Prospero.

And mine shall.

They being penitent, 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.

[Exit R.]

I'll fetch them, sir.

[Prospero makes a large circle on the center of the stage with his staff or wand and calls.]

Prospero. Miranda!

Fetch me the hat and rapier in my cell.

And while Miranda is bringing them [R.] he says:

I will discase1 me, and myself present

As I was sometime2 Duke of Milan.

Ariel comes [R.], followed by the shipwrecked King of Naples and the usurping Duke who enter the circle which Prospero has made, and there stand charmed. Prospero, upon seeing them, speaks to Ariel.

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

But yet thou shalt have freedom. So, so, so.3

Alonso. Some heavenly power guide us!

1 discase me: take off my disguise, i.e. change to my former clothes. 2 sometime: formerly.

3 So, so, so. This Prospero says as the King and his brother enter the magic circle and he begins to contemplate the sight of those whom he has not seen for so many years.

4 A wonderful example of the skill of Shakespeare to reveal in one short speech the depth of a character's feelings while going through some great change in attitude toward life is that contained in the following speech of Alonso, the King of Naples, in another part of the play. It may well be interpolated in this scene just before the exclamation, Some heavenly power guide us!

Alonso. O, it is monstrous, monstrous!

Methought the billows spoke and told me of it;
The winds did sing it to me, and the thunder,
That deep and dreadful organ-pipe, pronounced
The name of Prosper; it did bass my trespass.5

5 bass my trespass: proclaim my sin in deep, bass notes.

Prospero. Behold, sir King,

The wronged Duke of Milan, Prospero.

To thee (and thy company)1 I bid

A hearty welcome.

[Gives him his hands.]

Beats as of flesh and blood; and, since I saw thee,

The affliction of my mind amends.

I fear a madness held me. - I do entreat

Thou pardon me my wrongs. But how should Prospero Be living and be here?

Prospero. [To his brother.] First,

For you, most wicked sir, whom to call brother
Would even infect my mouth, I do forgive

Thy rankest faults; all of them; and require

My dukedom of thee, which perforce, I know,

Thou must restore. (And then to Ariel.) Come hither, spirit. Set Caliban and his companions free;

Untie the spell. [Exit Ariel R.] How fares my gracious sir? There are yet missing of your company

Some few odd lads that you remember not.

[Ariel enters driving in Caliban, Stephano, and Trinculo, R. in their stolen apparel.]

Stephano. Every man shift for all the rest, and let no man take care for himself; for all is but fortune. Coragio,2 bully-monster, coragio!

Trinculo. If these be true spies which I wear in my head, here's a goodly sight.

Caliban. O Setebos, these be brave spirits indeed!

How fine my master looks!3 I am afraid

He will chastise me.

1 (and thy company). Omit if playing and the cast is limited so that the King has no retinue.

2 Coragio (kō-rä'jō): courage (Italian).

3 How fine my master looks. That is, in his costume as Duke of Milan.

Alonso.

Ha, ha!

What things are these, my lord?

Will money buy 'em?

Antonio.

Very like; one of them

Is a plain fish, and, no doubt, marketable.

Prospero. His mother was a witch, and one so strong

That could control the moon. These three have robbed me; And this demi-devil had plotted with them

To take my life.

Caliban.

I shall be pinched to death.

Alonso. Is not this Stephano, my drunken butler?

Antonio. He is drunk now.

Alonso. And Trinculo is reeling ripe.1

Why, how now, Stephano!

Stephano. O, touch me not; I am not Stephano, but a cramp.

Prospero. You'd be king of the island, sir?

Stephano. I should have been a sore one, then.

Alonso. [Pointing to Caliban.] This is as strange a thing as e'er I look'd on.

Prospero. He is as disproportioned in his manners

As in his shape. - Go, sirrah, to my cell;

Take with you your companions. As you look
To have my pardon, trim i handsomely.

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 drunkard for a god

And worship this dull fool!

Prospero.

Go to; away!

Alonso. Hence, and bestow your finery where you found it. Antonio. Or stole it, rather.

[Caliban, Stephano, and Trinculo go into the cave R.]

1 reeling ripe: ready to reel, he is so drunk.

Prospero. Sir, I'd invite your Highness and your train
To my poor cell, where you might take your rest
For this one night; but, if you're ready now

I'll bring you to your ship and so to Naples;
Thence I'll betake me to my Milan.
Alonso.

To hear the story of your life.

Prospero.

I long

I'll tell you all;

And promise you calm seas, auspicious gales,

And sail so quick that we shall catch

Your royal fleet far off. [Aside to Ariel.] My Ariel, sprite, That is thy charge. Then to the elements

Be free, and fare thou well! [To the rest.] Please you,1 go now?

[Exeunt L.]

NOTE. The following ending may be interpolated:

Caliban peers out of the cave, and seeing no one, in place of the company he expected to see, draws back quickly. An instant later, Stephano and Trinculo burst out and race after the others, leaving Caliban to possess the island.

Ariel, who has skipped up and perched on the top of the rock, hugging knees in arms, sings.

Where the bee sucks, there suck I.

In a cowslip's bell I lie;

There I couch when owls do cry.

On the bat's back I do fly

After summer merrily.

Merrily, merrily shall I live now

Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.

Caliban looks round and listens attentively with a look of pleasure; then

with awkward steps he dances about, crooning and gurgling to himself. Freedom, hey-day! hey-day, freedom! freedom, hey-day, freedom!

[Curtain.]

1 Please you: if it please you.