Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

standing its hatefulness, by no means hurtful to our feelings, as the honour of human nature is left untouched.

"In the zephyrlike Ariel the image of air is not to be mistaken, his name even bears an allusion to it; on the other hand, Caliban signifies the heavy element of earth. Yet they are neither of them allegorical personifications, but beings individually determined. In general we find, in the Midsummer Night's Dream, in the Tempest, in the magical part of Macbeth, and wherever Shakspeare avails himself of the popular belief in the invisible presence of spirits, and the possibility of coming in contact with them, a profound view of the inward life of Nature and her mysterious springs; which, it is true, ought never to be altogether unknown to the genuine poet, as poetry is altogether incompatible with mechanical physics, but which few have possessed in an equal degree with Dante and himself 3."

It seems probable that this play was written in 1611 at all events between the years 1609 and 1614. It appears from the MSS. of Vertue that the Tempest was acted, by John Heminge and the rest of the King's Company, before Prince Charles, the Lady Elizabeth, and the Prince Palatine Elector, in the beginning of the year 1613.

3 Lectures on Dramatic Literature by Aug. Will. Schlegel, translated by John Black, 1815. Vol. ii. p. 178.

PERSONS REPRESENTED*.

ALONSO, King of Naples.

SEBASTIAN, his Brother.

PROSPERO, the rightful Duke of Milan.

ANTONIO, his Brother, the usurping Duke of Milan.

FERDINAND, Son to the King of Naples.

GONZALO, the honest old Counsellor of Naples.
ADRIAN,

Lords.

CALIBAN, a savage and deformed Slave.
TRINCULO, a Jester.

STEPHANO, a drunken Butler.

Master of a Ship, Boatswain, and Mariners.

MIRANDA, Daughter to Prospero.

ARIEL, an airy Spirit.

IRIS,

CERES,

JUNO, >Spirits.

Nymphs,

Reapers,

Other Spirits attending on Prospero.

SCENE, the Sea, with a Ship; afterwards an unin

habited Island.

* From the Folio Edition of 1623.

TEMPEST.

ACT I.

SCENE I. On a Ship at Sea.

A Storm, with Thunder and Lightning.

Enter a Shipmaster and a Boatswain.

BOATSWAIN,

Master.

Boats. Here, master: what cheer?

Mast. Good: Speak to the mariners: fall to't yarely1, or we run ourselves aground: bestir, bestir.

Enter Mariners.

[Exit.

Boats. Heigh, my hearts; cheerly, cheerly, my hearts; yare, yare: Take in the top-sail; Tend to the master's whistle.-Blow till thou burst thy wind, if room enough!

Enter ALONZO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, FERDINAND, GONZALO, and others.

Alon. Good Boatswain, have care. Where's the master? Play the men2.

1 That is, readily, nimbly.

2 That is, act with spirit, behave like men.

Thus Baret in his

Alvearie: "To play the man, or to show himself a valiant man in any matter. Se virum præbere." P. 399.

[ocr errors]

Viceroys and peers of Turkey play the men."
Tamberlaine, 1590.

Boats. I pray now, keep below.

Ant. Where is the master, boatswain?

Boats. Do you not hear him? You mar our labour! keep your cabins: you do assist the storm.

Gon. Nay, good, be patient.

Boats. When the sea is. Hence! What care these roarers for the name of king? To cabin: silence: trouble us not.

Gon. Good; yet remember whom thou hast aboard.

Boats. None that I more love than myself. You are a counsellor; if you can command these elements to silence, and work the peace of the present3, we will not hand a rope more; use your authority. If you cannot, give thanks you have lived so long, and make yourself ready in your cabin for the mischance of the hour, if it so hap.-Cheerly, good hearts. Out of our way, I say.

[Exit.

Gon. I have great comfort from this fellow: methinks, he hath no drowning mark upon him; his complexion is perfect gallows. Stand fast, good fate, to his hanging! make the rope of his destiny our cable, for our own doth little advantage! If he be not born to be hanged, our case is miserable. [Exeunt.

Re-enter Boatswain.

Boats. Down with the top-mast; yare; lower, lower; bring her to try with main course. [A cry within.] A plague upon this howling! they are louder than the weather, or our office.

3 The present instant.

4 In Smith's Sea Grammar, 1627, 4to. under the article How to handle a Ship in a Storme :-" Let us lie as Trie with our main course; that is, to hale the tacke aboord, the sheat close aft, the boling set up, and the helm tied close aboord."

Re-enter SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, and GONZALO.

Yet again! what do you here? Shall we give o'er, and drown? Have you a mind to sink?

Seb. A pox o' your throat! you bawling, blasphemous, uncharitable dog!

Boats. Work you, then.

Ant. Hang, cur, hang! you whoreson, insolent noise-maker, we are less afraid to be drowned than thou art.

Gon. I'll warrant him from drowning; though the ship were no stronger than a nut-shell, and as leaky as an unstanched 5 wench.

Boats. Lay her a-hold, a-hold; set her two courses; off to sea again, lay her off.

Enter Mariners, wet.

Mar. All lost! to prayers, to prayers! all lost!

Boats. What, must our mouths be cold?

[Exeunt.

Gon. The king and prince at prayers! let us as

sist them,

For our case is as theirs.

Seb. I am out of patience.

Ant. We are merely cheated of our lives by drunkards.

This wide-chapped rascal;-'Would, thou might'st lie drowning,

The washing of ten tides!

5 Mr. Stevens says incontinent, but the meaning is evident. In Beaumont and Fletcher's Mad Lover, Chilas says to the frightened priestess :

Down, you dog, then;

Be quiet and be staunch too, no inundations.

6 The courses are the main sail and fore sail. To lay a ship ahold, is to bring her to lie as near the wind as she can, in order to keep clear of the land and get her out to sea.

7 Merely, absolutely, entirely; Merè, Lat.

« ZurückWeiter »