Secondary Script

The tempest
By William Shakespeare
Abridged by Martin Lamb

© Shakespeare Schools Foundation

Copyright of the abridged scripts rests
with Shakespeare Schools Foundation
(SSF). Your registration fee only allows
you to perfom the abridgement during
the current Festival. You may not share
the script for personal use. A public
performance of SSF’s abridged script
must be premiered at the professional
Festival theatre.
List of Roles
Prospero The rightful Duke of Milan, living on an island

Miranda Prospero’s daughter

Ariel An airy spirit

Caliban An enslaved inhabitant of the island

Alonso The King of Naples

Sebastian His brother

Antonio His brother, the usurping Duke of Milan

Ferdinand The son of the King of Naples

Gonzalo An honest old counsellor

Trinculo A jester

Stephano A drunken butler

Boatswain

Sailors, spirits

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 Scene 1 A ship at sea
Blackout then thunder strikes, lights up
and the ensemble are onstage with a ship A storm at sea.1
and the dialogue starts in audience/
behind audience
Enter ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, FERDINAND,
GONZALO, TRINCULO AND STEPHANO, BOATSWAIN,
and MARINERS.

BOATSWAIN I pray now, keep below.

Keep your cabins; you do assist the storm.

GONZALO Nay, good, be patient.

BOATSWAIN When the sea is. Hence!

GONZALO Remember whom thou hast aboard!

BOATSWAIN What cares these roarers for the name of King?

Down with the topmast! yare! lower, lower!

SEBASTIAN [to BOATSWAIN] A pox o’ your throat2, you bawling,

blasphemous, incharitable dog!

BOATSWAIN Work you then?3

ANTONIO Hang, cur! hang.

We are less afraid to be drowned than thou art.

BOATSWAIN Mercy on us, we split!

MARINERS We split, we split, we split!

Exeunt

Ensemble split, one side taking ship

1
How you create the storm is up to you. You may also want Ariel here, orchestrating the storm at
Prospero’s command.
2
Bad-tempered Sebastian is complaining that the Boatswain is making too much noise.
3
The Boatswain suggests Sebastian take over the ship instead.

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Scene 2 The Island
Outside Prospero’s Cell4.

Enter PROSPERO and MIRANDA

MIRANDA If by your art, my dearest father, you have

Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them.

PROSPERO There’s no harm done.

MIRANDA O, woe the day!

PROSPERO No harm. I have done nothing but in care of thee,

My daughter, who art ignorant of what thou art;
‘Tis time I should inform thee farther. Lend thy hand,
And pluck my magic garment from me. So:
[She helps him lays down his mantle]
Lie there, my Art. Canst thou remember
A time before we came unto this cell?
I do not think thou canst, for then thou wast not
Out three years old.

MIRANDA ‘Tis far off, and rather like a dream.

PROSPERO Twelve year since, Miranda, twelve year since,

Thy father was the Duke of Milan, and
A prince of power.

MIRANDA O the heavens!

What foul play had we, that we came from thence?

PROSPERO My brother, and thy uncle, called Antonio –

He did believe he was indeed the duke5;
Dost thou hear?

MIRANDA Your tale, sir, would cure deafness.

PROSPERO The King of Naples6, being an enemy

4
Their cave-like home on the island.
5
Power went to his brother’s head.

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 To me inveterate, hearkens my brother’s suit.
Whereon a treacherous army levied,
One midnight did Antonio open
The gates of Milan; and, i’th’dead of darkness
Hurried thence me and thy crying self7.

MIRANDA Alack, for pity!

Wherefore did they not that hour destroy us?

PROSPERO Dear, they durst not,

So dear the love my people bore me.
They bore us some leagues to sea;
There prepared a rotten carcass of a butt8, not rigged,
The very rats instinctively had quit it.

MIRANDA How came we ashore?

PROSPERO By Providence divine.

Some food we had, and some fresh water, that
A noble Neapolitan, Gonzalo, did give us, with
Rich garments, linens, stuffs and necessaries.
Knowing I loved my books, he furnished me
From mine own library with volumes that
I prize above my dukedom.

MIRANDA Would I might but ever see that man!

And now, I pray you, sir, your reason
For raising this sea-storm?

PROSPERO Know thus far forth.

By accident most strange bountiful Fortune
Hath mine enemies brought to this shore;
Here cease more questions.

PROSPERO begins to put MIRANDA into a sleep-like

trance.

6
It’s one option to show Alonso, King of Naples, and Antonio acting this out on another section of
the stage. It helps identify them later.
7
Under threat from Prospero’s enemy, the King of Naples, Prospero and Miranda were forced out of
Milan under cover of darkness.
8
Butt = boat.

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 Thou art inclined to sleep.

MIRANDA sleeps.

[Calling] Approach, my Ariel, come.

Enter ARIEL.

ARIEL All hail, great master!

PROSPERO Hast thou, spirit, performed to point the tempest that I

bade thee?

ARIEL To every article.

All but mariners plunged in the foaming brine,
And quit the vessel.

PROSPERO Why that’s my spirit!

But are they, Ariel, safe?

ARIEL Not a hair perished,

Their garments fresher than before.
In troops I have dispersed them ’bout the isle.
The King’s son have I landed by himself,
Whom I left sitting, his arms in this sad knot.

ARIEL demonstrates the king’s son with arms folded in

misery.

PROSPERO Of the King’s ship?

ARIEL Safely in harbour;

The mariners all under hatches stowed;
I have left asleep.

PROSPERO Ariel, thy charge

Exactly is performed; but there’s more work.

ARIEL Is there more toil?

Let me remember thee what thou hast promised.
My liberty.

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PROSPERO Before the time be out? No more!

ARIEL I prithee, remember I have done thee worthy service;

PROSPERO Hast thou forgot the foul witch Sycorax9? Thou best
know’st what torment I did find thee in.

ARIEL I thank thee, master.

PROSPERO After two days I will discharge thee.10

ARIEL What shall I do? Say what: what shall I do?

PROSPERO Go make thyself like a nymph o’th’sea:

Invisible.

Exit ARIEL.

[To MIRANDA]
Awake, dear heart, awake! Thou hast slept well;

MIRANDA The strangeness of your story put heaviness in me.

PROSPERO We’ll visit Caliban my slave, who never yields us kind

answer.

MIRANDA ‘Tis a villain, sir, I do not love to look on.

PROSPERO But, as ‘tis, we cannot miss him; he does make our fire. 11
Ensemble signal transition
caliban is under a brown blaket
PROSPERO and MIRANDA approach Caliban’s cave12.

PROSPERO [calling] What, ho! slave! Caliban!

CALIBAN [within] There’s wood enough within13.

9
Previous owner of the island and mother to Caliban.
10
He needs Ariel to help him with his plan (which will be complete at the end of the play) before he
is freed.
11
He’s a useful servant.
12
The cave can be offstage.
13
Caliban is always bad-tempered. Here, he thinks they want him to bring in more wood and he’s
refusing.

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PROSPERO Come forth, I say!

Enter ARIEL like a water-nymph.14

Fine apparition! My quaint Ariel,

Hark in thine ear.

PROSPERO whispers in ARIEL’s ear.

ARIEL My lord, it shall be done.

Exit ARIEL.

Enter CALIBAN reluctantly.

CALIBAN I must eat my dinner.

This island’s mine, by Sycorax my mother,
Which thou takest from me. When thou cam’st first,
Thou strok’st me, and made much of me;
and then I loved thee,
And showed thee all the qualities o’th’isle.
Cursed be I that did so! All the charms
Of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats, light on you!
For here you sty me in this hard rock15.
Rock indicating
to the floor

PROSPERO Thou most lying slave.

CALIBAN

PROSPERO Hag-seed, hence! Fetch us in fuel.

CALIBAN refuses to go and PROSPERO raises his staff.

14
Since Ariel is now invisible to all except Prospero, it is an option to give him a distinctive cloak that
represents invisibility. A cloak of a similar material could then be used for when Prospero makes
himself invisible, later on.
15
He’s complaining about the rough cave he’s forced to live in.

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 Shrug’st thou?

CALIBAN [moving] No, pray thee. [Aside] I must obey: his Art17 is of
such power,

PROSPERO So, slave; hence!

Exit CALIBAN.

Enter ARIEL, invisible, singing18; FERDINAND following.

ARIEL 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.
Sea nymphs hourly ring his knell.
Hark, now I hear them,
Hark, now I hear them.
Ding, dong bell,
Ding dong,
Ding, dong bell etc.

FERDINAND [looking for source of singing]

The ditty does remember my drowned father.
This is no mortal business.

MIRANDA [observing FERDINAND] Lord, how it looks about!

It carries a brave form.19
What is’t? A spirit?

PROSPERO No, wench; it eats and sleeps and hath such senses
As we have. This gallant20 which thou seest
Was in the wrack21; he hath lost his fellows
And strays about to find ’em.

17
Art = magic.
18
This can equally be another student or a whole chorus of spirits.
19
She is calling Ferdinand handsome.
20
Gallant = man.
21
Ship-wreck.

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MIRANDA I might call him a thing divine.

PROSPERO [aside] It goes on, I see22. [To ARIEL] Spirit, fine spirit!
I’ll free thee within two days for this.

FERDINAND [seeing MIRANDA for the first time]

Most sure the goddess on whom these airs attend!23
My prime request, is O you wonder!
If you be maid24 or no?

MIRANDA No wonder, sir; but certainly a maid.

FERDINAND My language! Heavens!

O, if a virgin, and your affection not gone forth25,
I’ll make you the Queen of Naples.

PROSPERO [stepping forward] Soft, sir! one word more.

[Aside]
They are both in either’s powers: but this swift business
I must uneasy make, lest too light winning make the prize
light.26
[To FERDINAND]
Thou hast put thyself upon this island as a spy,
To win it from me, the lord on’t.

FERDINAND No, as I am a man.

MIRANDA There’s nothing ill can dwell in such a temple.

PROSPERO [to FERDINAND]

Follow me.
[To MIRANDA]
Speak not you for him: he’s a traitor. Come.

FERDINAND draws his sword but PROSPERO puts a spell

on him which prevents his movement.

22
His plan is working.
23
He assumes she is a goddess and responsible for the supernatural music.
24
Maid = virgin.
25
If she’s not engaged to anyone else he’ll marry her, and since his father is dead and he’s heir to
the throne of Naples, he’ll make her his queen.
26
Things are going too easily. Prospero believes their love needs to be tested.

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MIRANDA O dear father.

PROSPERO [to FERDINAND] Come on; obey!

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

The wrack of all my friends, are but light to me,
Might I but through my prison once a day
Behold this maid.27

PROSPERO [aside] It works.28 [to FERDINAND] Come on.

[to ARIEL] Thou hast done well fine Ariel!

Exeunt.

Scene 3 Another part of the Island

Enter ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, GONZALO, and
others29.

GONZALO Beseech you, sir, be merry; for our escape

Is much beyond our loss.

ALONSO Prithee, peace30.

SEBASTIAN [aside ANTONIO] He receives comfort like cold porridge.

ALONSO My son is lost. I ne’er again shall see him.

O thou mine heir of Naples and of Milan,
What strange fish hath made his meal on thee?

Enter ARIEL, invisible, playing music. Everyone except

ANTONIO and SEBASTIAN becomes drowsy.

GONZALO I am very heavy.

ALONSO Wondrous heavy.

27
He’ll cope with anything bad so long as he can see Miranda once a day.
28
Prospero is secretly impressed.
29
The ‘others’ are optional.
30
He believes his son Ferdinand is dead and does not want to hear.

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 Exit ARIEL.

ALL sleep except ANTONIO and SEBASTIAN.

SEBASTIAN What a strange drowsiness possesses them!

ANTONIO It is the quality o’th’climate.

SEBASTIAN Why doth it not then our eyelids sink?

I find not myself disposed to sleep.

ANTONIO Nor I; they dropped, as by a thunder-stroke.

[thinking] What might, worthy Sebastian? O, what might?

He hesitates

No more – and yet methinks I see it in thy face,

What thou shouldst be.
My strong imagination sees a crown
Dropping upon thy head.31

SEBASTIAN What, art thou awake?

ANTONIO Do you not hear me speak?

SEBASTIAN I do; surely, out of thy sleep.

ANTONIO Noble Sebastian,

Thou let’st thy fortune sleep – die, rather.

SEBASTIAN Thou dost snore distinctly;

There’s meaning in thy snores.32

ANTONIO Will you grant 33with me

His son Ferdinand is drowned?

SEBASTIAN He’s gone.

31
Antonio who took power from his brother, Prospero, suggests that Sebastian should take power
from his brother (by killing him).
32
Both play along with the idea that they are talking in their sleep. This makes their treachery less
blatant.
33
agree

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ALONSO [pointing to the sleeping king and followers]
Then what a sleep were this for your advancement34!
Do you understand me?

SEBASTIAN Methinks I do. I remember

You did supplant your brother Prospero.

ANTONIO True:
And look how well my garments sit upon me.
Here lies your brother;
No better than the earth he lies upon,
If he were that which now he’s like, that’s dead.

SEBASTIAN Thy case, dear friend,

Shall be my precendent; as thou got’st Milan,
I’ll come by Naples. Draw thy sword.

ANTONIO Draw together;

And when I rear my hand, do you the like,
To fall it on Gonzalo.
They draw.

SEBASTIAN O, but one word.

They move some distance from the sleeping group to talk.

Enter ARIEL, still invisible. He goes to GONZALO.

ARIEL [in GONZALO’S ear] Awake, awake!

The others wake and see ANTONIO and SEBASTIAN with

their swords drawn.

ALONSO Why, how now? Why are you drawn?

SEBASTIAN We heard a hollow burst of bellowing

Like bulls, or rather lions; did’t not wake you?
It struck mine ear most terribly.

ALONSO Heard you this, Gonzalo?

34
If the son and heir is dead then there’s nothing to stop Sebastian taking over as King.

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GONZALO Upon mine honour, sir, I heard a humming,
And that a strange one too, which did awake me.

ALL draw their swords.

ALONSO Lead off this ground; and let’s make further search
For my poor son.

GONZALO Heavens keep him from these beasts!

ALONSO Lead away.

ARIEL Prospero my lord shall know what I have done:

So, King, go safely on to seek thy son.

Exeunt.

Scene 4 Another part of the Island

Enter CALIBAN, with a load of wood. A noise of thunder
heard.

CALIBAN All the infections that the sun sucks up from bogs, fens,
flats,
On Prosper fall, and make him by inch-meal a disease!

Enter TRINCULO.

Lo, now, lo!

Here comes a spirit of his, and to torment me
For bringing wood in slowly35.

CALIBAN falls flat on the ground, hiding under his cloak.

TRINCULO [seeing CALIBAN]

What have we here? A man or a fish? Dead or alive?
A fish: he smells like a fish; a very ancient and fish-like
smell.

35
Caliban is unaware of the ship-wreck and therefore assumes that any humans are sprites in
Prospero’s employment.

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 Legged like a man! And his fins like arms!

TRINCULO touches CALIBAN.

Warm o’ my troth! This is no fish, but an islander, that

hath lately suffered by a thunderbolt. [Thunder] Alas, the
storm is come again! My best way is to creep under his
gabardine.

He creeps under CALIBAN’s stinky cloak.

Enter STEPHANO, singing, with a bottle in his hand.

STEPHANO I shall no more to sea, to sea

Here shall I die ashore –

STEPHANO drinks.

CALIBAN [scared of TRINCULO] Do not torment me: O!

The spirit torments me: O!

STEPHANO [noticing CALIBAN]

This is some monster of the isle with four legs36.
Where the devil should he learn our language?

CALIBAN Do not torment me, prithee; I’ll bring my wood home

faster.

STEPHANO He’s in his fit now, and does not talk after the wisest.
Open your mouth; this will shake your shaking, I can tell
you.

STEPHANO pours wine into CALIBAN’s mouth.

TRINCULO [hearing STEPHANO speak] I should know that voice:

It should be – but he is drowned.

STEPHANO Four legs and two voices - a most delicate monster!

I will pour some into the other mouth.

36
Both sets of legs are sticking out of the cloak.

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 He moves round to pour wine into TRINCULO’S mouth.

TRINCULO Stephano!

STEPHANO Mercy, mercy!

TRINCULO Stephano! If thou beest Stephano,

I am Trinculo – be not afeard – thy good friend Trinculo.

STEPHANO If thou beest Trinculo, come forth.

He pulls him out by his legs. TRINCULO scrambles to his

feet.

TRINCULO But art thou not drowned, Stephano? I hope, now, thou
art not drowned37.

He spins STEPHANO round in excitement.

STEPHANO Prithee, do not turn me about; my stomach is not

constant38.

CALIBAN emerges

CALIBAN [indicating Stephano] That’s a brave god, and bears

celestial liquor: I will kneel to him.

STEPHANO gives TRINCULO another drink.

TRINCULO O Stephano, hast any more of this?

STEPHANO The whole butt, man!

CALIBAN Hast thou not dropped from heaven?

STEPHANO Out o’ the moon, I do assure thee.

CALIBAN I prithee, be my god.

A plague upon the tyrant that I serve!

37
Otherwise he’s a ghost.
38
He’ll be sick.

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 I’ll bear him no more sticks, but follow thee,
Thou wondrous man.

TRINCULO A most ridiculous monster, to make a wonder of a poor

drunkard!

STEPHANO Trinculo, the King and all our company else being
drowned, we will inherit here. Here; bear my bottle.

CALIBAN [singing] ‘Ban, ‘Ban, Caliban

Has a new master – get a new man.

STEPHANO O brave monster! Lead the way.

Exeunt.

Scene 5 Before Prospero’s Cell

Enter FERDINAND, carrying logs.

Enter MIRANDA

Enter PROSPERO, at a distance, unseen and listening.

MIRANDA If you’ll sit down, I’ll bear your logs the while

FERDINAND No, precious creature;

I had rather crack my sinews, break my back.

MIRANDA Pray give me that; I’ll carry it to the pit.

PROSPERO Poor worm39, thou art infected!

MIRANDA You look wearily.

FERDINAND No, noble mistress: ‘tis fresh morning with me

When you are by at night. I do beseech you –
What is your name?

39
He feels sorry for Miranda who’s in love (and suffering because of his plan).

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MIRANDA Miranda.

FERDINAND Admired Miranda!

MIRANDA I would not wish any companion in the world but you.

FERDINAND I am, in my condition, a prince, Miranda;

I do think, a King – I would not so40.
Hear my soul speak:
The very instant that I saw you, did
My heart fly to your service; there resides,
To make me slave to it; and for your sake
Am I this patient log-man.

MIRANDA Do you love me?

FERDINAND I, beyond all limit of what else i’ th’ world,

Do love, prize, honour you.

MIRANDA [moved to tears] I am a fool to weep at what I am glad of.

PROSPERO [aside] Fair encounter of two most rare affections41!

FERDINAND Wherefore weep you?

MIRANDA At mine unworthiness.

I am your wife if you will marry me;
If not, I’ll die your maid42.

FERDINAND My mistress43, dearest;

And I thus humble ever.

MIRANDA My husband, then?

FERDINAND Ay, here’s my hand.

MIRANDA And mine, with my heart in’t: and now farewell

40
Because he believes his father to be dead.
41
He’s impressed by them both and knows they’ll make a perfect couple.
42
Miranda exploits the double meaning of an unmarried woman and a servent.
43
Ferdinand says he’ll be her servant.

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 Till half an hour hence.

FERDINAND A thousand thousand44!

Exit FERDINAND and MIRANDA, in different directions

Exit PROSPERO.

Scene 6 Another part of the Island

Enter CALIBAN, STEPHANO, and TRINCULO.

Enter ARIEL, invisible.

CALIBAN As I told thee before, I am subject to a tyrant45, a sorcerer.

that by his cunning hath cheated me of the island.

ARIEL Thou liest.

CALIBAN [thinking TRINCULO has spoken]

‘Thou liest,’ thou jesting monkey, thou!
I would my valiant master would destroy thee!
I do not lie.

STEPHANO [also thinking TRINCULO said ‘thou liest’]

Trinculo, if you trouble him any more in’s tale, by this
hand, I will supplant some of your teeth.

TRINCULO Why, I said nothing.

STEPHANO Mum46, then, and no more. [To CALIBAN] Proceed.

CALIBAN I say, by sorcery he got this isle;

From me he got it.
I’ll yield him thee asleep,
Where thou mayst knock a nail into his head.

44
A thousand thousand farewells.
45
He is referring to Prospero.
46
Mum = silent.

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ARIEL Thou liest; thou canst not.

CALIBAN [again thinking TRINCULO has spoken]

What a pied ninny’s this! Thou scurvy patch!

STEPHANO Trinculo, interrupt the monster one word further, and, by

this hand, I’ll make a stock-fish out of thee. 47

TRINCULO Why, what did I? I did nothing.

STEPHANO Didst thou not say he lied?

ARIEL Thou liest.

STEPHANO Do I so?
Take thou that. [Beats him]
As you like this, give me the lie another time.48

TRINCULO I did not give the lie.

STEPHANO [to TRINCULO]

Prithee, stand further off. Stand farther.

Trinculo removes himself.

[To CALIBAN] Come, proceed49.

CALIBAN ‘Tis a custom with him

I’ th’ afternoon to sleep: there thou mayst brain him,
Having first seized his books; for without them
He’s but a sot50, as I am.

TRINCULO Excellent.

CALIBAN Within this half hour will he be asleep:

Wilt thou destroy him then?

47
Beat you to a pulp.
48
Since you seem to enjoy annoying me and getting beaten for it, annoy me again.
49
Caliban is trying to deliver important information on how to overcome Prospero.
50
A powerless nobody.

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STEPHANO Ay, on mine honour.

ARIEL This I will tell my master.

Exit ARIEL.

Music that alarms Stephano and Trinculo51.

STEPHANO Mercy upon us!

CALIBAN Art thou afeard?

STEPHANO No, monster, not I.

CALIBAN Be not afeard, the isle is full of noises.

Sounds and sweet airs that give delight, and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears; and sometimes voices,
That if I then had waked after long sleep
Will make me sleep again.

STEPHANO This will prove a brave kingdom to me. Lead, monster.

Exit ALL.

Scene 7 Another part of the Island

Enter ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, GONZALO and
others.

GONZALO I can go no further, sir.

ALONSO Old lord, I cannot blame thee.

SEBASTIAN [aside to ANTONIO]

The next advantage will we take thoroughly52.

51
In the original it is Ariel playing on a tabor and pipe, but it could be anything weird and scary,
continuing Ariel’s mischief-making.
52
Next chance they get to kill them they must act.

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ANTONIO Let it be to-night.

Strange music; PROSPERO enters, invisible. Enter several

SPIRITS, bringing in a banquet; they dance gently about,
inviting the King and company to eat. Upon a sign from
PROSPERO they depart.

ALONSO What harmony is this?

GONZALO Marvellous sweet music!

SEBASTIAN [offering food to ALONSO] Now I will believe that there

are unicorns.

Enter ARIEL like a Harpy53.

Everyone except ANTONIO, ALONSO and SEBASTIAN

falls into a trance.

ARIEL [to ANTONIO, ALONSO and SEBASTIAN]

You are three men of sin.

ANTONIO and SEBASTIAN draw their swords. Their

swords are useless.

From Milan did supplant good Prospero:

Exposed unto the sea,
Him and his innocent child: for which foul deed
The powers, incensed the seas and shores,
Against your peace. Thee of thy son, Alonso,
They have bereft; and do pronounce by me
Ling’ring perdition54 – worse than any death.

ARIEL vanishes; then, to soft music, enter the SPIRITS

again; they dance, mockingly, carrying out the table of
food.

PROSPERO [to ARIEL] Bravely the figure of this Harpy hast thou

53
Mythical creature: woman’s face and body, with wings and claws of a bird. The design and
staging is up to you, as long as it’s scary!
54
Alonso will suffer forever the loss of his son as punishment.

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 Performed, my Ariel; they now are in my power.

Exit PROSPERO and ARIEL.

GONZALO [waking from a trance] I’ th’ name of something holy, sir,

why stand you
In this strange stare?

ALONSO O, it is monstrous, monstrous!

Methought the billows55 spoke, pronounced my trespass.
Therefore my son i’ th’ ooze56 is bedded; and
I’ll seek him deeper than e’er plummet sounded,
And with him there lie mudded.

ALONSO exits, followed by the rest.

Scene 8 Before Prospero’s Cell

Enter PROSPERO, FERDINAND, and MIRANDA.

PROSPERO [to FERDINAND] If I have too austerely punished you57,

Your compensation makes amends;
Thou hast strangely stood the test, O Ferdinand.
Thou shalt find she [indicating MIRANDA] will outstrip all
praise

FERDINAND I do believe it.

PROSPERO Sit, then, and talk with her; she is thine own.

MIRANDA and FERDINAND talk together.

PROSPERO [calling] What, Ariel! My industrious servant, Ariel!

ARIEL What would my potent master?

55
Billows = waves.
56
His son is drowned at sea as a punishment for his father’s crime.
57
Prospero, convinced that Ferdinand truly loves his daughter, has come clean, admitted he was
deliberately testing them both, and consented to their marriage.

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PROSPERO Go bring the rabble, o’er whom I give thee power,
Here to this place: for I must
Bestow upon the eyes of this young couple
Some vanity of mine Art.58

ARIEL Before you can say, ‘come’ and ‘go’,

Each one, tripping on his toe,
Will be here with mop and mow59.
Do you love me, master? No?

PROSPERO Dearly, my delicate Ariel.

Exit ARIEL.

[To FERDINAND and MIRANDA]

No tongue! All eyes! Be silent.

Soft music. Enter SPIRITS.

SPIRIT Come, temperate60 nymphs, and help to celebrate

A contract of true love; be not too late.

Enter SPIRITS who dance.

Suddenly PROSPERO remembers something and

indicates that they should depart. They move reluctantly.

PROSPERO [aside] I had forgot that foul conspiracy

Of the beast Caliban and his confederates61
Against my life.

FERDINAND [To the SPIRITS] Well done! No more!

This is strange: your father’s in some passion
That works him strongly.

MIRANDA Never till this day

Saw I him touched with anger, so distempered.62

58
As a wedding gift he conjures a ‘play’ on the theme of love, acted by the spirits of the island.
59
Faces expressing their confusion and repentance.
60
Mild-mannered.
61
He remembers the plot against his life and becomes angry.
62
Neither knows about the plot. They can’t understand why he’s suddenly angry.

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PROSPERO Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air.
We are such stuff
As dreams are made on; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep63. Sir, I am vexed;
A turn or two I’ll walk,
To still my beating mind.

He moves away from them.

FERDINAND & We wish your peace.

MIRANDA

Exeunt FERDINAND and MIRANDA.

PROPERO I thank thee: Ariel, come.

Enter ARIEL.

ARIEL What’s thy pleasure?

PROSPERO Spirit, we must prepare to meet with Caliban.

ARIEL Ay, my commander.

PROSPERO The trumpery64 in my house, go bring it hither,

For stale65 to catch these thieves.

ARIEL I go, I go.

Exit ARIEL.

PROSPERO I will plague them all, even to roaring.

Enter ARIEL, laden with glistering apparel which he

arranges to tempt the conspirators.66

63
He observes that humans are made of the same stuff as dreams. Human life can be snuffed out
as easily as he made the spirits vanish.
64
Clothes and trinkets.
65
Stale = bait.
66
In the original he hangs them on a line, but do whatever is simple for you.

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 ARIEL and PROSPERO withdraw, invisible.

Enter CALIBAN, STEPHANO, and TRINCULO.

CALIBAN This is the mouth o’th’cell: no noise, and enter.

TRINCULO [noticing the fancy clothes on display]

O King Stephano!
Look what a wardrobe here is for thee!

CALIBAN Let it alone, thou fool; it is but trash.

TRINCULO tries on a garment, STEPHANO tries on

another.

TRINCULO O peer! O worthy Stephano!

CALIBAN [scared that PROSPERO will awake] Let ‘t alone,

And do the murder first.

STEPHANO Monster, help to bear this away

Or I’ll turn you out of my
kingdom: go to, carry this.

A noise of hunters is heard. Enter several SPIRITS, in

shape of dogs and hounds. CALIBAN, STEPHANO, and
TRINCULO are driven out screaming.

ARIEL [enjoying their screams off stage] Hark, they roar!

PROSPERO Let them be hunted soundly.

Now does my project gather to a head.
[To ARIEL] Say, my spirit,
How fares the King and’s followers?

ARIEL Just as you left them; all prisoners, sir

They cannot budge till your release.
Your charm so strongly works ’em,
That if you now beheld them, your affections
Would become tender.

PROSPERO Dost thou think so, spirit?

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ARIEL Mine would, sir, were I human.

PROSPERO Hast thou, which art but air, a touch, a feeling

Of their afflictions, and shall not myself,
One of their kind, be kindlier moved than thou art?
Go release them, Ariel:

ARIEL I’ll fetch them, sir.

Exit.

PROSPERO Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes, and groves;

by whose aid – weak masters though ye be –
I have, ‘twixt the green sea and the azured vault,67
Set roaring war:
This rough magic I here abjure68;
I’ll break my staff,
Bury it certain fathoms in the earth,
And deeper than did ever plummet sound
I’ll drown my book.

Solemn music. ARIEL enters, leading ALONSO,

GONZALO; SEBASTIAN and ANTONIO. They are all in a
trance.

PROSPERO [to ALONSO]

Most cruelly didst thou, Alonso, use me and my daughter.
[To SEBASTIAN] Thy brother was a furtherer in the act.
Thou art pinched for’t now, Sebastian.
[To ANTONIO] Flesh and blood,
You, brother mine, whom, with Sebastian –
Would here have killed your King; [pause]69
I do forgive thee,
Unnatural though thou art.
[Aside to ARIEL, as the others begin to regain their sense]
I will present myself as I was sometime Milan70:
Quickly, spirit; thou shalt ere long be free.

67
The sky.
68
He’s ready to give up his magical powers symbolised by his staff and book.
69
At this moment Prospero has the choice to be vengeful or merciful.
70
He will remove his magician’s clothes and dress as the Duke of Milan before he reveals himself.

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 ARIEL helps with the clothing change71, singing the while.

ARIEL Where the bee sucks, there suck I;

In a cowslip’s bell I lie.

PROSPERO Why, that’s my dainty Ariel! I shall miss thee;

To the King’s ship, invisible as thou art.

Exit ARIEL.

PROSPERO [confronting ALONSO as he awakes from the spell]

Behold, Sir King,
The wronged Duke of Milan, Prospero.
I embrace thee, and bid thee a hearty welcome.

He embraces ALONSO and GONZALO.

[To ANTONIO] For you, most wicked sir, whom to call

brother
Would even infect my mouth, I do forgive
Thy rankest fault – all of them; and require
My dukedom of thee, which perforce, I know,
Thou must restore.

ALONSO If thou be’st Prospero,

Give us particulars of thy preservation;
How thou hast met us here, upon this shore,
Where I have lost – my dear son Ferdinand.

PROSPERO I am woe for’t, sir.

For the like loss have I, my only heir and princess.

ALONSO You the like loss! A daughter?

O heavens, that they were living both in Naples,
The King and Queen there!
When did you lose your daughter?

PROSPERO In this last tempest.72

71
This could be as simple as a cloak, recognisably different to his magic one, or a coronet.
72
Prospero plays on the notion that he’s lost his daughter to Ferdinand, but he leads Alonso to
believe that his daughter and only heir is dead, just as he assumes his son and only heir is.

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 [He changes the subject] My lords know for certain
That I am Prospero, and that very duke
Which was thrust forth of Milan.
[He leads the King to his cell]
Welcome, sir; this cell’s my court:
Here have I few attendants; pray you, look in.

Inside the cell are FERDINAND and MIRANDA73.

ALONSO If this prove a vision of the island,

One dear son shall I twice lose.

FERDINAND [seeing his father] A most high miracle!

ALONSO [embracing FERDINAND]

Arise, and say how thou cam’st here.

MIRANDA [staring in amazement at the KING and NOBLES]

O, wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in it!

PROSPERO ‘Tis new to thee.

ALONSO Is she a goddess?

FERDINAND Sir, she is mortal;

But by immortal Providence she’s mine:
I chose her when I could not ask my father
For his advice, nor thought I had one. She
Is daughter to this famous Duke of Milan.

GONZALO Was Milan thrust from Milan, that his issue

Should become Kings of Naples74? O, rejoice
Beyond a common joy!

ALONSO [to FERDINAND and MIRANDA]

Give me your hands: I wish you joy.

73
Traditionally they are playing chess.
74
He emphasises the irony of Prospero’s grandchildren becoming heirs to Naples.

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 Enter ARIEL with the BOATSWAIN.

O, look, sir, look, sir! Here is more of us.

ARIEL exits.

BOATSWAIN The best news is, that we have safely found

Our King, and company; the next, our ship
Is tight and yare75 and bravely rigged, as when
We first put out to sea.

PROSPERO There are yet missing of your company

Some few odd lads that you remember not.

Enter ARIEL, driving in CALIBAN, STEPHANO, and

TRINCULO, in their stolen clothing.

CALIBAN [admiring PROSPERO in his Duke’s clothes]

How fine my master is!

PROSPERO Two of these fellows you must know and own;

[pointing to CALIBAN]
This thing of darkness I acknowledge mine.

CALIBAN [cowering] I shall be pinched to death.

ALONSO Is not this Stephano, my drunken butler?

SEBASTIAN He is drunk now76: where had he wine?

ALONSO And Trinculo is reeling ripe: where should they

Find this grand liquor that hath gilded ‘em?
[Pointing to Caliban] This is a strange thing as e’er I
looked on.

PROSPERO He is as disproportioned in his manners

As in his shape. [To CALIBAN] Go, sirrah, to my cell;
Take with you your companions; as you look
To have my pardon, trim it handsomely.77

75
Sea worthy and ship-shape.
76
Amazed that the butler is still drunk on the island where there’s no alcohol.

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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 drunkard78 for a god,
And worship this dull fool!79

Exeunt CALIBAN, STEPHANO and TRINCULO.

PROSPERO Sir, I invite your Highness and your train

To my poor cell. In the morn
I’ll bring you to your ship, and so to Naples,
Where I have hope to see the nuptial80
Of these our dear-beloved solemnized.

ALONSO I long
To hear the story of your life.

PROSPERO I’ll deliver all;

And promise you calm seas and auspicious gales.
[Aside to ARIEL] My Ariel, chick,
That is thy charge81: then to the elements
Be free, and fare thou well!

Exit ARIEL. PROSPERO addresses the audience.

PROSPERO The rarer action is in virtue than in vengeance.

[Indicates ALONSO, ANTONIO, and SEBASTIAN]
They being penitent,
The sole drift of my purpose doth extend not a frown
further.82

PROSPERO breaks his staff.

77
Watch your behaviour.
78
I.e. Stephano.
79
I.e. Trinculo.
80
Nuptial = marriage.
81
Ariel’s been asked to ensure the ship reaches Naples – that’s the last of his orders.
82
In the original there is a long epilogue spoken out of character by the actor who plays Prospero.
The final lines in this version, which should be spoken in character, are from an earlier scene in the
original text. Prospero points out that it’s harder to be merciful than vengeful, but that since the men
who abused him and his daughter have shown remorse he’s achieved what he set out to achieve
and no longer needs his magical powers.

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