The Tempest

by William Shakespeare

Act V

Scene I. Before the cell of Prospero.

Enter Prospero in his magic robes, and Ariel.

Pros. 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?

Ari. On the sixth hour; at which time, my lord,

You said our work should cease.

Pros.

5 I did say so,

When first I raised the tempest. Say, my spirit,

How fares the king and’s followers?

Ari.

Confined together

In the same fashion as you gave in charge,

Just as you left them; all prisoners, sir,

10 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,

Brimful of sorrow and dismay; but chiefly

15 Him that you term’d, sir, “The good old lord, Gonzalo;”

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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

Would become tender.

Pros.

Dost thou think so, spirit?

Ari. Mine would, sir, were I human.

Pros.

20 And mine shall.

Hast thou, which art but air, a touch, a feeling

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?

V. 1. 25 Though with their high wrongs I am struck to the quick,

Yet with my nobler reason ’gainst my fury

Do I take part: the rarer action is

In virtue than in vengeance: they being penitent,

The sole drift of my purpose doth extend

30 Not a frown further. Go release them, Ariel:

My charms I’ll break, their senses I’ll restore,

And they shall be themselves.

Ari.

I’ll fetch them, sir. Exit.

Pros. Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes, and groves;

And ye that on the sands with printless foot

35 Do chase the ebbing Neptune, and do fly him

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

40 To hear the solemn curfew; by whose aid—

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

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

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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

V. 1. 50 By my so potent art. But this rough magic

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,

55 Bury it certain fathoms in the earth,

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,

60 Now useless, boil’d within thy skull! There stand,

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;

65 And as the morning steals upon the night,

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

70 To him thou follow’st! I will pay thy graces

Home both in word and deed. Most cruelly

66

Didst thou, Alonso, use me and my daughter:

Thy brother was a furtherer in the act.

Thou art pinch’d for’t now, Sebastian. Flesh and blood,

V. 1. 75 You, brother mine, that entertain’d ambition,

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

80 Begins to swell; and the approaching tide

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:

85 I will discase me, and myself present

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;

90 There I couch 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.

95Pros. Why, that’s my dainty Ariel! I shall miss thee;

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

V. 1. 100 Being awake, enforce them to this place,

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And presently, I prithee.

Ari. I drink the air before me, and return

Or ere your pulse twice beat. Exit.

Gon. All torment, trouble, wonder and amazement

105 Inhabits here: some heavenly power guide us

Out of this fearful country!

Pros.

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;

110 And to thee and thy company I bid

A hearty welcome.

Alon.

Whether thou be’st he or no,

Or some enchanted trifle to abuse me,

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

Beats, as of flesh and blood; and, since I saw thee,

115 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

Thou pardon me my wrongs.—But how should Prospero

Be living and be here?

Pros.

120 First, noble friend,

Let me embrace thine age, whose honour cannot

Be measured or confined.

Gon.

Whether this be

Or be not, I’ll not swear.

Pros.

You do yet taste

Some subtilties o’ the isle, that will not let you

V. 1. 125 Believe things certain. Welcome, my friends all!

[Aside to Seb. and Ant.] 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.

68 Seb. [Aside]

The devil speaks in him.

Pros.

No.

130 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,

Thou must restore.

Alon.

If thou be’st Prospero,

135 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—

How sharp the point of this remembrance is!—

My dear son Ferdinand.

Pros.

I am woe for’t, sir.

140Alon. Irreparable is the loss; and patience

Says it is past her cure.

Pros.

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.

Alon.

You the like loss!

145Pros. 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.

Alon.

A daughter?

O heavens, that they were living both in Naples,

V. 1. 150 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 you daughter?

Pros. In this last tempest. I perceive, these lords

At this encounter do so much admire,

155 That they devour their reason, and scarce think

Their eyes do offices of truth, their words

Are natural breath: but, howsoe’er you have

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Been justled from your senses, know for certain

That I am Prospero, and that very duke

160 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,

Not a relation for a breakfast, nor

165 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,

I will requite you with as good a thing;

170 At least bring forth a wonder, to content ye

As much as me my dukedom.

Here Prospero discovers Ferdinand and Miranda playing at chess.

Mir. Sweet lord, you play me false.

Fer.

No, my dear’st love,

I would not for the world.

Mir. Yes, for a score of kingdoms you should wrangle,

And I would call it fair play.

Alon.

V. 1. 175 If this prove

A vision of the island, one dear son

Shall I twice lose.

Seb.

A most high miracle!

Fer. Though the seas threaten, they are merciful;

I have cursed them without cause. Kneels.

Alon.

Now all the blessings

180 Of a glad father compass thee about!

Arise, and say how thou camest here.

Mir.

O, wonder!

How many goodly creatures are there here!

How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,

70

That has such people in’t!

Pros.

’Tis new to thee.

185Alon. 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,

And brought us thus together?

Fer.

Sir, she is mortal;

But by immortal Providence she’s mine:

190 I chose her when I could not ask my father

For his advice, nor thought I had one. She

Is daughter to this famous Duke of Milan,

Of whom so often I have heard renown,

But never saw before; of whom I have

195 Received a second life; and second father

This lady makes him to me.

Alon.

I am hers:

But, O, how oddly will it sound that I

Must ask my child forgiveness!

Pros.

There, sir, stop:

Let us not burthen our remembrances with

A heaviness that’s gone.

Gon.

V. 1. 200 I have inly wept,

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

And on this couple drop a blessed crown!

For it is you that have chalk’d forth the way

Which brought us hither.

Alon.

I say, Amen, Gonzalo!

205Gon. Was Milan thrust from Milan, 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,

210 And Ferdinand, her brother, found a wife

Where he himself was lost, Prospero his dukedom

In a poor isle, and all of us ourselves

When no man was his own.

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Alon. [to Fer. and Mir.]

Give me your hands:

Let grief and sorrow still embrace his heart

That doth not wish you joy!

Gon.

215 Be it so! Amen!

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?

220 Hast thou no mouth by land? What is the news?

Boats. 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.

V. 1. 225Ari. [Aside to Pros.]

Sir, all this service

Have I done since I went.

Pros. [Aside to Ari.]

My tricksy spirit!

Alon. These are not natural events; they strengthen

From strange to stranger. Say, how came you hither?

Boats. If I did think, sir, I were well awake,

230 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,

And more diversity of sounds, all horrible,

235 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,

Even in a dream, were we divided from them,

And were brought moping hither.

240Ari. [Aside to Pros.]

Was’t well done?

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Pros. [Aside to Ari.] Bravely, my diligence. Thou shalt be free.

Alon. This is as strange a maze as e’er men trod;

And there is in this business more than nature

Was ever conduct of: some oracle

Must rectify our knowledge.

Pros.

245 Sir, my liege,

Do not infest your mind with beating on

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

V. 1. 250 These happen’d accidents; till when, be cheerful,

And think of each thing well. [Aside to Ari.] 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

255 Some few odd lads that you remember not.

Re-enter Ariel, driving in Caliban, Stephano, and Trinculo, in their stolen apparel.

Ste. Every man shift for all the rest, and let no man take care for himself; for all is but fortune.—Coragio, bully-monster, coragio!

Trin. If these be true spies which I wear in my head, 260 here’s a goodly sight.

Cal. O Setebos, these be brave spirits indeed!

How fine my master is! I am afraid

He will chastise me.

Seb.

Ha, ha!

What things are these, my lord Antonio?

Will money buy ’em?

Ant.

265 Very like; one of them

Is a plain fish, and, no doubt, marketable.

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Pros. Mark but the badges of these men, my lords,

Then say if they be true. This mis-shapen knave,

His mother was a witch; and one so strong

270 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—

For he’s a bastard one—had plotted with them

To take my life. Two of these fellows you

V. 1. 275 Must know and own; this thing of darkness I

Acknowledge mine.

Cal.

I shall be pinch’d to death.

Alon. Is not this Stephano, my drunken butler?

Seb. He is drunk now: where had he wine?

Alon. And Trinculo is reeling ripe: where should they 280

Find this grand liquor that hath gilded ’em?—

How camest thou in this pickle?

Trin. 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.

285Seb. Why, how now, Stephano!

Ste. O, touch me not;—I am not Stephano, but a cramp.

Pros. You’ld be king o’ the isle, sirrah?

Ste. I should have been a sore one, then.

Alon. This is a strange thing as e’er I look’d on. Pointing to Caliban.

290Pros. He is as disproportion’d in his manners

As in his shape. Go, sirrah, to my cell;

Take with you your companions; as you look

To have my pardon, trim it handsomely.

Cal. Ay, that I will; and I’ll be wise hereafter,

295 And seek for grace. What a thrice-double ass

Was I, to take this drunkard for a god,

And worship this dull fool!

74 Pros.

Go to; away!

Alon. Hence, and bestow your luggage where you found it.

Seb. Or stole it, rather. Exeunt Cal., Ste., and Trin.

V. 1. 300Pros. Sir, I invite your Highness and your train

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,

305 And the particular accidents gone by

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;

310 And thence retire me to my Milan, where

Every third thought shall be my grave.

Alon.

I long

To hear the story of your life, which must

Take the ear strangely.

Pros.

I’ll deliver all;

And promise you calm seas, auspicious gales,

And sail so expeditious, that shall catch

315 Your royal fleet far off. [Aside to Ari.] My Ariel, chick,

That is thy charge: then to the elements

Be free, and fare thou well! Please you, draw near.

Exit