The Tempest
Opera in Three Acts.
Music by Lee Hoiby.
Libretto adapted from the play
of William Shakespeare by Mark Shulgasser.
Act I
Act II
Act III
ACT ONE
Prelude: The Sea. The Storm.
Scene One
From a promontory PROSPERO
commands a great storm with his
magical staff. Enter MIRANDA, distraught.
Scene One. Before Prospero's cell.
MIRANDA
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.
PROSPERO
No harm, no harm,
I have done nothing but in care of thee,
My dear one; thee, my daughter. Lend thy hand
And pluck my magic garment from me.
(Lays down his mantle.)
So: Lie there, my Art.
Wipe thou thine eyes; have comfort.
Canst thou remember
A time before we came unto this isle?
MIRANDA
Certainly, sir, I can.
'Tis far off, and rather like a dream. Had I not
Four or five women once that tended me?
PROSPERO
Thou hadst, and more, Miranda. What seest thou else?
MIRANDA
Ah! Tell me what I am!
PROSPERO
(gravely, with suppressed anger)
Twelve years since, thy father was Duke of Milan,
A prince of power, and for the magical arts
Without a parallel. Being rapt in secret studies,
The government I cast upon my brother,
And to my state grew stranger.
(Growing angrier)
Antonio, thy false uncle, needs will be
Absolute Milan; confederates with the King of Naples,
And bends the dukedom to most ignoble stooping.
MIRANDA
O the heavens!
PROSPERO
Whereon,
A treacherous army levied, one midnight
Fated to the purpose, did Antonio open
The gates of Milan; and, i' th' dead of darkness,
Hurried thence me and thy crying self.
MIRANDA
Alack, for pity!
PROSPERO
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; there they hoist us,
To cry to the seas that roared to us; to sigh
To th' winds, whose pity, sighing back again,
Did us but loving wrong.
MIRANDA
Alack, what trouble
Was I then to you!
PROSPERO
(with great tenderness)
O, a cherubin
Thou wast that did preserve me. Thou didst smile,
Infused with a fortitude from heaven,
Thou, beloved daughter. Now,
Thou art inclined to sleep; 'tis a good dulness,
And give it way: I know thou canst not choose.
(MIRANDA sleeps.)
(spoken, tremulous)
Come away, servant, come.
(sung)
I am ready now. Approach, my Ariel, come.
(Enter ARIEL.)
ARIA
ARIEL
(and chorus off-stage)
All hail, grave master! 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.
PROSPERO
Hast thou, spirit,
Performed to point the tempest that I bade thee?
ARIEL
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: sometime I'd divide,
And burn in many places; then meet and join.
Jove's lightnings, the precursors
O' th' dreadful thunderclaps, more momentary
And sight-outrunning were not. The fire and cracks
Of sulphurous roaring the mosy mighty Neptune
Seem to besiege, and make his bold waves tremble,
Yea, his dread trident shake.
PROSPERO
Why, that's my spirit!
ARIEL
Not a soul but felt
A fever of the mad. The King's son, Ferdinand,
Was the first man that leapt; cried, "Hell is empty
And all the devils are here."
Him 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.
PROSPERO
Of the King's ship, say . . .
ARIEL
Safely in harbour
Is the King's ship. In the deep nook, where once
Thou call'st me up at midnight to fetch dew
From the still-vexed Bermoothes, there she's hid.
PROSPERO
But are they, Ariel, safe?
ARIEL
Not a hair perished;
In troops I have dispersed them 'bout the isle.
PROSPERO
And all the rest o' th' fleet . . .
ARIEL
. . .all the rest of the fleet,
Bound sadly home for Naples.
PROSPERO
(triumpant, with Ariel)
Bountiful Fortune,
(Now my dear lady) hath mine enemies
Brought to this shore.
The time 'twixt six and now
Must by us both be spent most preciously.
ARIEL
Is there more toil? Since thou dost give me pains,
Let me remember thee what thou hast promised,
Which is not yet performed me.
PROSPERO
(with sudden anger)
How now? moody? What is't thou canst demand?
ARIEL
My liberty.
PROSPERO
Before the time be out? No more!
ARIEL
I prithee,
Remember I have done thee worthy service;
Told thee no lies, made thee no mistakings, served
Without or grudge or grumblings: thou didst promise
To bate me a full year.
PROSPERO
Dost thou forget
From what a torment I did free thee?
ARIEL
No.
PROSPERO
Thou dost, malignant thing.
If thou more murmur'st, I will rend an oak,
And peg thee in its knotty entrails, till
Thou hast howled away twelve winters.
ARIEL
Pardon, master. Pardon master.
I will be correspondent to command,
And do my spriting gently.
PROSPERO
Do so; and after two days
I will discharge thee.
ARIEL
That's my noble master!
What shall I do? say what; what shall I do?
PROSPERO
Hark in thy ear.
(He whispers.)
Be subject to
No sight but thine and mine; invisible
To every eyeball else. Go: hence
With diligence.
ARIEL rushes off, reappearing immediately in a distant
part of the stage, invisibly leading FERDINAND , who
wanders in amazed, chasing the invisible song.
SONG
ARIEL
Come unto these yellow sands,
And then take hands:
Curtsey when you have and kiss'd
The wild waves whist:
Foot it featly here and there
And sweet sprites the burthen bear.
Hark, hark.
CHORUS
(offstage)
Bow-wow-wow-wow-wow.
The watchdogs bark:
Hark, hark. I hear
The strain of strutting Chanticleer.
CHORUS
(offstage)
Cock a diddle dow.
PROSPERO
(to MIRANDA, both unseen by FERDINAND)
Awake, dear heart, awake.
FERDINAND
Where should this music be. . .
PROSPERO
Thou hast slept well.
FERDINAND
. . . i' th' air or the earth?
PROSPERO
Awake.
(Chor: Cock a diddle dow.)
MIRANDA
The strangeness of your story put
Heaviness in me.
PROSPERO
Shake it off.
FERDINAND
Where should this music be? i' th' air or the earth?
Sure, it waits upon some god o' th' island.
MIRANDA
(sees FERDINAND for the first time, and is transfixed in
utter fascination)
What is't? A spirit?
FERDINAND
It sounds no more. Sitting on a bank,
Weeping again the King my father's wrack,
This music crept by me with its sweet air.
Thence I have followed it,
Or it hath drawn me rather. But 'tis gone.
MIRANDA
Lord, how it looks about!
FERDINAND
No, it begins again.
SONG
ARIEL
Full fathom five thy father lies,
Of his bones are coral made.
FERDINAND
This singing doth remember my drowned father.
This is no mortal business. I hear it now above me.
ARIEL
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
MIRANDA
(to PROSPERO)
Believe me, sir,
It carried a brave form, but 'tis a spirit.
PROSPERO
This gallant that thou seest
Was in the wrack; and, but he's something stained
With grief, thou mightst call him a goodly person.
MIRANDA
I might call him a thing divine,
For nothing natural I ever saw so noble.
ARIEL
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange
Sea nymphs, sea nymphs,
Sea nymphs hourly ring his knell.
CHORUS
(offstage)
Ding-dong
(continuing)
ARIEL
Hark! now I hear them, Ding-dong, bell.
(PROSPERO leads MIRANDA to FERDINAND,
who falls to his knees.)
FERDINAND
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 hear. O you wonder!
MIRANDA
No wonder, sir.
FERDINAND
O you wonder, be you maid or no?
MIRANDA
No wonder, sir, but certainly a maid.
PROSPERO
(suddenly reveals himself)
One word! I charge thee
That thou attend me: thou hast put thyself
Upon this island as a spy, to win it
From me, the lord on't.
FERDINAND
No, as I am a man.
MIRANDA
Ah! have pity!
PROSPERO
Speak not you for him, he's a traitor!
MIRANDA
I'll be his surety!
PROSPERO
Hence, hang not on my garments!
MIRANDA
Beseech you, father!
PROSPERO
Come, I'll manacle thy hands and feet together.
FERDINAND
No, I will resist such entertainment!
(He draws. ARIEL, seizing the tip of his sword,
immobilizes him.)
PROSPERO
Who mak'st a show, but dar'st not strike, thy conscience
Is so possessed with guilt.
MIRANDA
Dear father,
There's nothing ill can dwell in such a temple.
PROSPERO
Silence! Thy nerves are in their infancy again,
And have no vigor in them.
FERDINAND
(weakly)
So they are:
My spirits, as in a dream, are all bound up.
MIRANDA
Be of comfort;
My father's of a better nature, sir,
Than he appears by speech.
PROSPERO
It works,
It works, thou hast done well, fine Ariel,
Thou shall be free as mountain winds.
QUARTET
FERDINAND
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.
MIRANDA
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!
PROSPERO
It works, it works.
Delicate Ariel, I'll set thee free for this.
Thou hast done well.
Thou shalt be free as mountain winds.
ARIEL
That's my noble master, ah!
I shall be free, as free as mountain winds.
Ah! My liberty! My liberty!
PROSPERO and MIRANDA watch, upstage,
as ARIEL leads FERDINAND off.
Scene Two.
Nearby; the shore.
Enter CALIBAN opposite, dragging a load
of logs on a tarpaulin.
He observes MIRANDA and PROSPERO.
CALIBAN
As wicked dew as e'er my mother brushed
With raven's feather from unwholesome fen
Drop on you both!
PROSPERO approaches CALIBAN with deliberate step;
MIRANDA remains behind, looking off after FERDINAND.
PROSPERO
For this be sure, to-night thou shalt have cramps,
Side-stiches that shall pen thy breath up . . .
He prods CALIBAN with his staff.
CALIBAN
Ah-h-h!
PROSPERO
. . . urchins
Shall, for that vast of night that they may work . . .
CALIBAN
A south-west blow on ye . . .
PROSPERO
All exercise on thee. . .
CALIBAN
. . . and blister ye all over. This island's mine
Which thou tak'st from me.
ARIA
When thou cam'st first,
Thou strok'st me, and made much of me; would'st 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 then I loved thee.
And showed thee all the qualities o' th' island,
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.
MIRANDA rushes to her father's side.
PROSPERO
Thou most lying slave, I have used thee
With human care, till thou didst seek
To violate the honour of my child.
CALIBAN
(lunges at MIRANDA)
O ho, O ho!
Would't had been done, would't had been done!
Thou didst prevent me; I had peopled else
This isle with Calibans.
MIRANDA
Abhorred slave . . .
PROSPERO
Thou shalt be pinched . . .
MIRANDA
. . . I pitied thee . . .
PROSPERO
. . . as thick as honeycomb . . .
MIRANDA
. . . took pains to make thee speak.
PROSPERO
. . . each pinch more stinging than the bees that made 'em.
MIRANDA
When thou wouldst gabble
Like a thing most brutish, I endowed thy purpose
With words that made them known.
CALIBAN
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.
PROSPERO
Hag-seed, hence!
Fetch us in fuel. Shrug'st thou, malice?
If thou neglect'st, I'll rack thee with old cramps,
Fill all thy bones with aiches, make thee roar . . .
CALIBAN
No, pray thee, no!
PROSPERO
. . .That beasts shall tremble at thy din.
CALIBAN
No, pray thee, no, pray thee, no, no, no!
Exit PROSPERO and MIRANDA. CALIBAN sobs with rage.
Scene Three.
The same.
CALIBAN
(intense)
All the infections that the sun sucks up
From bogs, fens, flats, on Prosper fall, and make him
By inch-meal a disease! His spirits hear me,
And yet I needs must curse.
For every trifle are they set upon me.
Sometime like apes, that mow and chatter at me,
And after bite me; then like hedgehogs, which
Lie tumbling in my barefoot way; sometime am I
All wound with adders, who with cloven tongues
Do hiss me into madness. (distant thunder) Lo, now, lo!
Here comes a spirit of his, and to torment me,
For bringing wood in slowly.
He hides under the tarpaulin.. Enter TRINCULO.
TRINCULO
Here's neither bush nor shrub, to bear off any
weather at all,and another storm brewing; I hear it sing
i' th' wind. Yond same black cloud, yond huge one,
looks like a foul bombard that would shed his liquor.
Holds palm out testing for rain.
If it should thunder as it did before, I know not
where to hide my head: yond same cloud
cannot choose but fall by pailfuls.
(Stumbles over CALIBAN.)
What have we here? a man or a fish? A fish: he smells
like a fish; a very ancient and fish-like smell. A strange
fish! Legged like a man! and his fins like arms! I do
now let loose my opinion, hold it no longer: this is no
fish, but an islander, that hath lately suffered by a
thunderbolt.
(Mighty thunderclap.)
Alas, the storm is come again! my best way is to creep
under his gabardine.
(He joins CALIBAN under the tarpaulin.)
Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.
Enter STEPHANO, a jug in his hand, raucously drunk.
STEPHANO
The master, the swabber, the bo'sun, and I,
The gunner, and his mate,
Lov'd Moll, Meg, and Marian, and Margery,
But none of us car'd for Kate:
For she had a tongue with a tang,
Would cry to a sailor, Go hang!
She lov'd not the savor of tar nor of pitch;
Yet a tailor might scratch her where e'er she did itch.
Then go to the sea, boys, and let her go hang!
(He stumbles over CALIBAN.)
CALIBAN
O! Do not torment me: O!
STEPHANO
What's the matter? Have we devils here? Do you put
tricks upon us with savages and men of Inde, ha? I have
not scaped drowning to be afeard now of your four legs.
CALIBAN
The spirit torments me.O!
STEPHANO
This is some monster of the isle, who hath got, as I
take it, an ague. I will give him some relief.
(He forces the bottle down CALIBAN's throat.)
CALIBAN
Ah-ah!
STEPHANO
Come on your ways, open your mouth, cat!
CALIBAN
Do not torment me, prithee.
STEPHANO
This will shake your shaking, I can tell you, and that
soundly.
CALIBAN
I'll bring my wood home faster.
STEPHANO
You cannot tell who's your friend. Open your chaps
again.
TRINCULO
(his head pops out from the other side of the tarpaulin)
I should know that voice: it should bebut he is
drowned; and these are devils:O defend me!
(hides)
STEPHANO
Four legs and two voices. A most delicate monster!
Come. I will pour some in your other mouth!
TRINCULO
(leaps up, dancing)
Stephano! If thou be'st Stephano, touch me, and speak
to me, for I am Trinculo, be not afeard, thy
good friend Trinculo.
STEPHANO
Thou art very Trinculo indeed!
TRINCULO
But art thou not drowned, Stephano?
Is the storm over blowed?
And art thou living? O, Stephano!
Two Neapolitans scaped!
STEPHANO
Prithee, do not turn me about.
CALIBAN
(awed)
These are fine things, an if they be not sprites
STEPHANO
My stomach is not constant.
(groans and retches)
CALIBAN
That's a brave god, and bears celestial liquor.
TRINCULO
How didst thou scape? How cam'st thou hither?
STEPHANO
I escaped upon a butt of sack, by this bottle,
which the sailors threw overboard.
TRINCULO
Ah-oo-ah-oo-ah-oo!
(Reaches eagerly for the jug and drinks vigorously.)
CALIBAN
I'll swear upon that bottle to be thy true
Subject, for the liquor is not earthly.
(grabs jug from TRINCULO and drinks;
TRINCULO resents this)
STEPHANO
Swear, then, how thou escap'dst.
TRINCULO
Swum ashore, man, like a duck. I can swim like a duck,
I'll be sworn.
STEPHANO
Though thou canst swim like a duck, thou art
made like a goose. Come, kiss the book.
(STEPHANO takes the bottle from CALIBAN and hands
it to TRINCULO, who drinks; a rivalry betweeen CAL.
and TRIN. over the bottle
and the attention of STEPHANO develops.)
TRINCULO
O Stephano! Hast any more of this?
STEPHANO
The whole butt, man. My cellar is in a rock, where
my wine is hid.
CALIBAN
Hast . . . thou . . .
STEPHANO
How now, moon-calf! How does thine ague?
CALIBAN
Hast thou not dropt from heaven?
STEPHANO
Out o' the moon, I do assure thee:
I was the man i' th' moon when time was.
CALIBAN
(increasingly drunk and awed)
I have seen thee in her, and I do adore thee:
My mistress showed me thee, and thy dog, and thy bush.
STEPHANO
Come, swear to that. Kiss the book.
TRINCULO
This is a very shallow monster.
CALIBAN
I'll show thee every fertile inch o' th' island. . .
TRINCULO
I afeard of him?
CALIBAN
. . . and I will kiss thy foot.
TRINCULO
The man i' th' moon? Ha!
A most poor credulous monster!
CALIBAN
I prithee, be my god.
TRINCULO
When's god's asleep, he'll rob his bottle.
CALIBAN
Prithee, be my god.
TRINCULO
I shall laugh myself to death.
CALIBAN
I prithee, be my god.
STEPHANO
Come on, then; down, and swear. Come, kiss.
(CALIBAN kisses STEPHANO's boot,
looks up adoringly.)
TRINCULO
But that poor monster's in drink.
CALIBAN
A plague upon the tyrant that I serve!
I'll bear him no more sticks, but follow thee,
Thou wondrous man.
STEPHANO
Lead the way, without anymore talking. Trinculo,
the King and all our company else being drowned,
we will inherit here. Here, bear my bottle!
TRIO: FINALE
(a drunken riot)
CALIBAN
Farewell master; farewell, farewell!
Ah-ah! Ah-ah! Ah-ah!
STEPHANO & TRINCULO
A howling monster, a drunken monster!
Howling, drunken, howling, drunken, howling!
CALIBAN
No more dams I'll make for fish;
Nor fetch in firing
At requiring;
Nor scrape trencher, nor wash dish.
ALL
Freedom, high-day! high-day, freedom!
STEPHANO & TRINCULO
O brave monster, lead the way!
ALL
'Ban, 'Ban, Cacaliban
Has a new master:get a new man!
ACT TWO
Act I
Act II
Act III
Prelude: The Island
Scene One. Another part of the island;
a clearing in an enchanted grove.
Enter ALONSO, GONZALO, ANTONIO,
SEBASTIAN and COURTIERS.
All are charmed and amazed by the landscape;
except ALONSO, blinded by grief. GONZALO
attends him. Their rich court clothings
are miraculously undamaged.
COURTIERS
(variously)
How lush and lusty the grass looks! how green!
The air breathes here upon us most sweetly!
Here is everything most advantageous to life.
How lush! How green!
This island needs be of subtle, tender and
delicate temperance.
GONZALO
(to ALONSO)
Beseech you sir, be merry; you have cause,
So have we all, of joy; for our escape
Is much beyond our loss.
ALONSO
Prithee, peace.
GONZALO
Wisely, good sir, weigh
Our sorrow with our comfort.
ALONSO
Prithee, peace!
ANTONIO
(to SEBASTIAN, sarcastic)
He receives comfort like cold porridge.
SEBASTIAN
(indicating GONZALO, mocking)
Look, he's winding up the watch of
his wit; by and by it will strike.
GONZALO
When every grief is entertain'd that's offered,
Comes to th' entertainer
ANTONIO
(tossing a coin at GONZALO 's feet)
A dollar.
GONZALO
Dolour comes to him, indeed:
you have spoken truer than you purposed.
SEBASTIAN
You have taken it wiselier
than he meant you should.
GONZALO
(to ALONSO)
Therefore, my lord,
ANTONIO
Fie, what a spendthrift is he of his tongue!
ALONSO
I prithee, spare.
GONZALO
(to the other courtiers)
But the rarity of it is,
which is indeed almost beyond credit,
COURTIERS
How lush and lusty the grass looks! how green!
GONZALO
. . . that our garments, being as they were,
drenched in the sea . . .
COURTIERS
The air breathes here upon us most sweetly.
GONZALO
. . . hold their freshness and glosses . . .
COURTIERS
Here is everything most advantageous to life.
GONZALO
. . . being rather new-dyed
than stained with salt water.
(to ALONSO)
Sir, we were talking
that our garments seem now as fresh as when
we were at Tunis.
COURTIERS
This island needs be of subtle,
tender and delicate temperance.
GONZALO
Is not, sir, my doublet as fresh as the first day
I wore it ? I mean, when I wore it at your
daughter's marriage . . . in Tunis?
ALONSO
(suddenly an angry, poweful figure)
You cram these words into mine ear against
The stomach of my sense. Would I had never
Married my daughter there! for, coming thence,
My son is lost. O thou mine heir, O thou mine heir!
(He paces despondently. The courtiers address
themselves to him.)
COURTIERS
(variously)
Sir, he may live. Sir, he may live.
I saw him beat the surges under him,
And ride upon their backs.
ALONSO
No, no . . .
COURTIERS
I saw him, he trod the water
whose enmity he flung aside.
ALONSO
No, no. He's gone.
COURTIERS
I saw him breast the surge, his bold head
'Bove the waves he kept, and oared himself
With his good arms in lusty stroke to the shore.
I doubt not he came alive . . .
ALONSO
No, no . . .
COURTIERS
I doubt not he came alive . . .
ALONSO
He's gone.
COURTIERS
I doubt not he came alive to land.
ALONSO
No, no. He's gone,
He's gone. O thou mine heir
Of Naples and of Milan, what strange fish
Hath made his meal on thee?
All the courtiers are moved by ALONSO's grief.
GONZALO approaches him hesitantly, consolingly.
ALONSO looks up at GONZALO,
shakes his head sadly and looks away.
GONZALO
It is foul weather in us all, good sir,
When you are cloudy.
(pause)
ARIA
Had I plantation of this isle, my lord,
And were the King on't, what would I do?
In the commonwealth I would by contraries
Execute all things. Had I plantation of this isle,
Letters should not be known; riches, poverty,
And use of service, none. No occupation, all men idle,
And women, too, but innocent and pure.
ANTONIO
No marrying among his subjects?
SEBASTIAN
None, man; all idle; knaves and whores.
COURTIERS
Ha, ha, ha, ha!
GONZALO
All things in common Nature should produce.
Treason, felony, sword, pike, knife, gun,
Or need of any engine, would I not have.
But Nature should bring forth all foison,
All abundance, to feed my innocent people.
I would with such perfection govern, sir,
To excel the Golden Age!
COURTIERS
Save his Majesty! Long live Gonzalo!
(The COURTIERS carry GONZALO on their shoulders.)
GONZALO
(to ALONSO)
Do you mark me, sir?
ALONSO
Prithee, no more: thou dost talk nothing to me.
GONZALO
I do well believe your highness; and did it to
minister occasion to these gentlemen, who are
of such nimble lungs that they always use to
laugh at nothing.
(Bows to ANTONIO and SEBASTIAN,
who bow back in return.)
ANTONIO & SEBASTIAN
'Twas you we laughed at.
GONZALO
Who in this kind of merry fooling
am nothing to you: so you may continue,
and laugh at nothing still.
All three compete with scornful laughter.
They separate in a huff,
ANTONIO and SEBASTIAN to the side.
Taps from an off-stage trumpet render all
but ANTONIO and SEBASTIAN mysteriously sleepy.
GONZALO
(spoken, yawning)
Will you laugh me to sleep, for I am very heavy?
(He falls asleep.)
ALONSO
I wish mine eyes
Would, with themselves,
shut up my thoughts: I find
They are inclined to do so.
(He sleeps.)
COURTIERS
Sleep is a comforter that seldom visits sorrow.
(ALL sleep, except ANTONIO and SEBASTIAN.)
SEBASTIAN
What a strange drowsiness possesses them!
I find not myself disposed to sleep.
ANTONIO
The King's son alive!
'Tis as impossible that he's undrowned
As they that sleep here swim.
SEBASTIAN
I have no hope that he's undrowned.
ANTONIO
And my strong imagination sees a crown
Dropping on thy head.
SEBASTIAN
What, art thou waking?
ANTONIO
Do you not hear me speak?
SEBASTIAN
What is it thou didst say?
ANTONIO
Will you grant with me
That Ferdinand is drowned?
SEBASTIAN
He's gone.
ANTONIO
Then tell me,
Who's the next heir of Naples?
SEBASTIAN
(shocked whisper)
What stuff is this? How say you?
ANTONIO
O, that you bore
The mind that I do! what a sleep were this
For your advancement! Do you understand me?
SEBASTIAN
Methinks I do. I remember
You did supplant your brother Prospero.
ANTONIO
True:
And look how well my garments sit upon me.
Here lies your brother,
Whom I, with this obedient steel,
Can lay to bed forever; whiles you, doing thus,
To the perpetual wink for aye might put
This ancient morsel, this Sir Prudence
(indicating GONZALO).
For all the rest,
They'll take suggestion as the cat laps milk.
SEBASTIAN
Draw thy sword, and I the King shall love thee.
ANTONIO
Draw together.
They draw; but with their swords pointed directly
at ALONSO and GONZALO,
ready to plunge, they are suddenly frozen
in a tableau of utmost tension by the humming
of the women's chorus, offstage.
Enter ARIEL, singing into the ears of the sleeping figures
ARIEL
(with offstage women's chorus, humming)
While you hear do snoring lie,
Open-ey'd conspiracy
His time doth take.
If of life you keep a care,
Shake off slumber, and beware:
Awake, Awake!
The courtiers awaken suddenly and become
aware of ANTONIO and SEBASTIAN,
as the fading magic releases them.
A moment of acute embarrassment.
GONZALO
Preserve the King!
(he shakes ALONSO)
ALONSO
(to ANTONIO and SEBASTIAN)
Why are you drawn?
Wherefore this ghastly looking?
ANTONIO
Oh . . . uh . . . Lions! Lions!. . .
SEBASTIAN
O, 'twas a din to make an earthquake!
ANTONIO
Sure 'twas the roar of a whole herd of lions!
ALL
(ARIEL invisibly adding to the commotion)
Lions! Lions!
(variously)
Heard you this?
I heard nothing, nothing.
Heard you lions?
Let's draw our weapons.
GONZALO
Now, good angels preserve the King!
ANTONIO & SEBASTIAN
Did not wake you?
COURTIERS
Preserve the King!
SEBASTIAN
It struck mine ear most terribly.
ANTONIO & SEBASTIAN
Did't not wake you?
ALONSO
Heard you this, Gonzalo?
GONZALO
Upon mine honor, sir, I heard a humming,
And that a strange one too, which did awake me.
COURTIER
'Tis best we stand upon our guard.
GONZALO
I shak'd you, sir, and cried.
ANTONIO
O, 'twas a din to fright a monster's ear.
COURTIER
'Tis best we quit this place.
COURTIER
There was a noise, that's verily.
COURTIERS
That's verily, that's verily.
ALONSO rises. The others follow.
ALONSO
Lead off this ground. Lead away, lead away.
Let us make further search for my poor son.
COURTIERS
Lead off this ground. Lead away, lead away.
GONZALO
Heaven keep him from these beasts!
COURTIERS
Lead off this ground.
ALONSO
My poor son.
COURTIERS
Lead off this ground. Lead away, lead away.
Exit ALL, trudging through winding paths and wind.
INTERLUDE: ARIEL's vocalise.
("to ride on the curl'd cloud")
Scene Two.
Another part of the island.
Enter STEPHANO, TRINCULO and CALIBAN, drunkenly.
STEPHANO
(violent)
Tell not me;when the butt is out,
we will drink water; not a drop before.
Servant monster, drink to me.
TRINCULO
Servant monster! the folly of this island!
They say there's but five upon this isle;
we are three of them; if the other two
be brain'd like us, the state totters.
STEPHANO
My man monster has drown'd his tongue in sack.
Moon-calf, speak once in thy life,
if thou beest a good moon-calf.
CALIBAN
(lying on the ground, simpering foolishly)
How does thy honour? Let me lick thy shoe:
I'll not serve him, he is not valiant.
TRINCULO
Thou liest, most ignorant monster.
Why, thou debosh'd fish, thou,
was there ever man a coward
who hath drunk so much sack as I to-day?
Wilt thou tell a monstrous lie,
being but half a fish and half a monster?
CALIBAN
Lo, how he mocks me!
Wilt thou let him, my lord?
TRINCULO
"Lord," quoth he? That a monster
should be such a natural!
CALIBAN
Lo, lo, again! Bite him to death, I prithee.
STEPHANO
Trinculo, keep a good tongue in your head.
If you prove a mutineer,the next tree.
The poor monster's my subject,
and he shall not suffer
indignity.
CALIBAN
I thank my noble lord. Wilt thou be pleased
to harken once again to the suit I made to thee?
STEPHANO
Marry, will I: kneel and repeat it; I will stand,
and so shall Trinculo.
CALIBAN kneels. TRINCULO has passed out;
STEPHANO pulls him up by the collar.
ARIEL enters, invisible.
TRINCULO sinks down again.
CALIBAN
As I told thee before, I am subject to a tyrant,
a sorcerer, that by his cunning hath
cheated me of the island.
ARIEL
Thou liest!
(throwing his voice to TRINCULO)
CALIBAN
(to TRINCULO)
Thou jesting monkey, thou!
I do not lie! I wish my valiant master
would destroy thee!
STEPHANO
Trinculo, if you trouble him any more in's tale,
by this hand, I will supplant some of your teeth.
TRINCULO
Why, I said nothing.
STEPHANO
Mum, then, and no more. Proceed.
CALIBAN
I say, by sorcery he got this isle;
From me he got it. If thy greatness will
Revenge it on him,for I know thou dar'st,
But this thing dare not,
STEPHANO
That's most certain.
CALIBAN
(fawning)
Thou shalt be lord of it, and I'll serve
thee.
STEPHANO
(lightly)
How now shall this be compass'd?
Canst thou bring me to the party?
CALIBAN
Yea, yea, my lord: I'll yield him thee asleep,
Where thou mayst knock a nail into his head.
ARIEL
Thou liest; thou canst not.
CALIBAN
What a pied ninny's this! Thou scurvy patch!
I do beseech thy greatness, give him blows,
And take his bottle from him.
STEPHANO
Trinculo, interrupt the monster one word further,
and, by this hand, I'll make a stock-fish of thee.
TRINCULO
(half sleeping)
Why, what did I? I did nothing.
I'll go further off.
STEPHANO
Didst thou not say he lied?
ARIEL
Thou liest.
STEPHANO
Do I so? Take thou that.
(Beats him.)
TRINCULO
Ow! Ow!
CALIBAN
Beat him enough!
TRINCULO
A pox on your bottle!
CALIBAN
After a little time, I'll beat him too.
TRINCULO
This can sack and drinking do!
STEPHANO
Now, forward with your tale.
(to TRINCLULO)
Prithee, stand further off.
Come, proceed.
CALIBAN
Why, as I told thee, 'tis a custom with him
In the afternoon to sleep: there thou mayst brain him,
Or, with a log batter his skull, or paunch him with a stake,
Or cut his wezand with thy knife.
(chuckles evilly)
And that most deeply to consider is
The beauty of his daughter; he himself
Calls her a nonpareil.
STEPHANO
Is it so brave a lass?
CALIBAN
Ay, lord, she will become thy bed, I warrant,
And bring thee forth brave brood.
STEPHANO
I do begin to have bloody thoughts. Monster,
I will kill this man. His daughter
and I will be king and queen,
save our graces! and Trinculo
and thyself shall be viceroys.
ARIEL
This will I tell my master.
STEPHANO
Dost thou like the plot? . . . Trinculo?
TRINCULO
(from a stupor)
Excellent!
STEPHANO
Give me thy hand: I am sorry I beat thee.
CALIBAN
Thou mak'st me merry; I am full of pleasure:
Let us be jocund: will you troll the catch
You taught me but while-ere?
TRINCULO
(raucous)
Flout 'em and scout 'em and scout 'em
and flout 'em.
CALIBAN
(brusque)
That's not the tune.
ARIEL miming pipe and tabor, plays the tune.
STEPHANO
What is this same?
TRINCULO
(terrified)
'Tis the tune of our catch,
played by the picture of Nobody.
STEPHANO
If thou be'st a man, show thyself in thy likeness.
ARIEL strikes the tabor behind TRINCULO.
TRINCULO
O, forgive me my sins!
STEPHANO
I defy thee.
(ARIEL strikes behind him.)
Mercy upon us!
CALIBAN
Art thou afeard?
STEPHANO
No, monster, not I.
ARIA
CALIBAN
Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears; and sometime voices,
That, if I then had wak'd after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open, and show riches
Ready to drop upon me; that, when I wak'd,
I cried to dream again.
STEPHANO
This shall prove a brave kingdom to me, where
I shall have my music for nothing.
CALIBAN
(spoken softly, savagely)
When Prospero is destroyed.
ARIEL, invisible, leads them off,
mesmerized, in circles, to the beat of the tabor.
STEPHANO
I would I could see this taborer. He lays it on.
Scene Three.
Another part of the island.
Enter ALONSO, GONZALO, ANTONIO,
and SEBASTIAN; exhausted.
GONZALO
By'r lakin, I can go no further, sir;
My old bones ache: here's a maze trod, indeed,
Through forth-rights and meanders! By your patience,
I needs must rest me.
ALONSO
Sit down, and rest. He is drown'd
Whom thus we stray to find; and the sea mocks
Our frustrate search on land. Well, let him go.
ANTONIO
(Aside to SEBASTIAN)
Do not, for one repulse,
Forgo the purpose that you resolv'd t'effect.
SEBASTIAN
(Aside to ANTONIO)
The next advantage
We will take throughly.
ANTONIO
Let it be to-night;
For, now they are oppress'd with travel, they...
SEBASTIAN
I say, to-night: no more.
A low, ominous whirring sound gradually
increases in intensity. Thunder and lightning.
Enter ARIEL "as a Harpy".
All four men are transfixed
and react expressively to the denunciation.
ARIA
ARIEL
(and offstage women)
You are three men of sin, whom Destiny,
That hath to instrument this lower world
And what is in't,the never-surfeited sea
Hath caus'd to belch up you; and on this island
Where man doth not inhabit,you 'mongst men
Being most unfit to live.
I have made you mad;
And even with such-like valor men hang and drown
Their proper selves.
(SEBASTIAN and ANTONIO draw their swords.)
You fools! the elements,
Of whom your swords are temper'd, may as well
Wound the loud winds, or with bemocked-at stabs
Kill the still-closing waters, as diminish
One dowle that's in my plume: If you could hurt,
Your swords are now to massy for your strengths,
And will not be uplifted. But remember,
For that's my business to you, you three
From Milan did supplant good Prospero:
Exposed unto the sea him and his innocent child:
for which foul deed
The powers, delaying, not forgetting, have
Incens'd the seas and shores, yea, all the creatures,
Against your peace.
Thee of thy son, Alonso,
They have bereft; and do pronounce by me
Ling'ring perditionworse than any death
Can be at onceshall step by step attend
You and your ways; whose wraths to guard you from,
Which here, in this most desolate isle, else falls
Upon your head, is nothing but heart's sorrow
nothing but heart's sorrow
(with chorus)
heart's sorrow
and a clear life
a clear life
ensuing
ARIEL vanishes in swirling clouds.
ANTONIO and SEBASTIAN beat the air with their swords.
GONZALO in prayer.
ALONSO
O, it is monstrous, monstrous!
Methought the billows spoke, and told me of it;
The winds did sing it to me; and the thunder,
That deep and dreadful organ-pipe, pronounc'd
The name of Prosper.
ACT THREE
Act I
Act II
Act III
Near Prospero's cell.
FERDINAND, his rich clothes adapted
to the requirements of hard labor,
carrying logs, but more involved in thoughts of love.
Enter MIRANDA.
MIRANDA
Alas now, pray you,
Work not so hard. . . Pray, set it down, and rest you.
My father is hard at study. . . Pray now, rest yourself.
. . . Pray, give me that.
FERDINAND
O, most dear mistress!
She takes a log from him and lovingly lays it on the woodpile.
MIRANDA
When this burns, 'twill weep for having wearied you.
FERDINAND
My sweet mistress weeps.
MIRANDA
You look wearily.
FERDINAND No, 'tis fresh morning with me
When you are by at night. I do beseech you,
Chiefly that I might set it in my prayers,
What is your name?
MIRANDA
(reluctantly)
Miranda.O my father,
I have broke your hest to say so!
(Enter PROSPERO unobserved, at a distance.)
FERDINAND
Admir'd Miranda!
Indeed the top of admiration! worth
What's dearest to the world! Full many a lady
I have ey'd with best regard. . .
For several virtues
Have I liked several women. . .
MIRANDA
I would not wish
Any companion in the world but you!
FERDINAND
Admir'd Miranda!
So perfect, so peerless, hear my soul speak!
MIRANDA
Do you love me?
FERDINAND
O, heaven!
MIRANDA
Do you love me?
FERDINAND
O earth! Bear witness to this sound and crown . . .
MIRANDA
I am a fool to weep at what I am glad of.
FERDINAND
. . . What I profess with kind event if I speak true.
PROSPERO
Fair encounter
Of two most rare affections!
FERDINAND
Wherefore weep you?
MIRANDA
I am your wife if you will marry me.
If not, I'll die your maid.
FERDINAND
My mistress, dearest;
And I thus humble ever.
MIRANDA
My husband, then?
TOGETHER
Ay, with a heart as willing
As bondage e'er of freedom!
PROSPERO
Heavens rain grace
On that which breeds between 'em!
(MIRANDA and FERDINAND embrace.)
MASQUE
I must bestow upon the eyes of this young couple
Some vanity of mine art.
PROSPERO reveals himself to the young couple
who bow shyly.
Gradually unfolding spectacle, a classico-baroque vision
of Mt. Olympus, which he invokes
with commanding gestures of his staff.
Grand entrance of IRIS on a rainbow,
with women's chorus, offstage.
FERDINAND
Harmonious! Charmingly!
PROSPERO
No tongue! All eyes! Be silent!
FERDINAND
Let me live here ever!
PROSPERO
Hush, and be mute,
Or else our spell is marr'd.
IRIS
Ceres, most bounteous lady, thy rich leas
Of wheat, rye, barley, vetches, oats, and peas;
And thy sea-marge, sterile and rocky hard,
Where thou thyself dost air;the queen o' th' sky,
Whose wat'ry arch and messenger am I,
Bids thee leave these; and with her sovereign grace,
Here, on this grass-plot, in this very place,
To come and sport:her peacocks fly amain:
Approach, rich Ceres, her to entertain.
Grand entrance of CERES, goddess of earthly abundance,
with wedding gifts.
CERES
Hail, many-colour'd messenger,
Rich scarf to my proud earth; why hath thy queen
Summon'd me hither, to this short-grass'd green?
IRIS
A contract of true love to celebrate;
And some donation freely to estate
On the blest lovers.
CERES
(intimately; they gossip)
Tell me, heavenly bow,
If Venus or her son, as thou dost know,
Do now attend the queen? Since they did plot
The means that dusky Dis my daughter got,
Her and her blind boy's scandal'd company
I have forsworn.
IRIS
Of her society
Be not afraid: I met her deity
Cutting the clouds towards Paphos, and her son
Dove-drawn with her. Here thought they to have done
Some wanton charm upon this man and maid,
Whose vows are, that no bed-right shall be paid
Till Hymen's torch be lighted:
(here FERDINAND and MIRANDA fidget.)
but in vain;
Mars's hot minion is return'd again;
Her waspish-headed son has broke his arrows,
Swears he will shoot no more, but play with sparrows,
And be a boy right out.
(Fanfare.)
CERES
Highest queen of state,
Great Juno comes; I know here by her gait.
Grand entrance of Juno, queen of the gods; ceremonials.
JUNO
How does my bounteous sister? Go with me
To bless this twain, that they may prosperous be,
And honour'd in their issue.
TRIO
CERES, IRIS, JUNO
(to MIRANDA and FERDINAND)
(with women's chorus offstage)
Honour, riches, marriage-blessing,
Long continuance, and increasing.
Hourly joys be still upon you!
Juno sings her blessing on you.
Earth's increase, foison plenty,
Barns and garners never empty;
Vines with clust'ring branches growing;
Plants with goodly burthen bowing;
Spring come to you at the farthest
In the very end of harvest!
Scarcity and want shall shun you;
Juno's blessing so is on you.
Ceres' blessing so is on you.
Iris' blessing so is on you.
As the trio increases in vigor and elaboration,
towards a dionysiac looseness,
JUNO and CERES 's dignities descend
to rivalrous upstaging byplay.
PROSPERO paces impatiently.
His growing anger is paralleled in faint lightning
and approaching thunder.
Suddenly he waves his staff,
and the scenery of the masque
disappears with startling rapidity.
The sky fills with clouds and the goddesses
rush off as if rained out.
The grand scenic effect of the Masque is erased.
There should now be less scenery
than has ever been displayed on the stage, less artifice;
some elements of the actual structure
of the theater may become apparent
the back wall, or lighting elements.
PROSPERO
Avoid! No more!
MIRANDA and FERDINAND
rush to the troubled old man.
MIRANDA & FERDINAND
My/your father's in some passion that works him strongly.
This is strange.
PROSPERO
You do look, my son,
As if you were dismayed.
ARIA
Be cheerful, sir.
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air;
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all that 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.
He blesses the couple and embraces his daughter.
MIRANDA and FERDINAND kiss; exit.
PROSPERO slowly climbs the promontory
on which the opera began. Enter ARIEL.
PROSPERO
How fares the King and his followers?
ARIEL
All prisoners, sir,
Brimful of sorrow and dismay; but chiefly
Him you term'd, sir, "The good old lord, Gonzalo";
His tears run down his beard, like winter's drops
From eaves of reeds.
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. Go release them.
ARIEL backs away slowly, reverently, and exits.
ARIA
(passionately)
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 beI have bedimm'd
The noontide sun, call'd forth the mutinous winds,
And 'twixt the green sea and the azur'd 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 wak'd their sleepers, op'd, and let 'em forth
By my so potent Art. But this rough magic
I here abjure; and, when I have requir'd
Some heavenly music, (which even now I do)
I'll break my staff,
Bury it certain fathoms in the earth,
And deeper than did ever plummet sound
I'll drown my book.
Enter the COURTIERS, entranced,
led by ARIEL into a circle of light.
They gradually recover their senses as PROSPERO
slowly descends from the promontory. Exit ARIEL.
A solemn air cure thy brains. There stand,
For you are spell-stopp'd. The charm dissolves apace;
As the morning steals upon the night,
Melting the darkness.
Ariel, fetch me my robe and rapier.
I will myself present as I was sometime Milan.
ARIEL appears instantly with robe and rapier.
He places the robe on PROSPERO's shoulders.
Holy Gonzalo, loyal sir and honourable man.
He prevents the amazed GONZALO from kneeling,
and embraces him.
COURTIERS
(at first whispering)
'Tis Prospero, 'tis Prospero!
ANTONIO
The devil speaks in him!
SEBASTIAN
The devil!
COURTIERS
All wonder and amazement!
How should Prospero be living and be here?
Heavenly powers guide us!
GONZALO
Behold, sir King,
The wronged Duke of Milan, Prospero!
ALONSO
If thou be'st Prospero,
How hast thou met us here, whom three hours since
Were wrack'd upon this shore; where I have lost
How sharp the point of this remembrance is!
My dear son Ferdinand.
Offstage scuffle is heard.
STEPHANO
(off)
Coragio, bully monster, coragio!
Enter, STEPHANO, TRINCULO and CALIBAN,
raucous, soaked, disheveled.
TRINCULO
Monster, your fairy, which you say is a harmless
fairy, has done little better than play the jack with us.
STEPHANO
Every man shift for all the rest and let no man take
care for himself; for all is but fortune.
CALIBAN
(seeing the COURTIERS)
O Setebos, these be brave spirits, indeed.
TRINCULO
Monster, I do smell all horse-piss;
at which my nose
is in great indignation.
STEPHANO
So is mine.
CALIBAN
How fine my master is! I am afraid
He will chastise me.
TRINCULO
(seeing the assemblage)
Ahoo! Here's a goodly sight!
NONETTE
STEPHANO
Do you hear, monster?
If I should take a displeasure
against you, look you . . .
PROSPERO
(to ARIEL)
Quickly, spirit . . .
GONZALO
Why, how now, Stephano!
PROSPERO
. . . thou shalt ere long be free.
CALIBAN
I shall be pinch'd to death.
ANTONIO
(to SEBASTIAN, indicating the drunks)
What things are these?
STEPHANO
(to GONZALO)
O, touch me not!
SEBASTIAN
Will money buy 'em?
COURTIERS
Very like, very like.
STEPHANO
I am not Stephano, but a cramp.
ARIEL
(flitting above, playing tricks)
Where the bee sucks, there suck I;
In a cowslip's bell I lie. . . Ah!
ANTONIO
One of them's a plain fish, and no doubt marketable.
COURTIERS
Very like, very like.
GONZALO
(pointing to CALIBAN)
This is as strange a thing as e'er I looked on.
CALIBAN
We shall all be turned to barnacles.
ALONSO
The affliction of my mind amends,
With which, I fear, a madness held me.
PROSPERO
(to ALONSO)
Welcome sir. Here have I few attendants
And subjects none abroad. Welcome, welcome.
ARIEL
There I couch when owls do cry.
CALIBAN
I shall be pinch'd to death, pinch'd to death. Oh!
ARIEL
On the bat's back I do fly . . .
ALONSO
(to PROSPERO)
Thy dukedom I resign
And do entreat thou pardon me my wrong.
GONZALO & COURTIERS
A most strange story.
PROSPERO
Welcome, my friends, all. You do yet taste
Some subleties of the isle.
COURTIERS
This is as strange a maze as e'er men trod.
ALONSO
I long to hear the story of you life.
COURTIERS
Some oracle must rectify our knowledge.
PROSPERO
Sir, do not infest your mind with beating on
The strangeness of this business.
ARIEL
On the bat's back I do fly. . .
PROSPERO
Be cheerful and think of each thing well.
ARIEL
After summer merrily,
Merrily, merrily . . .
SEBASTIAN
Is this not Stephano, my drunken butler?
COURTIERS
And Trinculo is reeling ripe!
GONZALO
He's drunk now! Where had he wine?
ARIEL
Merrily, merrily . . .
ANTONIO
Or stole it, rather.
PROSPERO
(to STEPHANO)
You'd be king of the isle, sirrah!
STEPHANO
I should have been a sore one, then.
ARIEL
Merrily shall I live now . . .
TRINCULO
Ay, but to lose our bottle in the pool!
STEPHANO
Ay, monster, 'tis a disgrace, a dishonour and an
infinite loss.
ARIEL
Under the blossom . . .
TRINCULO
O King Stephano! O peer!
ARIEL
Under the blossom . . .
PROSPERO
(to ANTONIO and SEBASTIAN)
But you, my brace of lords, were I so minded,
I here could pluck his higness' frown upon you,
And justify you traitors. At this time I will tell no tales.
A moment of silence in the conversational texture;
all the COURTIERS hear the last line
and turn to look at ANTONIO and SEBASTIAN.
GONZALO
Trinculo, how cam'st thou in this pickle?
TRINCULO
I have been in such a pickle, since I saw you last,
that I fear me will never out of my bones.
CALIBAN
We shall be turned to barnacles, or to apes
With foreheads villainous low.
PROSPERO
(with muted thunder)
Go, sirrah, to my cell; and as you look
To have my pardon, trim it handsomely.
CALIBAN
What a thrice-double ass
Was I, to take this drunkard for a god,
And worship this dull fool!
FINALE
(During the FINALE the entire company gradually assembles,
including the three goddesses
and the previously offstage chorus members, in street dress.)
Exit CALIBAN, pausing at the edge of the stage
to listen to ARIEL.
ARIEL
Under the blosson, under the blossom. . .
PROSPERO
Pray you, look in.
ARIEL revealing MIRANDA and FERDINAND,
in radiant wedding apparel.
ARIEL
. . . that hangs from the bough.
CHORUS
(offstage)
Ah!
COURTIER O wonder!
COURTIERS
(hushed)
A most high miracle!
ALONSO
If this prove
A vision of the island, one dear son
Shall I lose twice.
FERDINAND
O, merciful seas,
I have curs'd them without cause.
COURTIERS
A most high miracle!
STEPHANO
O wonder!
TRINCULO
O wonder!
GONZALO
O wonder!
MIRANDA
O wonder!
COURTIERS
Look down, you gods, look down!
MIRANDA
How many goodly creatures are there here!
ALONSO
Is this the goddess that hath sever'd us,
And brought us thus together?
FERDINAND
Sir, she is mortal,
But by immortal Providence she is mine.
MIRANDA
How beauteous mankind is!
CHORUS
Look down, you gods . . .
GONZALO
Look down, you gods,
And on this couple drop a blessed crown!
CHORUS
. . . and drop a blessed crown.
PROSPERO & ALONSO
Now all the blessings
Of a glad father compass you about!
ALL
(except MIRANDA)
Be it so! Be it so!
MIRANDA
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in't!
PROSPERO
'Tis new to thee.
GONZALO
Let grief and sorrow still embrace his heart
That doth not wish you joy!
ALL
Be it so! Be it so!
ARIEL & CHORUS
O rejoice beyond a common joy!
MEN
I say amen!
ALL
And set it down
With gold on lasting pillars, that Prospero
His dukedom found in a poor isle.
And all of us ourselves. . .
The light fades slowly.
MEN
. . . when no man was his own.
PROSPERO and ARIEL are isolated by the lighting;
with a small gesture PROSPERO frees ARIEL,
who receives his liberty with a shiver of amazed enlivenment.
Hesitantly tasting his freedom,
with a loving glance toward PROSPERO, he vanishes.
Act I
Act II
Act III
THE END
|
