Chapter XI: Act I

SCENE I.--_The front of the stage is opened, and the band of twenty-four violins, with the harpsicals and theorbos which accompany the voices, are placed between the pit and the stage. While the overture is playing, the curtain rises, and discovers a new frontispiece, joined to the great pilasters, on each side of the stage. This frontispiece is a noble arch, supported by large wreathed columns of the Corinthian order; the wreathings of the columns are beautified with roses wound round them, and several Cupids flying about them. On the cornice, just over the capitals, sits on either side a figure, with a trumpet in one hand, and a palm in the other, representing Fame. A little farther, on the same cornice, on each side of a compass-pediment, lie a lion and a unicorn, the supporters of the royal arms of England. In the middle of the arch are several angels, holding the king's arms, as if they were placing them in the midst of that compass-pediment. Behind this is the scene, which represents a thick cloudy sky, a very rocky coast, and a tempestuous sea in perpetual agitation. This tempest (supposed to be raised by magick) has many dreadful objects in it, as several spirits in horrid shapes flying down amongst the sailors, then rising and crossing in the air. And when the ship is sinking, the whole house is darkened, and a shower of fire falls upon them. This is accompanied with lightning, and several claps of thunder, to the end of the storm._

_Enter_ MUSTACHO _and_ VENTOSO.

_Vent._ What a sea comes in!

_Must._ A foaming sea; we shall have foul weather.

_Enter_ TRINCALO.

_Trinc._ The scud comes against the wind, 'twill blow hard.

_Enter_ STEPHANO.

_Steph._ Boatswain!

_Trinc._ Here, master, what say you?

_Steph._ Ill weather; let's off to sea.

_Must._ Let's have sea room enough, and then let it blow the devil's
head off.

_Steph._ Boy! Boy!

_Enter Cabin Boy._

_Boy._ Yaw, yaw, here, master.

_Steph._ Give the pilot a dram of the bottle.
[_Exeunt_ STEPHANO _and boy_.

_Enter Mariners, and pass over the stage._

_Trinc._ Bring the cable to the capstorm.

_Enter_ ALONSO, ANTONIO, _and_ GONZALO.

_Alon._ Good boatswain, have a care; where's the master? Play the men.

_Trinc._ Pray keep below.

_Anto._ Where's the master, boatswain?

_Trinc._ Do you not hear him? You hinder us: Keep your cabins, you help
the storm.

_Gonz._ Nay, good friend, be patient.

_Trinc._ Ay, when the sea is: Hence! what care these roarers for the
name of duke? To cabin; silence; trouble us not.

_Gonz._ Good friend, remember whom thou hast aboard.

_Trinc._ None that I love more than myself: You are a counsellor; if you
can advise these elements to silenuse your wisdom: if yon cannot, make
yourself ready in the cabin for the ill hour. Cheerly, good hearts! out
of our way, sirs.
[_Exeunt_ TRINCALO _and mariners_.

_Gonz._ I have great comfort from this fellow; methinks his complexion
is perfect gallows: stand fast, good fate, to his hanging; make the rope
of his destiny our cable, for our own does little advantage us; if he be
not born to be hanged, we shall be drowned.
[_Exit._

_Enter_ TRINCALO _and_ STEPHANO.

_Trinc._ Up aloft, lads. Come, reef both topsails.

_Steph._ Make haste, let's weigh, let's weigh, and off to sea.
[_Exit_ STEPH.

_Enter two Mariners, and pass over the stage._

_Trinc._ Hands down! Man your main capstorm.

_Enter_ MUSTACHO _and_ VENTOSO _at the other door_.

_Must._ Up aloft! and man your seere capstorm.

_Vent._ My lads, my hearts of gold, get in your capstorm-bar. Hoa up,
hoa up!
[_Exeunt_ MUSTACHO _and_ VENTOSO.

_Enter_ STEPHANO.

_Steph._ Hold on well! hold on well! Nip well there; quarter-master,
get's more nippers.
[_Exit_ STEPH.

_Enter two Mariners, and pass over again._

_Trinc._ Turn out, turn out all hands to capstorm. You dogs, is this a
time to sleep? Lubbord. Heave together, lads.
[TRINCALO _whistles_.
[_Exeunt_ MUSTACHO _and_ VENTOSO.

_Must. within._ Our vial's broke.

_Vent. within._ 'Tis but our vial-block has given way. Come, heave,
lads! we are fixed again. Heave together, bullies.

_Enter_ STEPHANO.

_Steph._ Cut down the hammocks! cut down the hammocks! come, my lads:
Come, bullies, chear up! heave lustily. The anchor's apeak.

_Trinc._ Is the anchor apeak?

_Steph._ Is a weigh! is a weigh.

_Trinc._ Up aloft, my lads, upon the fore-castle; cut the anchor, cut
him.

_All within._ Haul catt, haul catt, haul catt, haul: Haul catt, haul.
Below.

_Steph._ Aft, aft, and loose the mizen!

_Trinc._ Get the mizen-tack aboard. Haul aft mizen-sheet.

_Enter_ MUSTACHO.

_Must._ Loose the main-top sail!

_Steph._ Let him alone, there's too much wind.

_Trinc._ Loose fore-sail! haul aft both sheets! trim her right before
the wind. Aft! aft! lads, and hale up the mizen here.

_Must._ A mackrel-gale, master.

_Steph. within._ Port hard, port! the wind veers forward, bring the tack
aboard-port is. Starboard, starboard, a little steady; now steady, keep
her thus, no nearer you cannot come, 'till the sails are loose.

_Enter_ VENTOSO.

_Vent._ Some hands down: The guns are loose.
[_Exit_ MUST.

_Trinc._ Try the pump, try the pump.
[_Exit_ VENT.

_Enter_ MUSTACHO _at the other door_.

_Must._ O master! six foot water in hold.

_Steph._ Clap the helm hard aweather! flat, flat, flat-in the fore-sheet
there.

_Trinc._ Over-haul your fore-bowling.

_Steph._ Brace in the larboard.
[_Exit._

_Trinc._ A curse upon this howling, [_A great cry within_.] They are
louder than the weather.

_Enter_ ANTONIO _and_ GONZALO.

Yet again, what do you here? Shall we give over, and drown? Have you a
mind to sink?

_Gonz._ A pox on your throat, you bawling, blasphemous, uncharitable
dog.

_Trinc._ Work you then, and be poxed.

_Anto._ Hang, cur, hang, you whorson insolent noise-maker! We are less
afraid to be drowned than you are.

_Trinc._ Ease the fore-brace a little.
[_Exit._

_Gonz._ I'll warrant him for drowning, though the ship were no stronger
than a nut-shell, and as leaky as an unstanched wench.

_Enter_ ALONZO _and_ FERDINAND.

_Ferd._ For myself I care not, but your loss brings a thousand deaths to
me.

_Alon._ O name not me, I am grown old, my son;
I now am tedious to the world, and that,
By use, is so to me: But, Ferdinand,
I grieve my subjects' loss in thee: Alas!
I suffer justly for my crimes, but why
Thou should'st--O heaven!
[_A cry within._
Hark! farewell, my son, a long farewell!

_Enter_ TRINCALO, MUSTACHO, _and_ VENTOSO.

_Trinc._ What, must our mouths be cold then?

_Vent._ All's lost. To prayers, to prayers.

_Gonz._ The duke and prince are gone within to prayers. Let's assist
them.

_Must._ Nay, we may e'en pray too, our Case is now alike.

_Ant._ Mercy upon us! we split, we split!

_Gonz._ Let's all sink with the duke, and the young prince.
[_Exeunt._

_Enter_ STEPHANO _and_ TRINCALO.

_Trinc._ The ship is sinking.
[_A new cry within._

_Steph._ Run her ashore!

_Trinc._ Luff! luff! or we are all lost! there's a rock upon the
starboard-bow.

_Steph._ She strikes, she strikes! All shift for themselves.
[_Exeunt._

SCENE II.--_In the midst of the shower of fire, the scene changes. The cloudy sky, rocks, and sea vanish; and, when the lights return, discover that beautiful part of the island, which was the habitation of_ PROSPERO: _'Tis composed of three walks of cypress-trees; each side-walk leads to a cave, in one of which_ PROSPERO _keeps his daughter, in the other_ HIPPOLITO: _The middle-walk is of great depth, and leads to an open part of the island_.

_Enter_ PROSPERO _and_ MIRANDA.

_Prosp._ Miranda, where's your sister?

_Mir._ I left her looking from the pointed rock,
At the walk's end, on the huge beat of waters.

_Prosp._ It is a dreadful object.

_Mir._ If by your art,
My dearest father, you have put them in
This roar, allay them quickly.

_Prosp._ I have so ordered,
That not one creature in the ship is lost:
I have done nothing but in care of thee,
My daughter, and thy pretty sister:
You both are ignorant of what you are,
Not knowing whence I am, nor that I'm more
Than Prospero, master of a narrow cell,
And thy unhappy father.

_Mir._ I ne'er endeavoured
To know more than you were pleased to tell me.

_Prosp._ I should inform thee farther.

_Mir._ You often, sir, began to tell me what I am,
But then you stopt.

_Prosp._ The hour's now come;
Obey, and be attentive. Canst thou remember
A time, before we came into this cell?
I do not think thou canst, for then thou wert not
Full three years old.

_Mir._ Certainly I can, sir.

_Prosp._ Tell me the image then of any thing,
Which thou dost keep in thy remembrance still.

_Mir._ Sir, had I not four or five women once, that tended me?

_Prosp._ Thou hadst, and more, Miranda: What seest thou else,
In the dark back-ward, and abyss of time?
If thou rememberest aught, ere thou cam'st here,
Then how thou cam'st thou mayest remember too.

_Mir._ Sir, that I do not.

_Prosp._ Fifteen years since, Miranda,
Thy father was the duke of Milan, and
A prince of power.

_Mir._ Sir, are not you my father?

_Prosp._ Thy mother was all virtue, and she said
Thou wast my daughter, and thy sister too.

_Mir._ O heavens! what foul play had we, that
We hither came? or was't a blessing that we did?

_Prosp._ Both, both, my girl.

_Mir._ But, sir, I pray, proceed.

_Prosp._ My brother, and thy uncle, called Antonio,
To whom I trusted then the manage of my state,
While I was wrapped with secret studies,--that false uncle,
Having attained the craft of granting suits,
And of denying them; whom to advance,
Or lop, for over-topping,--soon was grown
The ivy, which did hide my princely trunk,
And sucked my verdure out: Thou attend'st not.

_Mir._ O good sir, I do.

_Prosp._ I thus neglecting worldly ends, and bent
To closeness, and the bettering of my mind,
Waked in my false brother an evil nature: He did believe
He was indeed the duke, because he then
Did execute the outward face of sovereignty----
Do'st thou still mark me?

_Mir._ Your story would cure deafness.

_Prosp._ This false duke
Needs would be absolute in Milan, and confederate
With Savoy's duke, to give him tribute, and
To do him homage.

_Mir._ False man!

_Prosp._ This duke of Savoy, being an enemy
To me inveterate, strait grants my brother's suit;
And on a night, mated to his design,
Antonio opened the gates of Milan, and
In the dead of darkness hurried me thence,
With thy young sister, and thy crying self.

_Mir._ But wherefore did they not that hour destroy us?

_Prosp._ They durst not, girl, in Milan, for the love
My people bore me; in short, they hurried us
Away to Savoy, and thence aboard a bark at Nissa's port,
Bore us some leagues to sea, where they prepared
A rotten carcase of a boat, not rigged,
No tackle, sail, nor mast; the very rats
Instinctively had quit it.

_Mir._ Alack! what trouble
Was I then to you?

_Prosp._ Thou and thy sister were
Two cherubims, which did preserve me: You both
Did smile, infused with fortitude from heaven.

_Mir._ How came we ashore?

_Prosp._ By providence divine.
Some food we had, and some fresh water, which
A nobleman of Savoy, called Gonzalo,
Appointed master of that black design,
Gave us; with rich garments, and all necessaries,
Which since have steaded much; And of his gentleness
(Knowing I loved my books) he furnished me,
From mine own library, with volumes, which
I prize above my dukedom.

_Mir._ Would I might see that man!

_Prosp._ Here in this island we arrived, and here
Have I your tutor been. But by my skill
I find, that my mid-heaven doth depend
On a most happy star, whose influence
If I now court not, but omit, my fortunes
Will ever after droop: Here cease more questions;
Thou art inclined to sleep: 'Tis a good dulness,
And give it way; I know thou can'st not chuse.
[_She falls asleep._
Come away, my spirit: I am ready now; approach,
My Ariel, come.

_Enter_ ARIEL.

_Ariel._ All hail, great master, grave
Sir, hail! I come to answer thy best pleasure,
Be it to fly, to swim, to shoot into the fire,
To ride into the curled clouds; to thy strong bidding
Task Ariel, and all his qualities.

_Prosp._ Hast thou, spirit, performed to point
The tempest, that I bade thee?

_Ariel._ To every article.
I boarded the duke's ship; now on the beak,
Now in the waste, the deck, in every cabin,
I flamed amazement; and sometimes I seemed
To burn in many places; on the top-mast,
The yards, and bow-sprit, I did flame distinctly;
Nay, once I rained a shower of fire upon them.

_Prosp._ My brave spirit!--
Who was so firm, so constant, that this coil
Did not infect his reason?

_Ariel._ Not a soul,
But felt a fever of the mind, and played
Some tricks of desperation; all,
But mariners, plunged in the foaming brine,
And quit the vessel: The duke's son, Ferdinand,
With hair upstaring, (more like reeds than hair)
Was the first man that leaped; cried, _Hell is empty!
And all the devils are here!_

_Prosp._ Why, that's my spirit!--
But, was not this nigh shore?

_Ariel._ Close by, my master.

_Prosp._ But, Ariel, are they safe?

_Ariel._ Not a hair perished.
In troops I have dispersed them round this isle:
The duke's son I have landed by himself,
Whom I have left warming the air with sighs,
In an odd angle of the isle, and sitting,
His arms enfolded in this sad knot.

_Prosp._ Say how thou hast disposed the mariners
Of the duke's ship, and all the rest o'the fleet?

_Ariel._ Safely in harbour
Is the duke's ship; in the deep nook, where once
Thou called'st me up, at midnight, to fetch dew
From the still vexed Bermoothes, there she's hid;
The mariners all under hatches stowed;
Whom, with a charm, joined to their suffered labour,
I have left asleep: And for the rest o'the fleet,
Which I dispersed, they all have met again,
And are upon the Mediterranean float,
Bound sadly home for Italy;
Supposing that they saw the duke's ship wrecked,
And his great person perish.

_Prosp._ Ariel, thy charge
Exactly is performed: But there's more work;--
What is the time o'the day?

_Ariel._ Past the mid season.

_Prosp._ At least two glasses.
The time 'tween 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 promised, which is not yet
Performed me.

_Prosp._ How now, moody!
What is't thou canst demand?

_Ariel._ My liberty.

_Prosp._ Before the time be out?--no more!

_Ariel._ I pr'ythee,
Remember I have done thee faithful service;
Told thee no lies; made thee no mistakings;
Served without or grudge, or grumblings;
Thou didst promise to bate me a full year.

_Prosp._ Dost thou forget
From what a torment I did free thee?

_Ariel._ No.

_Prosp._ Thou dost; and think'st it much to tread the ooze
Of the salt deep;
To run against the sharp wind of the north;
To do my business in the veins of the earth,
When it is baked with frost.

_Ariel._ I do not, sir.

_Prosp._ 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.

_Prosp._ Thou hast! Where was she born? Speak, tell me.

_Ariel._ Sir, in Argier.

_Prosp._ Oh, was she so!--I must,
Once every month, recount what thou hast been,
Which thou forgettest. This damned Witch Sycorax,
For mischiefs manifold, and sorceries
Too terrible to enter human hearing,
From Argier, thou know'st, was banished:
But, for one thing she did,
They would not take her life.--Is not this true?

_Ariel._ Ay, sir.

_Prosp._ This blue-eyed hag was hither brought with child,
And here was left by the sailors: Thou, my slave,
As thou report'st thyself, wast then her servant;
And, 'cause thou wast a spirit too delicate
To act her earthy and abhorred commands,
Refusing her grand hests, she did confine thee,
By help of her more potent ministers,
(In her unmitigable rage) into a cloven pine;
Within whose rift imprisoned, 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 isle
(Save for two brats, which she did litter here,
The brutish Caliban, and his twin-sister,
Two freckled hag-born whelps) not honoured with
A human shape.

_Ariel._ Yes; Caliban her son, and Sycorax his sister.

_Prosp._ Dull thing! I say so.--He,
That Caliban, and she, that Sycorax,
Whom I now keep in service. Thou best know'st
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 damned, which Sycorax
Could ne'er again undo: It was my art,
When I arrived and heard thee, that made the pine
To gape, and let thee out.

_Ariel._ I thank thee, master.

_Prosp._ If thou more murmurest, I will rend an oak,
And peg thee in his knotty entrails, till thou
Hast howled away twelve winters more.

_Ariel._ Pardon, master;
I will be correspondent to command,
And be a gentle spirit.

_Prosp._ Do so; and after two days I'll discharge thee.

_Ariel._ Thanks, my great master. But I have yet one request.

_Prosp._ What's that, my spirit?

_Ariel._ I know that this day's business is important,
Requiring too much toil for one alone.
I have a gentle spirit for my love,
Who, twice seven years has waited for my freedom:
Let it appear, it will assist me much,
And we with mutual joy shall entertain
Each other. This, I beseech you, grant me.

_Prosp._ You shall have your desire.

_Ariel._ That's my noble master.--Milcha!
[MILCHA _flies down to his assistance_.

_Milc._ I am here, my love.

_Ariel._ Thou art free! Welcome, my dear!--
What shall we do? Say, say, what shall we do?

_Prosp._ Be subject to no sight but mine; invisible
To every eye-ball else. Hence, with diligence;
Anon thou shalt know more.
[_They both fly up, and cross in the air._
Thou hast slept well, my child.
[_To_ MIR.

_Mir._ The sadness of your story put heaviness in me.

_Prosp._ Shake it off.--Come on, I'll now call Caliban,
my slave, who never yields us a kind answer.

_Mir._ 'Tis a creature, sir, I do not love to look on.

_Prosp._ But, as it is, we cannot miss him: He does make our fire, fetch
in our wood, and serve in offices that profit us.--What ho, slave!
Caliban! thou earth, thou, speak!

_Calib._ [_within_.] There's wood enough within.

_Prosp._ Thou poisonous slave! got by the devil himself
Upon thy wicked dam, come forth!

_Enter_ CALIBAN.

_Calib._ As wicked dew, as e'er my mother brushed with raven's feather from unwholesome fens, drop on you both! A south-west wind blow on you, and blister you all o'er!

_Prosp._ For this, be sure, to-night thou shalt have cramps, side-stitches, that shall pen thy breath up: Urchins shall prick thee till thou bleed'st: Thou shalt be pinched as thick as honey-combs, each pinch more stinging than the bees which made them.

_Calib._ I must eat my dinner: This island's mine by Sycorax my mother, which thou took'st from me. When thou earnest first, thou stroak'dst me, and madest much of me; would'st give me water with berries in't, and teach me how to name the bigger light, and how the less, that burn by day and night; and then I loved thee, and showed thee all the qualities of the isle, the fresh-springs, brine-pits, barren places, and fertile. Cursed be I, that I did so! All the charms of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats, light on thee! for I am all the subjects that thou hast. I first was mine own lord; and here thou stayest me in this hard rock, while thou dost keep from me the rest o'the island.

_Prosp._ Thou most lying slave, whom stripes may move, not kindness! I have used thee, filth as thou art! with human care; and lodged thee in mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate the honour of my children.

_Calib._ Oh, ho! oh, ho! would it had been done! Thou didst prevent me, I had peopled else this isle with Calibans.

_Prosp._ Abhorred slave! who ne'er wouldst any print of goodness 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 thy own meaning, but wouldst gabble like a thing most brutish, I endowed thy purposes with words, which made them known.--But thy wild race (though thou didst learn) had that in't, which good natures could not abide to be with; therefore wast thou deservedly pent up into this rock.

_Calib._ You taught me language; and my profit by it is, that I know to curse. The red botch rid you for learning me your language!

_Prosp._ Hag-seed, hence!
Fetch us in fuel, and be quick
To answer other business.--Shrug'st thou, malice!
If thou neglectest, or dost unwillingly
What I command, I'll rack thee with old cramps;
Fill all thy bones with aches; make thee roar,
That beasts shall tremble at thy din.

_Calib._ No, pr'ythee!
I must obey. His art is of such power,
It would controul my dam's god, Setebos,
And make a vassal of him.

_Prosp._ So, slave, hence!
[_Exeunt_ PROSP. _and_ CALIB. _severally_.

_Enter_ DORINDA.

_Dor._ Oh, sister! what have I beheld!

_Mir._ What is it moves you so?

_Dor._ From yonder rock,
As I my eyes cast down upon the seas,
The whistling winds blew rudely on my face,
And the waves roared; at first, I thought the war
Had been between themselves, but straight I spied
A huge great creature.

_Mir._ O, you mean the ship?

_Dor._ Is't not a creature then?--It seemed alive.

_Mir._ But what of it?

_Dor._ This floating ram did bear his horns above,
All tied with ribbands, ruffling in the wind:
Sometimes he nodded down his head a-while,
And then the waves did heave him to the moon,
He clambering to the top of all the billows;
And then again he curtsied down so low,
I could not see him: Till at last, all side-long,
With a great crack, his belly burst in pieces.

_Mir._ There all had perished,
Had not my father's magic art relieved them.--
But, sister, I have stranger news to tell you:
In this great creature there were other creatures;
And shortly we may chance to see that thing,
Which you have heard my father call a man.

_Dor._ But, what is that? For yet he never told me.

_Mir._ I know no more than you:--But I have heard
My father say, we women were made for him.

_Dor._ What, that he should eat us, sister?

_Mir._ No sure; you see my father is a man, and yet
He does us good. I would he were not old.

_Dor._ Methinks, indeed, it would be finer, if
We two had two young fathers.

_Mir._ No, sister, no: If they were young, my father
Said, we must call them brothers.

_Dor._ But, pray, how does it come, that we two are
Not brothers then, and have not beards like him?

_Mir._ Now I confess you pose me.

_Dor._ How did he come to be our father too?

_Mir._ I think he found us when we both were little,
And grew within the ground.

_Dor._ Why could he not find more of us? Pray, sister,
Let you and I look up and down one day,
To find some little ones for us to play with.

_Mir._ Agreed; but now we must go in. This is
The hour wherein my father's charm will work,
Which seizes all who are in open air:
The effect of this great art I long to see,
Which will perform as much as magic can.

_Dor._ And I, methinks, more long to see a man.
[_Exeunt._