Osric. How is't, Laertes? Laertes. I am justly killed with mine own treachery. King. She swounds' to see them bleed Queen. No, no, the drink, the drink, - O my dear Hamlet, — The drink, the drink! I am poisoned. [Dies.] Hamlet. O villainy! Ho! let the door be locked. [Laertes falls.] Laertes. It is here, Hamlet. Hamlet, thou art slain. No medicine in the world can do thee good; In thee there is not half an hour of life. The treacherous instrument is in thy hand; Hath turned itself on me. Never to rise again. Thy mother's poisoned! I can no more. Lo, here I lie, The King, the King's to blame. Hamlet. The point envenomed too! Then, poison, to thy work. He stabs the King. King. O, yet defend me, friends; I am but hurt.3 Hamlet. Here, thou murderous beast Drink off this poison! [King dies.] Laertes. He is justly served; It is a poison mixed by himself. Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet. [Dies.] 2 practice: trick. i swounds (swoonz): faints. Hamlet. Heaven make thee free of it! I follow thee. If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart, And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain O, I die, Horatio; The potent2 poison quite o'er-crows3 my spirit. On Fortinbras1; he has my dying voice. So tell him, with the occurrents,5 more and less,6 [Dies.] Horatio. Good-night, sweet prince, And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest. [March within.] Why does the drum come hither? Fortinbras, the Prince of Norway, enters with his soldiers, returning from a victory in Poland. Fortinbras. Where is this sight? O proud Death, What feast is on in thine eternal cell, So bloodily hast struck? Let four captains To have proved most royal; and, for his death, 1 felicity: joys. 2 potent (po'těnt): powerful. 3 o'er-crows: crows over, as in triumph. 4 election lights on Fortinbras; i.e. the choice for king of Denmark. 5 occurrents: events, incidents. 6 more and less: great and small. 7 solicited: prompted me. 8 For stage presentation the playet may end here, unless there are enough in the cast to represent Fortinbras and his army. CALIBAN A Forty-minute Play in Five Acts from THE TEMPEST THE PRESENTATIONS ALONSO (å-lonʼzo), King of Naples. PROSPERO (pros'per-ō), the right Duke of Milan. TRINCULO (tring'kū-lō), a jester. STEPHANO (stěf'à-nō), a drunken butler. MIRANDA (mi-răn'da), daughter to Prospero. ARIEL (a'rl-ěl), an airy spirit. 8 reading parts.* SETTING: An uninhabited island SYNOPSIS ACT I. Before Prospero's cell, a cave on a desert island. Prospero and Miranda, Ariel, Caliban. ACT II. Another part of the island. Caliban, Trinculo, Stephano. ACT III. Another part of the island. ACT IV. Before Prospero's cell. ACT V. Prospero and Ariel; the King of Naples; Prospero's brother, the usurping Duke. It may seem strange to see an uncouth, wicked man assume the title rôle, but in this playlet from The Tempest, Caliban must lead. * The King of Naples may be accompanied by two or three (or more) supernumerary lords. 1 Prolog-Introduction. Ariel may assume Prolog's lines. Not only does the interest gravitate toward him, but he is the principal comedian. Caliban is a hideous slave. His mother was a witch, and when she died, he was left a deformed child, on this barren island alone. This rocky isle, therefore, belongs to him. It is his inheritance. But the enchanter Prospero has taken it away from him. Prospero, however, is not a magician of the meaner sort. He is The Bermudas are on the other side of the globe, a thousand miles east of Cape Hatteras, i.e. off the coast of the United States. the Duke of Milan, banished by his wicked brother, who placed him and his infant daughter in an open boat, so that they drifted to this shore. Though Caliban is subject to him, he is treated as he deserves. Caliban is of the earth, earthy. His name is made up of the transposed letters of the word cannibal. He has the appetites and |