Excerpt from The Tempest by William Shakespeare
ACT V.
Scene I. Before the cell of Prospero.
Enter Prospero in his magic robes, and Ariel.
PROS. Now does my project gather to a head:
My charms crack not; my spirits obey; and time
Goes upright with his carriage. How’s the day?
ARI. On the sixth hour; at which time, my lord,
You said our work should cease.
PROS.
I did say so,
When first I raised the tempest. Say, my spirit,
How fares the king and’s followers?
ARI. Confined together
In the same fashion as you gave in charge,
Just as you left them; all prisoners, sir,
In the line-grove which weather-fends your cell;
They cannot budge till your release. The king,
His brother, and yours, abide all three distracted,
And the remainder mourning over them,
Brimful of sorrow and dismay; but chiefly
Him that you term’d, sir, “The good old lord, Gonzalo;”
His tears run down his beard, like winter’s drops
From eaves of reeds. Your charm so strongly works ’em,
That if you now beheld them, your affections
Would become tender.
PROS.
Dost thou think so, spirit?
ARI. Mine would, sir, were I human.
PROS.
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 the 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,
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.
ARI.
I’ll fetch them, sir. Exit.
PROS. . . . I have bedimm’d
The noontide sun, call’d forth the mutinous winds.
And ’twixt the green sea and the azured vault
Set roaring war: to the dread rattling thunder
Have I given fire, and rifted Jove’s stout oak
With his own bolt; the strong-based promontory
Have I made shake, and by the spurs pluck’d up
The pine and cedar: graves at my command
Have waked their sleepers, oped, and let ’em forth
By my so potent art. But this rough magic
I here abjure; and, when I have required
Some heavenly music,—which even now I do,—
To work mine end upon their senses, that
This airy charm is for, 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.
Re-enter Ariel before: then Alonso, with a frantic gesture, attended by Gonzalo; Sebastian and Antonio in like manner, attended by Adrian and Francisco: they all enter the circle which Prospero had made, and there stand charmed; which Prospero observing, speaks:
A solemn air, and the best comforter
To an unsettled fancy, cure thy brains,
Now useless, boil’d within thy skull! There stand,
For you are spell-stopp’d.
Holy Gonzalo, honourable man,
Mine eyes, even sociable to the show of thine,
Fall fellowly drops. The charm dissolves apace;
And as the morning steals upon the night,
Melting the darkness, so their rising senses
Begin to chase the ignorant fumes that mantle
Their clearer reason. O good Gonzalo,
My true preserver, and a loyal sir
To him thou follow’st! I will pay thy graces
Home both in word and deed. Most cruelly
Didst thou, Alonso, use me and my daughter:
Thy brother was a furtherer in the act.
Thou art pinch’d for’t now, Sebastian. Flesh and blood,
You, brother mine, that entertain’d ambition,
Expell’d remorse and nature; who, with Sebastian,—
Whose inward pinches therefore are most strong,—
Would here have kill’d your king; I do forgive thee,
Unnatural though thou art. Their understanding
Begins to swell; and the approaching tide
Will shortly fill the reasonable shore,
That now lies foul and muddy. Not one of them
That yet looks on me, or would know me: Ariel,
Fetch me the hat and rapier in my cell:
I will discase me, and myself present
As I was sometime Milan: quickly, spirit;
Thou shalt ere long be free.
Ariel sings and helps to attire him.
PROS. 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, I prithee.
Ari. I drink the air before me, and return
Or ere your pulse twice beat. Exit.
Gon. All torment, trouble, wonder and amazement
Inhabits here: some heavenly power guide us
Out of this fearful country!
PROS.
Behold, sir king,
The wronged 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.
ALON.
Whether thou be’st he or no,
Or some enchanted trifle to abuse me,
As late I have been, I not know: thy pulse
Beats, as of flesh and blood; and, since I saw thee,
The affliction of my mind amends, with which,
I fear, a madness held me: this must crave—
An if this be at all—a most strange story.
Thy dukedom I resign, and do entreat
Thou pardon me my wrongs.—But how should Prospero
Be living and be here?
PROS.
First, noble friend,
Let me embrace thine age, whose honour cannot
Be measured or confined.
GON.
Whether this be
Or be not, I’ll not swear.
PROS.
You do yet taste
Some subtilties o’ the isle, that will not let you
Believe things certain. Welcome, my friends all!
[Aside to Seb. and Ant.] But you, my brace of lords, were I so minded,
I here could pluck his Highness’ frown upon you,
And justify you traitors: at this time
I will tell no tales.
Seb. [Aside]
The devil speaks in him.
PROS.
No.
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.
ALON.
If thou be’st Prospero,
Give us particulars of thy preservation;
How thou hast met us here, who three hours since
Were wreck’d upon this shore; where I have lost—
How sharp the point of this remembrance is!—
My dear son Ferdinand.
PROS.
I am woe for’t, sir.
ALON. Irreparable is the loss; and patience
Says it is past her cure.
PROS.
I rather think
You have not sought her help, of whose soft grace
For the like loss I have her sovereign aid,
And rest myself content.
ALON.
You the like loss!
PROS.. As great to me as late; and, supportable
To make the dear loss, have I means much weaker
Than you may call to comfort you, for I
Have lost my daughter.
ALON.
A daughter?
O heavens, that they were living both in Naples,
The king and queen there! that they were, I wish
Myself were mudded in that oozy bed
Where my son lies. When did you lose you daughter?
PROS. In this last tempest. I perceive, these lords
At this encounter do so much admire,
That they devour their reason, and scarce think
Their eyes do offices of truth, their words
Are natural breath: but, howsoe’er you have
Been justled from your senses, know for certain
That I am Prospero, and that very duke
Which was thrust forth of Milan; who most strangely
Upon this shore, where you were wreck’d, was landed,
To be the Lord on’t. No more yet of this;
For ’tis a chronicle of day by day,
Not a relation for a breakfast, nor
Befitting this first meeting. Welcome, sir;
This cell’s my court: here have I few attendants,
And subjects none abroad: pray you, look in.
My dukedom since you have given me again,
I will requite you with as good a thing;
At least bring forth a wonder, to content ye
As much as me my dukedom.
Here Prospero discovers Ferdinand and Miranda playing at chess.
MIR. Sweet lord, you play me false.
FER.
No, my dear’st love,
I would not for the world.
MIR. Yes, for a score of kingdoms you should wrangle,
And I would call it fair play.
ALON.
If this prove
A vision of the island, one dear son
Shall I twice lose.
SEB.
A most high miracle!
FER. Though the seas threaten, they are merciful;
I have cursed them without cause. Kneels.
ALON.
Now all the blessings
Of a glad father compass thee about!
Arise, and say how thou camest here.
MIR.
O, wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in’t!
PROS.
’Tis new to thee.
ALON.. What is this maid with whom thou wast at play?
Your eld’st acquaintance cannot be three hours:
Is she the goddess that hath sever’d us,
And brought us thus together?
FER.
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,
Of whom so often I have heard renown,
But never saw before; of whom I have
Received a second life; and second father
This lady makes him to me. . . .
EPILOGUE.
SPOKEN BY PROSPERO.
Now my charms are all o’erthrown,
And what strength I have’s mine own,
Which is most faint: now, ’tis true,
I must be here confined by you,
Or sent to Naples. Let me not,
Since I have my dukedom got,
And pardon’d the deceiver, dwell
In this bare island by your spell;
But release me from my bands
With the help of your good hands:
Gentle breath of yours my sails
Must fill, or else my project fails,
Which was to please. Now I want
Spirits to enforce, art to enchant;
And my ending is despair,
Unless I be relieved by prayer,
Which pierces so, that it assaults
Mercy itself, and frees all faults.
As you from crimes would pardon’d be,
Let your indulgence set me free.
Use the passage to answer the question.
Which of the following lines from The Tempest is comic?
A.
“For you, most wicked sir, whom to call brother/ Would even infect my mouth, I do forgive/Thy rankest fault”
B.
“You do yet taste/Some subtilties o’ the isle, that will not let you/Believe things certain. Welcome, my friends all!”
C.
“All torment, trouble, wonder and amazement/Inhabits here: some heavenly power guide us/Out of this fearful country!”
D.
“Not one of them/That yet looks on me, or would know me: Ariel…”
E.
“My charms I’ll break, their senses I’ll restore . . .”
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B. "You do yet taste/Some subtilties o’ the isle, that will not let you/Believe things certain. Welcome, my friends all!" is a comic line because it uses understatement and irony to suggest that the visitors are being influenced by magic on the island.
The comic line from The Tempest is option B: "You do yet taste/Some subtilties o’ the isle, that will not let you/Believe things certain. Welcome, my friends all!"
The line from The Tempest that is comic is:
"B. 'You do yet taste/Some subtilties o’ the isle, that will not let you/Believe things certain. Welcome, my friends all!'"
This line is comic because it is playful and sarcastic. Prospero is mocking the characters for their confusion and disbelief in the magical events happening on the island. He suggests that they are not able to believe what they see because they are still under the influence of the island's enchantments. The tone of the line is light-hearted and humorous.