The Arden Shakespeare Complete Works

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The Arden Shakespeare Complete Works Page 472

by William Shakespeare


  (Filth as thou art) with humane care and lodged thee

  In mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate

  The honour of my child.

  CALIBAN O ho, O ho! Would’t had been done;

  350

  Thou didst prevent me, I had peopled else

  This isle with Calibans.

  MIRANDA 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

  355

  One thing or other. When thou didst not, savage,

  Know thine own meaning, but wouldst gabble like

  A thing most brutish, I endowed thy purposes With

  words that made them known. But thy vile race

  (Though thou didst learn) had that in’t which good natures

  360

  Could not abide to be with; therefore wast thou

  Deservedly confined into this rock,

  Who hadst deserved more than a prison.

  CALIBAN You taught me language, and my profit on’t

  Is I know how to curse. The red plague rid you

  365

  For learning me your language.

  PROSPERO Hag-seed, hence:

  Fetch us in fuel, and be quick – thou’rt best –

  To answer other business. Shrug’st thou, malice?

  If thou neglect’st, or dost unwillingly

  What I command, I’ll rack thee with old cramps,

  370

  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 dam’s god Setebos,

  And make a vassal of him.

  PROSPERO So, slave, hence.

  375

  Exit Caliban.

  Enter FERDINAND, and ARIEL, invisible, playing and singing.

  ARIEL [Sings.]

  Come unto these yellow sands, And then take hands;

  And then take hands;

  Curtsied when you have, and kissed The wild waves whist;

  The wild waves whist;

  Foot it featly here and there,

  380

  And sweet sprites bear

  The burden.

  [Burden dispersedly]

  SPIRITS Hark, hark! Bow-wow,

  The watch dogs bark, bow-wow.

  ARIEL Hark hark, I hear,

  385

  The strain of strutting chanticleer

  Cry cock a diddle dow.

  FERDINAND

  Where should this music be? I’th’ air, or th’earth?

  It sounds no more, and sure it waits upon

  Some god o’th’ island. Sitting on a bank,

  390

  Weeping again the King my father’s wreck,

  This music crept by me upon the waters,

  Allaying both their fury and my passion

  With its sweet air. Thence I have followed it

  (Or it hath drawn me, rather) but ’tis gone.

  395

  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

  400

  But doth suffer a sea-change

  Into something rich and strange.

  Sea nymphs hourly ring his knell.

  SPIRITS Ding dong.

  ARIEL Hark, now I hear them.

  SPIRITS Ding dong bell.

  405

  FERDINAND

  The ditty does remember my drowned father;

  This is no mortal business nor no sound

  That the earth owes. I hear it now above me.

  PROSPERO [to Miranda]

  The fringed curtains of thine eye advance, And say what thou seest yond.

  And say what thou seest yond.

  MIRANDA What is’t, a spirit?

  410

  Lord, how it looks about. Believe me, sir,

  It carries a brave form. But ’tis 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 wreck, and but he’s something stained

  415

  With grief (that’s beauty’s canker) thou mightst call him

  A goodly person. He hath lost his fellows

  And strays about to find ’em.

  MIRANDA I might call him

  A thing divine, for nothing natural I ever saw so noble.

  PROSPERO [aside] It goes on, I see,

  420

  As my soul prompts it. [to Ariel] Spirit, fine spirit,

  I’ll 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

  425

  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,

  430

  Were I but where ’tis 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,

  435

  Who, with mine eyes, never since at ebb, beheld

  The King my father wrecked.

  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

  440

  If now ’twere fit to do’t. At the first sight

  They have changed eyes. [to Ariel] Delicate Ariel,

  I’ll set thee free for this. [to Ferdinand] A word, good sir;

  I fear you have done yourself some wrong. A word.

  MIRANDA [aside]

  Why speaks my father so ungently? This

  445

  Is the third man that e’er I saw, the first

  That e’er I sighed for. Pity move my father

  To be inclined my way.

  FERDINAND O, if a virgin,

  And your affection not gone forth, I’ll make you

  The Queen of Naples.

  PROSPERO Soft, sir, one word more.

  450

  [aside] They are both in either’s 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 ow’st not and hast put thyself

  455

  Upon this island as a spy, to win it

  From me, the lord on’t.

  FERDINAND No, as I am a man.

  MIRANDA

  There’s nothing ill can dwell in such a temple.

  If the ill spirit have so fair a house,

  Good things will strive to dwell with’t.

  PROSPERO [to Ferdinand] Follow me. –

  460

  Speak not you for him; he’s a traitor. – Come,

  I’ll manacle thy neck and feet together;

  Sea water shalt thou drink; thy food shall be

  The fresh-brook mussels, withered roots,
and husks

  Wherein the acorn cradled. Follow!

  FERDINAND No,

  465

  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

  He’s gentle and not fearful.

  PROSPERO What, I say,

  My foot my tutor? Put thy sword up, traitor,

  470

  Who mak’st a show but dar’st not strike, thy conscience

  Is so possessed 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;

  475

  I’ll 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 think’st there is no more such shapes as he,

  Having seen but him and Caliban. Foolish wench,

  480

  To th’ 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

  485

  And have no vigour in them.

  FERDINAND So they are!

  My spirits, as in a dream, are all bound up.

  My father’s loss, the weakness which I feel,

  The wreck of all my friends, nor this man’s threats

  (To whom I am subdued) are but light to me,

  490

  Might I but through my prison once a day

  Behold this maid. All corners else o’th’ 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. – Follow me; –

  495

  Hark what thou else shalt do me.

  MIRANDA [to Ferdinand] Be of comfort;

  My father’s of a better nature, sir,

  Than he appears by speech. This is unwonted

  Which now came from him.

  PROSPERO [to Ariel] Thou shalt be as free

  As mountain winds, but then exactly do

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  All points of my command.

  ARIEL To th’ syllable.

  PROSPERO [to Ferdinand]

  Come, follow; – speak not for him.

  Exeunt.

  2.1 Enter ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, GONZALO, ADRIAN, FRANCISCO and others.

  GONZALO Beseech you, sir, be merry. You have cause

  (So have we all) of joy, for our escape

  Is much beyond our loss. Our hint of woe

  Is common: every day some sailor’s wife,

  The masters of some merchant, and the merchant,

  5

  Have just our theme of woe. But for the miracle,

  I mean our preservation, few in millions

  Can speak like us. Then wisely, good sir, weigh

  Our sorrow with our comfort.

  ALONSO Prithee, peace.

  SEBASTIAN [to Antonio] He receives comfort like cold

  10

  porridge.

  ANTONIO [to Sebastian] The visitor will not give him

  o’er so.

  SEBASTIAN Look, he’s winding up the watch of his wit;

  by and by it will strike –

  15

  GONZALO [to Alonso] Sir –

  SEBASTIAN One. Tell.

  GONZALO When every grief is entertained that’s

  offered, comes to th’entertainer –

  SEBASTIAN A dollar.

  20

  GONZALO Dolour comes to him, indeed. You have

  spoken truer than you purposed.

  SEBASTIAN You have taken it wiselier than I meant you

  should.

  GONZALO Therefore, my lord –

  25

  ANTONIO Fie, what a spendthrift is he of his tongue!

  ALONSO I prithee, spare.

  GONZALO Well, I have done; but yet –

  SEBASTIAN He will be talking.

  ANTONIO Which, of he or Adrian, for a good wager,

  30

  first begins to crow?

 

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