William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition (564 page)
Read William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition Online
Authors: William Shakespeare
Tags: #Drama, #Literary Criticism, #Shakespeare
BOOK: William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition
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Never till this day
Saw I him touched with anger so distempered.
PROSPERO
You do look, my son, in a moved sort,
As if you were dismayed. 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-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, 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 vexed.
Bear with my weakness. My old brain is troubled.
Be not disturbed 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.
As if you were dismayed. 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-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, 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 vexed.
Bear with my weakness. My old brain is troubled.
Be not disturbed 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 and MIRANDA
We wish your peace.
Exeunt Ferdinand and Miranda
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 feared
Lest I might anger thee.
I thought to have told thee of it, but I feared
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 full 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 tabor,
At which like unbacked colts they pricked their ears,
Advanced their eyelids, lifted up their noses
As they smelt music. So I charmed their ears
That calf-like they my lowing followed, through
Toothed briars, sharp furzes, pricking gorse, and
thorns,
Which entered their frail shins. At last I left them
I’th’ filthy-mantled pool beyond your cell,
There dancing up to th’ chins, that the foul lake
O’er-stunk their feet.
So full 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 tabor,
At which like unbacked colts they pricked their ears,
Advanced their eyelids, lifted up their noses
As they smelt music. So I charmed their ears
That calf-like they my lowing followed, through
Toothed briars, sharp furzes, pricking gorse, and
thorns,
Which entered their frail shins. At last I left them
I’th’ filthy-mantled pool beyond your cell,
There dancing up to th’ chins, that the foul lake
O’er-stunk 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.
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.
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.
Enter Ariel, laden with glistening apparel, etc.
Come, hang them on this lime.
Ariel hangs up the apparel. ⌈Exeunt Prospero and
Ariel.⌉
Enter Caliban, Stefano, 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.
Not hear a foot fall. We now are near his cell.
STEFANO 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.
STEFANO 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 hushed as midnight yet.
Be patient, for the prize I’ll bring thee to
Shall hoodwink this mischance. Therefore speak softly.
All’s hushed as midnight yet.
TRINCULO Ay, but to lose our bottles in the pool!
STEFANO 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.
STEFANO 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’th’ 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.
This is the mouth o’th’ 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.
STEFANO
Give me thy hand.
I do begin to have bloody thoughts.
TRINCULO
(seeing the apparel)
O King Stefano, O peer! O worthy Stefano, look what a wardrobe here is for thee!
(seeing the apparel)
O King Stefano, O peer! O worthy Stefano, look what a wardrobe here is for thee!
CALIBAN
Let it alone, thou fool, it is but trash.
TRINCULO
(putting on a gown)
O ho, monster, we know what belongs to a frippery! O King Stefano!
(putting on a gown)
O ho, monster, we know what belongs to a frippery! O King Stefano!
STEFANO 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! What do you mean
To dote thus on such luggage? Let’t alone,
And do the murder first. If he awake,
From toe to crown he’ll fill our skins with pinches,
Make us strange stuff.
To dote thus on such luggage? Let’t alone,
And do the murder first. If he awake,
From toe to crown he’ll fill our skins with pinches,
Make us strange stuff.
STEFANO Be you quiet, monster.—Mistress lime, 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.
Stefano and Trinculo take garments
TRINCULO Do, do! We steal by line and level, an’t like your grace.
STEFANO 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 turned to barnacles, or to apes
With foreheads villainous low.
And all be turned to barnacles, or to apes
With foreheads villainous low.
STEFANO 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.
STEFANO Ay, and this.
They load Caliban with apparel. A noise of hunters heard. Enter divers spirits in shape of dogs and hounds, hunting them about; Prospero and Ariel setting them on
PROSPERO
Hey, Mountain, hey!
ARIEL
Silver! There it goes, Silver!
PROSPERO
Fury, Fury! There, Tyrant, there! Hark, hark!
Exeunt Stefano, Trinculo, and Caliban, pursued by spirits
(To Ariel) 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.
joints
With dry convulsions, shorten up their sinews
With aged cramps, and more pinch-spotted make
them
Than pard or cat o’mountain.
Cries within
ARIEL
Hark, they roar!
PROSPERO
Let them be hunted soundly. At this hour
Lies 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.
Lies 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
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?
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.
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?
How fares the King and’s followers?
ARIEL
Confined together
In the same fashion as you gave in charge,
Just as you left them; all prisoners, sir,
In the lime-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 termed, 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.
Just as you left them; all prisoners, sir,
In the lime-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 termed, 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 th’
quick,
Yet with my nobler reason ’gainst 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.
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 th’
quick,
Yet with my nobler reason ’gainst 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 draws a circle with his staff⌉
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 bedimmed
The noontide sun, called 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 plucked 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.
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 bedimmed
The noontide sun, called 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 plucked 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. Here enters first Ariel, invisible;
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
(To Alonso)
A solemn air, and the best comforter
To an unsettled fancy, cure thy brains,
Now useless, boiled within thy skull.
(To Sebastian and Antonio)
There stand,
For you are spelt-stopped.—
Holy Gonzalo, honourable man,
Mine eyes, ev’n sociable to the show of thine,
Fall fellowly drops. (Aside) The charm dissolves apace,
And as the morning steals upon the night,
Melting the darkness, so their rising senses
Begin to chase the ignorant fumes that mantle
Their clearer reason.—O good Gonzalo,
My true preserver, and a loyal sir
To him thou follow’st, I will pay thy graces
Home both in word and deed.—Most cruelly
Didst thou, Alonso, use me and my daughter.
Thy brother was a furtherer in the act.—
Thou art pinched for’t now, Sebastian.
(To Antonio)
Flesh and blood,
You, brother mine, that entertained ambition,
Expelled remorse and nature, whom, with Sebastian—
Whose inward pinches therefore are most strong,—
Would here have killed your king, I do forgive thee,
Unnatural though thou art. (Aside) Their understanding
Begins to swell, and the approaching tide
Will shortly fill the reasonable shores
That now lie foul and muddy. Not one of them
That yet looks on me, or would know me.—Ariel,
Fetch me the hat and rapier in my cell.
I will disease me, and myself present
As I was sometime Milan. Quickly, spirit!
Thou shalt ere long be free.
A solemn air, and the best comforter
To an unsettled fancy, cure thy brains,
Now useless, boiled within thy skull.
(To Sebastian and Antonio)
There stand,
For you are spelt-stopped.—
Holy Gonzalo, honourable man,
Mine eyes, ev’n sociable to the show of thine,
Fall fellowly drops. (Aside) The charm dissolves apace,
And as the morning steals upon the night,
Melting the darkness, so their rising senses
Begin to chase the ignorant fumes that mantle
Their clearer reason.—O good Gonzalo,
My true preserver, and a loyal sir
To him thou follow’st, I will pay thy graces
Home both in word and deed.—Most cruelly
Didst thou, Alonso, use me and my daughter.
Thy brother was a furtherer in the act.—
Thou art pinched for’t now, Sebastian.
(To Antonio)
Flesh and blood,
You, brother mine, that entertained ambition,
Expelled remorse and nature, whom, with Sebastian—
Whose inward pinches therefore are most strong,—
Would here have killed your king, I do forgive thee,
Unnatural though thou art. (Aside) Their understanding
Begins to swell, and the approaching tide
Will shortly fill the reasonable shores
That now lie foul and muddy. Not one of them
That yet looks on me, or would know me.—Ariel,
Fetch me the hat and rapier in my cell.
I will disease me, and myself present
As I was sometime Milan. Quickly, spirit!
Thou shalt ere long be free.
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