fate, to his hanging! make the rope of his destiny our cable, for our own doth little advantage! If he SCENE I-On a ship at sea. A storm, with be not born to be hanged, our case is miserable. thunder and lightning. Enter a Ship-master and a Boatswain.
Boats. Heigh, my hearts; cheerly, cheerly, my hearts; yare, yare: take in the top-sail: tend to the master's whistle.-Blow, till thou burst thy wind, if room enough!
Enter Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Ferdinand, Gonzalo, and others.
Alon. Good boatswain, have a care. Where's the master? Play the men.
Boats. I pray now, keep below.
Ant. Where is the master, boastwain? Boats. Do you not hear him? You mar our la- bour! keep your cabins: you do assist the storm. Gon. Nay, good, be patient.
Boats. When the sea is. Hence! What care these roarers for the name of king? To cabin: silence: trouble us not.
Gon. Good; yet remember whom thou hast aboard.
Mar. All lost! to prayers, to prayers! all lost! [Exeunt.
Boats. What, must our mouths be cold? Gon. The king and prince at prayers! let us assist them,
For our case is as theirs.
Seb. I am out of patience.
Boats. None that I more love than myself. You are a counsellor; if you can command these elements to silence, and work the peace of the present, we will not hand a rope more; use your authority. If you cannot, give thanks you have lived so long, The washing of ten tides! and make yourself ready in your cabin for the mis- Gon. chance of the hour, if it so hap.-Cheerly, good Though every drop of water swear against it, hearts.-Out of our way, I say. [Exit. And gape at wid'st to glut him.
Ant. We are merely cheated of our lives by drunkards.
This wide-chapped rascal ;-'Would, thou might'st lie drowning,
Gon. I have great comfort from this fellow: me-[A confused noise within.] Mercy on us!-We thinks he hath no drowning mark upon him; his split, we split! Farewell, my wife and children!complexion is perfect gallows. Stand fast, good Farewell, brother!-We split, we split, we split.
Ant. Let's all sink with the king. [Exit. In the dark backward and abysm' of time? Seb. Let's take leave of him. Exit. If thou remember'st aught, ere thou cam'st here, Gon. Now would I give a thousand furlongs of How thou cam'st here, thou may'st. sea for an acre of barren ground; long heath, brown furze, any thing: the wills above be done! but I would fain die a dry death. [Exit.
SCENE II.-The tstand: before the cell of Pros- pero. Enter Prospero and Miranda.
Mir. If by your art, my dearest father, you have Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them: The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch, But that the sea, mounting to the welkin's cheek, Dashes the fire out. O, I have suffer'd With those that I saw suffer! a brave vessel, Who had no doubt some noble creatures in her, Dash'd all to pieces. O, the cry did knock Against my very heart! Poor souls! they perish'd. Had I been any god of power, I would Have sunk the sea within the earth, or e'er1 It should the good ship so have swallow'd, and The freighting souls within her. Pro.
Be collected; No more amazement: tell your piteous heart, There's no harm done,
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.
Did never meddle with my thoughts. Pro.
'Tis time I should inform thee further. Lend thy hand, And pluck my magic garment from me.-So; [Lays down his mantle. Lie there my art.-Wipe thou thine eyes; have comfort.
The direful spectacle of the wreck, which touch'd The very virtue of compassion in thee, I have with such provision in mine art So safely order'd, that there is no soul- No, not so much perdition as a 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 further.
You have often Begun to tell me what I am; but stopp'd And left me to a bootless inquisition; Concluding, Stay, not yet.
The hour's now come; The very minute bids thee ope thine ear; Obey, and be attentive. Canst thou remember A time before we came unto this cell?
I do not think thou canst; for then thou wast not Outs three years old.
Certainly, sir, I can. Pro. By what? by any other house, or person? Of any thing the image tell me, that Hath kept with thy remembrance. Mira. 'Tis far off; And rather like a dream than an assurance That my remembrance warrants: had I not Four or five women once, that tended me?
Pre. Thou hadst, and more, Miranda: but how is it,
That this lives in thy mind? What seest thou else (2) Quite. (3) Abyss.
Pro. Twelve years since, Miranda, twelve years since, thy father was The duke of Milan, and a prince of power. Mira. Sir, are not you my father."
Pro. Thy mother was a piece of virtue, and She said-thou wast my daughter; and thy father Was duke of Milan; and his only heir A princess;-no worse issued. Mira.
O, the heavens! What foul play had we, that we came from thence? Or blessed was't we did? Pro.
Both, both, my girl : By foul play, as thou say'st, were we heav'd thence; But blessedly holp hither.
Mira. O, my heart bleeds To think o' the teen' that I have turn'd you to Which is from my remembrance! Please you further. Pro. My brother, and thy uncle, call'd'Antonio,- I pray thee, mark me,-that a brother should Be so perfidious!-he whom, next thyself, Of all the world I lov'd, and to him put The manage of my state; as, at that time, Through all the signiories it was the first, And Prospero the prime duke; being so reputed In dignity, and, for the liberal arts, Without a parallel; those being all my study, The government I cast upon my brother,
And to my state grew stranger, being transported, And wrapt in secret studies. Thy false uncle- Dost thou attend me?
Sir, most heedfully, Pro. Being once perfected how to grant suits, How to deny them; whom to advance, and whom To trash for over-topping; new created The creatures that were mine; I say or chang'd them,
Or else new form'd them: having both the key Of officer and office, set all hearts To what tune pleas'd his ear; that now he was The ivy, which had my princely trunk, And suck'd my verdure out on't, Thou attend'st
I pray thee, mark me. Mira. O good sir, I do. Pro. I thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicate To closeness, and the bettering of my mind With that, which, but by being so retir'd, O'er-priz'd all popular rate, in my false brother, Awak'd 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, unto truth, by telling of it, Made such a sinner of his memory, To credit his own lie,-he did believe He was the duke; out of the substitution, And executing the outward face of royalty, With all prerogative:-Hence his ambition Growing,-Dost hear?
Mira. Your tale, sir, would cure deafness Pro. To have no screen between this part ha play'd,
And him he play'd it for, he needs will be Absolute Milan: me, poor man!-my library
(4) Sorrow. (5) Cut away. (6) Without.
Was dukedom large enough; of temporal royalties From my own library, with volumes that He thinks me now incapable: confederates
(So dry he was for sway) with the king of Naples, To give him annual tribute, do him homage; Subject his coronet to his crown, and bend The dukedom, yet unbow'd (alas, poor Milan!) To most ignoble stooping.
I prize above my dukedom. Mira.
But ever see that man! Pro.
Sit still, and hear the last of our sea-sorrow. Here in this island we arriv'd; and here Have I, thy school-master, made thee more profit
Pro, Mark his condition, and the event; then Than other princes can, that have more time
If this might be a brother.
To think but nobly of my grandmother: Good wombs have born bad sons.
This king of Naples, being an enemy
To me inveterate, hearkens my brother's suit; Which was, that he in lieu2 o' the premises,-
For vainer hours, and tutors not so careful. Mira. Heavens thank you for't! And now, I pray you, sir, (For still 'tis beating in my mind,) your reason For raising this sea-storm?
Know thus far forth. By accident most strange, bountiful fortune, Now my dear lady, hath mine enemies Brought to this shore: and by my prescience
Of homage, and I know not how much tribute,-I find my zenith doth depend upon
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 the purpose, did Antonio open The gates of Milan; and, i' the dead of darkness, The ministers for the purpose hurried thence Me, and thy crying self. Alack, for pity!
I, not rememb'ring how I cried out then, Will cry it o'er again; it is a hint,'
That wrings mine eyes.
And then I'll bring thee to the present business Which now's upon us; without the which, this story Were most impertinent.
Wherefore did they not
Well demanded, wench;
My tale provokes that question. Dear, they durst
(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 bark; Bore us some leagues to sea; where they prepar'd A rotten carcase of a boat, not rigg'd, Nor tackle, sail, nor mast; the very rats Instinctively had quit it: there they hoist us, To cry to the sea that roar'd to us; to sigh To the winds, whose pity, sighing back again, Did us but loving wrong.
But felt a fever of the mad, and play'd
Plung'd in the foaming brine, and quit the vessel, Some tricks of desperation: all, but mariners, Then all a-fire with me: the king's son, Ferdinand, With hair upstaring (then like reeds, not hair,) Was the first man that leap'd; cried, Hell is empty, Why, that's my spirit!
And all the devils are here. Pro.
But was not this nigh shore? Ari.
Pro. But are they, Ariel, safe? Ari. Not a hair perish'd ; But fresher than before: and, as thou bad'st me, On their sustaining garments not a blemish, In troops I have dispers'd 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 dispos'd," And all the rest o' the 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-vex'd Bermoothes, there she's hid: The mariners all under hatches stowed; Whom, with a charm join'd to their suffer'd la- bour,
I have left asleep and for the rest o' the fleet, Which I dispers'd, they all have met again; And are upon the Mediterranean flote,2 Bound sadly home for Naples;
Supposing that they saw the king's ship wreck'd, And his great person perish.
Ariel, thy charge Exactly is perform'd; but there's more work: What is the time o' the day? Ari. Past the mid season. Pro. At least two glasses: the time 'twixt six and now,
Must by us both be spent most preciously. Ari. Is there more toil? Since thou dost give me pains,
Let me remember thee what thou hast promis'd, Which is not yet perform'd me.
What is't thou canst demand? Ari.
My liberty. Pro. Before the time be out? no more. Ari. I pray thee Remember, I have done thee worthy service; Told thee no lies, made no mistakings, serv'd Without or grudge or grumblings: thou didst pro-
To bate me a full year. Pro.
Dost thou forget From what a torment I did free thee?
Pro. Thou dost; and think'st
O, was she so? I must,
Once in a month, recount what thou hast been,
To act her earthly and abhorr'd 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 Imprison'd, 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.
Pro. 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 damn'd, which Sycorax Could not again undo; it was mine art, When I arriv'd, and heard thee, that made gape The pine, and let thee out.
Ari. I thank thee, master. Pro. If thou more murmur'st, I will rend an oak, And peg thee in his knotty entrails, till Thou hast howl'd away twelve winters. Ari.
We'll visit Caliban, my Yields us kind answer.
Shake it off; come on; slave, who never
'Tis a villain, sir,
I do not love to look on. Pro. We cannot miss him: he does make our fire, Fetch in our wood; and serves in offices That profit us. What, ho! slave! Caliban! Thou earth, thou! speak.
Cal. [Within.] There's wood enough within. Pro. Come forth, I say; there's other business for thee; Come forth, thou tortoise! when?
Re-enter Ariel, like a water-nymph.
Which thou forget'st. This damn'd witch, Sycorax, Fine apparition! My quaint Ariel, For mischiefs manifold, and sorceries terrible To enter human hearing, from Argier,
Thou know'st, was banished; for one thing she did,
They would not take her life. Is not this true? Ari. Ay, sir.
Pro. This blue-ey'd hag was hither brought
I must eat my dinner. This island's mine, by Sycorax, my mother, Which thou tak'st from me. When thou camest first, Thou strok'dst me, and mad'st 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 lov'd thee, And show'd thee all the qualities o' the isle, The fresh springs, brine pits, barren place, and fertile;
Cursed be I that did so!-All the charms
Of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats, light on you! For I am all the subjects that you have, Which first was mine own king; and here you sty me In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me The rest of the island. Thou most lying slave, Whom stripes may move, not kindness; I have
Filth as thou art, with human care; and lodg'd thee In mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate The honour of my child.
Cal. O ho, O ho!-'would it had been done! Thou didst prevent me; I had peopled else This isle with Calibans.
Though thou didst learn, had that in't which good natures
Could not abide to be with; therefore wast thou Deservedly confin'd into this rock, Who hadst deserv'd more than a prison.
The strain of strutting chanticlere, Cry, Cock-a-doodle-doo.
Fer. Where should this music be? i' the air, on
Cal. You taught me language; and my profit on't A goodly person: he hath lost his fellows, Is, I know how to curse: the red plague rid you, And strays about to find them. For learning me your language! Mira. Pro. Hag-seed, hence! A thing divine; for nothing natural Fetch us in fuel; and be quick, thou were best, I ever saw so noble. To answer other business. Shrug'st thou, malice? If thou neglect'st, or dost unwillingly What I command, I'll rack thee with old cramps; Fill all thy bones with aches: make thee roar, That beasts shall tremble at thy din.
Cal. No, 'pray thee!
I must obey: his art is of such power, It would control my dam's god, Setebos, And make a vassal of him.
Re-enter Ariel, invisible, playing and singing; Ferdinand following him.
ARIEL'S SONG.
Come unto these yellow sands,
And then take hands:
Pro. [Aside As my soul prompts it:-Spirit, fine spirit! I'll free thee Within two days for this. Fer.
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, Ó you wonder! If you be maid, or no? Mira.
But, certainly a maid. Fer.
I am the best of them that speak this speech, Were I but where 'tis spoken.
What wert thou, if the king of Naples heard thee?
« ZurückWeiter » |