The Tempest by William Shakespeare 1

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Title: ”The Tempest ”

Author: William Shakespeare

Publishing house: Oxford University Press

Edition: 2008

General Editor: Stanley Wells

Edited by: Stephen Orgel

 “Your tale, sir, would cure deafness” (Miranda to Prospero, page 107)
 “I should sin/ To think but nobly of my grandmother:/ Good wombs have borne bad
sons” (Miranda, pages 107 - 108)
 Miranda takes Prospero`s attack on Antonio to imply an accusation of adultery
against Prospero`s mother. (page 107)
 “Hast thou forgot/ The foul witch Sycorax, who with age and envy/ Was grown into a
hoop? Hast thou forget her?” (Prospero to Ariel, page 115)
 Sycorax: The name has never been satisfactorily explained. It is usually
etymologized from the Greek sus (pig) and korax (raven); only the latter of these
seems right. The figure is largely derived from Ovid`s account of Medea in
Metamorphoses 7, and the name sounds like an epithet for Medea, the Scythian
raven. Overtones of Circe may be also present: Kermode points out that according
to mythographers she `was born in Colchis, the district of the Coraxi tribe` -
Medea also came from Colchis. The account of Sycorax`s career is presented as
deriving from Prospero`s memory, but in fact the memory is Ariel`s. Prospero
never saw Sycorax, who died before he came to the island. (page 115)
 “Most sure, the goddess/ On whom these airs attend. Vouchsafe my prayer/ May know if
you remain upon this island,/ And that you will some good instructions give/ How Imay
bear me here. My prime request,/ Which I do last pronounce, is – O you wonder! - / If
you be maid or no?” (Ferdinand, page 124)
 maid = a girl, as opposed to either a goddess or a married woman
 “A single thing, as I am now, that wonders/ To hear thee speak of Naples. He does hear
me,/ And that he does, I weep: myself am Naples,/ Who with mine eyes, never since at
ebb, beheld/ The King my father wrecked.” (Ferdinand, page 125)
 A single thing, as I am now – The King of Naples and I are one and the same; I
would be only what I am now. Single has overtones of simplicity and poverty, but
the word also, in conjunctin with Ferdinand`s questionabout whether Miranda is a
maid, asserts that he too is unmarried.
 “Sir, have pity;/ I`ll be his surety.” (Miranda to Prospero, page 127)
 The Tempest by William Shakespeare 2
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 “Here, kiss the book. (He gives Trinculo the bottle)/ Though thou canst swim like a duck,
thou art made like/ a goose.” (Stephano, page 149)
 “But these sweet thoughts do even refresh my labours,/ Most busil`est when I do it.”
(Ferdinand, page 152)
 “I do not know/ One of my sex, no woman`s face remember,/ Save from my glass, mine
own; nor have I seen/ More that I may call men than you, good friend,/ And my dear
father. How features are abroad/ I am skilless of; but by my modesty,/ The jewel in my
drower, I would not wish/ Any companion in the world but you;/ Nor can imagination
from a shape/ Besides yourself to like of. But I prattle/ Something too wildly, and my
father`s precepts/ I therein do forget.” (Miranda to Ferdinand, page 154)
 Alonso: “When did you lose your daughter?”
Prospero: “In this last tempest.”
“My dukedom since you have given me again,/ I will requite you with as good as
thing,/ At least bring forth a wonder to content ye/ As much as me my dukedom”
“Here Prospero discovers Ferdinand and Miranda
playing at chess”
(pages 195-196)
 Playing at chess – The territorial ambitions of their elders are transformed by
Ferdinand and Miranda into the stratagems of chess. The game was an aristocratic
pastime associated with illicit sexual overtones, and also served as a frequent
allegory of politics, most notoriously in Middleton`s Game at chess (1621).
(page 197)
 Epilogue spoken by Prospero:
“Now my charms are all o`erthrown,
And what strength I have`s mine own,
Which is most faint. Now `tis true
I must be here confined by you,
Or sent to Naples. Let me not,
Since I have my dukedom got,
And pardoned the deceiver, dwell
In this bare island by your spell,
But release me from my bands
With the help of your good hands.
Gentle breath of yours my sails
Must fill, or else my project fails,
Which was to please. Now I want
Spirits to enforce, art to enchant;
And my ending is despair
Unless I be relieved by prayer,
Which pieces that it assaults
 The Tempest by William Shakespeare 3
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Mercy itself, and frees all faults.
As you from crimes would pardoned be,
Let your indulgence set me free.”
(pages 204-205)