Tempest by William Shakespeare
Act 1 - Scene 1
On a ship at sea: a tempestuous noise
Gonzalo : The king and prince at prayers! let's assist them,
[p]For our case is
as theirs.
Sebastian : I'm out of patience.
Antonio : We are merely cheated of our lives by drunkards:
[p]This wide-chapp'd
rascal--would thou mightst lie drowning
[p]The washing of ten tides!
Gonzalo : He'll be hang'd yet,
[p]Though every drop of water swear against
it
[p]And gape at widest to glut him.
[p][A confused noise within:
'Mercy on us!'--]
[p]'We split, we split!'--'Farewell, my wife
and
[p]children!'--
[p]'Farewell, brother!'--'We split, we split, we
split!']
Antonio : Let's all sink with the king.
Sebastian : Let's take leave of him.
Gonzalo : Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an
[p]acre of barren
ground, long heath, brown furze, any
[p]thing. The wills above be
done! but I would fain
[p]die a dry death.
Master : Boatswain!
Boatswain : Here, master: what cheer?
Master : Good, speak to the mariners: fall to't, yarely,
[p]or we run ourselves
aground: bestir, bestir.
Boatswain : Heigh, my hearts! cheerly, cheerly, my hearts!
[p]yare, yare! Take in
the topsail. Tend to the
[p]master's whistle. Blow, till thou burst
thy wind,
[p]if room enough!
[p][Enter ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO,
FERDINAND,]
[p]GONZALO, and others]
Alonso : Good boatswain, have care. Where's the master?
[p]Play the men.
Boatswain : I pray now, keep below.
Antonio : Where is the master, boatswain?
Boatswain : Do you not hear him? You mar our labour: keep your
[p]cabins: you do
assist the storm.
Gonzalo : Nay, good, be patient.
Boatswain : When the sea is. Hence! What cares these roarers
[p]for the name of
king? To cabin: silence! trouble us not.
Gonzalo : Good, yet remember whom thou hast aboard.
Boatswain : None that I more love than myself. You are a
[p]counsellor; if you can
command these elements to
[p]silence, and work the peace of the
present, we will
[p]not hand a rope more; use your authority: if
you
[p]cannot, give thanks you have lived so long, and
make
[p]yourself ready in your cabin for the mischance of
[p]the hour,
if it so hap. Cheerly, good hearts! Out
[p]of our way, I say.
Gonzalo : I have great comfort from this fellow: methinks he
[p]hath no drowning
mark upon him; his complexion is
[p]perfect gallows. Stand fast, good
Fate, to his
[p]hanging: make the rope of his destiny our
cable,
[p]for our own doth little advantage. If he be not
[p]born to
be hanged, our case is miserable.
Boatswain : Down with the topmast! yare! lower, lower! Bring
[p]her to try with
main-course.
[p][A cry within]
[p]A plague upon this howling! they are
louder than
[p]the weather or our office.
[p][Re-enter SEBASTIAN,
ANTONIO, and GONZALO]
[p]Yet again! what do you here? Shall we give
o'er
[p]and drown? Have you a mind to sink?
Sebastian : A pox o' your throat, you bawling, blasphemous,
[p]incharitable dog!
Boatswain : Work you then.
Antonio : Hang, cur! hang, you whoreson, insolent noisemaker!
[p]We are less
afraid to be drowned than thou art.
Gonzalo : I'll warrant him for drowning; though the ship were
[p]no stronger
than a nutshell and as leaky as an
[p]unstanched wench.
Boatswain : Lay her a-hold, a-hold! set her two courses off to
[p]sea again; lay
her off.
Mariners : All lost! to prayers, to prayers! all lost!
Boatswain : What, must our mouths be cold?
Next: Act 1 - Scene 2
