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The Tempest Full Analysis
advanced english (ENGADV)
University of Sydney
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The Tempest
William Shakespeare
LIST OF CHARACTERS
The Island
PROSPERO, the rightful Duke of Milan
MIRANDA, his daughter
ARIEL, a spirit of the air
CALIBAN, a savage and deformed slave
SPIRITS in Prospero’s service
IRIS, CERES, JUNO, NYMPHS, REAPERS characters conjured by Prospero in ‘the masque’
The Shipwrecked Royal Court
ALONSO, King of Naples
FERDINAND, Alonso’s son
SEBASTIAN, Alonso’s brother
ANTONIO, Prospero’s brother, the usurping Duke of Milan
GONZALO, an honest old councillor
ADRIAN, FRANCISCO lords
STEPHANO, a drunken butler
TRINCULO, a jester
The Ship’s Crew
MASTER, the ship’s captain
BOATSWAIN, the ship’s officer in charge of equipment and crew
MARINERS, sailors
SEBASTIAN
BOATSWAIN
ANTONIO
GONZALO
BOATSWAIN
MARINER
BOATSWAIN
GONZALO
SEBASTIAN
ANTONIO
GONZALO
VOICE 1
VOICE 2
VOICE 3
VOICE 1
VOICE 2
ANTONIO
SEBASTIAN
GONZALO
A plague upon this howling! They are louder than the weather,
or our office [To the lords] Yet again? What do you do here?
Shall we give o’er and drown? Have you a mind to sink?
A pox o’your throat, you bawling, blasphemous, incharitable
dog.
Work you then.
Hang, cur, hang, you whoreson, insolent noisemaker, we are
less afraid to be drowned than thou art.
I’ll warrant him from drowning, though the ship were no
stronger than a nutshell, and as leaky as an unstanched wench.
Lay her a-hold, a-hold; set her two courses. Off to sea again; lay
her off.
Enter MARINERS, wet.
All lost! To prayers, to prayers, all lost!
What, must our mouths be cold?
The king and prince at prayers! Let’s assist them,
For our case is as theirs.
I’m out of patience.
We’re merely cheated of our lives by drunkards.
This wide-chopped rascal – would thou mightst lie drowning
The washing of ten tides!
He’ll be hanged yet,
Though every drop of water sweat against it,
And gape at wid’st to glut him.
[Exeunt Boatswain and Mariners]
Confused noises are heard below decks.
Mercy on us!
We split, we split!
Farewell, my wife and children!
Farewell, brother!
We split, we split, we split!
Let’s all sink wi’th’king.
Let’s take leave of him.
[Exeunt Sebastian and Antonio]
Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of
barren ground – long heath, brown furze, anything. The wills
above be done, but I would fain die a dry death.
Exit.
####### The boatswain complains to the
####### lords about their screaming, and
####### insults them. The lords insult him
####### back, demonstrating the rising
####### tension between the characters as
####### the storm becomes worse. The
####### mirroring of mood and weather is
####### a literary technique known as
####### pathetic fallacy.
####### The ship starts sinking
####### (represented by the dishevelled
####### state of the sailors). In the face of
####### death, the boatswain craves one
####### last alcoholic drink.
####### The lords speak in iambic
####### pentameter to each other, as
####### befitting their class, whereas they
####### previously spoke in plain verse to
####### the boatswain. Antonio hopes
####### that the boatswain drowns ten
####### times over but Gonzalo remarks
####### that the boatswain will still survive
####### to be hanged.
####### Rising tension represented by
####### voices below deck.
####### Antonio shows loyalty to his king,
####### and Sebastian suggests they go to
####### say goodbye to him.
####### Gonzalo would trade all of the
####### sea for a much smaller patch of
####### land. His use of hyperbole
####### foreshadows his wish to die on
####### land rather than at sea.
ACT 1, SCENE 2
➔ The Island
In this scene: Prospero, an exile on the island, explains to his daughter (Miranda) how they came
to be there. His magic and control of the spirit Ariel has allowed him to cause the shipwreck, and
he manipulates one survivor, Ferdinand, into falling in love with Miranda.
MIRANDA
PROSPERO
MIRANDA
PROSPERO
MIRANDA
PROSPERO
MIRANDA
Enter PROSPERO and MIRANDA
If by your art, my dearest father, you have
Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them.
The sky is seems would pour down stinking pitch,
But that the sea, mounting to th’welkins cheek.
Dashes the fire out. O, I have suffered
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 knock
Against my very heart! Poor souls, they perished.
Had I been any god of power, I would
Have sunk the sea within the earth, or ere
It should the good ship so have swallowed, and
The fraughting souls within her.
Be collected;
No more amazement. Tell your piteous heart
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 – who
Art ignorant of what thou art, nought knowing
Of whence I am, nor that I am more better
Than Prospero, master of a full poor cell,
And thy no greater father.
More to know
Did never meddle with my thoughts.
‘Tis time
I should inform thee farther. Lend thy hand
And pluck my magic garment from me – so –
[Miranda assist Prospero; his cloak is laid aside]
Lie there my art. Wipe thou thine eyes; have comfort
The direful spectacle of the wrack which touched
The very virtue of compassion in thee,
I have with such provision in mine art
So safely ordered, that there is no soul,
No, not so much perdition as an hair
Betid to any creature in the vessel
Which thou heard’st cry, which thou saw’st sink. Sit down,
For thou must now know farther.
[Miranda sits]
You have often
Begun to tell me what I am, but stopped
And left me to a bootless inquisition,
Concluding, ‘Stay: not yet.’
Commentary/Translation
####### Miranda asks her father to stop
####### the storm if he has summoned it
####### via magic, especially after she has
####### just witnessed a shipwreck off
####### the coast of their island. Note her
####### use of figurative language, and
####### the patterns of repetition and
####### contrast in her speech.
####### Miranda and Prospero’s closeness
####### is signified by Shakespeare’s use
####### of iambic pentameter to establish
####### a shared rhythm of speech.
####### Prospero assures Miranda that
####### everything he does is to protect
####### her, and indicates to her that
####### there is more to him than just
####### what she knows – that he is just an
####### island-dweller, living in isolation
####### with his only daughter. She
####### reveals that she never thought
####### anything else was possible than
####### what she already knew.
####### Characterisation of Miranda
####### revealed through Prospero’s
####### description of her and he assures
####### her that no one has been hurt.
MIRANDA
PROSPERO
MIRANDA
PROSPERO
MIRANDA
PROSPERO
MIRANDA
PROSPERO
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 please 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’er-prized all popular rate, in my false brother
Awakened 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’th’substitution
And executing th’outward face of royalty
With all prerogative. Hence his ambition growing –
Does 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
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 honours, 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
####### Metaphor – ivy that clings to the
####### side of the tree and parasitically
####### drains it (verdure = life). Again,
####### Miranda doesn’t seem to be
####### listening.
####### Prospero’s tale grows in emotion
####### as he relates his brother’s
####### transformation. He alludes to the
####### evil of this betrayal by highlighting
####### his own virtue ‘trust... no limit’
####### and Antonio’s ambition
####### consuming him to the point where
####### he believed he was rightful ruler
####### (again, note that this is Prospero’s
####### perspective – did Antonio have a
####### reason to take power?)
####### This metaphor describes
####### Antonio’s solidifying of his ‘false’
####### dukedom into a real one.
####### Prospero explains that this was
####### done with the King of Naples’
####### support, gained through payment
####### and alliance. ‘Dukedom yet
####### unbowed’ – Prospero reveals that
####### Milan was previously independent
####### but has now been sold out.
####### Prospero challenges Miranda’s
####### concept of family, and she
####### extends the logic to her (unmet)
####### grandmother to show how
####### families can be beyond simplistic
####### value judgements.
MIRANDA
PROSPERO
MIRANDA
PROSPERO
MIRANDA
PROSPERO
MIRANDA
PROSPERO
MIRANDA
PROSPERO
MIRANDA
The ministers for th’purpose hurried thence
Me, and thy crying self.
Alack, for pity!
I, not remembering 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.
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 colours fairer painted their foul ends.
In few, they hurried us aboard a barque,
Bore us some leagues to sea, where they prepared
A rotten carcass of a butt, not rigged,
Not 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!
[Sitting] O, a cherubin
Thou wast that did preserve me. Thou didst smile
Infused 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.
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 –
####### Prospero thinks their lives were
####### spared because the people of
####### Milan loved him too much. What
####### do you think? The ship he was put
####### on sounds like a death trap.
####### “Cherubin” = Guardian angel –
####### Prospero’s daughter is what kept
####### his spirits up in the face of death.
####### Providence divine = God’s Will.
####### But also – Gonzalo (who gave
####### them clothes, food, and
####### Prospero’s books). Note that
####### Prospero says that his books were
####### more important to him than being
####### duke. Once again, this calls into
####### question whether Antonio was so
####### wrong to take power...
####### Figurative = Double-meaning.
####### The up-shot of their exile is that
####### Prospero has been able to
####### dedicate his time to her as a
####### teacher – meaning she has more
####### education than even princes get.
ARIEL
PROSPERO
ARIEL
PROSPERO
ARIEL
PROSPERO
ARIEL
PROSPERO
ARIEL
PROSPERO
ARIEL
PROSPERO
ARIEL
PROSPERO
ARIEL
PROSPERO
ARIEL
Not a fair 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.
Of the king’s ship,
The mariners, say how thou hast disposed,
And all the rest o’th’fleet?
Safely in harbour
Is the king’s ship, in the deep nook, where once
Thou call’dst me up at midnight to fetch dew
From the still-vexed Bermudas, there she’s hid;
The mariners all under hatches stowed,
Who, with a charm joined to their suffered labour,
I’ve 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.
Dost thou forget
From what 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.
####### “Still-vexed Bermudas” on one
####### level describes the islands as
####### always stormy, another potential
####### reading is that Ariel refers to the
####### Bermoothes district in London
####### where Prospero sent Ariel to
####### collect whiskey (dew) from the
####### whisky-stills there. Either way, the
####### line hints at Ariel’s resentment of
####### Prospero’s control over him.
####### Prospero’s plans continue – he
####### wants to act quickly but Ariel
####### shows annoyance at more work.
####### Liberty = freedom.
####### Prospero has made a deal with
####### Ariel to let him go free for a whole
####### year.
####### Prospero accuses Ariel of
####### resenting his recent mission in the
####### sea.
####### Ariel owes Prospero a debt,
####### apparently, to do with an old
####### witch called Sycorax.
PROSPERO
ARIEL
PROSPERO
ARIEL
PROSPERO
ARIEL
PROSPERO
ARIEL
PROSPERO
ARIEL
PROSPERO
ARIEL
PROSPERO
Thou hast. Where was she born? Speak. Tell me.
Sir, in Algiers.
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 Algiers
Thou know’st was banished. For one thing she did
They would not take her life. Is 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,
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 honoured 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 spiriting 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 to a nymph o’th’sea. Be subject to
No sight but thine and mine, invisible
To every eye-ball else. Go take this shape
And hither come in’t. Go! Hence with diligence.
Exit [Ariel]
[To Miranda] Awake, dear heart, awake; thou hast slept well,
####### This shared line contains 5
####### sentences – denoting the
####### sharpness of their exchange and
####### the emotional weight in it.
####### Sycorax was banished to the
####### island from North Africa for her
####### terrible crimes and when Ariel
####### refused to carry out her
####### commands he was locked inside a
####### ‘pine’ (tree) where he remained
####### for 12 years due to her death in
####### the meantime. Sycorax’s other
####### legacy to the island is her son,
####### Caliban.
####### Simile: ‘as fast as mill-wheels
####### strike’ denotes the constant
####### paddle of a mill-wheel in the
####### water to demonstrate Ariel’s
####### continuous screaming while
####### trapped in the tree.
####### Why did Caliban not do anything
####### about Ariel despite hearing the
####### screams?
####### Wordplay = which/witch
####### Prospero was able to free Ariel
####### using his own magic (‘art’)
####### Oh, that’s not very nice of
####### Prospero! He’s threatening to
####### imprison Ariel in a tree once again
####### for another 12 years if the spirits
####### keeps complaining.
####### Motif: imprisonment and release.
####### And after threatening Ariel, look
####### how happy the spirit is when
####### Prospero once again promises the
####### possibility of freedom.
####### Prospero sends Ariel to go spy on
####### the shipwrecked arrivals.
CALIBAN
MIRANDA
CALIBAN
PROSPERO
CALIBAN
PROSPERO
ARIEL
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 honour of my child.
O ho, O ho! Would’t had been done.
Thou didst prevent me – I had peopled else
This isle with Calibans.
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
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!
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 crampes,
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.
Exit Caliban.
Enter FERDINAND and ARIEL invisible, playing and singing.
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 the burden bear
Hark, hark
The watch-dogs bark
Bow wow, bow wow.
[Spirits dispersedly echo the burden ‘Bow wow’]
Hark, hark! I hear
The strain of strutting Chanticleer,
Cry cock-a-diddle-dow.
[Spirits dispersedly echo the burden ‘cock-a-diddle-dow’]
####### Stripes = lashes
####### Accusing Caliban of attempting to
####### rape Miranda.
####### Miranda taught Caliban how to
####### speak.
####### Caliban’s use of language extends
####### to swearing; the height of his
####### education, apparently.
####### Contrast how Prospero controls
####### Caliban with how he coaxes Ariel.
####### Dam = mother.
####### Caliban thinks Prospero is more
####### powerful than Sycorax was.
####### Ariel cannot be seen but his song
####### is heard by Ferdinand,
####### contributing to the magical
####### atmosphere of the island.
FERDINAND
ARIEL
FERDINAND
PROSPERO
MIRANDA
PROSPERO
MIRANDA
PROSPERO
FERDINAND
MIRANDA
FERDINAND
PROSPERO
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,
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 the, ding dong bell.
[Spirits dispersedly echo the burden ‘ding dong bell’]
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.
[To Miranda] The fringed curtains of thine eye advance,
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 senses
As we have, such. This gallant which thou seest
Was in the wrack; and but he’s something stained
With grief – that’s beauty’s canker – thou might’st call him
A goodly person. He hath lost his fellows,
And strays about to find ‘em.
I might call him
A thing divine, for nothing natural
I ever saw so noble.
[Aside] It goes on, I see.
As my soul prompts it. [To Ariel] Spirit, fine spirit. I’ll free thee
Within two days for this.
[Seeing Miranda] 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
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!
I am the best of them that speaks 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
####### Ferdinand feels as if this magical
####### song has calmed the storm, and
####### he is comforted by it.
####### Ariel describes the fate of
####### Ferdinand’s father with lyrical,
####### poetic and beautiful language.
####### Miranda, having never seen
####### anyone else before, thinks
####### Ferdinand to be a spirit.
####### Contrasting language – the divine
####### (godlike) and the human (“stained
####### with grief”).
####### Does Prospero want his daughter
####### to fall in love with Ferdinand? Is
####### this his plan?
####### Ferdinand thinks Miranda might
####### be a goddess, after having heard
####### the music.
####### “the best of them” = this is a
####### reference to Ferdinand now
####### believing himself to be King of
####### Naples after his father’s death
PROSPERO
MIRANDA
PROSPERO
MIRANDA
PROSPERO
FERDINAND
PROSPERO
MIRANDA
PROSPERO
ARIEL
PROSPERO
Hence! Hang not on my garments.
Sir, have pity;
I’ll be his surety.
Silence! One more word
Shall make me chide thee, if not hate thee. What,
An advocate for an imposter? 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 vigour 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. [Ferdinand] Come on!
[To Ariel] Thou hast done well, fine Ariel. [To Ferdinand]
Follow me.
[To Ariel] Hark what thou else shalt to 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.
Exeunt.
####### Contrast and comparison; with
####### the use of Caliban as a measuring
####### stick. Prospero tries to use this to
####### reason with Miranda
####### instantaneous love for Ferdinand
####### but she remains unmoved.
####### Prospero gloats in his power over
####### Ferdinand – his muscles are like a
####### baby under this spell.
####### Prison motif continues, with
####### Ferdinand expressing his love for
####### Miranda as eclipsing all else.
####### Unwonted = unusual
####### Ariel will be free provided
####### Prospero’s commands are carried
####### out exactly as he asks.
ACT 2 , SCENE 1
➔ A remote part of the Island
In this scene: The King of Naples, Duke of Milan and co. reflect on their current situation. The
Duke uses the situation as an opportunity to suggest treachery to the King’s brother, Sebastian.
GONZALO
ALONSO
SEBASTIAN
ANTONIO
SEBASTIAN
GONZALO
SEBASTIAN
GONZALO
SEBASTIAN
GONZALO
SEBASTIAN
GONZALO
ANTONIO
ALONSO
GONZALO
SEBASTIAN
ANTONIO
SEBASTIAN
ANTONIO
SEBASTIAN
ANTONIO
SEBASTIAN
ADRIAN
ANTONIO
SEBASTIAN
ADRIAN
SEBASTIAN
ADRIAN
ANTONIO
ADRIAN
ANTONIO
SEBASTIAN
ADRIAN
SEBASTIAN
ANTONIO
Enter ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, GONZALO, ADRIAN,
FRANCISCO and others
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
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.
Prithee, peace.
[Apart to Antonio] He receives comfort like cold porridge.
[Apart to Sebastian] The visitor will not give him o’er so.
Look, he’s winding up the watch of his wit,
By and by it will strike.
[To Alonso] Sir, -
One: tell.
When every grief is entertained
That’s offered, comes to the entertainer –
A dollar.
Dolour comes to him indeed; you have spoken truer than you
purposed.
You have taken it wiselier than I meant you should.
Therefore, my lord –
Fie, what a spendthrift is he of his tongue.
I prithee, spare.
Well, I have done. But yet –
He will be talking.
Which, of he or Adrian, for a good wager, first begins to crow?
The old cock.
The cockerel.
Done. The wager?
A laughter.
A match!
Though this island seems to be desert –
Ha, ha ha!
So: you’re paid.
Uninhabitable, and almost inaccessible –
Yet –
Yet –
He could not miss’t.
It must needs be of subtle, tender and delicate temperance.
Temperance was a delicate wench.
Ay, and a subtle, as he most learnedly delivered.
The air breaths upon us here most sweetly.
As if it had lungs, and rotten ones.
Or as ‘twere perfumed by a fen.
Commentary/Translation
Gonzalo tries to put everyone
at ease by looking on the
bright side: they have
survived.
Note Sebastian and Antonio’s
cynical attitude throughout
this scene..
Sebastian metaphorically
compares Gonzalo to a clock,
such is his predictability.
Gonzalo (intentionally?)
misinterprets Sebastian’s
insult (Dollar/dolour = pain)
IE. “Ugh, won’t he shut up?”
“Please, stop”.
Crow = carry on
Temperance = can mean a
mild climate or a girl’s name.
Both meanings are employed
here to show Antonio’s
deliberate undercutting of
Adrian.
Fen = swamp.
FRANCISCO
ALONSO
SEBASTIAN
ALONSO
SEBASTIAN
ALONSO
GONZALO
SEBASTIAN
ANTONIO
GONZALO
SEBASTIAN
ANTONIO
GONZALO
ANTONIO
SEBASTIAN
GONZALO
SEBASTIAN
GONZALO
SEBASTIAN
ANTONIO
Of Naples and of Milan, what strange fish
Hath made his meal on thee?
Sir, he may live.
I saw him beat the surges under him,
And ride upon their backs; he trod the water
Whose enmity he flung aside, and breasted
The surge most swol’n than met him. His bold head
‘Bove the contentious waves he kept, and oared
Himself with his good arms in lusty stroke
To th’shore, that o’er his wave-worn basis bowed,
As stooping to relieve him. I not doubt
He came alive to land.
No, no, he’s gone.
Sir, you may thank yourself for this great loss,
That would not bless our Europe with your daughter,
But rather lose her to an African,
Where she, at least, is banished from your eye,
Who hath cause to wet the grief on’t.
Prithee, peace.
You were kneeled to and importuned otherwise
By all of us’ and the fair soul herself
Weighed between loathness and obedience, at
Which end o’th’beam should bow. We have lost your son,
I fear for ever. Milan and Naples have
More widows in them of this business’ making
Than we bring men to comfort them. The fault’s
Your own.
So is the dearest of the loss.
My lord Sebastian,
The truth you speak doth lack some gentleness,
And time to speak it in; you rub the sore,
When you should bring the plaster.
Very well.
And most chirurgeonly.
[To Alonso] It is foul weather in us all, good sir,
When you are cloudy.
Foul weather?
Very foul.
Had I plantation of this isle, my lord –
He’d sow’t with nettle-seed.
Or docks, or mallows.
- And were the king on’t, what would I do?
’Scape being drunk, for want of wine.
I’th’commonwealth I would by contraries
Execute all things. For no kind of traffic
Would I admit; no name of magistrate;
Letters should not be known; riches, poverty,
Bourn, bound of land, tilth, vineyard, none;
No use of metal, corn, or wine, or oil;
No occupation, all men idle, all;
And women too, but innocent and pure;
No sovereignty -
Yet he would be king on’t.
The latter end of his commonwealth forgets the beginning.
The King compares the loss of
his daughter to marriage in a
far-away land to the new loss
of his son, Ferdinand. He is not
in the mood for hearing about
the brighter side of things.
Sebastian criticises the King
for selling his daughter off to
Africa. Sebastian’s reckless
criticism here perhaps
indicates that he thinks they
will never escape the island –
meaning that the normal
balance of power has been
disrupted.
Metaphor of wounds.
Plaster = band-aid.
IE. Like a surgeon.
The King as leader/God’s
representative.
Plantation = metaphor for
control, like a colonist.
Gonzalo describes his ideal
vision of a paradise
government; a utopia.
GONZALO
SEBASTIAN
ANTONIO
GONZALO
SEBASTIAN
ANTONIO
GONZALO
ALONSO
GONZALO
ANTONIO
GONZALO
ANTONIO
SEBASTIAN
GONZALO
SEBASTIAN
ANTONIO
GONZALO
ANTONIO
ALONSO
SEBASTIAN
ANTONIO
ALONSO
SEBASTIAN
ANTONIO
SEBASTIAN
ANTONIO
All things common nature should produce
Without sweat or endeavour. Treason, felony,
Sword, pike, knife, gun, or need of any engine
Would I not have; but nature should bring forth
Of it own kind, all foison, all abundance
To feed my innocent people.
No marrying ’mong his subjects?
None, man, all idle; whores and knaves
I would with such perfection govern, sir,
T’excel the Golden Age.
’Save his majesty!
Long live Gonzalo!
[To Alonso] And – do you mark me, sir?
Prithee, no more, thou dost talk nothing to me.
I do well believe your highness, and did it to minister occasion
to these gentlemen, who are of such sensible and nimble lungs,
that they always use to laugh at nothing.
’Twas you we laughed at.
Who, in this kind of merry fooling, am nothing to you; so you
may continue, and laugh at nothing still.
What a blow was there given!
And it had not fall’n flat-long.
You are gentlemen of brave mettle; you would lift the moon out
of her sphere, if she would continue in it five weeks without
changing.
Enter ARIEL [invisible] playing solemn music
We would so, and then go a-batfowling.
Nay, good my lord, be not angry.
No, I warrant you, I will not adventure my discretion so weakly.
Will you laugh me asleep, for I am very heavy?
Go sleep, and hear us.
[All sleep except Alonso, Sebastian and Antonio.]
What, all so soon asleep? I wish mine eyes
Would with themselves shut up my thoughts; I find
They are inclined to do so.
Please you, sir,
Do not omit the heavy offer of it.
It seldom visits sorrow; when it doth,
It is a comforter.
We two, my lord,
Will guard your person while you take your rest,
And watch your safety.
Thank you, Wondrous heavy.
[Alonso sleeps] [Exit Ariel]
What a strange drowsiness possesses them?
It is the quality o’th’climate.
Why
Doth it not then our eyelids sink? I find
Not myself disposed to sleep.
Nor I; my spirits are nimble.
####### Gonzalo is alluding to the
####### concept of the ‘Noble Savage’.
####### Written about in Shakespeare’s
####### time, the ‘uncivilised’ tribes of
####### the Americas were theorised by
####### the French philosopher
####### Montaigne as superior to
####### Europeans due to their co-
####### existence with nature.
####### Golden Age = the classical world
####### of Ancient Greece and Rome.
####### Gonzalo feebly insults Antonio for
####### making fun of him; someone who
####### apparently amounts to ‘nothing’.
####### Sarcasm.
####### Ariel puts them to sleep –
####### Gonzalo, Francisco and Adrian
####### first, then Alonso (whose
####### weariness and sadness craves
####### such rest)
####### Sebastian and Antonio wonder
####### why they haven’t become tired
####### like the others, and note how
####### strange it is that they all fell
####### asleep so suddenly.
####### Antonio suggests that Sebastian
####### may find an opportunity to
The Tempest Full Analysis
Course: advanced english (ENGADV)
University: University of Sydney
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