Spelling is modernized, but older forms are very occasionally maintained where necessary for rhythm or aural effect.
Punctuation in Shakespeare's time was as much rhetorical as grammatical. "Colon" was originally a term for a unit of thought in an argument. The semicolon was a new unit of punctuation (some of the Quartos lack them altogether). We have modernized punctuation throughout but have given more weight to Folio punctuation than many editors, since, though not Shakespearean, it reflects the usage of his period. In particular, we have used the colon far more than many editors: it is exceptionally useful as a way of indicating how many Shakespearean speeches unfold clause by clause in a developing argument that gives the illusion of enacting the process of thinking in the moment. We have also kept in mind the origin of punctuation in classical times as a way of assisting the actor and orator: the comma suggests the briefest of pauses for breath, the colon a middling one and a full stop or period a longer pause. Semicolons, by contrast, belong to an era of punctuation that was only just coming in during Shakespeare's time and that is coming to an end now: we have accordingly only used them where they occur in our copy texts (and not always then). Dashes are sometimes used for parenthetical interjections where the Folio has brackets. They are also used for interruptions and changes in train of thought. Where a change of addressee occurs within a speech, we have used a dash preceded by a full stop (or occasionally another form of punctuation). Often the identity of the respective addressees is obvious from the context. When it is not, this has been indicated in a marginal stage direction.
Entrances and Exits are fairly thorough in Folio, which has accordingly been followed as faithfully as possible. Where characters are omitted or corrections are necessary, this is indicated by square brackets (e.g. "[and Attendants]"). Exit is sometimes silently normalized to Exeunt and Manet anglicized to "remains." We trust Folio positioning of entrances and exits to a greater degree than most editors.
Editorial Stage Directions such as stage business, asides, indications of addressee and of characters' position on the gallery stage are only used sparingly in Folio. Other editions mingle directions of this kind with original Folio and Quarto directions, sometimes marking them by means of square brackets. We have sought to distinguish what could be described as directorial interventions of this kind from Folio-style directions (either original or supplied) by placing them in the right margin in a smaller typeface. There is a degree of subjectivity about which directions are of which kind, but the procedure is intended as a reminder to the reader and the actor that Shakespearean stage directions are often dependent upon editorial inference alone and are not set in stone. We also depart from editorial tradition in sometimes admitting uncertainty and thus printing permissive stage directions, such as an Aside? (often a line may be equally effective as an aside or a direct address--it is for each production or reading to make its own decision) or a may exit or a piece of business placed between arrows to indicate that it may occur at various different moments within a scene.
Line Numbers are editorial, for reference and to key the explanatory and textual notes.
Explanatory Notes explain allusions and gloss obsolete and difficult words, confusing phraseology, occasional major textual cruxes, and so on. Particular attention is given to non-standard usage, bawdy innuendo, and technical terms (e.g. legal and military language). Where more than one sense is given, commas indicate shades of related meaning, slashes alternative or double meanings.
Textual Notes at the end of the play indicate major departures from the Folio. They take the following form: the reading of our text is given in bold and its source given after an equals sign, with "F2" indicating that it derives from the Second Folio of 1632 and "Ed" that it derives from the subsequent editorial tradition. The rejected Folio ("F") reading is then given. Thus for Act 4 Scene 1 line 57: "4.1.57 abstemious = F2. F = abstenious." This means that the Folio compositor erroneously printed the word "abstenious" and the Second Folio corrected it to "abstemious."
KEY FACTS
MAJOR PARTS: (with percentage of lines/number of speeches/scenes on stage) Prospero (30%/115/5), Ariel (9%/45/6), Caliban (8%/50/5), Stephano (7%/60/4), Gonzalo (7%/52/4), Sebastian (5%/67/4), Antonio (6%/57/4), Miranda (6%/49/4), Ferdinand (6%/31/4), Alonso (5%/40/4), Trinculo (4%/39/4).
LINGUISTIC MEDIUM: 80% verse, 20% prose.
DATE: 1611. Performed at court, 1 November 1611; uses source material not available before autumn 1610.
SOURCES: No known source for main plot, but some details of the tempest and the island seem to derive from William Strachey, A True Reportory of the Wreck and Redemption of Sir Thomas Gates, Knight (written 1610, published in Purchas his Pilgrims, 1625) and perhaps Sylvester Jourdain, A Discovery of the Bermudas (1610) and the Virginia Company's pamphlet A True Declaration of the Estate of the Colony in Virginia (1610); several allusions to Virgil's Aeneid and Ovid's Metamorphoses (most notably the imitation in Act 5 Scene 1 of Arthur Golding's 1567 translation of Medea's incantation in Ovid's 7th book); Gonzalo's "golden age" oration in Act 2 Scene 1 based closely on Michel de Montaigne's essay "Of the Cannibals," translated by John Florio (1603).
TEXT: First Folio of 1623 is the only early printed text. Based on a transcript by Ralph Crane, professional scribe working for the King's Men. Generally good quality of printing.
THE TEMPEST
LIST OF PARTS
PROSPERO, the right Duke of Milan MIRANDA, his daughter ALONSO, King of Naples SEBASTIAN, his brother ANTONIO, Prospero's brother, the usurping Duke of Milan FERDINAND, son to the King of Naples GONZALO, an honest old councillor ADRIAN and FRANCISCO, lords TRINCULO, a jester
STEPHANO, a drunken butler MASTER, of a ship BOATSWAIN MARINERS
CALIBAN, a savage and deformed slave ARIEL, an airy spirit
Spirits commanded by Prospero playing roles of
IRIS
CERES
JUNO
NYMPHS
REAPERS
The Scene: an uninhabited island
Act 1 Scene 1
running scene 1
A tempestuous noise of thunder and lightning heard. Enter a Shipmaster and a Boatswain
MASTER Boatswain!
BOATSWAIN Here, master. What cheer?2
MASTER Good: speak to th'mariners. Fall to't yarely3, or we run ourselves aground! Bestir4, bestir!
Exit
Enter Mariners
BOATSWAIN Heigh, my hearts! Cheerly, cheerly, my hearts! Yare5, yare! Take in the topsail. Tend to th'master's whistle.-- Blow6,
till thou burst thy wind, if room enough.
To the storm
Enter Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Ferdinand, Gonzalo and others
ALONSO Good boatswain, have8 care. Where's the master?
Play the9 men.
BOATSWAIN I pray now, keep below.
ANTONIO Where is the master, boatswain?
BOATSWAIN Do you not hear him? You mar12 our labour. Keep your cabins! You do assist the storm.
GONZALO Nay, good, be patient.
BOATSWAIN When the sea is. Hence! What cares these roarers15
for the name of king? To cabin! Silence! Trouble us not.
GONZALO Good, yet remember whom thou hast aboard.
BOATSWAIN None that I more love than myself. You are a counsellor19: if you can command these elements to silence, and work the peace of the present, we will not hand20 a rope more: use your authority. If you cannot, give thanks you have
lived so long, and make yourself ready in your cabin for the
To the Mariners
mischance of the hour, if it so hap.23-- Cheerly,
To the Courtiers
good hearts!-- Out of our way, I say.
Exeunt [Boatswain with Mariners, followed by Alonso,
Sebastian, Antonio and Ferdinand]
GONZALO I have great comfort from this fellow: methinks he25
hath no drowning mark26 upon him: his complexion is perfect gallows. Stand fast, good Fate, to
his hanging: make the rope27
of his destiny our cable28, for our own doth little advantage. If he be not born to be hanged, our case is miserable.
Exit
Enter Boatswain
BOATSWAIN Down with the topmast!30 Yare! Lower, lower! Bring her to try with main course.31 (A cry within) A plague upon this howling! They are louder than the weather or our office.32
Enter Sebastian, Antonio and Gonzalo
Yet again? What do you here? Shall we give o'er33 and drown?
Have you a mind to sink?
SEBASTIAN A pox35 o'your throat, you bawling, blasphemous, incharitable dog!
BOATSWAIN Work you then.
ANTONIO Hang, cur!38 Hang, you whoreson, insolent noise-maker! We are less afraid to be drowned than thou art.
GONZALO I'll warrant him for drowning40, though the ship were no stronger than a nutshell and as leaky as an unstanched41
wench.
BOATSWAIN Lay her ahold, ahold! Set her two courses off to43 sea again! Lay her off!
Enter Mariners, wet
MARINERS All lost! To prayers, to prayers! All lost!
BOATSWAIN What, must our mouths be cold?46
GONZALO The king and prince at prayers: let's assist them, for our case is as theirs.
SEBASTIAN I'm out of patience.
ANTONIO We are merely50 cheated of our lives by drunkards.
This wide-chopped51 rascal: would thou mightst lie drowning, the washing of ten tides!52
GONZALO He'll be hanged yet53, Though every drop of water swear against it
And gape at wid'st to glut55 him.
[Exeunt Boatswain and Mariners]
A confused noise within
[VOICES OFF-STAGE] Mercy on us! -- We split56, we split! --
Farewell, my wife and children! -- Farewell, brother! -- We
split, we split, we split!
ANTONIO Let's all sink wi'th'king.
SEBASTIAN Let's take leave of him.
Exeunt [Antonio and Sebastian]
GONZALO Now would I give a thousand furlongs61 of sea for an acre of barren ground: long heath, brown furze62, anything.
The wills above be done! But I would fain63 die a dry death.
Exit
Act 1 Scene 2
running scene 2
Enter Prospero and Miranda
MIRANDA If by your art1, my dearest father, you have Put the wild waters in this roar, allay2 them.
The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch3, But that the sea, mounting to th'welkin's4 cheek, Dashes the fire5 out. O, I have suffered With those that I saw suffer: a brave6 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 ere11
It should the good ship so have swallowed, and
The fraughting souls13 within her.
PROSPERO Be collected14: No more amazement.15 Tell your piteous heart There's no harm done.
MIRANDA O, woe the day!
PROSPERO 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 better22
Than Prospero, master of a full poor cell23, And thy no greater father.24
MIRANDA More to know25
Did never meddle with26 my thoughts.
PROSPERO 'Tis time
I should inform thee further. Lend thy hand
And pluck my magic garment from me. So:
Lays down his magic cloak
Lie there, my art. Wipe thou thine eyes, have comfort.
The direful spectacle of the wreck, which touched
The very virtue of compassion in thee,
I have with such provision33 in mine art So safely ordered that there is no soul --
No, not so much perdition35 as an hair Betid36 to any creature in the vessel
Which thou heard'st cry, which thou saw'st sink. Sit down,
Miranda sits
For thou must now know further.
MIRANDA You have often
Begun to tell me what I am, but stopped
And left me to a bootless inquisition41, Concluding 'Stay: not yet.'
PROSPERO The hour's now come,
The very minute bids thee ope44 thine ear: Obey, and be attentive. Canst thou remember
A time before we came unto this cell?
I do not think thou canst, for then thou wast not
Out48 three years old.
MIRANDA Certainly, sir, I can.
PROSPERO By what? By any other house or person?
Of any thing the image, tell me, that
Hath kept with thy remembrance.52
MIRANDA 'Tis far off,
And rather like a dream than an assurance54
That my remembrance warrants.55 Had I not Four or five women once that tended56 me?
PROSPERO Thou hadst; and more, Miranda. But how is it That this lives in thy mind? What see'st thou else
In the dark backward and abysm59 of time?
If thou rememb'rest aught60 ere thou cam'st here, How thou cam'st here thou mayst.
MIRANDA But that I do not.
PROSPERO Twelve year since, Miranda, twelve year since, Thy father was the Duke of Milan and
A prince of power.
MIRANDA Sir, are not you my father?
PROSPERO Thy mother was a piece67 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.70
MIRANDA O the heavens!
What foul play had we, that we came from thence?
Or blessed73 wast we did?
PROSPERO Both, both, my girl.
By foul play -- as thou say'st -- were we heaved thence,
But blessedly holp76 hither.
MIRANDA O, my heart bleeds
To think o'th'teen that I have turned you to78, Which is from79 my remembrance. Please you, further.
PROSPERO My brother and thy uncle, called Antonio --
I pray thee, mark81 me -- that a brother should Be so perfidious82 -- he whom next thyself Of all the world I loved, and to him put
The manage84 of my state, as at that time Through all the signories85 it was the first, And Prospero the prime86 duke, being so reputed In dignity, and for the liberal arts87
Without a parallel; those being all my study,
The government I cast upon my brother
And to my state grew stranger, being transported90
And rapt in secret studies. Thy false uncle --
Dost thou attend me?
MIRANDA Sir, most heedfully.
PROSPERO Being once perfected how to grant suits94, How to deny them, who t'advance and who
To trash for over-topping, new created96
The creatures that were mine, I say, or changed 'em97, Or else new formed 'em; having both the key98
Of officer and office, set all hearts i'th'state
To what tune pleased his ear, that100 now he was The ivy which had hid my princely trunk101
And sucked my verdure102 out on't.-- Thou attend'st not.
MIRANDA O good sir, I do.
PROSPERO I pray thee, mark me:
I, thus neglecting worldly ends105, all dedicated To closeness106 and the bettering of my mind With that, which but by being so retired107, O'er-prized all popular rate108, in my false brother Awaked an evil nature, and my trust,
Like a good parent, did beget of110 him A falsehood in its contrary111, as great As my trust was, which had indeed no limit,
A confidence sans bound. He being thus lorded113, Not only with what my revenue yielded,
But what my power might else exact: like one115
Who having
into truth, by telling of it116, Made such a sinner of his memory
To credit his own lie, he did believe
He was indeed the duke, out o'th'substitution119
And executing th'outward face120 of royalty With all prerogative: hence his ambition growing --
Dost thou hear?
MIRANDA Your tale, sir, would cure deafness.
PROSPERO To have no screen124 between this part he played, And him125 he played it for, he needs will be Absolute Milan.126 Me -- poor man -- my library Was dukedom large enough: of temporal royalties127
He thinks me now incapable. Confederates128 --
So dry he was for sway129 -- wi'th'King of Naples To give him annual tribute130, do him homage, Subject his coronet to his crown131, and bend The dukedom yet132 unbowed -- alas, poor Milan --
To most ignoble stooping.
MIRANDA O the heavens!
PROSPERO Mark his condition and th'event135, then tell me If this might be a brother.136
MIRANDA I should sin
To think but138 nobly of my grandmother: Good wombs have borne bad sons.
PROSPERO Now the condition.
This King of Naples, being an enemy
To me inveterate, hearkens142 my brother's suit, Which was, that he, in lieu o'th'premises143
Of homage, and I know not how much tribute144, Should presently extirpate145 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