| “Thou best knowers what torment I did find thee in” | Prospero |
| “Say what: what shall I do” | Ariel |
| “Do so, and after two days I will discharge thee” | Prospero |
| “But for your conscience?” | Sebastian |
| “Pardon, master. I will be correspondent to command and do my spiriting gently” | Ariel |
| “A devil, a born devil, on whose nature nurture can never stick; on whom my pains, humanely taken, all, all lost, quite lost” | Prospero |
| “Bravely, my diligence. Thou shalt be free” | Prospero |
| “Torment” “to lay upon the damned” | Prospero using hellish imagery to convey the horror of Ariel’s imprisonment in the tree at the hands of Sycorax |
| “Master” “master-slave relationship” | Shakespeare has Ariel use this term of address suggesting the inbalanced nature of the relationship |
| “If thou more murmurest, I will rend an oak and peg thee in his knotty entrails” | Shakespare has Prospero threaten Ariel with a final demand shown in this conditional clause |
| “What cares these roarer for the name of king?” | Shakespare has the Boatswain reply to Gonzalo’s demands for him to respect the powerful court party on board |
| “Use your authority” | The Boatswain mocking Gonzalo to do this to silence the storm |
| “The government I cast upon my brother” “my library was dukedom enough” | Prospero reveals this in his story to Miranda |
| “Is no better than the earth he lies upon” | Sebeastian & Antonio explain Alonso is no better than this |
| “Possess his books; for without them he’s but a sot” | Caliban reminding Stephano of what to do before the planned murder of Prospero |
| “Overthrown” “most faint” | Prospero’s charms have been 1st quote, and the power he is left with is the other quote |
| “Cramps and aches” | Caliban is terrorised by this that Prospero inflicts |
| “Howl away twelve winters” | Ariel is threatened with being put back in the tree to do this |
| “This island’s mine by Sycorax my mother” | Caliban portraying his authority over the island through inheritance since his mother, an evil witch Sycorax, used to rule it |
| “Isle with Calibans” | Caliban wanted to create a population of Calibans on the island, done by attempting to rape Miranda |
| “This thing of darkness I acknowledge mine” | Caliban seems to be Prospero’s dark double because the authority that Caliban wants back is related to the authority that Prospero wants back |
| What cares these roarers for the name of king?” | Boatswain to Gonzalo during the storm |
| “You are a councillor; if you can command these elements to silence.. use your authority” | Bostswain to Gonzalo during the storm |
| “I have suffered with those that I saw suffer” | Miranda to Prospero on the sight of the shipwreck |
| “A thing most brutish” | Miranda to Caliban |
| “How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world that has such people in it! | Miranda to herself on seeing Alonso’s group |
| “(On Antonio I) put the manage of my state” | Prospero to Miranda about his rule in Milan |
| “The government I cast upon my brother, and to my state grew stranger, being transported and rapt in secret studies” | Prospero to Miranda about his rule in Milan |
| “I thus neglecting worldly ends” | Prosper to Miranda about his rule in Milan |
| “A sinner of his memory” | Prospero to Miranda on Antonio making this |
| “Thou most lying slave” | Prospero to Caliban |
| “It goes on, I see, as my soul prompts it” | Prospero to himself, on seeing Miranda’s interest in Ferdinand |
| “Thou art infected” | Prospero to himself about Miranda on seeing her interest in Ferdinand |
| “They now are in my power” | Prospero to himself about Alonso, Sebastian & Antonio |
| “As my gift, and thine own acquisition worthily purchased, take my daughter” | Prospero to Ferdinand |
| “We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep” | Prospero to Ferdinand |
| “Born devil, on whose nature nurture can never stick” | Prospero to himself on Caliban |
| “The rarer (nobler) action is in virtue than in vengeance” | Prospero to Ariel |
| “My purpose doth extend not a frown further” | Prospero to Ariel |
| “This rough magic, I here abjure… I’ll break my staff… I’ll drown my book” | Prospero to himself |
| “I do forgive thee, unnatural though thou art” | Prospero to Antonio |
| “This thing of darkness I acknowledge mine” | Prospero to Alfonso’ group about Caliban |
| “Now my charms are all overthrown, and what strength I have is mine own, which is most faint | Prospero to the audience, an epilogue |
| “My liberty” | Ariel demand this to Prospero |
| “Something rich and strange” | Ariel singing to Ferdinand |
| “You three from Milan did supplant good Prosper” | Ariel to Alonso, Antonio & Sebastian, as the harpy-monster |
| “You three men of sin” | Ariel to Alonso, Antonio & Sebastian |
| “If you now beheld them, your affections would become tender” | Ariel to Prospero, about Alonso and the others |
| “Which thou takest from me” | Caliban to Prospero on him taking his island |
| “I am all the subjects you have, which first was mine own king” | Caliban to Prospero |
| “Would it had been done. Thou didst prevent me, I had peopled else this isle with Calibans” | Caliban to Prospero on the subject of his attempted rape of Miranda |
| “You taught me language, and my profit on it is I know how to curse | Caliban to Prospero |
| “That’s a brave God, and bears celestial liquor. I will kneel to him” | Caliban to himself, about Stephano |
| “Be my god” | Calibanto Stephano |
| “Freedom high-day’ freedom” | Caliban to himself, at the end of the meeting with Stephano & Trinculo |
| “I am subject to a tyrant” | Caliban to Stephano |
| “By sorcery he got this isle” | Caliban to Stephano, about Prospero |
| “Brave brood” | Caliban to Stephano, about Miranda |
| “Do that good mischief” | Caliban to Stephano, asking him to murder Prospero |
| “I would with such perfection govern, sir, to excel the golden age” | Gonzalo to Antonio after describing his utopian vision |
| “My strong imagination sees a crown dropping upon thy head” | Gonzalo to Sebastian, after the others have fallen asleep |
| “Here lies your brother, no better than the earth he lies upon” | Gonzalo to Sebastian |
| “No doubt marketable” | Gonzalo to Sebastian on Caliban |
| “Make a man” | Trinculo to himself on discovering Caliban, Caliban could make a man’s fortune |
| “Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows” | Trinculo to himself, getting under Caliban’s cloak |
| “So perfect and so peerless” | Ferdinand to Miranda |
| “The very instant that I saw you did my heart fly to your service” | Ferdinand to Miranda |
| “The red plague rid you for learning me your language” | Caliban wishing the plague on Miranda for failing to teach him language |
| “I must obey. His art is of such power, it would control my dam’s God setebos and make a vassal of him” | Caliban presented as weak, backing down against the magic of Prospero in his soliloquy |
| “Berries”, “light”, “beetles” | Semantic field of nature to present the sweetness of the relationship that Caliban & Prospero used to have |
| “One last job” | Prospero promise Ariel his freedom as long as he does this |
The Tempest important quotes
July 8, 2019