Complete Plays, The Read online

Prospero

  Fairly spoke.

  Sit then and talk with her; she is thine own.

  What, Ariel! my industrious servant, Ariel!

  Enter Ariel

  Ariel

  What would my potent master? here I am.

  Prospero

  Thou and thy meaner fellows your last service

  Did worthily perform; and I must use you

  In such another trick. Go bring the rabble,

  O’er whom I give thee power, here to this place:

  Incite them to quick motion; for I must

  Bestow upon the eyes of this young couple

  Some vanity of mine art: it is my promise,

  And they expect it from me.

  Ariel

  Presently?

  Prospero

  Ay, with a twink.

  Ariel

  Before you can say ‘come’ and ‘go,’

  And breathe twice and cry ‘so, so,’

  Each one, tripping on his toe,

  Will be here with mop and mow.

  Do you love me, master? no?

  Prospero

  Dearly my delicate Ariel. Do not approach

  Till thou dost hear me call.

  Ariel

  Well, I conceive.

  Exit

  Prospero

  Look thou be true; do not give dalliance

  Too much the rein: the strongest oaths are straw

  To the fire i’ the blood: be more abstemious,

  Or else, good night your vow!

  Ferdinand

  I warrant you sir;

  The white cold virgin snow upon my heart

  Abates the ardour of my liver.

  Prospero

  Well.

  Now come, my Ariel! bring a corollary,

  Rather than want a spirit: appear and pertly!

  No tongue! all eyes! be silent.

  Soft music

  Enter Iris

  Iris

  Ceres, most bounteous lady, thy rich leas

  Of wheat, rye, barley, vetches, oats and pease;

  Thy turfy mountains, where live nibbling sheep,

  And flat meads thatch’d with stover, them to keep;

  Thy banks with pioned and twilled brims,

  Which spongy April at thy hest betrims,

  To make cold nymphs chaste crowns; and thy broom -groves,

  Whose shadow the dismissed bachelor loves,

  Being lass-lorn: thy pole-clipt vineyard;

  And thy sea-marge, sterile and rocky-hard,

  Where thou thyself dost air;— the queen o’ the sky,

  Whose watery arch and messenger am I,

  Bids thee leave these, and with her sovereign grace,

  Here on this grass-plot, in this very place,

  To come and sport: her peacocks fly amain:

  Approach, rich Ceres, her to entertain.

  Enter Ceres

  Ceres

  Hail, many-colour’d messenger, that ne’er

  Dost disobey the wife of Jupiter;

  Who with thy saffron wings upon my flowers

  Diffusest honey-drops, refreshing showers,

  And with each end of thy blue bow dost crown

  My bosky acres and my unshrubb’d down,

  Rich scarf to my proud earth; why hath thy queen

  Summon’d me hither, to this short-grass’d green?

  Iris

  A contract of true love to celebrate;

  And some donation freely to estate

  On the blest lovers.

  Ceres

  Tell me, heavenly bow,

  If Venus or her son, as thou dost know,

  Do now attend the queen? Since they did plot

  The means that dusky Dis my daughter got,

  Her and her blind boy’s scandal’d company

  I have forsworn.

  Iris

  Of her society

  Be not afraid: I met her deity

  Cutting the clouds towards Paphos and her son

  Dove-drawn with her. Here thought they to have done

  Some wanton charm upon this man and maid,

  Whose vows are, that no bed-right shall be paid

  Till Hymen’s torch be lighted: but vain;

  Mars’s hot minion is returned again;

  Her waspish-headed son has broke his arrows,

  Swears he will shoot no more but play with sparrows

  And be a boy right out.

  Ceres

  High’st queen of state,

  Great Juno, comes; I know her by her gait.

  Enter Juno

  Juno

  How does my bounteous sister? Go with me

  To bless this twain, that they may prosperous be

  And honour’d in their issue.

  They sing:

  Juno

  Honour, riches, marriage-blessing,

  Long continuance, and increasing,

  Hourly joys be still upon you!

  Juno sings her blessings upon you.

  Ceres

  Earth’s increase, foison plenty,

  Barns and garners never empty,

  Vines and clustering bunches growing,

  Plants with goodly burthen bowing;

  Spring come to you at the farthest

  In the very end of harvest!

  Scarcity and want shall shun you;

  Ceres’ blessing so is on you.

  Ferdinand

  This is a most majestic vision, and

  Harmoniously charmingly. May I be bold

  To think these spirits?

  Prospero

  Spirits, which by mine art

  I have from their confines call’d to enact

  My present fancies.

  Ferdinand

  Let me live here ever;

  So rare a wonder’d father and a wife

  Makes this place Paradise.

  Juno and Ceres whisper, and send Iris on employment

  Prospero

  Sweet, now, silence!

  Juno and Ceres whisper seriously;

  There’s something else to do: hush, and be mute,

  Or else our spell is marr’d.

  Iris

  You nymphs, call’d Naiads, of the windring brooks,

  With your sedged crowns and ever-harmless looks,

  Leave your crisp channels and on this green land

  Answer your summons; Juno does command:

  Come, temperate nymphs, and help to celebrate

  A contract of true love; be not too late.

  Enter certain Nymphs

  You sunburnt sicklemen, of August weary,

  Come hither from the furrow and be merry:

  Make holiday; your rye-straw hats put on

  And these fresh nymphs encounter every one

  In country footing.

  Enter certain Reapers, properly habited: they join with the Nymphs in a graceful dance; towards the end whereof Prospero starts suddenly, and speaks; after which, to a strange, hollow, and confused noise, they heavily vanish

  Prospero

  [Aside] I had forgot that foul conspiracy

  Of the beast Caliban and his confederates

  Against my life: the minute of their plot

  Is almost come.

  To the Spirits

  Well done! avoid; no more!

  Ferdinand

  This is strange: your father’s in some passion

  That works him strongly.

  Miranda

  Never till this day

  Saw I him touch’d with anger so distemper’d.

  Prospero

  You do look, my son, in a moved sort,

  As if you were dismay’d: be cheerful, sir.

  Our revels now are ended. These our actors,

  As I foretold you, were all spirits and

  Are melted into air, into thin air:

  And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,

  The cloud-capp’d towers, the gorgeous palaces,

  The solemn temples, th
e great globe itself,

  Ye all which it inherit, shall dissolve

  And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,

  Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff

  As dreams are made on, and our little life

  Is rounded with a sleep. Sir, I am vex’d;

  Bear with my weakness; my, brain is troubled:

  Be not disturb’d with my infirmity:

  If you be pleased, retire into my cell

  And there repose: a turn or two I’ll walk,

  To still my beating mind.

  Ferdinand

  Miranda

  We wish your peace.

  Exeunt

  Prospero

  Come with a thought I thank thee, Ariel: come.

  Enter Ariel

  Ariel

  Thy thoughts I cleave to. What’s thy pleasure?

  Prospero

  Spirit,

  We must prepare to meet with Caliban.

  Ariel

  Ay, my commander: when I presented Ceres,

  I thought to have told thee of it, but I fear’d

  Lest I might anger thee.

  Prospero

  Say again, where didst thou leave these varlets?

  Ariel

  I told you, sir, they were red-hot with drinking;

  So fun of valour that they smote the air

  For breathing in their faces; beat the ground

  For kissing of their feet; yet always bending

  Towards their project. Then I beat my tabour;

  At which, like unback’d colts, they prick’d their ears,

  Advanced their eyelids, lifted up their noses

  As they smelt music: so I charm’d their ears

  That calf-like they my lowing follow’d through

  Tooth’d briers, sharp furzes, pricking goss and thorns,

  Which entered their frail shins: at last I left them

  I’ the filthy-mantled pool beyond your cell,

  There dancing up to the chins, that the foul lake

  O’erstunk their feet.

  Prospero

  This was well done, my bird.

  Thy shape invisible retain thou still:

  The trumpery in my house, go bring it hither,

  For stale to catch these thieves.

  Ariel

  I go, I go.

  Exit

  Prospero

  A devil, a born devil, on whose nature

  Nurture can never stick; on whom my pains,

  Humanely taken, all, all lost, quite lost;

  And as with age his body uglier grows,

  So his mind cankers. I will plague them all,

  Even to roaring.

  Re-enter Ariel, loaden with glistering apparel, & c

  Come, hang them on this line.

  Prospero and Ariel remain invisible. Enter Caliban, Stephano, and Trinculo, all wet

  Caliban

  Pray you, tread softly, that the blind mole may not

  Hear a foot fall: we now are near his cell.

  Stephano

  Monster, your fairy, which you say is a harmless fairy, has done little better than played the Jack with us.

  Trinculo

  Monster, I do smell all horse-piss; at which my nose is in great indignation.

  Stephano

  So is mine. Do you hear, monster? If I should take a displeasure against you, look you,—

  Trinculo

  Thou wert but a lost monster.

  Caliban

  Good my lord, give me thy favour still.

  Be patient, for the prize I’ll bring thee to

  Shall hoodwink this mischance: therefore speak softly.

  All’s hush’d as midnight yet.

  Trinculo

  Ay, but to lose our bottles in the pool,—

  Stephano

  There is not only disgrace and dishonour in that, monster, but an infinite loss.

  Trinculo

  That’s more to me than my wetting: yet this is your harmless fairy, monster.

  Stephano

  I will fetch off my bottle, though I be o’er ears for my labour.

  Caliban

  Prithee, my king, be quiet. Seest thou here,

  This is the mouth o’ the cell: no noise, and enter.

  Do that good mischief which may make this island

  Thine own for ever, and I, thy Caliban,

  For aye thy foot-licker.

  Stephano

  Give me thy hand. I do begin to have bloody thoughts.

  Trinculo

  O king Stephano! O peer! O worthy Stephano! look what a wardrobe here is for thee!

  Caliban

  Let it alone, thou fool; it is but trash.

  Trinculo

  O, ho, monster! we know what belongs to a frippery.

  O king Stephano!

  Stephano

  Put off that gown, Trinculo; by this hand, I’ll have that gown.

  Trinculo

  Thy grace shall have it.

  Caliban

  The dropsy drown this fool I what do you mean

  To dote thus on such luggage? Let’s alone

  And do the murder first: if he awake,

  From toe to crown he’ll fill our skins with pinches,

  Make us strange stuff.

  Stephano

  Be you quiet, monster. Mistress line, is not this my jerkin? Now is the jerkin under the line: now, jerkin, you are like to lose your hair and prove a bald jerkin.

  Trinculo

  Do, do: we steal by line and level, an’t like your grace.

  Stephano

  I thank thee for that jest; here’s a garment for’t: wit shall not go unrewarded while I am king of this country. ‘Steal by line and level’ is an excellent pass of pate; there’s another garment for’t.

  Trinculo

  Monster, come, put some lime upon your fingers, and away with the rest.

  Caliban

  I will have none on’t: we shall lose our time,

  And all be turn’d to barnacles, or to apes

  With foreheads villanous low.

  Stephano

  Monster, lay-to your fingers: help to bear this away where my hogshead of wine is, or I’ll turn you out of my kingdom: go to, carry this.

  Trinculo

  And this.

  Stephano

  Ay, and this.

  A noise of hunters heard. Enter divers Spirits, in shape of dogs and hounds, and hunt them about, Prospero and Ariel setting them on

  Prospero

  Hey, Mountain, hey!

  Ariel

  Silver I there it goes, Silver!

  Prospero

  Fury, Fury! there, Tyrant, there! hark! hark!

  Caliban, Stephano, and Trinculo, are driven out

  Go charge my goblins that they grind their joints

  With dry convulsions, shorten up their sinews

  With aged cramps, and more pinch-spotted make them

  Than pard or cat o’ mountain.

  Ariel

  Hark, they roar!

  Prospero

  Let them be hunted soundly. At this hour

  Lie at my mercy all mine enemies:

  Shortly shall all my labours end, and thou

  Shalt have the air at freedom: for a little

  Follow, and do me service.

  Exeunt

  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.

  Prospero

  I did say so,

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

  How fares the king and’s followers?

  Ariel

  Confined tog
ether

  In the same fashion as you gave in charge,

  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,

  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

  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

  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

  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,

  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

  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,

  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

  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

  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,

  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: