The Tempest Translation

The TempestAct 1, Scene 2

original text and modern English, side by side

The Island. Before the cell of Prospero · Miranda, Prospero, Ariel, Caliban, Ferdinand

Outside his cell, Prospero finally tells Miranda their history: twelve years ago he was Duke of Milan until his brother Antonio, backed by Alonso of Naples, seized the dukedom and set them adrift, with only Gonzalo's secret kindness keeping them alive. He reveals the storm was his own doing and everyone aboard is safe, puts off Ariel's plea for early freedom, and is defied by Caliban, who insists the island is his by inheritance. Ariel then lures Ferdinand to Miranda; they fall in love at once, and Prospero pretends to accuse him of spying so the match won't come too cheaply.

Enter Prospero and Miranda.

Miranda

If by your art, my dearest father, you have

Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them.

Father, if you raised this storm with your magic, please calm it.

The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch,

But that the sea, mounting to th’ welkin’s cheek,

Dashes the fire out.

The sky looks as though it would pour down burning tar, except that the sea rises up to heaven's face and puts the fire out.

O! I have suffered

With those that I saw suffer!

I suffered watching those people suffer!

A brave vessel,

Who had, no doubt, some noble creature in her,

Dash’d all to pieces.

A fine ship, surely carrying some noble soul, smashed to splinters.

O, the cry did knock

Against my very heart.

Their cries struck me straight in the heart.

Poor souls, they perish’d.

The poor men are dead.

Had I been any god of power, I would

Have sunk the sea within the earth, or ere

It should the good ship so have swallow’d and

The fraughting souls within her.

If I had any power as a god, I would have swallowed the sea into the earth before I let it swallow that good ship and everyone aboard her.

Prospero

Be collected:

Calm down.

No more amazement:

Stop being frightened.

tell your piteous heart

There’s no harm done.

Tell that pitying heart of yours that nobody was hurt.

Miranda

O, woe the day!

Oh, what a terrible day!

Prospero

No harm.

No harm done.

I have done nothing but in care of thee,

Of thee, my dear one, thee, my daughter, who

Art ignorant of what thou art, nought knowing

Of whence I am, nor that I am more better

Than Prospero, master of a full poor cell,

And thy no greater father.

Everything I've done has been out of care for you — for you, my dear one, you, my daughter, who don't know who you really are, or where I come from, or that I am anything more than Prospero, the owner of a very poor hut and your quite ordinary father.

Miranda

More to know

Did never meddle with my thoughts.

It never once occurred to me to want to know more.

Prospero

’Tis time

I should inform thee farther.

It's time I told you the rest.

Lend thy hand,

And pluck my magic garment from me.

Give me your hand and help me take off my magic robe.

—So:

— There.

Lays down his mantle.

Prospero

Lie there my art.

Lie there, my magic.

Wipe thou thine eyes;

Dry your eyes,

have comfort.

don't be upset.

The direful spectacle of the wrack, which touch’d

The very virtue of compassion in thee,

I have with such provision in mine art

So safely ordered that there is no soul—

No, not so much perdition as an hair

Betid to any creature in the vessel

Which thou heard’st cry, which thou saw’st sink.

That dreadful shipwreck, which stirred every drop of pity in you, I arranged so carefully with my art that not a single soul aboard was lost — not so much as a hair harmed on anyone in that ship you heard crying out and saw go down.

Sit down;

Sit down.

For thou must now know farther.

Now you need to know more.

Miranda

You have often

Begun to tell me what I am, but stopp’d,

And left me to a bootless inquisition,

Concluding “Stay; not yet.”

You've often begun to tell me who I am and then stopped, leaving me asking questions with no answer, always saying "Wait, not yet."

Prospero

The hour’s now come,

The moment has come.

The very minute bids thee ope thine ear;

This very minute tells you to open your ears.

Obey, and be attentive.

Do as I say and listen carefully.

Canst thou remember

A time before we came unto this cell?

Can you remember a time before we came to live here?

I do not think thou canst, for then thou wast not

Out three years old.

I doubt you can — you weren't quite three years old.

Miranda

Certainly, sir, I can.

I can, though, sir. I'm certain of it.

Prospero

By what?

How?

By any other house, or person?

Some other house, or some person?

Of anything the image, tell me, that

Hath kept with thy remembrance.

Any picture at all that's stayed in your memory — tell me.

Miranda

’Tis far off,

And rather like a dream than an assurance

That my remembrance warrants.

It's very distant, more like a dream than anything my memory can vouch for.

Had I not

Four or five women once that tended me?

Weren't there four or five women once who looked after me?

Prospero

Thou hadst, and more, Miranda.

There were, and more than that, Miranda.

But how is it

That this lives in thy mind?

But how is it still in your mind?

What seest thou else

In the dark backward and abysm of time?

What else can you see in the dark gulf of the past?

If thou rememb’rest aught ere thou cam’st here,

How thou cam’st here, thou mayst.

If you remember anything from before you came here, you might remember how you came.

Miranda

But that I do not.

But I don't.

Prospero

Twelve year since, Miranda, twelve year since,

Thy father was the Duke of Milan, and

A prince of power.

Twelve years ago, Miranda, twelve years ago, your father was the Duke of Milan and a powerful prince.

Miranda

Sir, are not you my father?

Sir, aren't you my father?

Prospero

Thy mother was a piece of virtue, and

She said thou wast my daughter.

Your mother was a model of virtue, and she said you were my daughter.

And thy father

Was Duke of Milan, and his only heir

And princess, no worse issued.

And your father was the Duke of Milan — which makes you his only heir, a princess of no lower birth than that.

Miranda

O, the heavens!

Good heavens!

What foul play had we that we came from thence?

What crime drove us out of there?

Or blessed was’t we did?

Or was it a blessing that we left?

Prospero

Both, both, my girl.

Both, my girl, both.

By foul play, as thou say’st, were we heav’d thence;

But blessedly holp hither.

It was a crime, as you say, that threw us out — but heaven's blessing brought us safely here.

Miranda

O, my heart bleeds

To think o’ th’ teen that I have turn’d you to,

Which is from my remembrance.

My heart aches to think of the trouble I must have been to you, though I can't remember any of it.

Please you, farther.

Please, go on.

Prospero

My brother and thy uncle, call’d Antonio—

My brother — your uncle — named Antonio.

I pray thee, mark me, that a brother should

Be so perfidious!

Listen to this: that a brother could be so treacherous.

—he whom next thyself

Of all the world I lov’d, and to him put

The manage of my state;

He was the person I loved most in the world after you, and I handed him the running of my state.

as at that time

Through all the signories it was the first,

And Prospero the prime duke, being so reputed

In dignity, and for the liberal arts,

Without a parallel:

At that time Milan was the first among all the Italian states, and I was reckoned the leading duke, unmatched in standing and in learning.

those being all my study,

The government I cast upon my brother,

And to my state grew stranger, being transported

And rapt in secret studies.

Since study was all I cared about, I gave the government to my brother and became a stranger to my own dukedom, carried away and absorbed in secret research.

Thy false uncle—

Dost thou attend me?

Your treacherous uncle — are you listening?

Miranda

Sir, most heedfully.

Very closely, sir.

Prospero

Being once perfected how to grant suits,

How to deny them, who t’ advance, and who

To trash for over-topping, new created

The creatures that were mine, I say, or chang’d ’em,

Or else new form’d ’em:

Once he had mastered how to grant a request and how to refuse one, whom to promote and whom to cut down for growing too tall, he remade the men who had been mine — replaced them, or reshaped them.

having both the key

Of officer and office, set all hearts i’ th’ state

To what tune pleas’d his ear:

Holding both the appointments and the offices, he tuned every heart in the state to whatever note suited him.

that now he was

The ivy which had hid my princely trunk,

And suck’d my verdure out on ’t.

He became the ivy that hid my princely trunk and drained the life out of it.

Thou attend’st not.

You're not listening.

Miranda

O, good sir! I do.

I am, sir, truly.

Prospero

I pray thee, mark me.

Please pay attention.

I, thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicated

To closeness and the bettering of my mind

With that which, but by being so retir’d,

O’er-priz’d all popular rate, in my false brother

Awak’d an evil nature;

By ignoring worldly affairs and giving myself entirely to seclusion and to improving my mind with knowledge that was priceless precisely because it was so far from public life, I woke an evil streak in my false brother.

and my trust,

Like a good parent, did beget of him

A falsehood in its contrary as great

As my trust was; which had indeed no limit,

A confidence sans bound.

My trust in him, like an over-indulgent parent, produced in him a deceit as huge as the trust was — and my trust had no limits at all, complete and boundless confidence.

He being thus lorded,

Not only with what my revenue yielded,

But what my power might else exact, like one

Who having into truth, by telling of it,

Made such a sinner of his memory,

To credit his own lie, he did believe

He was indeed the Duke;

So there he was, lord of everything: my income, and whatever else my authority could take. Like a man who lies so often that he corrupts his own memory and ends up believing himself, he came to think he really was the Duke.

out o’ the substitution,

And executing th’ outward face of royalty,

With all prerogative. Hence his ambition growing—

Standing in for me and performing all the outward business of rule with full authority, his ambition grew.

Dost thou hear?

Are you following?

Miranda

Your tale, sir, would cure deafness.

Your story would cure a deaf man, sir.

Prospero

To have no screen between this part he play’d

And him he play’d it for, he needs will be

Absolute Milan.

So that nothing stood between the part he was playing and the man he was playing it for, he decided he had to be Duke of Milan outright.

Me, poor man, my library

Was dukedom large enough:

As for me — poor fellow — my library was kingdom enough.

of temporal royalties

He thinks me now incapable;

He decided I was unfit to govern,

confederates,

So dry he was for sway, wi’ th’ King of Naples

To give him annual tribute, do him homage,

Subject his coronet to his crown, and bend

The dukedom, yet unbow’d—alas, poor Milan!—

To most ignoble stooping.

and, so parched was he for power, he made a deal with the King of Naples: he would pay an annual tribute and swear allegiance, put his coronet under Naples' crown, and bow Milan — which had never bowed to anyone, poor Milan! — into the most shameful submission.

Miranda

O the heavens!

Good heavens!

Prospero

Mark his condition, and the event; then tell me

If this might be a brother.

Consider the bargain he made and what came of it, then tell me whether that is how a brother behaves.

Miranda

I should sin

To think but nobly of my grandmother:

It would be a sin for me to think anything but well of my grandmother —

Good wombs have borne bad sons.

but good mothers have borne bad sons.

Prospero

Now the condition.

Now, the bargain.

This King of Naples, being an enemy

To me inveterate, hearkens my brother’s suit;

Which was, that he, in lieu o’ th’ premises

Of homage and I know not how much tribute,

Should presently extirpate me and mine

Out of the dukedom, and confer fair Milan,

With all the honours on my brother:

The King of Naples, a lifelong enemy of mine, agreed to my brother's proposal: in exchange for that allegiance and however much tribute, he would immediately root out me and mine from the dukedom and hand over Milan, titles and all, to my brother.

whereon,

A treacherous army levied, one midnight

Fated to th’ purpose, did Antonio open

The gates of Milan; and, i’ th’ dead of darkness,

The ministers for th’ purpose hurried thence

Me and thy crying self.

So a traitor's army was raised, and one midnight chosen for the purpose Antonio opened the gates of Milan, and in the dead of night his agents carried me and youyou were crying — away.

Miranda

Alack, for pity!

How pitiful!

I, not rememb’ring how I cried out then,

Will cry it o’er again:

I don't remember how I cried then, so I'll cry over it again now.

it is a hint

That wrings mine eyes to ’t.

It's a story that wrings tears out of me.

Prospero

Hear a little further,

And then I’ll bring thee to the present business

Which now’s upon us;

Listen a little longer, and then I'll come to the business at hand —

without the which this story

Were most impertinent.

without which this whole story would be beside the point.

Miranda

Wherefore did they not

That hour destroy us?

Why didn't they kill us right then?

Prospero

Well demanded, wench:

Good question, girl.

My tale provokes that question.

My story invites it.

Dear, they durst not,

So dear the love my people bore me,

They didn't dare, my dear, because my people loved me so much.

nor set

A mark so bloody on the business; but

With colours fairer painted their foul ends.

They didn't want to stain the business with open blood, so they painted their foul purpose in prettier colours.

In few, they hurried us aboard a bark,

Bore us some leagues to sea, where they prepared

A rotten carcass of a butt, not rigg’d,

Nor tackle, sail, nor mast; the very rats

Instinctively have quit it.

In short: they hurried us onto a boat, took us a few miles out to sea, and there had ready a rotting hulk of a vessel — no rigging, no tackle, no sail, no mast; even the rats had abandoned it by instinct.

There they hoist us,

To cry to th’ sea, that roar’d to us;

They put us aboard, to cry out to a sea that roared back at us,

to sigh

To th’ winds, whose pity, sighing back again,

Did us but loving wrong.

and to sigh at winds that sighed sympathetically in return and did us harm by their kindness.

Miranda

Alack, what trouble

Was I then to you!

What a burden I must have been to you then!

Prospero

O, a cherubin

Thou wast that did preserve me.

No — you were a little angel who kept me alive.

Thou didst smile,

Infused with a fortitude from heaven,

When I have deck’d the sea with drops full salt,

Under my burden groan’d:

You smiled, filled with a courage that must have come from heaven, while I was salting the sea with my tears and groaning under the weight of it.

which rais’d in me

An undergoing stomach, to bear up

Against what should ensue.

That gave me the stomach to endure whatever came next.

Miranda

How came we ashore?

How did we get ashore?

Prospero

By Providence divine.

By divine providence.

Some food we had and some fresh water that

A noble Neapolitan, Gonzalo,

Out of his charity, who being then appointed

Master of this design, did give us, with

Rich garments, linens, stuffs, and necessaries,

Which since have steaded much:

We had some food and fresh water, given to us out of pure kindness by a Neapolitan nobleman, Gonzalo, who had been put in charge of the operation. He gave us fine clothes, linen, cloth and supplies too, which have served us well since.

so, of his gentleness,

Knowing I lov’d my books, he furnish’d me

From mine own library with volumes that

I prize above my dukedom.

And knowing how I loved my books, he generously brought me volumes from my own library that I value more than my dukedom.

Miranda

Would I might

But ever see that man!

How I wish I could meet that man someday!

Prospero

Now I arise.

Now let me stand.

Sit still, and hear the last of our sea-sorrow.

Stay seated and hear the end of our misfortunes at sea.

Here in this island we arriv’d; and here

Have I, thy schoolmaster, made thee more profit

Than other princes can, that have more time

For vainer hours, and tutors not so careful.

We arrived here on this island, and here I, as your teacher, have taught you more than princesses usually learn, since they have more time to waste and less attentive tutors.

Miranda

Heavens thank you for ’t!

Heaven bless you for it.

And now, I pray you, sir,

For still ’tis beating in my mind, your reason

For raising this sea-storm?

And now, please, sir — it keeps nagging at me — what was your reason for raising this storm?

Prospero

Know thus far forth.

This much I'll tell you.

By accident most strange, bountiful Fortune,

Now my dear lady, hath mine enemies

Brought to this shore;

By an extraordinary chance, generous Fortune, who is finally on my side, has brought my enemies to this shore.

and by my prescience

I find my zenith doth depend upon

A most auspicious star, whose influence

If now I court not but omit, my fortunes

Will ever after droop.

And I can foresee that everything I might rise to depends on one favourable star, whose influence I must take hold of now or see my luck decline forever.

Here cease more questions;

No more questions.

Thou art inclin’d to sleep;

You're growing sleepy —

’tis a good dulness,

And give it way.

it's a good drowsiness, let it come.

I know thou canst not choose.

I know you can't resist it.

Miranda sleeps.

Prospero

Come away, servant, come!

Come here, servant, come!

I am ready now.

I'm ready now.

Approach, my Ariel.

Come to me, Ariel.

Come!

Come!

Enter Ariel.

Ariel

All hail, great master!

Greetings, great master!

grave sir, hail!

Hail, honoured sir!

I come

To answer thy best pleasure; be’t to fly,

To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride

On the curl’d clouds,

I've come to do whatever you wish — fly, swim, plunge into fire, ride on the curling clouds.

to thy strong bidding task

Ariel and all his quality.

Give Ariel and all his powers your orders.

Prospero

Hast thou, spirit,

Perform’d to point the tempest that I bade thee?

Spirit, did you carry out the storm exactly as I instructed you?

Ariel

To every article.

Down to the last detail.

I boarded the King’s ship; now on the beak,

Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin,

I flam’d amazement;

I boarded the King's ship, and at the prow, then amidships, on the deck, in every cabin, I burned like a terrifying flame.

sometime I’d divide,

And burn in many places; on the topmast,

The yards, and bowsprit, would I flame distinctly,

Then meet and join.

Sometimes I split myself up and burned in several places at once — on the topmast, the yardarms, the bowsprit I'd flare separately, then come together again.

Jove’s lightning, the precursors

O’ th’ dreadful thunder-claps, more momentary

And sight-outrunning were not:

Jove's lightning, the herald of his thunderclaps, was not faster or more dazzling:

the fire and cracks

Of sulphurous roaring the most mighty Neptune

Seem to besiege and make his bold waves tremble,

Yea, his dread trident shake.

the fire and the sulphurous cracking seemed to lay siege to mighty Neptune himself, made his bold waves shudder, and shook even his dreaded trident.

Prospero

My brave spirit!

My brave spirit!

Who was so firm, so constant, that this coil

Would not infect his reason?

Who was steady enough to keep his reason through that chaos?

Ariel

Not a soul

Not one of them.

But felt a fever of the mad, and play’d

Some tricks of desperation.

They all felt a madman's fever and did desperate things.

All but mariners

Plunged in the foaming brine and quit the vessel,

Then all afire with me:

Everyone but the sailors leapt into the boiling sea and abandoned the ship, which by then was blazing with me.

the King’s son, Ferdinand,

With hair up-staring—then like reeds, not hair—

Was the first man that leapt;

The King's son, Ferdinand, with his hair standing on end like reeds rather than hair, was the first to jump.

cried “Hell is empty,

And all the devils are here.”

He shouted, "Hell is empty and every devil in it is here."

Prospero

Why, that’s my spirit!

That's my spirit!

But was not this nigh shore?

But wasn't this close to shore?

Ariel

Close by, my master.

Very close, master.

Prospero

But are they, Ariel, safe?

And they're safe, Ariel?

Ariel

Not a hair perish’d;

Not a hair lost.

On their sustaining garments not a blemish,

But fresher than before:

Their clothes, which kept them afloat, are not marked at all — cleaner than before, in fact.

and, as thou bad’st me,

In troops I have dispers’d them ’bout the isle.

And as you ordered, I've scattered them around the island in separate groups.

The King’s son have I landed by himself,

Whom I left cooling of the air with sighs

In an odd angle of the isle, and sitting,

His arms in this sad knot.

The King's son I landed on his own; I left him cooling the air with his sighs, sitting in a remote corner of the island with his arms folded like this, in a knot of grief.

Prospero

Of the King’s ship

The mariners, say how thou hast dispos’d,

And all the rest o’ th’ fleet?

And the sailors from the King's ship — tell me what you did with them, and with the rest of the fleet.

Ariel

Safely in harbour

Is the King’s ship; in the deep nook, where once

Thou call’dst me up at midnight to fetch dew

From the still-vex’d Bermoothes; there she’s hid:

The King's ship is safe in harbour, hidden in the deep cove where you once called me up at midnight to fetch dew from the storm-battered Bermudas.

The mariners all under hatches stowed;

Who, with a charm join’d to their suff’red labour,

I have left asleep:

The sailors are all stowed below decks, where I've left them asleep, worn out from their labour and helped along by a spell.

and for the rest o’ th’ fleet,

Which I dispers’d, they all have met again,

And are upon the Mediterranean flote

Bound sadly home for Naples,

Supposing that they saw the King’s ship wrack’d,

And his great person perish.

As for the rest of the fleet, which I'd scattered, they've all found each other again and are sailing sadly home across the Mediterranean to Naples, believing they saw the King's ship wrecked and His Majesty drowned.

Prospero

Ariel, thy charge

Exactly is perform’d;

Ariel, you've done exactly what I asked.

but there’s more work.

But there's more to do.

What is the time o’ th’ day?

What time of day is it?

Ariel

Past the mid season.

Past midday.

Prospero

At least two glasses.

At least two o'clock.

The time ’twixt six and now

Must by us both be spent most preciously.

Between now and six we must both use every minute carefully.

Ariel

Is there more toil?

More work?

Since thou dost give me pains,

Let me remember thee what thou hast promis’d,

Which is not yet perform’d me.

Since you keep piling labour on me, let me remind you of what you promised and haven't given me yet.

Prospero

How now! moody?

What's this — sulking?

What is’t thou canst demand?

What is it you think you can demand?

Ariel

My liberty.

My freedom.

Prospero

Before the time be out?

Before your term is up?

No more!

Enough!

Ariel

I prithee,

Please.

Remember I have done thee worthy service;

Told thee no lies, made no mistakings, serv’d

Without or grudge or grumblings:

Remember I've served you well: told you no lies, made no mistakes, worked without resentment or complaint.

thou didst promise

To bate me a full year.

You promised to cut a whole year off my service.

Prospero

Dost thou forget

From what a torment I did free thee?

Have you forgotten what torment I rescued you from?

Ariel

No.

No.

Prospero

Thou dost,

You have —

and think’st it much to tread the ooze

Of the salt deep,

To run upon the sharp wind of the north,

To do me business in the veins o’ th’ earth

When it is bak’d with frost.

and now you think it's such a hardship to walk the mud at the bottom of the sea, to run along the north wind's edge, to do my errands in the earth's veins when the ground is frozen solid.

Ariel

I do not, sir.

I don't, sir.

Prospero

Thou liest, malignant thing!

You're lying, you spiteful thing.

Hast thou forgot

The foul witch Sycorax, who with age and envy

Was grown into a hoop?

Have you forgotten the foul witch Sycorax, bent double with age and malice?

Hast thou forgot her?

Have you forgotten her?

Ariel

No, sir.

No, sir.

Prospero

Thou hast.

You have.

Where was she born?

Where was she born?

Speak; tell me.

Speak up, tell me.

Ariel

Sir, in Argier.

In Algiers, sir.

Prospero

O, was she so?

Was she now?

I must

Once in a month recount what thou hast been,

Which thou forget’st.

It seems I have to recite what you used to be once a month, since you keep forgetting.

This damn’d witch Sycorax,

For mischiefs manifold, and sorceries terrible

To enter human hearing, from Argier,

Thou know’st, was banish’d:

That damned witch Sycorax was banished from Algiers, as you well know, for countless crimes and sorceries too horrible for human ears.

for one thing she did

They would not take her life.

They spared her life for one particular reason.

Is not this true?

Isn't that true?

Ariel

Ay, sir.

Yes, sir.

Prospero

This blue-ey’d hag was hither brought with child,

And here was left by th’ sailors.

This blue-lidded hag was brought here pregnant and abandoned by the sailors.

Thou, my slave,

As thou report’st thyself, wast then her servant;

You, my slave — as you tell it yourself — were her servant then.

And, for thou wast a spirit too delicate

To act her earthy and abhorr’d commands,

Refusing her grand hests, she did confine thee,

By help of her more potent ministers,

And in her most unmitigable rage,

Into a cloven pine;

And because you were too refined a spirit to carry out her coarse and disgusting orders, you refused her great commands, and she, with the help of stronger spirits and in an absolutely merciless rage, shut you inside a split pine tree.

within which rift

Imprison’d, thou didst painfully remain

A dozen years;

Trapped in that crack, you stayed in agony for twelve years.

within which space she died,

And left thee there, where thou didst vent thy groans

As fast as mill-wheels strike.

During that time she died, leaving you there, where your groans came as fast as a mill wheel's blows.

Then was this island—

Save for the son that she did litter here,

A freckl’d whelp, hag-born—not honour’d with

A human shape.

Back then this island — apart from the son she whelped here, a freckled brat born of a witch — had no human shape on it at all.

Ariel

Yes, Caliban her son.

Yes, Caliban, her son.

Prospero

Dull thing, I say so; he, that Caliban,

Whom now I keep in service.

Exactly what I said, you slow thing — that same Caliban I now keep as a servant.

Thou best know’st

What torment I did find thee in;

You know better than anyone what torment I found you in.

thy groans

Did make wolves howl, and penetrate the breasts

Of ever-angry bears:

Your groans made wolves howl and pierced the hearts of perpetually furious bears.

it was a torment

To lay upon the damn’d, which Sycorax

Could not again undo;

It was a punishment fit for the damned, and Sycorax could not undo it.

it was mine art,

When I arriv’d and heard thee, that made gape

The pine, and let thee out.

It was my art, when I arrived and heard you, that forced the pine open and let you out.

Ariel

I thank thee, master.

Thank you, master.

Prospero

If thou more murmur’st, I will rend an oak

And peg thee in his knotty entrails till

Thou hast howl’d away twelve winters.

If you grumble any more, I'll split open an oak and wedge you inside its gnarled trunk until you've howled away twelve winters.

Ariel

Pardon, master:

Forgive me, master.

I will be correspondent to command,

And do my spriting gently.

I'll do as I'm told, and I'll perform my spirit's work willingly.

Prospero

Do so;

See that you do —

and after two days

I will discharge thee.

and in two days I'll set you free.

Ariel

That’s my noble master!

That's my noble master!

What shall I do?

What shall I do?

Say what?

Tell me.

What shall I do?

What shall I do?

Prospero

Go make thyself like a nymph o’ th’ sea.

Go and take the shape of a sea nymph.

Be subject

To no sight but thine and mine; invisible

To every eyeball else.

Be visible to nobody but you and me, invisible to every other eye.

Go, take this shape,

And hither come in ’t.

Go, put on that form, and come back here in it.

Go, hence with diligence!

Go on, and be quick about it.

Exit Ariel.

Prospero

Awake, dear heart, awake!

Wake up, my dear, wake up.

thou hast slept well;

You've slept well.

Awake!

Wake up!

Waking.

Miranda

The strangeness of your story put

Heaviness in me.

Your strange story weighed me down with sleep.

Prospero

Shake it off.

Shake it off.

Come on;

Come on —

We’ll visit Caliban my slave, who never

Yields us kind answer.

we'll go and see my slave Caliban, who never gives us a civil answer.

Miranda

’Tis a villain, sir,

I do not love to look on.

He's a brute, sir. I don't like looking at him.

Prospero

But as ’tis,

We cannot miss him:

But as things are, we can't do without him.

he does make our fire,

Fetch in our wood; and serves in offices

That profit us.

He makes our fire, fetches our wood, and does other jobs that are useful to us.

What ho! slave! Caliban!

— Hello there! Slave! Caliban!

Thou earth, thou!

You lump of earth, you!

Speak.

Answer me.

Within.

Caliban

There’s wood enough within.

There's plenty of wood inside already.

Prospero

Come forth, I say;

Come out here, I said.

there’s other business for thee.

I have other work for you.

Come, thou tortoise!

Come on, you tortoise —

when?

how long?

Re-enter Ariel like a water-nymph.

Prospero

Fine apparition!

Beautifully done!

My quaint Ariel,

Hark in thine ear.

My clever Ariel — come here, let me whisper in your ear.

Ariel

My lord, it shall be done.

It'll be done, my lord.

Exit.

Prospero

Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil himself

Upon thy wicked dam, come forth!

You poisonous slave, fathered by the devil himself on your wicked mother — come out here!

Enter Caliban.

Caliban

As wicked dew as e’er my mother brush’d

With raven’s feather from unwholesome fen

Drop on you both!

May the most poisonous dew my mother ever brushed off a filthy marsh with a raven's feather fall on you both!

A south-west blow on ye,

And blister you all o’er!

May the sickly south-west wind blow on you and cover you in blisters!

Prospero

For this, be sure, tonight thou shalt have cramps,

Side-stitches that shall pen thy breath up;

For that, I promise you'll have cramps tonight, and stitches in your side that stop your breath.

urchins

Shall forth at vast of night that they may work

All exercise on thee.

Goblins will be let loose in the long dead of night to work on you.

Thou shalt be pinch’d

As thick as honeycomb, each pinch more stinging

Than bees that made them.

You'll be pinched all over, thick as a honeycomb, and every pinch will sting worse than the bees that built it.

Caliban

I must eat my dinner.

Let me eat my dinner.

This island’s mine, by Sycorax my mother,

Which thou tak’st from me.

This island belongs to me — I inherited it from my mother Sycorax — and you took it from me.

When thou cam’st first,

Thou strok’st me and made much of me; wouldst give me

Water with berries in ’t; and teach me how

To name the bigger light, and how the less,

That burn by day and night:

When you first arrived you stroked my head and made a fuss of me, gave me water flavoured with berries and taught me the names of the great light and the small one that burn by day and night.

and then I lov’d thee,

And show’d thee all the qualities o’ th’ isle,

The fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place, and fertile.

And I loved you for it, and I showed you everything on the island: the fresh springs, the salt pits, the barren ground and the good.

Curs’d be I that did so!

Curse me for doing it!

All the charms

Of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats, light on you!

May every spell Sycorax knew, and toads and beetles and bats, come down on you!

For I am all the subjects that you have,

Which first was mine own King;

I'm the only subject you have, and I was my own king before.

and here you sty me

In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me

The rest o’ th’ island.

Now you pen me up in this hard rock and keep the rest of the island to yourself.

Prospero

Thou most lying slave,

Whom stripes may move, not kindness!

You lying slave — beatings are the only thing that reaches you, not kindness.

I have us’d thee,

Filth as thou art, with human care, and lodg’d thee

In mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate

The honour of my child.

Filthy as you are, I treated you like a human being and let you live in my own house, until you tried to rape my daughter.

Caliban

Oh ho! Oh ho!

Ha! Ha!

Would ’t had been done!

I wish I'd managed it!

Thou didst prevent me; I had peopled else

This isle with Calibans.

You stopped me, or I'd have filled this island with little Calibans.

Prospero

Abhorred slave,

Which any print of goodness wilt not take,

Being capable of all ill!

Disgusting creature, incapable of taking any impression of goodness and capable of every kind of evil.

I pitied thee,

I pitied you.

Took pains to make thee speak, taught thee each hour

One thing or other:

I took the trouble to teach you to speak, taught you something new every hour.

when thou didst not, savage,

Know thine own meaning, but wouldst gabble like

A thing most brutish, I endow’d thy purposes

With words that made them known.

When you couldn't even express what you meant, savage, and only babbled like an animal, I gave your thoughts words so they could be understood.

But thy vile race,

Though thou didst learn, had that in ’t which good natures

Could not abide to be with;

But your vile nature, even once you'd learned, contained something decent people could not live alongside.

therefore wast thou

Deservedly confin’d into this rock,

Who hadst deserv’d more than a prison.

That is why you were rightly shut up in this rock — and you deserved worse than prison.

Caliban

You taught me language, and my profit on ’t

Is, I know how to curse.

You taught me language, and all I've gained from it is knowing how to curse.

The red plague rid you,

For learning me your language!

May the red plague kill you for teaching me your language!

Prospero

Hag-seed, hence!

Get out, witch's spawn.

Fetch us in fuel;

Fetch us firewood —

and be quick, thou ’rt best,

To answer other business.

and be quick about it, you'd be wise, because there's other work to do.

Shrug’st thou, malice?

Shrugging at me, are you, you spiteful thing?

If thou neglect’st, or dost unwillingly

What I command, I’ll rack thee with old cramps,

Fill all thy bones with aches, make thee roar,

That beasts shall tremble at thy din.

If you neglect what I order, or do it grudgingly, I'll torture you with cramping pains, fill your bones with aches and make you roar until the animals shake at the noise.

Caliban

No, pray thee.

No, please don't.

Aside.

Caliban

I must obey.

I have to obey.

His art is of such power,

It would control my dam’s god, Setebos,

And make a vassal of him.

His magic is so powerful it could overrule Setebos, my mother's god, and make a servant of him.

Prospero

So, slave, hence!

Then get moving, slave.

Exit Caliban.

Re-enter Ariel, playing and singing; Ferdinand following.

Prospero

ARIEL’S SONG.

ARIEL'S SONG.

_Come unto these yellow sands,

Come onto these yellow sands,

And then take hands:

and then join hands.

Curtsied when you have, and kiss’d

Bow and kiss to hush

The wild waves whist.

the wild waves quiet.

Foot it featly here and there,

Dance lightly here and there,

And sweet sprites bear

and sweet spirits will carry

The burden.

the refrain.

Hark, hark!_

Listen, listen!

Burden dispersedly. _Bow-wow.

Refrain, from all sides: Bow-wow.

The watch dogs bark._

The watchdogs are barking.

Burden dispersedly.

Prospero

_Bow-wow.

Bow-wow.

Hark, hark!

Listen, listen!

I hear

The strain of strutting chanticleer

Cry cock-a-diddle-dow._

I can hear the strutting rooster crowing cock-a-doodle-doo.

Ferdinand

Where should this music be? i’ th’ air or th’ earth?

Where is this music coming from — the air or the ground?

It sounds no more;

It's stopped now.

and sure it waits upon

Some god o’ th’ island.

It must belong to some god of this island.

Sitting on a bank,

Weeping again the King my father’s wrack,

This music crept by me upon the waters,

Allaying both their fury and my passion

With its sweet air:

I was sitting on a bank, weeping again over my father's shipwreck, when this music crept across the water to me and soothed both the sea's fury and my grief with its sweetness.

thence I have follow’d it,

Or it hath drawn me rather,

I followed it from there — or rather it pulled me along.

—but ’tis gone.

But it's gone.

No, it begins again.

No, here it comes again.

Sings.

Ariel

_Full fathom five thy father lies.

Your father lies five fathoms down.

Of his bones are coral made.

His bones have turned to coral now.

Those are pearls that were his eyes.

Those are pearls where his eyes were.

Nothing of him that doth fade

Nothing of him has decayed —

But doth suffer a sea-change

the sea has changed him instead

Into something rich and strange.

into something rich and strange.

Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell:_

Sea nymphs ring his funeral bell each hour:

Burden: _Ding-dong.

Refrain: Ding-dong.

Hark! now I hear them: ding-dong, bell._

Listen! I can hear them now: ding-dong, bell.

Ferdinand

The ditty does remember my drown’d father.

The song is about my drowned father.

This is no mortal business, nor no sound

That the earth owes:

This is no human business, and no sound the earth could produce.

—I hear it now above me.

Now I hear it above me.

Prospero

The fringed curtains of thine eye advance,

And say what thou seest yond.

Lift the fringed curtains of your eyes and tell me what you see over there.

Miranda

What is’t?

What is it?

a spirit?

A spirit?

Lord, how it looks about!

Lord, how it looks around!

Believe me, sir,

It carries a brave form.

Believe me, sir, it has a fine shape.

But ’tis a spirit.

But it must be a spirit.

Prospero

No, wench;

No, girl.

it eats and sleeps and hath such senses

As we have, such.

It eats and sleeps and has the same senses we do.

This gallant which thou seest

Was in the wrack;

This handsome young man you're looking at was in the shipwreck.

and, but he’s something stain’d

With grief,—that’s beauty’s canker,—thou mightst call him

A goodly person:

If he weren't a little worn down by grief — which spoils beauty — you'd call him good-looking.

he hath lost his fellows

And strays about to find ’em.

He's lost his companions and he's wandering about trying to find them.

Miranda

I might call him

A thing divine; for nothing natural

I ever saw so noble.

I'd call him something divine, because I've never seen anything in nature so noble.

Aside.

Prospero

It goes on, I see,

As my soul prompts it.

It's going the way my heart hoped it would.

Spirit, fine spirit!

Spirit, fine spirit!

I’ll free thee

Within two days for this.

I'll free you within two days for this.

Ferdinand

Most sure, the goddess

On whom these airs attend!

This must be the goddess these songs attend on.

Vouchsafe, my prayer

May know if you remain upon this island;

And that you will some good instruction give

How I may bear me here:

Please grant my prayer and tell me whether you live on this island, and give me some good instruction on how I should behave here.

my prime request,

Which I do last pronounce, is, O you wonder!

If you be maid or no?

My most important question, though I ask it last, is this: you marvel — are you a mortal girl or not?

Miranda

No wonder, sir;

No marvel, sir.

But certainly a maid.

But certainly a girl.

Ferdinand

My language!

My own language!

Heavens!

Good heavens!

I am the best of them that speak this speech,

Were I but where ’tis spoken.

I'm the highest-ranking speaker of it — if only I were where it's spoken.

Prospero

How! the best?

What? The highest?

What wert thou, if the King of Naples heard thee?

What would you be if the King of Naples heard you say that?

Ferdinand

A single thing, as I am now, that wonders

To hear thee speak of Naples.

Just one lonely man, as I am now, amazed to hear you mention Naples.

He does hear me;

And that he does I weep:

He does hear me — and that he can is exactly why I'm weeping.

myself am Naples,

Who with mine eyes, never since at ebb, beheld

The King my father wrack’d.

I am the King of Naples now, and with these eyes, which have wept ever since, I saw my father the King go down.

Miranda

Alack, for mercy!

Oh, have mercy!

Ferdinand

Yes, faith, and all his lords, the Duke of Milan,

And his brave son being twain.

Yes, truly, and all his lords with him — the Duke of Milan and his fine son among them.

Aside.

Prospero

The Duke of Milan

And his more braver daughter could control thee,

If now ’twere fit to do’t.

The Duke of Milan and his even finer daughter could contradict you, if this were the moment for it.

At the first sight

They have changed eyes.

They fell in love the instant they saw each other.

Delicate Ariel,

I’ll set thee free for this.

Delicate Ariel, I'll set you free for this.

[_To Ferdinand._] A word, good sir.

[To Ferdinand.] A word, good sir.

I fear you have done yourself some wrong:

I'm afraid you've misrepresented yourself.

a word.

A word with you.

Miranda

Why speaks my father so ungently?

Why is my father speaking so harshly?

This

Is the third man that e’er I saw; the first

That e’er I sigh’d for.

This is only the third man I've ever seen, and the first I've ever sighed over.

Pity move my father

To be inclin’d my way!

I hope pity makes my father take my side.

Ferdinand

O! if a virgin,

And your affection not gone forth, I’ll make you

The Queen of Naples.

If you're unmarried and your heart isn't already given away, I'll make you Queen of Naples.

Prospero

Soft, sir;

Steady, sir.

one word more.

One more word.

Aside.

Prospero

They are both in either’s powers.

They're each in the other's power.

But this swift business

I must uneasy make, lest too light winning

Make the prize light.

But I have to make this go roughly, in case winning too easily makes the prize seem cheap.

[_To Ferdinand._] One word more.

[To Ferdinand.] One more word.

I charge thee

That thou attend me.

I order you to listen to me.

Thou dost here usurp

The name thou ow’st not;

You're claiming a title here that isn't yours,

and hast put thyself

Upon this island as a spy, to win it

From me, the lord on ’t.

and you've landed on this island as a spy, to take it from me, its lord.

Ferdinand

No, as I am a man.

No, I swear on my honour as a man.

Miranda

There’s nothing ill can dwell in such a temple:

Nothing evil could live in such a beautiful body.

If the ill spirit have so fair a house,

Good things will strive to dwell with ’t.

If a wicked spirit had a house that fine, good things would fight to live there too.

To Ferdinand.

Prospero

Follow me.—

Follow me. —

To Miranda.

Prospero

Speak not you for him;

Don't speak up for him;

he’s a traitor.

he's a traitor.

To Ferdinand.

Prospero

Come;

Come along.

I’ll manacle thy neck and feet together:

I'll chain your neck and feet together.

Sea-water shalt thou drink; thy food shall be

The fresh-brook mussels, wither’d roots, and husks

Wherein the acorn cradled.

You'll drink seawater; your food will be freshwater mussels, shrivelled roots, and the husks acorns grow in.

Follow.

Follow me.

Ferdinand

No;

No.

I will resist such entertainment till

Mine enemy has more power.

I'll refuse that kind of treatment until my enemy proves stronger than me.

He draws, and is charmed from moving.

Miranda

O dear father!

Make not too rash a trial of him, for

He’s gentle, and not fearful.

Oh, father, don't test him so harshly. He's gentle, not a coward.

Prospero

What! I say,

My foot my tutor?

What? My own foot presuming to teach me?

Put thy sword up, traitor;

Put your sword away, traitor.

Who mak’st a show, but dar’st not strike, thy conscience

Is so possess’d with guilt:

You make a show of drawing, but you don't dare strike — your conscience is too weighed down with guilt.

come from thy ward,

For I can here disarm thee with this stick

And make thy weapon drop.

Drop your guard, because I can disarm you here with this stick and make your weapon fall.

Miranda

Beseech you, father!

I beg you, father!

Prospero

Hence!

Away with you.

Hang not on my garments.

Don't cling to my clothes.

Miranda

Sir, have pity;

Sir, have pity.

I’ll be his surety.

I'll stand as his guarantor.

Prospero

Silence!

Quiet!

One word more

Shall make me chide thee, if not hate thee.

One more word and I'll be scolding you — perhaps even hating you.

What!

What?

An advocate for an impostor?

Defending an impostor?

hush!

Hush.

Thou think’st there is no more such shapes as he,

Having seen but him and Caliban:

You think there are no other men like him, having seen only him and Caliban.

foolish wench!

Foolish girl!

To th’ most of men this is a Caliban,

And they to him are angels.

Compared with most men, this one is a Caliban, and they are angels next to him.

Miranda

My affections

Are then most humble;

Then my feelings are very modest.

I have no ambition

To see a goodlier man.

I have no wish to see a finer man.

To Ferdinand.

Prospero

Come on; obey:

Come on, obey.

Thy nerves are in their infancy again,

And have no vigour in them.

Your muscles have gone back to infancy and have no strength left in them.

Ferdinand

So they are:

So they have.

My spirits, as in a dream, are all bound up.

My spirits are all bound up, as if in a dream.

My father’s loss, the weakness which I feel,

The wrack 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 day

Behold this maid:

My father's death, the weakness in my body, the loss of all my friends, and the threats of this man who has overpowered me — all of it would feel light if I could see this girl just once a day through my prison window.

all corners else o’ th’ earth

Let liberty make use of;

Let liberty have every other corner of the earth;

space enough

Have I in such a prison.

I have room enough in a prison like that.

Aside.

Prospero

It works.

It's working.

[_To Ferdinand._] Come on.

[To Ferdinand.] Come along.

Thou hast done well, fine Ariel!

You've done well, fine Ariel!

[_To Ferdinand._] Follow me.

[To Ferdinand.] Follow me.

To Ariel.

Prospero

Hark what thou else shalt do me.

Listen to what else I need from you.

Miranda

Be of comfort;

Take comfort.

My father’s of a better nature, sir,

Than he appears by speech:

My father is much kinder than his speech suggests, sir.

this is unwonted

Which now came from him.

This outburst isn't like him.

Prospero

Thou shalt be as free

As mountain winds;

You shall be as free as the mountain winds —

but then exactly do

All points of my command.

but first carry out every detail of my orders.

Ariel

To th’ syllable.

To the letter.

To Ferdinand.

Prospero

Come, follow.

Come, follow.

Speak not for him.

Don't speak up for him.

Exeunt.

The Tempest Act 1, Scene 2 summary

Outside his cell, Prospero finally tells Miranda their history: twelve years ago he was Duke of Milan until his brother Antonio, backed by Alonso of Naples, seized the dukedom and set them adrift, with only Gonzalo's secret kindness keeping them alive. He reveals the storm was his own doing and everyone aboard is safe, puts off Ariel's plea for early freedom, and is defied by Caliban, who insists the island is his by inheritance. Ariel then lures Ferdinand to Miranda; they fall in love at once, and Prospero pretends to accuse him of spying so the match won't come too cheaply.

Who appears in this scene

Miranda, Prospero, Ariel, Caliban, Ferdinand — The Island. Before the cell of Prospero.

Famous lines in The Tempest Act 1, Scene 2, explained

I have done nothing but in care of thee, / Of thee, my dear one, thee, my daughter (line 19)
Prospero's first justification of the storm: everything he does, however frightening, is for Miranda. The insistent repetition of "thee" shows how completely his life has narrowed to his daughter, and it sets up the play's central tension — his love is real, but it is also the excuse under which he controls everyone on the island, Miranda included.
Good wombs have borne bad sons. (line 139)
Miranda refuses to believe her grandmother was dishonourable just because Antonio turned out treacherous — good mothers, she says, sometimes produce bad children. It is a quietly generous line from a girl who has just learned her uncle tried to kill her, and it quotes well because it states a hard truth in nine plain words: villainy is not inherited, it is chosen.
Hell is empty, / And all the devils are here. (line 247)
Ariel reports Ferdinand's cry as he leapt from the burning ship, convinced that every demon in hell had been let loose on the sea. The line has escaped the play entirely and is now quoted for any scene of human wickedness — which is fitting, since the real devils in The Tempest are not spirits but the men who stole a dukedom and are still, in this scene, plotting.
This island’s mine, by Sycorax my mother, / Which thou tak’st from me. (line 391)
Caliban states his claim flatly: he inherited the island from his mother and Prospero has taken it. He is not raving — he goes on to describe how he showed the newcomers the fresh springs and fertile ground and was rewarded with confinement. The speech is the reason The Tempest is now read as a play about colonisation, and it makes Caliban's anger comprehensible rather than merely monstrous.
You taught me language, and my profit on ’t / Is, I know how to curse. (line 425)
Prospero has just called his teaching of Caliban an act of charity; Caliban answers that the only benefit he ever got from it was the ability to say what he thinks of them. It is the play's sharpest line about education as a tool of power — the gift and the leash are the same thing — and it turns Prospero's proudest claim into an accusation.
Full fathom five thy father lies. / Of his bones are coral made. / Those are pearls that were his eyes. / Nothing of him that doth fade / But doth suffer a sea-change / Into something rich and strange. (line 463)
Ariel's song tells Ferdinand his father is drowned, but turns the horror into something beautiful: the body is not rotting, it is being remade into coral and pearl. Ferdinand is being lied to — Alonso is alive — yet the lie prepares him for the transformation the whole island performs on its visitors. "Sea-change" entered English from this song and is still used for any total, unrecognisable transformation.
There’s nothing ill can dwell in such a temple: / If the ill spirit have so fair a house, / Good things will strive to dwell with ’t. (line 536)
Miranda argues that Ferdinand cannot be wicked because he is beautiful, appealing to the old idea that the body is a temple housing the soul. Shakespeare lets the audience notice how naive this is — she has met exactly three men — while also making it touching, and the play never actually contradicts her: Ferdinand does turn out to be decent.

Keep reading

About this translation: the original text follows the public-domain Project Gutenberg Globe edition; the modern English translation was written in-house for Polytranslator and is reviewed on an ongoing basis (last revised August 2026). Free to print and photocopy for classroom use. Cite as: “The Tempest, Act 1, Scene 2. Polytranslator side-by-side translation, polytranslator.com/shakespeare/the-tempest/act-1-scene-2.”

Studying the language itself? Our Shakespearean English course teaches thou/thee, the verbs, and the meter — free through Unit 2. Or try the Shakespearean English translator.