveness! |
| PROSPERO | There, sir, stop: |
| Let us not burthen our remembrance with | 225 |
| A heaviness that's gone. |
| GONZALO | I have inly wept, |
| Or should have spoke ere this. Look down, you god, |
| And on this couple drop a blessed crown! |
| For it is you that have chalk'd forth the way | 230 |
| Which brought us hither. |
| ALONSO | I say, Amen, Gonzalo! |
| GONZALO | Was Milan thrust from Milan, that his issue |
| Should become kings of Naples? O, rejoice |
| Beyond a common joy, and set it down | 235 |
| 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 ourselves | 240 |
| When no man was his own. |
| ALONSO | [To FERDINAND and MIRANDA] Give me your hands:
|
| Let grief and sorrow still embrace his heart |
| That doth not wish you joy! |
| GONZALO | Be it so! Amen! | 245 |
[
Re-enter ARIEL, with the Master and Boatswain
amazedly following
] |
| O, look, sir, look, sir! here is more of us: |
| I prophesied, if a gallows were on land, |
| This fellow could not drown. Now, blasphemy, |
| That swear'st grace o'erboard, not an oath on shore? |
| Hast thou no mouth by land? What is the news? | 250 |
| Boatswain | The best news is, that we have safely found |
| Our king and company; the next, our ship-- |
| Which, but three glasses since, we gave out split-- |
| Is tight and yare and bravely rigg'd as when |
| We first put out to sea. | 255 |
| ARIEL | [Aside to PROSPERO] Sir, all this service
|
| Have I done since I went. |
| PROSPERO | [Aside to ARIEL] My tricksy spirit!
|
| ALONSO | These are not natural events; they strengthen |
| From strange to stranger. Say, how came you hither? | 260 |
| Boatswain | If I did think, sir, I were well awake, |
| I'ld strive to tell you. We were dead of sleep, |
| And--how we know not--all clapp'd under hatches; |
| Where but even now with strange and several noises |
| Of roaring, shrieking, howling, jingling chains, | 265 |
| And more diversity of sounds, all horrible, |
| We were awaked; straightway, at liberty; |
| Where we, in all her trim, freshly beheld |
| Our royal, good and gallant ship, our master |
| Capering to eye her: on a trice, so please you, | 270 |
| Even in a dream, were we divided from them |
| And were brought moping hither. |
| ARIEL | [Aside to PROSPERO] Was't well done?
|
| PROSPERO | [Aside to ARIEL] Bravely, my diligence. Thou shalt be free.
|
| ALONSO | This is as strange a maze as e'er men trod | 275 |
| And there is in this business more than nature |
| Was ever conduct of: some oracle |
| Must rectify our knowledge. |
| PROSPERO | Sir, my liege, |
| Do not infest your mind with beating on | 280 |
| The strangeness of this business; at pick'd leisure |
| Which shall be shortly, single I'll resolve you, |
| Which to you shall seem probable, of every |
| These happen'd accidents; till when, be cheerful |
| And think of each thing well. | 285 |
[Aside to ARIEL] |
| Come hither, spirit: |
| Set Caliban and his companions free; |
| Untie the spell. |
[Exit ARIEL] |
| How fares my gracious sir? |
| There are yet missing of your company | 290 |
| Some few odd lads that you remember not. |
| [
Re-enter ARIEL, driving in CALIBAN, STEPHANO
and TRINCULO, in their stolen apparel
] |
| STEPHANO | Every man shift for all the rest, and |
| let no man take care for himself; for all is |
| but fortune. Coragio, bully-monster, coragio! |
| TRINCULO | If these be true spies which I wear in my head, | 295 |
| here's a goodly sight. |
| CALIBAN | O Setebos, these be brave spirits indeed! |
| How fine my master is! I am afraid |
| He will chastise me. |
| SEBASTIAN | Ha, ha! | 300 |
| What things are these, my lord Antonio? |
| Will money buy 'em? |
| ANTONIO | Very like; one of them |
| Is a plain fish, and, no doubt, marketable. |
| PROSPERO | Mark but the badges of these men, my lords, | 305 |
| Then say if they be true. This mis-shapen knave, |
| His mother was a witch, and one so strong |
| That could control the moon, make flows and ebbs, |
| And deal in her command without her power. |
| These three have robb'd me; and this demi-devil-- | 310 |
| For he's a bastard one--had plotted with them |
| To take my life. Two of these fellows you |
| Must know and own; this thing of darkness! |
| Acknowledge mine. |
| CALIBAN | I shall be pinch'd to death. | 315 |
| ALONSO | Is not this Stephano, my drunken butler? |
| SEBASTIAN | He is drunk now: where had he wine? |
| ALONSO | And Trinculo is reeling ripe: where should they |
| Find this grand liquor that hath gilded 'em? |
| How camest thou in this pickle? | 320 |
| TRINCULO | I have been in such a pickle since I |
| saw you last that, I fear me, will never out of |
| my bones: I shall not fear fly-blowing. |
| SEBASTIAN | Why, how now, Stephano! |
| STEPHANO | O, touch me not; I am not Stephano, but a cramp. | 325 |
| PROSPERO | You'ld be king o' the isle, sirrah? |
| STEPHANO | I should have been a sore one then. |
| ALONSO | This is a strange thing as e'er I look'd on. |
| [Pointing to Caliban] |
| PROSPERO | He is as disproportion'd in his manners |
| As in his shape. Go, sirrah, to my cell; | 330 |
| Take with you your companions; as you look |
| To have my pardon, trim it handsomely. |
| CALIBAN | Ay, that I will; and I'll be wise hereafter |
| And seek for grace. What a thrice-double ass |
| Was I, to take this drunkard for a god | 335 |
| And worship this dull fool! |
| PROSPERO | Go to; away! |
| ALONSO | Hence, and bestow your luggage where you found it. |
| SEBASTIAN | Or stole it, rather. |
| [Exeunt CALIBAN, STEPHANO, and TRINCULO] |
| PROSPERO | Sir, I invite your highness and your train | 340 |
| To my poor cell, where you shall take your rest |
| For this one night; which, part of it, I'll waste |
| With such discourse as, I not doubt, shall make it |
| Go quick away; the story of my life |
| And the particular accidents gone by | 345 |
| Since I came to this isle: and in the morn |
| I'll bring you to your ship and so to Naples, |
| Where I have hope to see the nuptial |
| Of these our dear-beloved solemnized; |
| And thence retire me to my Milan, where | 350 |
| Every third thought shall be my grave. |
| ALONSO | I long |
| To hear the story of your life, which must |
| Take the ear strangely. |
| PROSPERO | I'll deliver all; | 355 |
| And promise you calm seas, auspicious gales |
| And sail so expeditious that shall catch |
| Your royal fleet far off. |
[Aside to ARIEL] |
| My Ariel, chick, |
| That is thy charge: then to the elements | 360 |
| Be free, and fare thou well! Please you, draw near. |
| [Exeunt] |
| [EPILOGUE] |
| [PROSPERO] | Now my charms are all o'erthrown, |
| And what strength I have's mine own, |
| Which is most faint: now, 'tis true, |
| I must be here confined by you, |
| Or sent to Naples. Let me not, | 5 |
| Since I have my dukedom got |
| And pardon'd the deceiver, dwell |
| In this bare island by your spell; |
| But release me from my bands |
| With the help of your good hands: | 10 |
| Gentle breath of yours my sails |
| Must fill, or else my project fails, |
| Which was to please. Now I want |
| Spirits to enforce, art to enchant, |
| And my ending is despair, | 15 |
| Unless I be relieved by prayer, |
| Which pierces so that it assaults |
| Mercy itself and frees all faults. |
| As you from crimes would pardon'd be, |
| Let your indulgence set me free. | 20 |
