The tempest

None that I more love than myself. You are acounsellor; if you can command these elements tosilence, and work the peace of the present, we willnot hand a rope more; use your authority: if youcannot, give thanks you have lived so long, and makeyourself ready in your cabin for the mischance ofthe hour, if it so hap. Cheerly, good hearts! Outof our way, I say. speaker: boatswaincontext: Prospero’s storm is hitting the shipsignificance: who has power? A person who has power in the king’s court? or the person who has the power to save them all?
No harm.I have done nothing but in care of thee,Of thee, my dear one, thee, my daughter, whoArt ignorant of what thou art, nought knowingOf whence I am, nor that I am more betterThan Prospero, master of a full poor cell,And thy no greater father. Speaker – ProsperoContext – Prospero is about to tell Miranda the story of how they came to the islandSignificance – Prospero is more than her father, he is more than a magician. Furthermore, the fact that MIranda is concerned for the sailors on the ship indicates that she is of a kind-hearted nature
My brother and thy uncle, call’d Antonio–I pray thee, mark me–that a brother shouldBe so perfidious!–he whom next thyselfOf all the world I loved and to him putThe manage of my state; as at that timeThrough all the signories it was the firstAnd Prospero the prime duke, being so reputedIn dignity, and for the liberal artsWithout a parallel; those being all my study,The government I cast upon my brotherAnd to my state grew stranger, being transportedAnd rapt in secret studies. Thy false uncle–Dost thou attend me? Speaker – ProsperoContext – Prospero tells Miranda the story of how they came to the islandSignificance – A large portion of this passage’s significance lies in the fact that it is the first time that Miranda has heard the tale despite living with no one but her father and Caliban for nearly her whole life. This fact indicates Prospero’s utter control of the situation and what enters into his daughter’s head. He also expresses anger towards Antonio in this passage, but later in the play this anger appears to no longer matter and the “revenge” is taken in the form of Miranda returning to civilization with a higher rank than she left with.
Being once perfected how to grant suits,How to deny them, who to advance and whoTo trash for over-topping, new createdThe creatures that were mine, I say, or changed ’em,Or else new form’d ’em; having both the keyOf officer and office, set all hearts i’ the stateTo what tune pleased his ear; that now he wasThe ivy which had hid my princely trunk,And suck’d my verdure out on’t. Thou attend’st not. speaker: Prosperocontext: Prospero continues to tell Mirando how they arrived at the island.significance: Prospero’s insistence on Miranda’s attention reveals his want for an audience. In his tale, Prospero also represents himself as a gatherer of knowledge, but not necessarily an actor upon that knowledge. His inability to physically rule cost him his throne, and his ability to manipulate on the island is what wins him his position back.
I pray thee, mark me.I, thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicatedTo closeness and the bettering of my mindWith that which, but by being so retired,O’er-prized all popular rate, in my false brotherAwaked an evil nature; and my trust,Like a good parent, did beget of himA falsehood in its contrary as greatAs my trust was; which had indeed no limit,A confidence sans bound. speaker: Prosperocontext Prospero is STILL telling Miranda how they arrived at the island.significance: see above with an addition about the nature of evil; Prospero suggests that his own inaction awakened Antonio’s evil nature, suggesting both internal and environmental elements contribute to a person’s character.
O, a cherubimThou wast that did preserve me. Thou didst smile.Infused with a fortitude from heaven,When I have deck’d the sea with drops full salt,Under my burthen groan’d; which raised in meAn undergoing stomach, to bear upAgainst what should ensue. speaker: Prosperocontext: Miranda was concerned she was a burden during their flight from Milan; Prospero assures her otherwise.significance: Alludes to the fact that Prospero puts all of his future hopes in Miranda and arranges the shipwreck and all of the event of the play to benefit her.
Know thus far forth.By accident most strange, bountiful Fortune,Now my dear lady, hath mine enemiesBrought to this shore; and by my prescienceI find my zenith doth depend uponA most auspicious star, whose influenceIf now I court not but omit, my fortunesWill ever after droop. Here cease more questions: speaker: Prosperocontext: the storm he has created has brought his enemies to his islandsignificance: Prospero cannot control everything. The storm was his, but he is unable to make the boat arrive at the island. He has to work with Ariel and with what is given to him.
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’ld divide,And burn in many places; on the topmast,The yards and bowsprit, would I flame distinctly,Then meet and join. Jove’s lightnings, the precursorsO’ the dreadful thunder-claps, more momentaryAnd sight-outrunning were not; the fire and cracksOf sulphurous roaring the most mighty NeptuneSeem to besiege and make his bold waves tremble,Yea, his dread trident shake. speaker: Arielcontext: Ariel describes the damage he did on the ship and how he made it wreck.significance: Ariel’s power is demonstrated in this speech. As an air spirit, Ariel can cause rough waters and fuel fires; he even alludes to the god Neptune when describing his acts, but despite these powers he is not free.
This blue-eyed hag was hither brought with childAnd here was left by the sailors. Thou, my slave,As thou report’st thyself, wast then her servant;And, for thou wast a spirit too delicateTo act her earthy and abhorr’d commands,Refusing her grand hests, she did confine thee,By help of her more potent ministersAnd in her most unmitigable rage,Into a cloven pine; within which riftImprison’d thou didst painfully remainA dozen years; within which space she died speaker: Prosperocontext: Prospero reminds Ariel of his previous life with Sycoraxsignificance: Although Prospero acts as a tyrant towards Ariel, he claims that his treatment of Ariel is infinitely superior to Ariel’s treatment under Sycorax. Sycorax interfered with Ariel’s nature by asking him to do earthy tasks and by trapping him in a pine tree. Later, Prospero also threatens to entrap Ariel in a tree if he does not follow orders, revealing that, at least in respect to his servants, Prospero is not much different from Sycorax.
Dull thing, I say so; he, that CalibanWhom now I keep in service. Thou best know’stWhat torment I did find thee in; thy groansDid make wolves howl and penetrate the breastsOf ever angry bears: it was a tormentTo lay upon the damn’d, which SycoraxCould not again undo: it was mine art,When I arrived and heard thee, that made gapeThe pine and let thee out. speaker: Prosperocontext: Ariel has been complaining that Prospero promised him his freedom and has not given it to him yet. significance: Prospero is saying that he is not the tyrant that Ariel’s last master was. Yet Prospero uses similar techniques as Sycorax to get Ariel to do what he wants him to do. He uses fear and intimidation. There are limitations to Prospero’s power, he can make Ariel do what he wants, but he can’t make Ariel want to do what he is telling him to do. Prospero’s treatment of the island’s inhabitants lend themselves to the themes of colonialism and tyranny.
I must eat my dinner.This island’s mine, by Sycorax my mother,Which thou takest from me. When thou camest first,Thou strokedst me and madest much of me, wouldst give meWater with berries in’t, and teach me howTo name the bigger light, and how the less,That burn by day and night: and then I loved theeAnd 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 charmsOf 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 meIn this hard rock, whiles you do keep from meThe rest o’ the island. speaker: Calibancontext: Caliban does not want to do what Prospero is asking him to dosignificance: Caliban has a memory of what his relationship with Prospero used to be like when he and Miranda first came to the island. Recalls the kind of interactions that explorers had with the native populations in the new world. First there are gifts and then there is cruelty. Just because someone occupies a piece of land does not mean that that land is theirs. If the land is not being used then it does not belong to anyone.
Abhorred slave,Which any print of goodness wilt not take,Being capable of all ill! I pitied thee,Took pains to make thee speak, taught thee each hourOne thing or other: when thou didst not, savage,Know thine own meaning, but wouldst gabble likeA thing most brutish, I endow’d thy purposesWith words that made them known. But thy vile race,Though thou didst learn, had that in’t whichgood naturesCould not abide to be with; therefore wast thouDeservedly confined into this rock,Who hadst deserved more than a prison. speaker: Mirandacontext: Miranda and Prospero are trying to get Caliban’s participation.significance: Is Caliban a savage or can he learn? Miranda has taught him language but is insisting that he cannot learn goodness. He is resistant on a moral level. Looking at the difference between nature and nurture. Some texts also attribute this speech to Prospero, claiming that it is out of character for Miranda.
Where should this music be? i’ the air or the earth?It sounds no more: and sure, it waits uponSome god o’ the island. Sitting on a bank,Weeping again the king my father’s wreck,This music crept by me upon the waters,Allaying both their fury and my passionWith its sweet air: thence I have follow’d it,Or it hath drawn me rather. But ’tis gone.No, it begins again. speaker: Ferdinandcontext: Ferdinand is following Ariel and his song. significance:Ferdinand is grieving for his father and the music Ariel is singing is making him believe that his father is dead. It is forcing him to move forward (both literally and figuratively) and think about what comes next.
Full fathom five thy father lies;Of his bones are coral made;Those are pearls that were his eyes:Nothing of him that doth fadeBut doth suffer a sea-changeInto something rich and strange.Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knellBurthen Ding-dongHark! now I hear them,–Ding-dong, bell. speaker: Arielcontext: Ariel’s song is leading Ferdinand to Prospero and Mirandasignificance: Song suggest that instead of the dead fading away, they are transformed into something new. Something wonderful is going to come of Alonso’s death. This is hinting at the upcoming emotional transformation of Alonso instead of a physical transformation.
Silence! one word moreShall make me chide thee, if not hate thee. What!An advocate for an imposter! hush!Thou think’st there is no more such shapes as he,Having seen but him and Caliban: foolish wench!To the most of men this is a CalibanAnd they to him are angels. speaker: Prosperocontext: Miranda has just seen Ferdinand, the first human she has ever seen except herself and her fathersignificance: Prospero is already setting up the conditions for Miranda to rebel against him and to fall for Ferdinand.
So they are;My spirits, as in a dream, are all bound up.My father’s loss, the weakness which I feel,The wreck of all my friends, nor this man’s threats,To whom I am subdued, are but light to me,Might I but through my prison once a dayBehold this maid: all corners else o’ the earthLet liberty make use of; space enoughHave I in such a prison. speaker: Ferdinandcontext: He has just fallen in love with Miranda upon meeting her for the first time. significance: Ferdiand is willing to move forward after the death of his father if he can have Miranda always there with him. He is willing to do anything if he could but see her. He can forget his father with her help.
Beseech you, sir, be merry; you have cause,So have we all, of joy; for our escapeIs much beyond our loss. Our hint of woeIs common; every day some sailor’s wife,The masters of some merchant and the merchantHave just our theme of woe; but for the miracle,I mean our preservation, few in millionsCan speak like us: then wisely, good sir, weighOur sorrow with our comfort. speaker: Gonzalocontext: Alonso is grieving and Gonzalo is trying to cheer him up. significance: Alonso has been the most affected by Prospero’s magic. Gonzalo is trying to comfort Alonso by telling him he should be happy because he is alive. It is a miracle they are alive, a miracle only ever experiences by few people. Their loss is common.
You cram these words into mine ears againstThe stomach of my sense. Would I had neverMarried my daughter there! for, coming thence,My son is lost and, in my rate, she too,Who is so far from Italy removedI ne’er again shall see her. O thou mine heirOf Naples and of Milan, what strange fishHath made his meal on thee? speaker: Alonsocontext – Alonso is grieving over the loss of his son and his daughter now that she has been married off. significance: Alonso now feels that he has lost both his daughter and his son. Pay back from Prospero who almost lost his daughter when Alonso turned against him.
I’ the commonwealth I would by contrariesExecute all things; for no kind of trafficWould I admit; no name of magistrate;Letters should not be known; riches, poverty,And use of service, none; contract, succession,Bourn, bound of land, tilth, vineyard, none;No use of metal, corn, or wine, or oil;No occupation; all men idle, all;And women too, but innocent and pure;No sovereignty;– speaker: Gonzalocontext: Gonzalo is trying to comfort Alonso over the loss of his son.significance: It is the civilized who are barbaric and the barbarians who are more civilized. Things should be done the opposite of how they are presently being done.
What have wehere? a man or a fish? dead or alive? A fish:he smells like a fish; a very ancient and fish-like smell; a kind of not of the newest Poor-John. A strange fish! Were I in England now,as once I was, and had but this fish painted,not a holiday fool there but would give a pieceof silver: there would this monster make aman; any strange beast there makes a man:when they will not give a doit to relieve a lamebeggar, they will lazy out ten to see a deadIndian. Legged like a man and his fins likearms! speaker: Trinculocontext: Trinculo and Stefano have just come across Calibansignificance: Caliban is exotic and strange looking. Like a dead indian (something that would be strange back in England) He is more exotic than an Indian in england, more extic but not quite human. He is a monster.
Why, as I told thee, ’tis a custom with him,I’ th’ afternoon to sleep: there thou mayst brain him,Having first seized his books, or with a logBatter his skull, or paunch him with a stake,Or cut his wezand with thy knife. RememberFirst to possess his books; for without themHe’s but a sot, as I am, nor hath notOne spirit to command: they all do hate himAs rootedly as I. Burn but his books.He has brave utensils,–for so he calls them–Which when he has a house, he’ll deck withal speaker:Calibancontext: Caliban is trying to convince Trinculo and Stephano to kill Prospero for him. significance: Caliban wants prospero’s books because they are what is magical, not Prospero. He is hiring Stephano and Trinculo to kill Prospero for him and to steal the books. In return he will give them Miranda.
Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.Sometimes a thousand twangling instrumentsWill hum about mine ears, and sometime voicesThat, if I then had waked after long sleep,Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming,The clouds methought would open and show richesReady to drop upon me that, when I waked,I cried to dream again. speaker:Calibancontext: Caliban has just arranged to have Prospero killed and his magic book brought to him. Caliban is telling Trinculo and Stephano of the island’s wonders.significance: Caliban best articulates how art can have power. The music is a comfort for caliban because it allows him to forget he is enslaved by Prospero, but the music is created by prospero. The dreams have created the rebellious Caliban. He dreams of all that he could have if he was not under Prospero’s control.
But remember–For that’s my business to you–that you threeFrom Milan did supplant good Prospero;Exposed unto the sea, which hath requit it,Him and his innocent child: for which foul deedThe powers, delaying, not forgetting, haveIncensed the seas and shores, yea, all the creatures,Against your peace. Thee of thy son, Alonso,They have bereft; and do pronounce by me: speaker: Arielcontext: Ariel has appeared as a harpy to Alonso and the others. significance: Alonso is going to pay for what he did to Prospero and his child. He threatened Miranda’s life by casting him away, and so the loss of his son is what he deserves. A child for a child.
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, pronouncedThe name of Prospero: it did bass my trespass.Therefore my son i’ the ooze is bedded, andI’ll seek him deeper than e’er plummet soundedAnd with him there lie mudded. speaker: Alonsocontext: Prospero has just cast his spell on Alonso and the others. significance: Alonso has a death wish. He has just married off his daughter and essentially lost her. Now he has lost his son. He wishes to be buried deeper than his son is. He has this death wish because he has realized that his crimes against Prospero are the reason why his son is dead.
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,As I foretold you, were all spirits andAre 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,Ye all which it inherit, shall dissolveAnd, like this insubstantial pageant faded,Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuffAs dreams are made on, and our little lifeIs rounded with a sleep. Sir, I am vex’d; speaker: Prosperocontext: in the middle of the party he has thrown for Ferdinand and Mirandasignificance: Prospero is more concerned with philisophical things than with Caliban’s plot to kill him. Everything will fade, everything is unsubstantial. Is this shakespear’s consideration of what he produces (his plays) his legacy? He thinks that he will not be remembered after he is gone. Performances do not exist, actors are all spirits. A play though, is art, it has a great deal of impact and power.
And mine shall.Hast thou, which art but air, a touch, a feelingOf 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 furyDo I take part: the rarer action isIn virtue than in vengeance: they being penitent,The sole drift of my purpose doth extendNot a frown further. Go release them, Ariel:My charms I’ll break, their senses I’ll restore,And they shall be themselves. speaker: Prosperocontext: Ariel is going to go get Alonso and the others so Prospero can relieve the spell they are under. significance: He is willing to break the spell he has put everyone under because now they feel sorry for what they did to him before. He is the same as them, he feels the same pain they do. He is not pure evil, instead he realizes right from wrong and knows that he should do the right thing and let them go.
Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes and groves,And ye that on the sands with printless footDo chase the ebbing Neptune and do fly himWhen he comes back; you demi-puppets thatBy moonshine do the green sour ringlets make,Whereof the ewe not bites, and you whose pastimeIs to make midnight mushrooms, that rejoiceTo hear the solemn curfew; by whose aid,Weak masters though ye be, I have bedimm’dThe noontide sun, call’d forth the mutinous winds,And ‘twixt the green sea and the azured vaultSet roaring war: to the dread rattling thunder speaker: Prosperocontext: the end of the play. Prospero is about to give up his magicsignificance: his magic has come from the help of those magical creatures who live on the island. He has done so much with their help. This passage utilizes magical language like that in Macbeth, which incorporates lots of natural elements.
By my so potent art. But this rough magicI here abjure, and, when I have requiredSome heavenly music, which even now I do,To work mine end upon their senses thatThis airy charm is for, I’ll break my staff,Bury it certain fathoms in the earth,And deeper than did ever plummet soundI’ll drown my book. speaker – Prosperocontext – He has just released Alonso and the other from where he had them trapped. significance – Prospero must give up his magic to go back to life off of the island. The source of his magic is not in the robe or staff he wears and uses when he casts his magic, but in the book he has. In drowning the book he is giving up the magic not only for himself but for everyone. The book will be destroyed allowing no one to ever use it for magic again. The book represents the quest for knowledge that isolated him from the world. By disposing of it, he commits to ruling Milan.
Whether thou best he or no,Or some enchanted trifle to abuse me,As late I have been, I not know: thy pulseBeats 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 entreatThou pardon me my wrongs. But how should ProsperoBe living and be here? speaker: Alonsocontext: Prospero has just revealed who he really is to everyonesignificance: Alonso is asking for forgiveness. He is giving Prospero his dukedom back. He is amazed that Prospero is alive, not sure if what is happening is real or not.
Sir, she is mortal;But by immortal Providence she’s mine:I chose her when I could not ask my fatherFor his advice, nor thought I had one. SheIs daughter to this famous Duke of Milan,Of whom so often I have heard renown,But never saw before; of whom I haveReceived a second life; and second fatherThis lady makes him to me. speaker: Ferdinandcontext – This is when Ferdinand is telling Alonso that he is in love with Mirandasignificance – Prospero is Ferdinand’s second father now. This is the moment of emotional gratitude that Prospero has been wanting all along. Receiving this appreciation allows him not to take revenge on Antonio and to return to Milan to rule (thus giving up his magical rule to regain his political rule)
July 22, 2019