Melinda Sue Gordon/Touchstone Pictures/Everett

The Tempest, Act V

William Shakespeare

Collection
ANCHOR TEXT | DRAMA

This version of the selection

alternates original text
Scene i with summarized passages.
Scene i takes place in front of Prospero’s cell. Ariel enters with Prospero, who is wearing Dotted lines appear next to
his magic robes. Prospero comments on how well his spells are doing, but, he says, his the summarized passages.
plot is drawing to its end. He asks for the specific time. Ariel replies that it is the “sixth
hour,” at which time Prospero had said their scheme would conclude. When asked,
NOTES
Ariel reports that the king and his men—imprisoned nearby and controlled by Prospero’s
spell—are in a sad, defeated state. Gonzalo’s tears, Ariel says, run down his face.

Ariel. ... 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 th’ quick,
Yet with my nobler reason ’gainst my fury
Do I take part. The rarer action is
In virtue than in vengeance. They being penitent, 1
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.]

© by Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Prospero addresses the spirits of the island, whose help he used to raise the tempest. He
recounts all the magic he has performed: the great storm and the spirits he has raised
from the dead. He then surrenders his magical powers. Prospero promises to break his
staff and bury it deep in the earth, and he says he will drown his magic books in the sea.

1. penitent (PEHN uh tuhnt) adj. sorry for one’s wrongdoing.

GRADE 10 • UNIT 5 • Accessible Leveled Text • The Tempest, Act V 1

 Sad, dramatic music plays. Ariel enters and leads Alonso, Gonzalo, Sebastian, Antonio, NOTES
Adrian, and Francisco into Prospero’s magic circle. They are all under his spell. Prospero
comments on how empty-headed they look. He praises Gonzalo for always being loyal
and promises to repay him by returning him safely home. He then turns to Alonso and
Sebastian to condemn their betrayals. To plot to kill one’s own brother is to care more
about power than natural brotherly love, Prospero says. Still, Prospero forgives them.

Realizing that the men will soon be released from the spell, Prospero orders Ariel to
bring him the clothes he would have worn in Milan. This way, he will be recognizable to
the king and his men. He tells Ariel that he will soon be set free. Ariel exits and quickly
returns and helps to dress Prospero, singing a song about flying free while he does so.

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,2 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 wrongèd 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. Whe’r3 thou be’st he or no,

Or some enchanted trifle4 to abuse me,
As late I have been, I not know. Thy pulse
Beats, as of flesh and blood; and, since I saw thee,
Th’ affliction of my mind amends, with which,
I fear, a madness held me. This must crave5
(And if this be at all6) a most strange story.
© by Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Thy dukedom I resign and do entreat

Thou pardon me my wrongs. But how should Prospero
Be living and be here?

2. presently adv. quickly.

3. Whe’r adv. whether.
4. trifle (TRY fuhl) n. ghost.
5. crave v. yearn for; desire intensely.
6. And … all and if this be real.

GRADE 10 • UNIT 5 • Accessible Leveled Text • The Tempest, Act V 2

 Prospero first wants to embrace Gonzalo, whom he thinks so highly of. Like Alonso, NOTES
however, Gonzalo is not certain that what he is seeing is real. Prospero explains that
Gonzalo is still experiencing some of the magic of the island. In an aside to Sebastian
and Antonio, Prospero threatens that he could reveal the secret of their plot to kill
Alonso but is choosing not to do so.

Turning to Alonso, whom Prospero says he will not call his brother, he forgives him
all his faults but demands to be restored as duke. Doubting whether the man in front
of him could truly be Prospero, Alonso asks him to explain how they wrecked on the
island, how Prospero has met them there, and why Ferdinand is dead. Prospero offers
his condolences and says that he has also suffered a loss: his daughter, who died in
the terrible storm. Alonso expresses his wish that his son and Prospero’s daughter—
Ferdinand and Miranda—were alive and living in Naples as king and queen. He would
rather lie on the ocean bed himself, he says, instead of his son.

Once again Prospero promises that he is, in fact, the duke of Milan. He is willing to explain
everything, but they will need much more time. However, since Alonso has granted him
his dukedom, Prospero says he will repay the kindness with a wonder that will make
Alonso very happy. He then reveals Miranda and Ferdinand playing a game of chess.

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 cam’st 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 asks Ferdinand about Miranda, wondering whether she is the goddess who has
mysteriously separated and then reunited them. She is not a goddess, Ferdinand replies,
but it is a miracle that he has found her and that they are to be married. He tells his
© by Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.

father that she is the daughter of Prospero, the Duke of Milan. Alonso approves of the
marriage and says he now has to ask Ferdinand for forgiveness. Prospero intervenes and
says that they should not burden themselves with sorrows from the past.

Gonzalo asks the gods to give this couple a holy crown. He wonders whether Prospero
was kicked out of Milan so that his children could become the rulers of Naples. Gonzalo
praises their good luck that on the same voyage, Claribel found a husband in Tunis and
Ferdinand found a wife in the place where he was lost. Gonzalo also rejoices in the fact
that Prospero found his dukedom on the island and “all of us ourselves / When no man
was his own.”

GRADE 10 • UNIT 5 • Accessible Leveled Text • The Tempest, Act V 3

 Alonso takes the couple’s hands and wishes sorrow upon anyone who is not delighted NOTES
by their marriage. Ariel enters, bringing the Master and the Boatswain, who are under
a spell. Gonzalo excitedly calls everyone’s attention to them. He remarks that his
prediction was correct: The Boatswain did not drown. Gonzalo teases the Boatswain
that he is not as loud and foul-tongued on the shore as he was at sea.

Gonzalo. 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 glasses7 since, we gave out split,
Is tight and yare8 and bravely rigged 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’d strive to tell you. We were dead of sleep,
And (how we know not) all clapped 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
Cap’ring to eye her.9 On a trice, so please you,
Even in a dream, were we divided from them
And were brought moping10 hither.

Ariel takes Prospero aside to ask if he has done well in repairing the ship. Yes,
Prospero says, and assures Ariel that he will have his freedom. Alonso remarks that this
experience must be the strangest that anyone has ever lived—it would take supernatural
knowledge to fully understand. Prospero encourages him not to worry too much about
figuring out what has happened. In time, Prospero will explain everything. He then tells
Ariel to release Caliban, Stephano, and Trinculo from his spell.
© by Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Those three enter, wearing their stolen fancy clothes. They are happy to see their
traveling companions, but Caliban fears punishment from Prospero. Antonio and
Sebastian jokingly wonder if the men are for sale, saying that Caliban looks like a
fish. Prospero tells them to look at the badges on their clothing, which mark them as
servants. He says that Caliban is the son of a witch and belongs to him. He tells how the
three plotted to kill him.

7. glasses n. hours.
8. yare (yair) adj. shipshape.
9. master … her captain dancing to see her.
10. moping (MOH pihng) adj. dazed.

GRADE 10 • UNIT 5 • Accessible Leveled Text • The Tempest, Act V 4

 Alonso realizes that the other two men are Stephano and Trinculo and that they are NOTES
drunk. Prospero asks Stephano if he planned to be king of the island. Stephano replies
that he would have been an angry one if that had come to pass.

Alonso. This is a strange thing as e’er I looked on.

Prospero. He is as disproportioned 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.

[Exit Caliban, Stephano, and Trinculo.]

Prospero invites the king and his men to spend the night in his shack. He promises to
tell them the story of his life and how he arrived at the island. In the morning, they will
board the ship to Naples so that Ferdinand and Miranda can be married. From there,
Prospero says, he will continue to Milan and wait for the end of his life.

Alonso. I long
To hear the story of your life, which must
Take the ear strangely. 11

Prospero. I’ll deliver12 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! [To the others] Please you, draw near.
[Exit all.]

The play ends with an epilogue in which Prospero addresses the audience. Now, he
says, his spells are all ended and he has only his natural powers. Since he is duke again
© by Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.

and has forgiven Alonso, he asks the audience to not force him to remain on the island.
He says he needs their applause to be the wind that will carry his ship to Naples. His
plan to entertain them can only succeed if they applaud. Without his powers, he needs
the audience’s help to relieve him of his wrongdoing. Just as they would want to be
forgiven, Prospero asks them to give their forgiveness so that he can be set free. He exits.

11. Take … strangely sound strange.

12. deliver v. tell.

The Tempest by William Shakespeare

GRADE 10 • UNIT 5 • Accessible Leveled Text • The Tempest, Act V 5