SCENE I. Before PROSPERO'S cell. The Tempest  Shakespeare homepage  |  The Tempest  | Act 5, Scene 1 

 Previous scene  SCENE I. Before PROSPERO'S cell. 

 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? 

 ARIEL  On the sixth hour; at which time, my lord, 

 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? 

 ARIEL  Confined together 

 In the same fashion as you gave in charge, 

 Just as you left them; all prisoners, sir, 

 In the line-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 term'd, 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 the quick, 

 Yet with my nobler reason 'gaitist 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  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 bedimm'd 

 The noontide sun, call'd 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 pluck'd 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 

 Re-enter ARIEL before: 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:  A solemn air and the best comforter 

 To an unsettled fancy cure thy brains, 

 Now useless, boil'd within thy skull! There stand, 

 For you are spell-stopp'd. 

 Holy Gonzalo, honourable man, 

 Mine eyes, even sociable to the show of thine, 

 Fall fellowly drops. 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 you 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 pinch'd fort now, Sebastian. Flesh and blood, 

 You, brother mine, that entertain'd ambition, 

 Expell'd remorse and nature; who, with Sebastian, 

 Whose inward pinches therefore are most strong, 

 Would here have kill'd your king; I do forgive thee, 

 Unnatural though thou art. Their understanding 

 Begins to swell, and the approaching tide 

 Will shortly fill the reasonable shore 

 That now lies 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 discase me, and myself present 

 As I was sometime Milan: quickly, spirit; 

 Thou shalt ere long be free. 



 ARIEL sings and helps to attire him  Where the bee sucks. there suck I: 

 In a cowslip's bell I lie; 

 There I couch when owls do cry. 

 On the bat's back I do fly 

 After summer merrily. 

 Merrily, merrily shall I live now 

 Under the blossom that hangs on the bough. 

 PROSPERO  Why, that's my dainty Ariel! I shall miss thee: 

 But yet thou shalt have freedom: so, so, so. 

 To the king's ship, invisible as thou art: 

 There shalt thou find the mariners asleep 

 Under the hatches; the master and the boatswain 

 Being awake, enforce them to this place, 

 And presently, I prithee. 

 ARIEL  I drink the air before me, and return 

 Or ere your pulse twice beat. 



 Exit  GONZALO  All torment, trouble, wonder and amazement 

 Inhabits here: some heavenly power guide us 

 Out of this fearful country! 

 PROSPERO  Behold, sir king, 

 The wronged Duke of Milan, Prospero: 

 For more assurance that a living prince 

 Does now speak to thee, I embrace thy body; 

 And to thee and thy company I bid 

 A hearty welcome. 

 ALONSO  Whether thou best he or no, 

 Or some enchanted trifle to abuse me, 

 As late I have been, I not know: thy pulse 

 Beats as of flesh and blood; and, since I saw thee, 

 The affliction of my mind amends, with which, 

 I fear, a madness held me: this must crave, 

 An if this be at all, a most strange story. 

 Thy dukedom I resign and do entreat 

 Thou pardon me my wrongs. But how should Prospero 

 Be living and be here? 

 PROSPERO  First, noble friend, 

 Let me embrace thine age, whose honour cannot 

 Be measured or confined. 

 GONZALO  Whether this be 

 Or be not, I'll not swear. 

 PROSPERO  You do yet taste 

 Some subtilties o' the isle, that will not let you 

 Believe things certain. Welcome, my friends all! 



 Aside to SEBASTIAN and ANTONIO  But you, my brace of lords, were I so minded, 

 I here could pluck his highness' frown upon you 

 And justify you traitors: at this time 

 I will tell no tales. 

 SEBASTIAN  [Aside]  The devil speaks in him. 

 PROSPERO  No. 

 For you, most wicked sir, whom to call brother 

 Would even infect my mouth, I do forgive 

 Thy rankest fault; all of them; and require 

 My dukedom of thee, which perforce, I know, 

 Thou must restore. 

 ALONSO  If thou be'st Prospero, 

 Give us particulars of thy preservation; 

 How thou hast met us here, who three hours since 

 Were wreck'd upon this shore; where I have lost-- 

 How sharp the point of this remembrance is!-- 

 My dear son Ferdinand. 

 PROSPERO  I am woe for't, sir. 

 ALONSO  Irreparable is the loss, and patience 

 Says it is past her cure. 

 PROSPERO  I rather think 

 You have not sought her help, of whose soft grace 

 For the like loss I have her sovereign aid 

 And rest myself content. 

 ALONSO  You the like loss! 

 PROSPERO  As great to me as late; and, supportable 

 To make the dear loss, have I means much weaker 

 Than you may call to comfort you, for I 

 Have lost my daughter. 

 ALONSO  A daughter? 

 O heavens, that they were living both in Naples, 

 The king and queen there! that they were, I wish 

 Myself were mudded in that oozy bed 

 Where my son lies. When did you lose your daughter? 

 PROSPERO  In this last tempest. I perceive these lords 

 At this encounter do so much admire 

 That they devour their reason and scarce think 

 Their eyes do offices of truth, their words 

 Are natural breath: but, howsoe'er you have 

 Been justled from your senses, know for certain 

 That I am Prospero and that very duke 

 Which was thrust forth of Milan, who most strangely 

 Upon this shore, where you were wreck'd, was landed, 

 To be the lord on't. No more yet of this; 

 For 'tis a chronicle of day by day, 

 Not a relation for a breakfast nor 

 Befitting this first meeting. Welcome, sir; 

 This cell's my court: here have I few attendants 

 And subjects none abroad: pray you, look in. 

 My dukedom since you have given me again, 

 I will requite you with as good a thing; 

 At least bring forth a wonder, to content ye 

 As much as me my dukedom. 



 Here PROSPERO discovers FERDINAND and MIRANDA playing at chess  MIRANDA  Sweet lord, you play me false. 

 FERDINAND  No, my dear'st love, 

 I would not for the world. 

 MIRANDA  Yes, for a score of kingdoms you should wrangle, 

 And I would call it, fair play. 

 ALONSO  If this prove 

 A vision of the Island, one dear son 

 Shall I twice lose. 

 SEBASTIAN  A most high miracle! 

 FERDINAND  Though the seas threaten, they are merciful; 

 I have cursed them without cause. 



 Kneels  ALONSO  Now all the blessings 

 Of a glad father compass thee about! 

 Arise, and say how thou camest here. 

 MIRANDA  O, wonder! 

 How many goodly creatures are there here! 

 How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world, 

 That has such people in't! 

 PROSPERO  'Tis new to thee. 

 ALONSO  What is this maid with whom thou wast at play? 

 Your eld'st acquaintance cannot be three hours: 

 Is she the goddess that hath sever'd us, 

 And brought us thus together? 

 FERDINAND  Sir, she is mortal; 

 But by immortal Providence she's mine: 

 I chose her when I could not ask my father 

 For his advice, nor thought I had one. She 

 Is daughter to this famous Duke of Milan, 

 Of whom so often I have heard renown, 

 But never saw before; of whom I have 

 Received a second life; and second father 

 This lady makes him to me. 

 ALONSO  I am hers: 

 But, O, how oddly will it sound that I 

 Must ask my child forgiveness! 

 PROSPERO  There, sir, stop: 

 Let us not burthen our remembrance with 

 A heaviness that's gone. 

 GONZALO  I have inly wept, 

 Or should have spoke ere this. Look down, you god, 

 And on this couple drop a blessed crown! 

 For it is you that have chalk'd forth the way 

 Which brought us hither. 

 ALONSO  I say, Amen, Gonzalo! 

 GONZALO  Was Milan thrust from Milan, that his issue 

 Should become kings of Naples? O, rejoice 

 Beyond a common joy, and set it down 

 With gold on lasting pillars: In one voyage 

 Did Claribel her husband find at Tunis, 

 And Ferdinand, her brother, found a wife 

 Where he himself was lost, Prospero his dukedom 

 In a poor isle and all of us ourselves 

 When no man was his own. 

 ALONSO  [To FERDINAND and MIRANDA]  Give me your hands: 

 Let grief and sorrow still embrace his heart 

 That doth not wish you joy! 

 GONZALO  Be it so! Amen! 



 Re-enter ARIEL, with the Master and Boatswain amazedly following  O, look, sir, look, sir! here is more of us: 

 I prophesied, if a gallows were on land, 

 This fellow could not drown. Now, blasphemy, 

 That swear'st grace o'erboard, not an oath on shore? 

 Hast thou no mouth by land? What is the news? 

 Boatswain  The best news is, that we have safely found 

 Our king and company; the next, our ship-- 

 Which, but three glasses since, we gave out split-- 

 Is tight and yare and bravely rigg'd as when 

 We first put out to sea. 

 ARIEL  [Aside to PROSPERO]  Sir, all this service 

 Have I done since I went. 

 PROSPERO  [Aside to ARIEL]  My tricksy spirit! 

 ALONSO  These are not natural events; they strengthen 

 From strange to stranger. Say, how came you hither? 

 Boatswain  If I did think, sir, I were well awake, 

 I'ld strive to tell you. We were dead of sleep, 

 And--how we know not--all clapp'd under hatches; 

 Where but even now with strange and several noises 

 Of roaring, shrieking, howling, jingling chains, 

 And more diversity of sounds, all horrible, 

 We were awaked; straightway, at liberty; 

 Where we, in all her trim, freshly beheld 

 Our royal, good and gallant ship, our master 

 Capering to eye her: on a trice, so please you, 

 Even in a dream, were we divided from them 

 And were brought moping hither. 

 ARIEL  [Aside to PROSPERO]          Was't well done? 

 PROSPERO  [Aside to ARIEL]  Bravely, my diligence. Thou shalt be free. 

 ALONSO  This is as strange a maze as e'er men trod 

 And there is in this business more than nature 

 Was ever conduct of: some oracle 

 Must rectify our knowledge. 

 PROSPERO  Sir, my liege, 

 Do not infest your mind with beating on 

 The strangeness of this business; at pick'd leisure 

 Which shall be shortly, single I'll resolve you, 

 Which to you shall seem probable, of every 

 These happen'd accidents; till when, be cheerful 

 And think of each thing well. 



 Aside to ARIEL  Come hither, spirit: 

 Set Caliban and his companions free; 

 Untie the spell. 



 Exit ARIEL  How fares my gracious sir? 

 There are yet missing of your company 

 Some few odd lads that you remember not. 



 Re-enter ARIEL, driving in CALIBAN, STEPHANO and TRINCULO, in their stolen apparel  STEPHANO  Every man shift for all the rest, and 

 let no man take care for himself; for all is 

 but fortune. Coragio, bully-monster, coragio! 

 TRINCULO  If these be true spies which I wear in my head, 

 here's a goodly sight. 

 CALIBAN  O Setebos, these be brave spirits indeed! 

 How fine my master is! I am afraid 

 He will chastise me. 

 SEBASTIAN  Ha, ha! 

 What things are these, my lord Antonio? 

 Will money buy 'em? 

 ANTONIO  Very like; one of them 

 Is a plain fish, and, no doubt, marketable. 

 PROSPERO  Mark but the badges of these men, my lords, 

 Then say if they be true. This mis-shapen knave, 

 His mother was a witch, and one so strong 

 That could control the moon, make flows and ebbs, 

 And deal in her command without her power. 

 These three have robb'd me; and this demi-devil-- 

 For he's a bastard one--had plotted with them 

 To take my life. Two of these fellows you 

 Must know and own; this thing of darkness! 

 Acknowledge mine. 

 CALIBAN  I shall be pinch'd to death. 

 ALONSO  Is not this Stephano, my drunken butler? 

 SEBASTIAN  He is drunk now: where had he wine? 

 ALONSO  And Trinculo is reeling ripe: where should they 

 Find this grand liquor that hath gilded 'em? 

 How camest 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: I shall not fear fly-blowing. 

 SEBASTIAN  Why, how now, Stephano! 

 STEPHANO  O, touch me not; I am not Stephano, but a cramp. 

 PROSPERO  You'ld be king o' the isle, sirrah? 

 STEPHANO  I should have been a sore one then. 

 ALONSO  This is a strange thing as e'er I look'd on. 



 Pointing to Caliban  PROSPERO  He is as disproportion'd in his manners 

 As in his shape. Go, sirrah, to my cell; 

 Take with you your companions; as you look 

 To have my pardon, trim it handsomely. 

 CALIBAN  Ay, that I will; and I'll be wise hereafter 

 And seek for grace. What a thrice-double ass 

 Was I, to take this drunkard for a god 

 And worship this dull fool! 

 PROSPERO  Go to; away! 

 ALONSO  Hence, and bestow your luggage where you found it. 

 SEBASTIAN  Or stole it, rather. 



 Exeunt CALIBAN, STEPHANO, and TRINCULO  PROSPERO  Sir, I invite your highness and your train 

 To my poor cell, where you shall take your rest 

 For this one night; which, part of it, I'll waste 

 With such discourse as, I not doubt, shall make it 

 Go quick away; the story of my life 

 And the particular accidents gone by 

 Since I came to this isle: and in the morn 

 I'll bring you to your ship and so to Naples, 

 Where I have hope to see the nuptial 

 Of these our dear-beloved solemnized; 

 And thence retire me to my Milan, where 

 Every third thought shall be my grave. 

 ALONSO  I long 

 To hear the story of your life, which must 

 Take the ear strangely. 

 PROSPERO  I'll deliver all; 

 And promise you calm seas, auspicious gales 

 And sail so expeditious that shall catch 

 Your royal fleet far off. 



 Aside to ARIEL  My Ariel, chick, 

 That is thy charge: then to the elements 

 Be free, and fare thou well! Please you, draw near. 



 Exeunt  EPILOGUE 

 SPOKEN BY PROSPERO 

 Now my charms are all o'erthrown, 

 And what strength I have's mine own, 

 Which is most faint: now, 'tis true, 

 I must be here confined by you, 

 Or sent to Naples. Let me not, 

 Since I have my dukedom got 

 And pardon'd the deceiver, dwell 

 In this bare island by your spell; 

 But release me from my bands 

 With the help of your good hands: 

 Gentle breath of yours my sails 

 Must fill, or else my project fails, 

 Which was to please. Now I want 

 Spirits to enforce, art to enchant, 

 And my ending is despair, 

 Unless I be relieved by prayer, 

 Which pierces so that it assaults 

 Mercy itself and frees all faults. 

 As you from crimes would pardon'd be, 

 Let your indulgence set me free. 

