SCENE I. On a ship at sea: a tempestuous noise The Tempest  Shakespeare homepage  |  The Tempest  | Act 1, Scene 1 

 Next scene  SCENE I. On a ship at sea: a tempestuous noise  of thunder and lightning heard. 



 Enter a Master and a Boatswain  Master  Boatswain! 

 Boatswain  Here, master: what cheer? 

 Master  Good, speak to the mariners: fall to't, yarely, 

 or we run ourselves aground: bestir, bestir. 



 Exit 

 Enter Mariners  Boatswain  Heigh, my hearts! cheerly, cheerly, my hearts! 

 yare, yare! Take in the topsail. Tend to the 

 master's whistle. Blow, till thou burst thy wind, 

 if room enough! 



 Enter ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, FERDINAND, GONZALO, and others  ALONSO  Good boatswain, have care. Where's the master? 

 Play the men. 

 Boatswain  I pray now, keep below. 

 ANTONIO  Where is the master, boatswain? 

 Boatswain  Do you not hear him? You mar our labour: keep your 

 cabins: you do assist the storm. 

 GONZALO  Nay, good, be patient. 

 Boatswain  When the sea is. Hence! What cares these roarers 

 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 

 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, and make 

 yourself ready in your cabin for the mischance of 

 the hour, if it so hap. Cheerly, good hearts! Out 

 of our way, I say. 



 Exit  GONZALO  I have great comfort from this fellow: methinks he 

 hath no drowning mark upon him; his complexion is 

 perfect gallows. Stand fast, good Fate, to his 

 hanging: make the rope of his destiny our cable, 

 for our own doth little advantage. If he be not 

 born to be hanged, our case is miserable. 



 Exeunt 

 Re-enter Boatswain  Boatswain  Down with the topmast! yare! lower, lower! Bring 

 her to try with main-course. 



 A cry within  A plague upon this howling! they are louder than 

 the weather or our office. 



 Re-enter SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, and GONZALO  Yet again! what do you here? Shall we give o'er 

 and drown? Have you a mind to sink? 

 SEBASTIAN  A pox o' your throat, you bawling, blasphemous, 

 incharitable dog! 

 Boatswain  Work you then. 

 ANTONIO  Hang, cur! hang, you whoreson, insolent noisemaker! 

 We are less afraid to be drowned than thou art. 

 GONZALO  I'll warrant him for drowning; though the ship were 

 no stronger than a nutshell and as leaky as an 

 unstanched wench. 

 Boatswain  Lay her a-hold, a-hold! set her two courses off to 

 sea again; lay her off. 



 Enter Mariners wet  Mariners  All lost! to prayers, to prayers! all lost! 

 Boatswain  What, must our mouths be cold? 

 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 merely cheated of our lives by drunkards: 

 This wide-chapp'd rascal--would thou mightst lie drowning 

 The washing of ten tides! 

 GONZALO  He'll be hang'd yet, 

 Though every drop of water swear against it 

 And gape at widest to glut him. 



 A confused noise within:   'Mercy on us!'--  'We split, we split!'--'Farewell, my wife and  children!'-- 'Farewell, brother!'--'We split, we split, we split!'  ANTONIO  Let's all sink with the king. 

 SEBASTIAN  Let's take leave of him. 



 Exeunt ANTONIO and SEBASTIAN  GONZALO  Now would I give a thousand furlongs of 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. 



 Exeunt  Shakespeare homepage  |  The Tempest  | Act 1, Scene 1 

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