The Tempered

Chapter 2

Enter prospero and Miranda

PROSPER

MIRAND

PROSPER

MIRAND

PROSPER

Putting aside his cloak

If by your art, my dearest father, you hav

Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them

The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch

But that the sea, mounting to th’ welkin’s cheek

Dashes the fire out. O, I have suffere

With those that I saw suffer! A brave vessel

Who had, no doubt, some noble creature in her

Dashed all to pieces. O, the cry did knoc

Against my very heart! Poor souls, they perished

Had I been any god of power, I woul

Have sunk the sea within the earth or er

It should the good ship so have swallowed, an

The fraughting souls within her

Be collected

No more amazement. Tell your piteous hear

There’s no harm done

O, woe the day

No harm

I have done nothing but in care of thee

Of thee, my dear one, thee, my daughter, wh

Art ignorant of what thou art, naught knowin

Of whence I am, nor that I am more bette

Than Prospero, master of a full poor cell

And thy no greater father

More to know

Did never meddle with my thoughts

’Tis tim

I should inform thee farther. Lend thy han

And pluck my magic garment from me

So

Lie there, my art.—Wipe thou thine eyes. Hav

comfortThey sit.

MIRAND

PROSPER

MIRAND

PROSPER

MIRAND

PROSPER

MIRAND

The direful spectacle of the wrack, which touche

The very virtue of compassion in thee

I have with such provision in mine ar

So safely ordered that there is no soul

No, not so much perdition as an hair

Betid to any creature in the vesse

Which thou heard’st cry, which thou saw’st sink. Si

down

For thou must now know farther

You have ofte

Begun to tell me what I am, but stoppe

And left me to a bootless inquisition

Concluding “Stay. Not yet.

The hour’s now come

The very minute bids thee ope thine ear

Obey, and be attentive. Canst thou remembe

A time before we came unto this cell

I do not think thou canst, for then thou wast no

Out three years old

Certainly, sir, I can

By what? By any other house or person

Of anything the image tell me tha

Hath kept with thy remembrance

’Tis far of

And rather like a dream than an assuranc

That my remembrance warrants. Had I no

Four or five women once that tended me

Thou hadst, and more, Miranda. But how is i

That this lives in thy mind? What seest thou els

In the dark backward and abysm of time

If thou rememb’rest aught ere thou cam’st here

How thou cam’st here thou mayst

But that I do not

PROSPERO

MIRANDA

PROSPERO

MIRANDA

PROSPERO

MIRANDA

PROSPERO

MIRANDA

Twelve year since, Miranda, twelve year since,

Thy father was the Duke of Milan and

A prince of power.

Sir, are not you my father?

Thy mother was a piece of virtue, and

She said thou wast my daughter. And thy father

Was Duke of Milan, and his only heir

And princess no worse issued.

O, the heavens!

What foul play had we that we came from thence?

Or blessèd was ’t we did?

Both, both, my girl.

By foul play, as thou sayst, were we heaved thence,

But blessedly holp hither.

O, my heart bleeds

To think o’ th’ teen that I have turned you to,

Which is from my remembrance. Please you,

farther.

My brother and thy uncle, called Antonio—

I pray thee, mark me—that a brother should

Be so perfidious!—he whom next thyself

Of all the world I loved, and to him put

The manage of my state, as at that time

Through all the signories it was the first,

And Prospero the prime duke, being so reputed

In dignity, and for the liberal arts

Without a parallel. Those being all my study,

The government I cast upon my brother

And to my state grew stranger, being transported

And rapt in secret studies. Thy false uncle—

Dost thou attend me?

Sir, most heedfully.

PROSPERO

MIRANDA

PROSPERO

MIRANDA

PROSPERO

Being once perfected how to grant suits,

How to deny them, who t’ advance, and who

To trash for overtopping, new created

The creatures that were mine, I say, or changed ’em,

Or else new formed ’em, having both the key

Of officer and office, set all hearts i’ th’ state

To what tune pleased his ear, that now he was

The ivy which had hid my princely trunk

And sucked my verdure out on ’t. Thou attend’st not.

O, good sir, I do.

I pray thee, mark me.

I, thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicated

To closeness and the bettering of my mind

With that which, but by being so retired,

O’erprized all popular rate, in my false brother

Awaked an evil nature, and my trust,

Like a good parent, did beget of him

A falsehood in its contrary as great

As my trust was, which had indeed no limit,

A confidence sans bound. He being thus lorded,

Not only with what my revenue yielded

But what my power might else exact, like one

Who, having into truth by telling of it,

Made such a sinner of his memory

To credit his own lie, he did believe

He was indeed the Duke, out o’ th’ substitution

And executing th’ outward face of royalty

With all prerogative. Hence, his ambition growing—

Dost thou hear?

Your tale, sir, would cure deafness.

To have no screen between this part he played

And him he played it for, he needs will be

MIRANDA

PROSPERO

MIRANDA

PROSPERO

MIRANDA

PROSPERO

Absolute Milan. Me, poor man, my library

Was dukedom large enough. Of temporal royalties

He thinks me now incapable; confederates,

So dry he was for sway, wi’ th’ King of Naples

To give him annual tribute, do him homage,

Subject his coronet to his crown, and bend

The dukedom, yet unbowed—alas, poor Milan!—

To most ignoble stooping.

O, the heavens!

Mark his condition and th’ event. Then tell me

If this might be a brother.

I should sin

To think but nobly of my grandmother.

Good wombs have borne bad sons.

Now the condition.

This King of Naples, being an enemy

To me inveterate, hearkens my brother’s suit,

Which was that he, in lieu o’ th’ premises

Of homage and I know not how much tribute,

Should presently extirpate me and mine

Out of the dukedom, and confer fair Milan,

With all the honors, on my brother; whereon,

A treacherous army levied, one midnight

Fated to th’ purpose did Antonio open

The gates of Milan, and i’ th’ dead of darkness

The ministers for th’ purpose hurried thence

Me and thy crying self.

Alack, for pity!

I, not rememb’ring how I cried out then,

Will cry it o’er again. It is a hint

That wrings mine eyes to ’t.

Hear a little further,

And then I’ll bring thee to the present business

Which now ’s upon ’s, without the which this story

Were most impertinent.

MIRANDA

PROSPERO

MIRANDA

PROSPERO

MIRANDA

PROSPERO

Wherefore did they not

That hour destroy us?

Well demanded, wench.

My tale provokes that question. Dear, they durst not,

So dear the love my people bore me, nor set

A mark so bloody on the business, but

With colors fairer painted their foul ends.

In few, they hurried us aboard a bark,

Bore us some leagues to sea, where they prepared

A rotten carcass of a butt, not rigged,

Nor tackle, sail, nor mast; the very rats

Instinctively have quit it. There they hoist us

To cry to th’ sea that roared to us, to sigh

To th’ winds, whose pity, sighing back again,

Did us but loving wrong.

Alack, what trouble

Was I then to you!

O, a cherubin

Thou wast that did preserve me. Thou didst smile,

Infusèd with a fortitude from heaven,

When I have decked the sea with drops full salt,

Under my burden groaned, which raised in me

An undergoing stomach to bear up

Against what should ensue.

How came we ashore?

By providence divine.

Some food we had, and some fresh water, that

A noble Neapolitan, Gonzalo,

Out of his charity, who being then appointed

Master of this design, did give us, with

Rich garments, linens, stuffs, and necessaries,

Which since have steaded much. So, of his

gentleness,

Knowing I loved my books, he furnished me

From mine own library with volumes that

I prize above my dukedom.

MIRANDA

PROSPERO

MIRANDA

PROSPERO

Miranda falls asleep.

Prospero puts on his cloak.

ARIEL

PROSPERO

Would I might

But ever see that man.

, standing Now I arise.

Sit still, and hear the last of our sea-sorrow.

Here in this island we arrived, and here

Have I, thy schoolmaster, made thee more profit

Than other princes can, that have more time

For vainer hours and tutors not so careful.

Heavens thank you for ’t. And now I pray you, sir—

For still ’tis beating in my mind—your reason

For raising this sea storm?

Know thus far forth:

By accident most strange, bountiful Fortune,

Now my dear lady, hath mine enemies

Brought to this shore; and by my prescience

I find my zenith doth depend upon

A most auspicious star, whose influence

If now I court not, but omit, my fortunes

Will ever after droop. Here cease more questions.

Thou art inclined to sleep. ’Tis a good dullness,

And give it way. I know thou canst not choose.

Come away, servant, come. I am ready now.

Approach, my Ariel. Come.

Enter Ariel.

All hail, great master! Grave sir, hail! I come

To answer thy best pleasure. Be ’t to fly,

To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride

On the curled clouds, to thy strong bidding task

Ariel and all his quality.

Hast thou, spirit,

Performed to point the tempest that I bade thee?

ARIEL

PROSPERO

ARIEL

PROSPERO

ARIEL

PROSPERO

ARIEL

He folds his arms.

To every article.

I boarded the King’s ship; now on the beak,

Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin,

I flamed amazement. Sometimes I’d divide

And burn in many places. On the topmast,

The yards, and bowsprit would I flame distinctly,

Then meet and join. Jove’s lightning, the precursors

O’ th’ dreadful thunderclaps, more momentary

And sight-outrunning were not. The fire and cracks

Of sulfurous roaring the most mighty Neptune

Seem to besiege and make his bold waves tremble,

Yea, his dread trident shake.

My brave spirit!

Who was so firm, so constant, that this coil

Would not infect his reason?

Not a soul

But felt a fever of the mad, and played

Some tricks of desperation. All but mariners

Plunged in the foaming brine and quit the vessel,

Then all afire with me. The King’s son, Ferdinand,

With hair up-staring—then like reeds, not hair—

Was the first man that leaped; cried “Hell is empty,

And all the devils are here.”

Why, that’s my spirit!

But was not this nigh shore?

Close by, my master.

But are they, Ariel, safe?

Not a hair perished.

On their sustaining garments not a blemish,

But fresher than before; and, as thou bad’st me,

In troops I have dispersed them ’bout the isle.

The King’s son have I landed by himself,

Whom I left cooling of the air with sighs

In an odd angle of the isle, and sitting,

His arms in this sad knot. (He folds his arm)

PROSPERO

ARIEL

PROSPERO

ARIEL

PROSPERO

ARIEL

PROSPERO

ARIEL

PROSPERO

ARIEL

Of the King’s ship,

The mariners say how thou hast disposed,

And all the rest o’ th’ fleet.

Safely in harbor

Is the King’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,

Who, with a charm joined to their suffered labor,

I have left asleep. And for the rest o’ th’ fleet,

Which I dispersed, they all have met again

And are upon the Mediterranean float,

Bound sadly home for Naples,

Supposing that they saw the King’s ship wracked

And his great person perish.

Ariel, thy charge

Exactly is performed. But there’s more work.

What is the time o’ th’ day?

Past the mid season.

At least two glasses. The time ’twixt six and now

Must by us both be spent most preciously.

Is there more toil? Since thou dost give me pains,

Let me remember thee what thou hast promised,

Which is not yet performed me.

How now? Moody?

What is ’t thou canst demand?

My liberty.

Before the time be out? No more.

I prithee,

Remember I have done thee worthy service,

Told thee no lies, made no mistakings, served

Without or grudge or grumblings. Thou did promise

To bate me a full year.

PROSPERO

ARIEL

PROSPERO

ARIEL

PROSPERO

ARIEL

PROSPERO

ARIEL

PROSPERO

ARIEL

PROSPERO

Dost thou forget

From what a torment I did free thee?

No.

Thou dost, and think’st it much to tread the ooze

Of the salt deep,

To run upon the sharp wind of the North,

To do me business in the veins o’ th’ Earth

When it is baked with frost.

I do not, sir.

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?

No, sir.

Thou hast. Where was she born? Speak. Tell me.

Sir, in Argier.

O, was she so? I must

Once in a month recount what thou hast been,

Which thou forget’st. This damned witch Sycorax,

For mischiefs manifold, and sorceries terrible

To enter human hearing, from Argier,

Thou know’st, was banished. For one thing she did

They would not take her life. Is not this true?

Ay, sir.

This blue-eyed hag was hither brought with child

And here was left by th’ sailors. Thou, my slave,

As thou report’st thyself, was then her servant,

And for 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

And in her most unmitigable rage,

ARIEL

PROSPERO

ARIEL

PROSPERO

ARIEL

PROSPERO

ARIEL

PROSPERO

Into a cloven pine, within which 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 island

(Save for the son that she did litter here,

A freckled whelp, hag-born) not honored with

A human shape.

Yes, Caliban, her son.

Dull thing, I say so; he, that Caliban

Whom now I 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 not again undo. It was mine art,

When I arrived and heard thee, that made gape

The pine and let thee out.

I thank thee, master.

If thou more murmur’st, I will rend an oak

And peg thee in his knotty entrails till

Thou hast howled away twelve winters.

Pardon, master.

I will be correspondent to command

And do my spriting gently.

Do so, and after two days

I will discharge thee.

That’s my noble master.

What shall I do? Say, what? What shall I do?

Go make thyself like a nymph o’ th’ sea. Be subject

To no sight but thine and mine, invisible

To every eyeball else. Go, take this shape,

Ariel exits.

Miranda wakes.

MIRANDA

PROSPERO

MIRANDA

PROSPERO

CALIBAN

PROSPERO

He whispers to Ariel.

ARIELHe exits.

PROSPERO

CALIBAN

And hither come in ’t. Go, hence with diligence!

Awake, dear heart, awake. Thou hast slept well.

Awake.

The strangeness of your story put

Heaviness in me.

Shake it off. Come on,

We’ll visit Caliban, my slave, who never

Yields us kind answer.

, rising ’Tis a villain, sir,

I do not love to look on.

But, as ’tis,

We cannot miss him. He does make our fire,

Fetch in our wood, and serves in offices

That profit us.—What ho, slave, Caliban!

Thou earth, thou, speak!

, within There’s wood enough within.

Come forth, I say. There’s other business for thee.

Come, thou tortoise. When?

Enter Ariel like a water nymph.

Fine apparition! My quaint Ariel,

Hark in thine ear.

My lord, it shall be done.

, to Caliban

Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil himself

Upon thy wicked dam, come forth!

Enter Caliban.

As wicked dew as e’er my mother brushed

With raven’s feather from unwholesome fen

Drop on you both. A southwest blow on you

And blister you all o’er.

PROSPERO

CALIBAN

PROSPERO

CALIBAN

For this, be sure, tonight thou shalt have cramps,

Side-stitches that shall pen thy breath up. Urchins

Shall forth at vast of night that they may work

All exercise on thee. Thou shalt be pinched

As thick as honeycomb, each pinch more stinging

Than bees that made ’em.

I must eat my dinner.

This island’s mine by Sycorax, my mother,

Which thou tak’st from me. When thou cam’st first,

Thou strok’st me and made much of me, wouldst

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 o’ th’ isle,

The fresh springs, brine pits, barren place and

fertile.

Cursed be I that did so! All the charms

Of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats, light on you,

For I am all the subjects that you have,

Which first was mine own king; and here you sty me

In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me

The rest o’ th’ island.

Thou most lying slave,

Whom stripes may move, not kindness, I have used

thee,

Filth as thou art, with humane care, and lodged

thee

In mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate

The honor of my child.

O ho, O ho! Would ’t had been done!

Thou didst prevent me. I had peopled else

This isle with Calibans.

MIRANDA

CALIBAN

PROSPERO

CALIBAN

PROSPERO

Caliban exits.

Abhorrèd 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

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

Could not abide to be with. Therefore wast thou

Deservedly confined into this rock,

Who hadst deserved more than a prison.

You taught me language, and my profit on ’t

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

For learning me your language!

Hagseed, hence!

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

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

If thou neglect’st 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.

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.

So, slave, hence.

Enter Ferdinand; and Ariel, invisible,

playing and singing.

ARIEL

FERDINAND

ARIEL

Burden, within: Ding dong.

Song.

Come unto these yellow sands,

And then take hands.

Curtsied when you have, and kissed

The wild waves whist.

Foot it featly here and there,

And sweet sprites bear

The burden. Hark, hark!

Burden dispersedly, within: Bow-wow.

The watchdogs bark.

Burden dispersedly, within: Bow-wow.

Hark, hark! I hear

The strain of strutting chanticleer

Cry c**k-a-diddle-dow.

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,

Weeping again the King my father’s wrack,

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.

No, it begins again.

Song.

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

But doth suffer a sea change

Into something rich and strange.

Sea nymphs hourly ring his knell.

Hark, now I hear them: ding dong bellFERDINAND

PROSPER

MIRAND

PROSPER

MIRAND

PROSPER

FERDINAN

MIRAND

FERDINAN

The ditty does remember my drowned father

This is no mortal business, nor no soun

That the Earth owes. I hear it now above me

, to Mirand

The fringèd curtains of thine eye advanc

And say what thou seest yond

What is ’t? A spirit

Lord, how it looks about! Believe me, sir

It carries a brave form. But ’tis a spirit

No, wench, it eats and sleeps and hath such sense

As we have, such. This gallant which thou sees

Was in the wrack; and, but he’s something staine

With grief—that’s beauty’s canker—thou might’s

call hi

A goodly person. He hath lost his fellow

And strays about to find ’em

I might call hi

A thing divine, for nothing natura

I ever saw so noble

, aside It goes on, I see

As my soul prompts it. To Ariel. Spirit, fine spirit

I’ll free the

Within two days for this

, seeing Miranda Most sure, the goddes

On whom these airs attend!—Vouchsafe my praye

May know if you remain upon this island

And that you will some good instruction giv

How I may bear me here. My prime request

Which I do last pronounce, is—O you wonder!

If you be maid or no

No wonder, sir

But certainly a maid

My language! Heavens

PROSPERO

FERDINAND

MIRANDA

FERDINAND

PROSPERO

MIRANDA

FERDINAND

PROSPERO

I am the best of them that speak this speech,

Were I but where ’tis spoken.

How? The best?

What wert thou if the King of Naples heard thee?

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,

Who with mine eyes, never since at ebb, beheld

The King my father wracked.

Alack, for mercy!

Yes, faith, and all his lords, the Duke of Milan

And his brave son being twain.

, aside The Duke of Milan

And his more braver daughter could control thee,

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

They have changed eyes.—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.

Why speaks my father so ungently? This

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.

O, if a virgin,

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

The Queen of Naples.

Soft, sir, one word more.

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

FERDINAND

MIRANDA

PROSPERO

FERDINAND

He draws, and is charmed from moving.

MIRANDA

PROSPERO

MIRANDA

PROSPERO

MIRANDA

PROSPERO

The name thou ow’st not, and hast put thyself

Upon this island as a spy, to win it

From me, the lord on ’t.

No, as I am a man!

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.

, to Ferdinand Follow me.

To Miranda. Speak not you for him. He’s a traitor.

To Ferdinand. 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.

No,

I will resist such entertainment till

Mine enemy has more power.

O dear father,

Make not too rash a trial of him, for

He’s gentle and not fearful.

What, I say,

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

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.

Beseech you, father—

Hence! Hang not on my garments.

Sir, have pity.

I’ll be his surety.

Silence! One word more

Shall make me chide thee, if not hate thee. What,

MIRANDA

PROSPERO

FERDINAND

PROSPERO

MIRANDA

PROSPERO

ARIEL

PROSPERO

They exit.

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,

To th’ most of men this is a Caliban,

And they to him are angels.

My affections

Are then most humble. I have no ambition

To see a goodlier man.

, to Ferdinand Come on, obey.

Thy nerves are in their infancy again

And have no vigor in them.

So they are.

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

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

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

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

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.

, aside It works.—Come on.—

Thou hast done well, fine Ariel.—Follow me.

To Ariel. Hark what thou else shalt do me.

, 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.

, to Ariel Thou shalt be as free

As mountain winds; but then exactly do

All points of my command.

To th’ syllable.

, to Ferdinand

Come follow. To Miranda. Speak not for him.

They exit.