Allusions from “The Tempest” in Brave New World
I want you to find these allusions in the novel. Write down the page/paragraph
numbers. You must then look for some of these allusions in the novel.
Background on “The Tempest” by Shakespeare
“The Tempest” is part tragedy, part love story, and part comedy. Its themes
include forgiveness, the Christian philosophical concept of Grace, and how love
conquers all and heals all.
Prospero is the rightful duke of Milan who lives in exile on an island in the
middle of nowhere. Miranda, his 14-year old daughter, lives with him. Also on
the island is Caliban, a “savage.” Prospero is a wizard of sorts, a kind of
“white witch.” The Elizabethans considered anything “otherworldly” or
supernatural as evil, even demonic. Twelve years earlier, Antonio, Prospero’s
younger brother, engaged the assistance of Alonso, King of Naples, to overthrow
Prospero.
As a result, Prospero and his baby girl ended up on this remote island. Now,
Antonio and Alonso are returning from a wedding. As they pass near Prospero’s island, Prospero conjures up a storm
(or tempest).
In Act I, Scene II, we learn about a shipwreck. This upsets young Miranda, who
fears that people have died.
The island. Before PROSPERO'S cell. Enter Prospero and Miranda.
MIRANDA: If by your art, my dearest father, you have
Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them.
The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch,
But that the sea, mounting to the welkin's cheek,
Dashes the fire out. O, I have suffered
With those that I saw suffer: a brave vessel,
Who had, no doubt, some noble creature in her,
Dash'd all to pieces. O, the cry did knock
Against my very heart. Poor souls, they perish'd.
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.
PROSPERO: Be collected:
No more amazement: tell your piteous heart
There's no harm done….
[Later in this scene, Prospero explains the circumstances of their arrival on
the island. Note the Cain and Abel connection.]
PROSPERO: My brother and thy uncle, call'd Antonio--
I pray thee, mark me--that a brother should
Be so perfidious!--he whom next thyself
Of all the world I loved and to him put
The manage 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; 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….
[One of the problems is that Prospero is a leader. His first concern should be
his people, not his studies. In a way, he is responsible for what has happened
to him.]
PROSPERO:….I, thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicated
To closeness and the bettering of my mind
With that which, but by being so retired,
O'er-prized all popular rate, in my false brother
Awaked an evil nature; and my trust,
Like a good parent, did beget of him
A falsehood in its contrary as great
As my trust was; which had indeed no limit,
A confidence sans bound. 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; out o' the substitution
And executing the outward face of royalty,
With all prerogative: hence his ambition growing-- …
[Same scene but later]
PROSPERO: To have no screen between this part he play'd
And him he play'd it for, he needs will be
Absolute Milan. Me, poor man, my library
Was dukedom large enough: of temporal royalties
He thinks me now incapable; confederates--
So dry he was for sway--wi' the 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….
[Same scene but later]
PROSPERO: Now the condition.
The King of Naples, being an enemy
To me inveterate, hearkens my brother's suit;
Which was, that he, in lieu o' the 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: whereon,
A treacherous army levied, one midnight
Fated to the purpose did Antonio open
The gates of Milan, and, i' the dead of darkness,
The ministers for the purpose hurried thence
Me and thy crying self….
[Same scene but later]
PROSPERO:….My tale provokes that question. Dear, they durst not,
So dear the love my people bore me, nor set
A mark so bloody on the business, but
With colours fairer painted their foul ends.
In few, they hurried us aboard a bark,
Bore us some leagues to sea; where they prepared
A rotten carcass of a boat, not rigg'd,
Nor tackle, sail, nor mast; the very rats
Instinctively had quit it: there they hoist us,
To cry to the sea that roar'd to us, to sigh
To the winds whose pity, sighing back again,
Did us but loving wrong.
[This is not only a love story between boy and girl but between father and
daughter. Note how Miranda talks about the pain she caused him and note how
beautifully he responds. One reason that people are able to love others is
because they have been loved as children. Generally, this is the love of a
parent or a parent-figure. Remember: There are no parents in Brave New World.]
MIRANDA: Alack, what trouble
Was I then to you!
PROSPERO: O, a cherubim
Thou wast that did preserve me. Thou didst smile.
Infused with a fortitude from heaven,
When I have deck'd the sea with drops full salt,
Under my burthen groan'd; which raised in me
An undergoing stomach, to bear up
Against what should ensue.
MIRANDA: How came we ashore?
PROSPERO: By Providence divine.
Some food we had and some fresh water that
A noble Neapolitan, Gonzalo,
Out of his charity, being then appointed
Master of this design, did give us, with
Rich garments, linens, stuffs and necessaries,
Which since have steaded much; so, of his gentleness,
Knowing I loved my books, he furnish'd me
From mine own library with volumes that
I prize above my dukedom. …
[Again, note that Prospero is somewhat culpable.]
….MIRANDA sleeps
Enter ARIEL
[Ariel is Prospero’s servant. Because Prospero rescued him from an evil witch
(Sycorax, Caliban’s mother), Ariel owes Prospero. A faery or sprite, he has
magical powers.]
PROSPERO: Hast thou, spirit,
Perform'd to point the tempest that I bade thee?
ARIEL : To every article….
PROSPERO: My brave spirit!
Who was so firm, so constant, that this coil
Would not infect his reason?
ARIEL: Not a soul
But felt a fever of the mad and play'd
Some tricks of desperation. All but mariners
Plunged in the foaming brine and quit the vessel,
Then all afire with me: the king's son, Ferdinand,
With hair up-staring,--then like reeds, not hair,--
Was the first man that leap'd; cried, 'Hell is empty
And all the devils are here.'
[Same scene but later]
PROSPERO: But are they, Ariel, safe?
ARIEL: Not a hair perish'd;
On their sustaining garments not a blemish,
But fresher than before: and, as thou badest me,
In troops I have dispersed them 'bout the isle.
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….
[Ferdinand will be Miranda’s love interest].
[Same scene but later]
PROSPERO: O, was she so? I must
Once in a month recount what thou hast been,
Which thou forget'st. This damn'd witch Sycorax,
For mischiefs manifold and sorceries terrible
To enter human hearing, from Argier,
Thou know'st, was banish'd: for one thing she did
They would not take her life. Is not this true?
ARIEL: Ay, sir.
PROSPERO: This blue-eyed hag was hither brought with child
And here was left by the sailors. Thou, my slave,
As thou report'st thyself, wast then her servant;
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; within which rift
Imprison'd thou didst painfully remain
A dozen years; within which space she died
And left thee there; where thou didst vent thy groans
As fast as mill-wheels strike. Then was this island--
Save for the son that she did litter here,
A freckled whelp hag-born--not honour'd with
A human shape.
ARIEL: Yes, Caliban her son. …
[Caliban is the island’s savage. Prospero explains to Ariel that if Ariel does a
couple of more things for him, then Prospero will free Ariel. After dismissing
Ariel, he awakens Miranda. They will soon summon Caliban (note how similar the
word is to “cannibal”) Remember, they view Caliban as a savage. And in this
work of literature, he is. He even tried to rape Miranda. Some critics make the
connections between the “uncultured” Caliban and the “cultured” and highly
educated Prospero to the Europeans’ encounters with Native Americans. The
Europeans viewed Native Americans as “less-than,” perhaps even sub-human. So
Prospero’s and Miranda’s reactions to Caliban’s customs and abilities are
definitely skewed—even racist. Another reason that Caliban might be guilty of
bad behavior is that Prospero has enslaved him. At this point, he summons
“Caliban, my slave.”]
[Same scene but later]
PROSPERO: But, as 'tis,
We cannot miss him: he does make our fire,
Fetch in our wood and serves in offices
That profit us. What, ho! slave! Caliban!
Thou earth, thou! speak.
CALIBAN: [Within] There's wood enough within.
PROSPERO: Come forth, I say! there's other business for thee:
Come, thou tortoise! when?
Re-enter ARIEL like a water-nymph
Fine apparition! My quaint Ariel,
Hark in thine ear.
ARIEL: My lord it shall be done.
Exit
PROSPERO: Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil himself
Upon thy wicked dam, come forth!
Enter CALIBAN
[Prospero addresses Caliban’s unwillingness to work by telling him that he shall
conjure some pains upon him—kind of like a voodoo doll. In the passage below,
note the comparisons with the Native American / European experience.]
CALIBAN: I must eat my dinner.
This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother,
Which thou takest from me. When thou camest first,
Thou strokedst me and madest 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: and then I loved thee
And show'd thee all the qualities o' the isle,
The fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place and fertile:
Cursed be I that did so! All the charms
Of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats, light on you!
For I am all the subjects that you have,
Which first was mine own king: and here you sty me
In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me
The rest o' the island.
PROSPERO: Thou most lying slave,
Whom stripes may move, not kindness! I have used thee,
Filth as thou art, with human care, and lodged thee
In mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate
The honour of my child.
CALIBAN: O ho, O ho! would't had been done!
Thou didst prevent me; I had peopled else
This isle with Calibans.
PROSPERO: Abhorred slave,
Which any print of goodness wilt not take,
Being capable of all ill! I pitied thee,
Took pains to make thee speak, taught thee each hour
One thing or other: 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. But thy vile race,
Though thou didst learn, had that in't which good natures
Could not abide to be with; therefore wast thou
Deservedly confined into this rock,
Who hadst deserved more than a prison.
CALIBAN: You taught me language; and my profit on't
Is, I know how to curse. The red plague rid you
For learning me your language!...
Exit CALIBAN
[The scene switches to Ferdinand, who, awakening on the island alone, assumes
that everyone else has died. Pay attention to Ariel’s song. It speaks of the
Christian concept of Grace. Not only are the clothes of the survivors as good
as new; they are better than new. ]
Re-enter ARIEL, invisible, playing and singing; FERDINAND following
ARIEL'S song….
[Same scene but later]
FERDINAND: Where should this music be? i' the air or the earth?
It sounds no more: and sure, it waits upon
Some god o' the island. Sitting on a bank,
Weeping again the king my father's wreck,
This music crept by me upon the waters,
Allaying both their fury and my passion
With its sweet air: thence I have follow'd it,
Or it hath drawn me rather. But 'tis gone.
No, it begins again.
ARIEL sings:
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
Burthen Ding-dong
Hark! now I hear them,--Ding-dong, bell.
FERDINAND: The ditty does remember my drown'd father.
This is no mortal business, nor no sound
That the earth owes. I hear it now above me….
[Miranda and Ferdinand see each other for the first time. Remember: Miranda’s
only encounters with men prior to this have been with her father and with
Caliban. She thinks she is seeing an angel.]
MIRANDA: What is't? a spirit?
Lord, how it looks about! Believe me, sir,
It carries a brave form. But 'tis a spirit….
[Same scene but later]
MIRANDA: I might call him
A thing divine, for nothing natural
I ever saw so noble.
PROSPERO: [Aside] It goes on, I see,
As my soul prompts it. Spirit, fine spirit! I'll free thee
Within two days for this.
[For Ferdinand, it is also love at first sight. And he has seen other women.
None, however, compare to Miranda. He asks if she is pure and she says “yes.”
Prospero approaches Ferdinand and calls him a “traitor.” He is testing the
young man to make sure that Ferdinand is worthy of his daughter. Miranda tells
her dad to lighten up. She doesn’t want this pretty thing she has found to be in
any way damaged. Prospero notices how the two react to each other. Note what he says: “At
first sight / They have changed eyes.” ]
PROSPERO: [Aside] The Duke of Milan
And his more braver daughter could control thee,
If now 'twere fit to do't. At the first sight
They have changed eyes. …
To FERDINAND
A word, good sir;
I fear you have done yourself some wrong: a word.
MIRANDA: Why speaks my father so ungently? This
Is the third man that e'er I saw, the first
That e'er I sigh'd for: pity move my father
To be inclined my way!
FERDINAND: O, if a virgin,
And your affection not gone forth, I'll make you
The queen of Naples.
PROSPERO: 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.…
[Students: Ponder this. What is it saying about love? Put this into context for
Brave New World.]
[Same scene but later]
MIRANDA. 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….
[Prospero makes some threats against the young prince. Ferdinand draws his
sword, and is charmed from moving]
[Same scene but later]
MIRANDA: O dear father,
Make not too rash a trial of him, for
He's gentle and not fearful….
[Same scene but later]
PROSPERO: Silence! one word more
Shall make me chide thee, if not hate thee. What!
An advocate for an imposter! hush!
Thou think'st there is no more such shapes as he,
Having seen but him and Caliban: foolish wench!
To the most of men this is a Caliban
And they to him are angels.
MIRANDA: My affections
Are then most humble; I have no ambition
To see a goodlier man.
PROSPERO: Come on; obey:
Thy nerves are in their infancy again
And have no vigour in them.
FERDINAND: So they are;
My spirits, as in a dream, are all bound up.
My father's loss, the weakness which I feel,
The wreck 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: all corners else o' the earth
Let liberty make use of; space enough
Have I in such a prison.
PROSPERO: [Aside] It works….
Act 3, Scene 1 Before PROSPERO'S Cell.
Enter FERDINAND, bearing a log
[Here, Prospero is testing Ferdinand. He’s putting him to work. A man has to
show he is worthy of his daughter.]
FERDINAND. There be some sports are painful, and their labour
Delight in them sets off: some kinds of baseness
Are nobly undergone and most poor matters
Point to rich ends. This my mean task
Would be as heavy to me as odious, but
The mistress which I serve quickens what's dead
And makes my labours pleasures: O, she is
Ten times more gentle than her father's crabbed,
And he's composed of harshness. I must remove
Some thousands of these logs and pile them up,
Upon a sore injunction: my sweet mistress
Weeps when she sees me work, and says, such baseness
Had never like executor. I forget:
But these sweet thoughts do even refresh my labours,
Most busy lest, when I do it.
Enter MIRANDA; and PROSPERO at a distance, unseen….
[Smitten, Miranda asks if she can bear some of Ferdinand’s load. He says “no.”
]
MIRANDA: If you'll sit down,
I'll bear your logs the while: pray, give me that;
I'll carry it to the pile.
FERDINAND: No, precious creature;
I had rather crack my sinews, break my back,
Than you should such dishonour undergo,
While I sit lazy by.
MIRANDA: It would become me
As well as it does you: and I should do it
With much more ease; for my good will is to it,
And yours it is against.
PROSPERO: Poor worm, thou art infected! [Love was seen as a
kind of sickness.]
This visitation shows it….
[Ferdinand asks her name and she tells him.]
FERDINAND: Admired Miranda!
Indeed the top of admiration! worth
What's dearest to the world! Full many a lady
I have eyed with best regard and many a time
The harmony of their tongues hath into bondage
Brought my too diligent ear: for several virtues
Have I liked several women; never any
With so fun soul, but some defect in her
Did quarrel with the noblest grace she owed
And put it to the foil: but you, O you,
So perfect and so peerless, are created
Of every creature's best!
MIRANDA: I do not know
One of my sex; no woman's face remember,
Save, from my glass, mine own; nor have I seen
More that I may call men than you, good friend,
And my dear father: how features are abroad,
I am skilless of; but, by my modesty,
The jewel in my dower, I would not wish
Any companion in the world but you,
Nor can imagination form a shape,
Besides yourself, to like of. But I prattle
Something too wildly and my father's precepts
I therein do forget.
FERDINAND: I am in my condition
A prince, Miranda; I do think, a king;
I would, not so!--and would no more endure
This wooden slavery than to suffer
The flesh-fly blow my mouth. 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: O heaven, O earth, bear witness to this sound
And crown what I profess with kind event
If I speak true! if hollowly, invert
What best is boded me to mischief! I
Beyond all limit of what else i' the world
Do love, prize, honour you.
MIRANDA: I am a fool
To weep at what I am glad of.
PROSPERO: Fair encounter
Of two most rare affections! Heavens rain grace
On that which breeds between 'em!
FERDINAND: Wherefore weep you?
MIRANDA: At mine unworthiness that dare not offer
What I desire to give, and much less take
What I shall die to want. But this is trifling;
And all the more it seeks to hide itself,
The bigger bulk it shows. Hence, bashful cunning!
And prompt me, plain and holy innocence!
I am your wife, it you will marry me;
If not, I'll die your maid: to be your fellow
You may deny me; but I'll be your servant,
Whether you will or no.
FERDINAND: My mistress, dearest;
And I thus humble ever.
MIRANDA: My husband, then?
FERDINAND: Ay, with a heart as willing
As bondage e'er of freedom: here's my hand.
MIRANDA: And mine, with my heart in't; and now farewell
Till half an hour hence….
Act 4, Scene 1
Before PROSPERO'S cell.
Enter PROSPERO, FERDINAND, and MIRANDA
PROSPERO: If I have too austerely punish'd you,
Your compensation makes amends, for I
Have given you here a third of mine own life,
Or that for which I live; who once again
I tender to thy hand: all thy vexations
Were but my trials of thy love and thou
Hast strangely stood the test here, afore Heaven,
I ratify this my rich gift. O Ferdinand,
Do not smile at me that I boast her off,
For thou shalt find she will outstrip all praise
And make it halt behind her.
FERDINAND: I do believe it
Against an oracle.
PROSPERO: Then, as my gift and thine own acquisition
Worthily purchased take my daughter: but
If thou dost break her virgin-knot before
All sanctimonious ceremonies may
With full and holy rite be minister'd,
No sweet aspersion shall the heavens let fall
To make this contract grow: but barren hate,
Sour-eyed disdain and discord shall bestrew
The union of your bed with weeds so loathly
That you shall hate it both: therefore take heed,
As Hymen's lamps shall light you.
FERDINAND: As I hope
For quiet days, fair issue and long life,
With such love as 'tis now, the murkiest den,
The most opportune place, the strong'st suggestion.
Our worser genius can, shall never melt
Mine honour into lust, to take away
The edge of that day's celebration
When I shall think: or Phoebus' steeds are founder'd,
Or Night kept chain'd below….
PROSPERO: Look thou be true; do not give dalliance
Too much the rein: the strongest oaths are straw
To the fire i' the blood: be more abstemious,
Or else, good night your vow!
FERDINAND: I warrant you sir;
The white cold virgin snow upon my heart
Abates the ardour of my liver….
Act 5, Scene 1
Before PROSPERO'S cell. Enter PROSPERO in his magic robes, and ARIEL
PROSPERO: 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?
ARIEL: On the sixth hour; at which time, my lord,
You said our work should cease….
[Ariel even admits that he feels sorry for these bad men. He thinks Prospero
needs to lighten up too. In the passage below, Prospero admits to feeling good
about the punishment he has delivered to his enemies. This is antithetical to
the Christian concept of “turning the other cheek” and forgiveness in general.
Prospero addresses his “Divine Nature”—intellect—and how he must use that to
subdue his feelings. Soon Prospero will also acknowledge that he must give up
his “white magic.”]
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 the quick,
Yet with my nobler reason 'gaitist 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….
ARIEL: I'll fetch them, sir.
Exit
PROSPERO: ….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.
Re-enter ARIEL before: then ALONSO, ANTOBNIO, and al the other “bad guys.” 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 you 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 fort 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….
PROSPERO: 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.
[Alonso will soon be reunited with his son, Ferdinand. Before he learns the
truth, however, he bemoans that he has lost his daughter. Note Prospero’s
response.]
ALONSO. 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 your daughter?
PROSPERO: 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
MIRANDA: Sweet lord, you play me false.
FERDINAND: No, my dear'st love,
I would not for the world.
MIRANDA: Yes, for a score of kingdoms you should wrangle,
And I would call it, fair play.
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 camest 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: 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?
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,
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.
ALONSO: I am hers:
But, O, how oddly will it sound that I
Must ask my child forgiveness!
PROSPERO: There, sir, stop:
Let us not burthen our remembrance with
A heaviness that's gone.
