READ STUDY GUIDE: Act II, scene ii |
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Act II, Scene ii:
Another part of the island
Another part of the island
| [Enter CALIBAN, with a burden of wood. A noise of thunder heard] |
| CALIBAN : |
| All the infections that the sun sucks up |
| From bogs, fens, flats, on Prosper fall, and make him |
| By inch-meal a disease! His spirits hear me, |
| And yet I needs must curse. But they'll nor pinch, |
| Fright me with urchin-shows, pitch me i' the mire, |
| Nor lead me, like a firebrand, in the dark |
| Out of my way, unless he bid 'em; but |
| For every trifle are they set upon me: |
| Sometime like apes that mow and chatter at me, |
| And after bite me; then like hedge-hogs which |
| Lie tumbling in my bare-foot way, and mount |
| Their pricks at my foot-fall; sometime am I |
| All wound with adders, who with cloven tongues |
| Do hiss me into madness.— |
| [Enter TRINCULO] |
| Lo, now, lo! |
| Here comes a spirit of his, and to torment me |
| For bringing wood in slowly. I'll fall flat; |
| Perchance he will not mind me. |
| TRINCULO : |
| Here's neither bush nor shrub to bear off any |
| weather at all, and another storm brewing; I hear it |
| sing i' th' wind; yond same black cloud, yond huge one, |
| looks like a foul bombard that would shed his liquor. If |
| it should thunder as it did before, I know not where to |
| hide my head: yond same cloud cannot choose but fall by |
| pailfuls.—What have we here? a man or a fish? dead or |
| alive? A fish: he smells like a fish: a very ancient and |
| fish-like smell; a kind of not of the newest Poor-John. A |
| strange fish! Were I in England now,—as once I was, and |
| had but this fish painted, not a holiday fool there but |
| would give a piece of silver: there would this monster |
| make a man; any strange beast there makes a man. When |
| they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar, they |
| will lay out ten to see a dead Indian. Legg'd like a |
| man, and his fins like arms! Warm, o' my troth! I do now |
| let loose my opinion: hold it no longer; this is no |
| fish, but an islander, that hath lately suffered by |
| thunderbolt.[Thunder]Alas, the storm is come again! My |
| best way is to creep under his gaberdine; there is no |
| other shelter hereabout: misery acquaints a man with |
| strange bed-fellows. I will here shroud till the dregs |
| of the storm be past. |
| [Enter STEPHANO singing; a bottle in his hand] |
| STEPHANO : |
| I shall no more to sea, to sea, |
| Here shall I die a-shore:— |
| This is a very scurvy tune to sing at a man's funeral: |
| Well, here's my comfort. |
| [Drinks] |
| The master, the swabber, the boatswain, and I, |
| The gunner, and his mate, |
| Lov'd Mall, Meg, and Marian, and Margery, |
| But none of us car'd for Kate: |
| For she had a tongue with a tang, |
| Would cry to a sailor 'Go hang!' |
| She lov'd not the savour of tar nor of pitch, |
| Yet a tailor might scratch her wher-e'er she did itch. |
| Then to sea, boys, and let her go hang. |
| This is a scurvy tune too: but here's my comfort. |
| [Drinks] |
| CALIBAN : |
| Do not torment me: O! |
| STEPHANO : |
| What's the matter? Have we devils here? Do you |
| put tricks upon us with savages and men of Ind? Ha! I |
| have not 'scaped drowning, to be afeard now of your four |
| legs; for it hath been said, As proper a man as ever |
| went on four legs cannot make him give ground: and it |
| shall be said so again, while Stephano breathes at 's |
| nostrils. |
| CALIBAN : |
| The spirit torments me: O! |
| STEPHANO : |
| This is some monster of the isle with four legs, |
| who hath got, as I take it, an ague. Where the devil |
| should he learn our language? I will give him some |
| relief, if it be but for that; if I can recover him and |
| keep him tame and get to Naples with him, he's a |
| present for any emperor that ever trod on neat's-leather. |
| CALIBAN : |
| Do not torment me, prithee; I'll bring my wood |
| home faster. |
| STEPHANO : |
| He's in his fit now and does not talk after the |
| wisest. He shall taste of my bottle: if he have never |
| drunk wine afore, it will go near to remove his fit. If |
| I can recover him, and keep him tame, I will not take |
| too much for him: he shall pay for him that hath him, |
| and that soundly. |
| CALIBAN : |
| Thou dost me yet but little hurt; thou wilt anon, |
| I know it by thy trembling: now Prosper works upon thee. |
| STEPHANO : |
| Come on your ways: open your mouth; here is |
| that which will give language to you, cat. Open your |
| mouth: this will shake your shaking, I can tell you, and |
| that soundly[gives CALIBAN a drink]: you cannot tell who's your |
| friend: open your chaps again. |
| TRINCULO : |
| I should know that voice: it should be—but he is |
| drowned; and these are devils. O! defend me. |
| STEPHANO : |
| Four legs and two voices; a most delicate monster! |
| His forward voice now is to speak well of his |
| friend; his backward voice is to utter foul speeches, and |
| to detract. If all the wine in my bottle will recover |
| him, I will help his ague. Come. Amen! I will pour some |
| in thy other mouth. |
| TRINCULO : |
| Stephano! |
| STEPHANO : |
| Doth thy other mouth call me? Mercy! mercy! |
| This is a devil, and no monster: I will leave him: I |
| have no long spoon. |
| TRINCULO : |
| Stephano!—If thou beest Stephano, touch me, and |
| speak to me; for I am Trinculo:—be not afeared—thy good |
| friend Trinculo. |
| STEPHANO : |
| If thou beest Trinculo, come forth. I'll pull |
| thee by the lesser legs: if any be Trinculo's legs, these |
| are they. Thou art very Trinculo indeed! How cam'st thou |
| to be the siege of this moon-calf? Can he vent Trinculos? |
| TRINCULO : |
| I took him to be kill'd with a thunderstroke. |
| But art thou not drown'd, Stephano? I hope now thou are |
| not drown'd. Is the storm overblown? I hid me under the |
| dead moon-calf's gaberdine for fear of the storm. And |
| art thou living, Stephano? O Stephano, two Neapolitans |
| 'scaped! |
| STEPHANO : |
| Prithee, do not turn me about: my stomach is not constant. |
| CALIBAN : |
| [Aside] These be fine things, an if they be not sprites. |
| That's a brave god, and bears celestial liquor; |
| I will kneel to him. |
| STEPHANO : |
| How didst thou 'scape? How cam'st thou hither? swear |
| by this bottle how thou cam'st hither—I escaped upon |
| a butt of sack, which the sailors heaved overboard, by |
| this bottle! which I made of the bark of a tree, with |
| mine own hands, since I was cast ashore. |
| CALIBAN : |
| I'll swear upon that bottle to be thy true |
| subject, for the liquor is not earthly. |
| STEPHANO : |
| Here: swear then how thou escapedst. |
| TRINCULO : |
| Swum ashore, man, like a duck: I can swim like |
| a duck, I'll be sworn. |
| STEPHANO : |
| [Passing the bottle] Here, kiss the book [gives TRINCULO a drink] . Though thou canst swim like a |
| duck, thou art made like a goose. |
| TRINCULO : |
| O Stephano! hast any more of this? |
| STEPHANO : |
| The whole butt, man: my cellar is in a rock by |
| the seaside, where my wine is hid. How now, moon-calf! |
| How does thine ague? |
| CALIBAN : |
| Hast thou not dropped from heaven? |
| STEPHANO : |
| Out o' the moon, I do assure thee: I was the Man |
| in the Moon, when time was. |
| CALIBAN : |
| I have seen thee in her, and I do adore thee, my |
| mistress showed me thee, and thy dog and thy bush. |
| STEPHANO : |
| Come, swear to that; kiss the book; I will |
| furnish it anon with new contents; swear. |
| TRINCULO : |
| By this good light, this is a very shallow |
| monster.—I afeard of him!—A very weak monster. |
| —The Man i' the Moon! A most poor credulous |
| monster!—Well drawn, monster, in good sooth! |
| CALIBAN : |
| I'll show thee every fertile inch o' the island; |
| And I will kiss thy foot. I prithee, be my god. |
| TRINCULO : |
| By this light, a most perfidious and drunken |
| monster: when his god's asleep, he'll rob his bottle. |
| CALIBAN : |
| I'll kiss thy foot: I'll swear myself thy subject. |
| STEPHANO : |
| Come on, then; down, and swear. |
| TRINCULO : |
| I shall laugh myself to death at this puppy-headed |
| monster. A most scurvy monster! I could find in |
| my heart to beat him,— |
| STEPHANO : |
| Come, kiss. |
| TRINCULO : |
| But that the poor monster's in drink: an |
| abominable monster! |
| CALIBAN : |
| I'll show thee the best springs; I'll pluck thee |
| berries; |
| I'll fish for thee, and get thee wood enough. |
| A plague upon the tyrant that I serve! |
| I'll bear him no more sticks, but follow thee, |
| Thou wondrous man. |
| TRINCULO : |
| A most ridiculous monster, to make a wonder of |
| a poor drunkard! |
| CALIBAN : |
| I prithee, let me bring thee where crabs grow; |
| And I with my long nails will dig thee pig-nuts; |
| Show thee a jay's nest, and instruct thee how |
| To snare the nimble marmozet; I'll bring thee |
| To clust'ring filberts, and sometimes I'll get thee |
| Young scamels from the rock. Wilt thou go with me? |
| STEPHANO : |
| I prithee now, lead the way without any more |
| talking—Trinculo, the king and all our company else |
| being drowned, we will inherit here.—Here, bear my |
| bottle.—Fellow Trinculo, we'll fill him by and by |
| again. |
| CALIBAN : |
| Farewell, master; farewell, farewell![Sings drunkenly] |
| TRINCULO : |
| A howling monster, a drunken monster. |
| CALIBAN : |
| No more dams I'll make for fish; |
| Nor fetch in firing |
| At requiring, |
| Nor scrape trenchering, nor wash dish; |
| 'Ban 'Ban, Ca—Caliban, |
| Has a new master—Get a new man. |
| Freedom, high-day! high-day, freedom! freedom, |
| high-day, freedom! |
| STEPHANO : |
| O brave monster! lead the way. |
| [Exeunt] |
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