The Tempest
Written: 1611; Texts: First Folio 1623 (Comedy), no quarto editions
Source: Strachey, William (c.1567-c.1634) (dated 15.Jul.1610, printed 1625); Jourdain, Sylvester (?-1650). A Discovery of the Bermudas (1610); Jourdain, Sylvester (?-1650) The True Declaration of the Estate of Colonie in Virginia (1610)
Characters: Prospero, Ariel, Caliban, Miranda, Ferdinand, Antonio, Gonzalo, Sebastian, Alonso, Stephano
Setting: An Island Perhaps Near America
Time: Undetermined
Xxx xxx
Notes on The Tempest
Town and Country
Read the NoteIn Cymbeline, Belarius advises his two adoptive sons to embrace the idyllic life in the country rather than the political life at court:
“O, this life
Is nobler than attending for a check;
Richer than doing nothing for a bable;
Prouder than rustling in unpaid-for silk:
Such gain the cap of him that makes him fine,
… continue reading this note
Quotes from The Tempest
Boatswain!
Read the Quote A tempestuous noise of thunder and lightning heard.
Enter a Shipmaster and a Boatswain.
Master
Boatswain!
Boatswain
Here, master. What cheer?
Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea
for an acre of barren ground: long heath, brown
furze, anything.
Master
Good,
… continue reading this quote
If by your art, my dearest father
Read the QuoteMiranda
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 th’ welkin’s cheek,
Dashes the fire out.
O, the cry did knock
Against my very heart! Poor souls, they perished.
Sit down, For thou must now know farther.
Read the QuoteProspero
Sit down,
For thou must now know farther.
They sit.
Miranda
You have often
Begun to tell me what I am, but stopped
And left me to a bootless inquisition,
Concluding “Stay. Not yet.”
What seest thou else
In the dark backward and abysm of time?
Prospero
The hour’s now come.
… continue reading this quote
I, thus neglecting worldly ends
Read the QuoteProspero
I, thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicated
To closeness and the bettering of my mind
With that which, but by being so retired,
O’erprized all popular rate, in my false brother
Awaked 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,
… continue reading this quote
Mark his condition and th’ event
Read the QuoteProspero
Mark his condition and th’ event. Then tell me
If this might be a brother.
Miranda
I should sin
To think but nobly of my grandmother.
Good wombs have borne bad sons.
Good wombs have borne bad sons.
Prospero
Now the condition.
This King of Naples,
… continue reading this quote
Come away, servant, come. I am ready now
Read the QuoteProspero Prospero puts on his cloak.
Come away, servant, come. I am ready now.
Approach, my Ariel. Come.
Enter Ariel.
Ariel
All hail, great master! Grave sir, hail! I come
To answer thy best pleasure. Be ’t to fly,
To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride
On the curled clouds,
… continue reading this quote
Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil himself
Read the QuoteProspero, to Caliban
Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil himself
Upon thy wicked dam, come forth!
Enter Caliban.
Caliban
As wicked dew as e’er my mother brushed
With raven’s feather from unwholesome fen
Drop on you both. A southwest blow on you
And blister you all o’er.
… continue reading this quote
What is the time o’ th’ day?
Read the QuoteProspero
What is the time o’ th’ day?
Ariel
Past the mid season.
Prospero
At least two glasses. The time ’twixt six and now
Must by us both be spent most preciously.
Ariel
Is there more toil? Since thou dost give me pains,
Let me remember thee what thou hast promised,
… continue reading this quote
Come unto these yellow sands
Read the QuoteAriel
Come unto these yellow sands,
And then take hands.
Curtsied when you have, and kissed
The wild waves whist.
Foot it featly here and there,
And sweet sprites bear
The burden. Hark, hark!
Burden dispersedly, within: Bow-wow.
… continue reading this quote
Come unto these yellow sands
Read the QuoteAriel, invisible, playing and singing.
Come unto these yellow sands,
And then take hands.
Curtsied when you have, and kissed
The wild waves whist.
Foot it featly here and there,
And sweet sprites bear
The burden. Hark,
… continue reading this quote