The Tempest: Act 2, Scene 1 Translation

A side-by-side translation of Act 2, Scene 1 of The Tempest from the original Shakespeare into modern English.

Original Text	Translated Text
Source: Folger Shakespeare Library
Enter Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Gonzalo, Adrian, Francisco, and others. GONZALO, to Alonso Beseech you, sir, be merry. You have cause— So have we all—of joy, for our escape Is much beyond our loss. Our hint of woe Is common; every day some sailor’s wife, The masters of some merchant, and the merchant 5 Have just our theme of woe. But for the miracle— I mean our preservation—few in millions Can speak like us. Then wisely, good sir, weigh Our sorrow with our comfort.	After washing up on the island, Gonzalo tells everyone that they can balance their sorrow with comfort—at least they've survived the terrible shipwreck.
ALONSO Prithee, peace. 10	The King, Alonso, tells Gonzalo to shut up.
SEBASTIAN, aside to Antonio He receives comfort like cold porridge. ANTONIO The visitor will not give him o’er so. SEBASTIAN Look, he’s winding up the watch of his wit. By and by it will strike. 15	Sebastian and Antonio are amused by this exchange and the way Alonso so quickly dismissed Gonzalo. They know Gonzalo won't let it go, though—they can see him getting ready to argue his point.
GONZALO, to Alonso Sir— SEBASTIAN One. Tell. GONZALO When every grief is entertained that’s offered, comes to th’ entertainer— SEBASTIAN A dollar. 20 GONZALO Dolor comes to him indeed. You have spoken truer than you purposed. SEBASTIAN You have taken it wiselier than I meant you should. GONZALO, to Alonso Therefore, my lord— 25 ANTONIO Fie, what a spendthrift is he of his tongue. ALONSO, to Gonzalo I prithee, spare. GONZALO Well, I have done. But yet—	Gonzalo continues to press his point that they should be thankful for their survival and resist wallowing in their grief. All the while, Sebastian and Antonio interrupt and mock him, and Alonso again asks him to stop talking. Tough room.
SEBASTIAN, aside to Antonio He will be talking. ANTONIO, aside to Sebastian Which, of he or Adrian, 30 for a good wager, first begins to crow? SEBASTIAN The old cock. ANTONIO The cockerel. SEBASTIAN Done. The wager? ANTONIO A laughter. 35 SEBASTIAN A match!	Sebastian and Antonio amuse themselves by betting who will speak next: Gonzalo or Adrian.
ADRIAN Though this island seem to be desert— ANTONIO Ha, ha, ha. SEBASTIAN So. You’re paid.	Antonio wins when Adrian pipes up to complain about the island.
ADRIAN Uninhabitable and almost inaccessible— 40 SEBASTIAN Yet— ADRIAN Yet— ANTONIO He could not miss ’t. ADRIAN It must needs be of subtle, tender, and delicate temperance. 45 ANTONIO Temperance was a delicate wench. SEBASTIAN Ay, and a subtle, as he most learnedly delivered. ADRIAN The air breathes upon us here most sweetly. SEBASTIAN As if it had lungs, and rotten ones. 50 ANTONIO Or as ’twere perfumed by a fen. GONZALO Here is everything advantageous to life. ANTONIO True, save means to live. SEBASTIAN Of that there’s none, or little. GONZALO How lush and lusty the grass looks! How 55 green! ANTONIO The ground indeed is tawny. SEBASTIAN With an eye of green in ’t. ANTONIO He misses not much. SEBASTIAN No, he doth but mistake the truth totally. 60	Interestingly, different sets of people see entirely different things when they survey the island. Gonzalo sees thick, green grass while Antonio and Sebastian only see a nasty, uninhabitable place with brown vegetation and a stench in the air. Adrian comes down somewhere in the middle. He says that although the island seems uninhabitable, the air is sweet and fresh. (Reminds us of that parable about the blind men and the elephant.)
GONZALO But the rarity of it is, which is indeed almost beyond credit— SEBASTIAN As many vouched rarities are. GONZALO That our garments, being, as they were, drenched in the sea, hold notwithstanding their 65 freshness and gloss, being rather new-dyed than stained with salt water. ANTONIO If but one of his pockets could speak, would it not say he lies? SEBASTIAN Ay, or very falsely pocket up his report. 70 GONZALO Methinks our garments are now as fresh as when we put them on first in Afric, at the marriage of the King’s fair daughter Claribel to the King of Tunis. SEBASTIAN ’Twas a sweet marriage, and we prosper 75 well in our return. ADRIAN Tunis was never graced before with such a paragon to their queen. GONZALO Not since widow Dido’s time. ANTONIO Widow? A pox o’ that! How came that “widow” 80 in? Widow Dido! SEBASTIAN What if he had said “widower Aeneas” too? Good Lord, how you take it! ADRIAN, to Gonzalo “Widow Dido,” said you? You make me study of that. She was of Carthage, not of 85 Tunis. GONZALO This Tunis, sir, was Carthage. ADRIAN Carthage? GONZALO I assure you, Carthage. ANTONIO His word is more than the miraculous harp. 90 SEBASTIAN He hath raised the wall, and houses too. ANTONIO What impossible matter will he make easy next? SEBASTIAN I think he will carry this island home in his pocket and give it his son for an apple. 95 ANTONIO And sowing the kernels of it in the sea, bring forth more islands. GONZALO Ay. ANTONIO Why, in good time.	Gonzalo, the eternal optimist, notes their clothes are as fresh as the first time they were worn for the marriage of Alonso's daughter, Claribel, to the King of Tunis, which, of course, Antonio and Sebastian dispute...as they dispute pretty much everything Gonzalo says. Gonzalo takes their snarkiness in stride.
GONZALO, to Alonso Sir, we were talking that our 100 garments seem now as fresh as when we were at Tunis at the marriage of your daughter, who is now queen. ANTONIO And the rarest that e’er came there. SEBASTIAN Bate, I beseech you, widow Dido. 105 ANTONIO O, widow Dido? Ay, widow Dido. GONZALO, to Alonso Is not, sir, my doublet as fresh as the first day I wore it? I mean, in a sort. ANTONIO That “sort” was well fished for. GONZALO, to Alonso When I wore it at your daughter’s 110 marriage. ALONSO You cram these words into mine ears against The stomach of my sense. Would I had never Married my daughter there, for coming thence My son is lost, and, in my rate, she too, 115 Who is so far from Italy removed I ne’er again shall see her.—O, thou mine heir Of Naples and of Milan, what strange fish Hath made his meal on thee?	Gonzalo tries his "aren't our clothes cleaner than ever?" theory on Alonso, but the King won't hear it. He's full of grief and regrets that he married his daughter to a man in so far off a place. She's so far away he'll probably never see her again, and the voyage to marry her off has cost him his son, who's probably been eaten by a strange and exotic fish.
FRANCISCO Sir, he may live. 120 I saw him beat the surges under him And ride upon their backs. He trod the water, Whose enmity he flung aside, and breasted The surge most swoll’n that met him. His bold head ’Bove the contentious waves he kept, and oared 125 Himself with his good arms in lusty stroke To th’ shore, that o’er his wave-worn basis bowed, As stooping to relieve him. I not doubt He came alive to land. ALONSO No, no, he’s gone. 130	Francisco, an attendant lord, tries to reassure the King that Prince Ferdinand might still be alive, but the King won't hear any of this perky optimism.
SEBASTIAN Sir, you may thank yourself for this great loss, That would not bless our Europe with your daughter, But rather lose her to an African, Where she at least is banished from your eye, Who hath cause to wet the grief on ’t. 135 ALONSO Prithee, peace. SEBASTIAN You were kneeled to and importuned otherwise By all of us; and the fair soul herself Weighed between loathness and obedience at Which end o’ th’ beam should bow. We have lost 140 your son, I fear, forever. Milan and Naples have More widows in them of this business’ making Than we bring men to comfort them. The fault’s your own. 145 ALONSO So is the dear’st o’ th’ loss.	Sebastian takes the opportunity to confirm that his brother, the King, needs a good kick in the teeth. As the King grieves his two lost children, Sebastian points out that the King's loss is his own fault; even though everyone harassed King Alonso about it, he chose to marry his daughter to a far-off African instead of a closer European.
GONZALO My lord Sebastian, The truth you speak doth lack some gentleness And time to speak it in. You rub the sore When you should bring the plaster. 150 SEBASTIAN Very well. ANTONIO And most chirurgeonly.	Gonzalo gently tells Sebastian this is not the time for, "I told you sos." He's rubbing salt in the wound when he should be offering a band-aid.
GONZALO, to Alonso It is foul weather in us all, good sir, When you are cloudy. SEBASTIAN Foul weather? 155 ANTONIO Very foul. GONZALO Had I plantation of this isle, my lord— ANTONIO He’d sow ’t with nettle seed. SEBASTIAN Or docks, or mallows. GONZALO And were the king on ’t, what would I do? 160 SEBASTIAN Scape being drunk, for want of wine. GONZALO I’ th’ commonwealth I would by contraries Execute all things, for no kind of traffic Would I admit; no name of magistrate; Letters should not be known; riches, poverty, 165 And use of service, none; contract, succession, Bourn, bound of land, tilth, vineyard, none; No use of metal, corn, or wine, or oil; No occupation; all men idle, all, And women too, but innocent and pure; 170 No sovereignty— SEBASTIAN Yet he would be king on ’t. ANTONIO The latter end of his commonwealth forgets the beginning.	Gonzalo changes the subject back to the island, which shows itself to him as beautiful. He says that if he were king of the island, there would be no trade in money—no politicians, no schools, no rich or poor, no slavery, no inheritance, no dividing up the land, no occupation of any kind—just idle, wholesome, idyllic men and women living happily. Brain Snack: Gonzalo's big speech is based on a famous passage from John Florio's 1603 translation of an essay called "Of Cannibals" by Montaigne.
GONZALO All things in common nature should produce 175 Without sweat or endeavor; treason, felony, Sword, pike, knife, gun, or need of any engine Would I not have; but nature should bring forth Of its own kind all foison, all abundance, To feed my innocent people. 180 SEBASTIAN No marrying ’mong his subjects? ANTONIO None, man, all idle: whores and knaves. GONZALO I would with such perfection govern, sir, T’ excel the Golden Age.	Gonzalo's people would live off of the bounty of everything nature brings forth, and he announces he would govern to excel the Golden Age (according to classical mythology, this was the first of the "Ages of Man," when there was no violence, conflict, or injustice, and when nobody had to work for food or shelter).
SEBASTIAN ’Save his Majesty! 185 ANTONIO Long live Gonzalo! GONZALO And do you mark me, sir? ALONSO Prithee, no more. Thou dost talk nothing to me. GONZALO I do well believe your Highness, and did it to minister occasion to these gentlemen, who are of 190 such sensible and nimble lungs that they always use to laugh at nothing. ANTONIO ’Twas you we laughed at. GONZALO Who in this kind of merry fooling am nothing to you. So you may continue, and laugh at 195 nothing still. ANTONIO What a blow was there given! SEBASTIAN An it had not fallen flatlong. GONZALO You are gentlemen of brave mettle. You would lift the moon out of her sphere if she would 200 continue in it five weeks without changing.	Antonio and Sebastian make snide comments and the King tells everyone to pipe down, as they're all talking nonsense. Gonzalo agrees his words were foolish, but says he was only trying to give Sebastian and Antonio something to laugh at, since they love to poke fun at everything. They respond by poking fun at Gonzalo. Again.
Enter Ariel invisible, playing solemn music. SEBASTIAN We would so, and then go a-batfowling. ANTONIO, to Gonzalo Nay, good my lord, be not angry. GONZALO No, I warrant you, I will not adventure my discretion so weakly. Will you laugh me asleep? 205 For I am very heavy. ANTONIO Go sleep, and hear us. All sink down asleep except Alonso, Antonio, and Sebastian.	Ariel enters playing a song, and everyone suddenly drifts off to sleep, lulled by the music, except for Alonso, Sebastian, and Antonio.
ALONSO What, all so soon asleep? I wish mine eyes Would, with themselves, shut up my thoughts. I find They are inclined to do so. 210 SEBASTIAN Please you, sir, Do not omit the heavy offer of it. It seldom visits sorrow; when it doth, It is a comforter. ANTONIO We two, my lord, 215 Will guard your person while you take your rest, And watch your safety. ALONSO Thank you. Wondrous heavy. Alonso sleeps. Ariel exits.	Alonso says he, too, would like to go to sleep, and Antonio and Sebastian tell him to go for it. They'll keep watch over him while he rests.
SEBASTIAN What a strange drowsiness possesses them! ANTONIO It is the quality o’ th’ climate. 220 SEBASTIAN Why Doth it not then our eyelids sink? I find Not myself disposed to sleep.	Antonio and Sebastian are not at all sleepy, and they wonder what happened to make everyone else pass out so quickly.
ANTONIO Nor I. My spirits are nimble. They fell together all, as by consent. 225 They dropped as by a thunderstroke. What might, Worthy Sebastian, O, what might—? No more. And yet methinks I see it in thy face What thou shouldst be. Th’ occasion speaks thee, and My strong imagination sees a crown 230 Dropping upon thy head. SEBASTIAN What, art thou waking? ANTONIO Do you not hear me speak? SEBASTIAN I do, and surely It is a sleepy language, and thou speak’st 235 Out of thy sleep. What is it thou didst say? This is a strange repose, to be asleep With eyes wide open—standing, speaking, moving— And yet so fast asleep. ANTONIO Noble Sebastian, 240 Thou let’st thy fortune sleep, die rather, wink’st Whiles thou art waking. SEBASTIAN Thou dost snore distinctly. There’s meaning in thy snores. ANTONIO I am more serious than my custom. You 245 Must be so too, if heed me; which to do Trebles thee o’er.	Antonio, who we know took his brother's (Prospero's) dukedom through treachery, doesn't waste any time before implying that there's an opportunity here for Sebastian to get a crown, as in, become King. Sebastian can't quite believe what he's hearing and keeps asking Antonio if he's awake or just talking in his sleep, but Antonio insists he's both awake and serious.
SEBASTIAN Well, I am standing water. ANTONIO I’ll teach you how to flow. SEBASTIAN Do so. To ebb 250 Hereditary sloth instructs me. ANTONIO O, If you but knew how you the purpose cherish Whiles thus you mock it, how in stripping it You more invest it. Ebbing men indeed 255 Most often do so near the bottom run By their own fear or sloth. SEBASTIAN Prithee, say on. The setting of thine eye and cheek proclaim A matter from thee, and a birth indeed 260 Which throes thee much to yield. ANTONIO Thus, sir: Although this lord of weak remembrance—this, Who shall be of as little memory When he is earthed—hath here almost persuaded— 265 For he’s a spirit of persuasion, only Professes to persuade—the King his son’s alive, ’Tis as impossible that he’s undrowned As he that sleeps here swims. SEBASTIAN I have no hope 270 That he’s undrowned.	Sebastian says he's listening, but Antonio's going to have to spell it out for him, so Antonio does. He starts by telling Sebastian to stop joking around and take him seriously, and then asks if Sebastian has any hope that Ferdinand, his nephew and King Alonso's son, is alive. Sebastian admits he's sure Ferdinand has drowned.
ANTONIO O, out of that no hope What great hope have you! No hope that way is Another way so high a hope that even Ambition cannot pierce a wink beyond, 275 But doubt discovery there. Will you grant with me That Ferdinand is drowned? SEBASTIAN He’s gone. ANTONIO Then tell me, Who’s the next heir of Naples? 280 SEBASTIAN Claribel. ANTONIO She that is Queen of Tunis; she that dwells Ten leagues beyond man’s life; she that from Naples Can have no note, unless the sun were post— The man i’ th’ moon’s too slow—till newborn chins 285 Be rough and razorable; she that from whom We all were sea-swallowed, though some cast again, And by that destiny to perform an act Whereof what’s past is prologue, what to come In yours and my discharge. 290 SEBASTIAN What stuff is this? How say you? ’Tis true my brother’s daughter’s Queen of Tunis, So is she heir of Naples, ’twixt which regions There is some space. ANTONIO A space whose ev’ry cubit 295 Seems to cry out “How shall that Claribel Measure us back to Naples? Keep in Tunis And let Sebastian wake.” Say this were death That now hath seized them, why, they were no worse Than now they are. There be that can rule Naples 300 As well as he that sleeps, lords that can prate As amply and unnecessarily As this Gonzalo. I myself could make A chough of as deep chat. O, that you bore The mind that I do, what a sleep were this 305 For your advancement! Do you understand me? SEBASTIAN Methinks I do.	After firmly establishing that they both think Ferdinand is out of the picture, Antonio goes on to explain that the King's daughter, Claribel, lives too far away to rule the kingdom. He asks Sebastian if he's picking up what Antonio is laying down, and Sebastian says he thinks so.
ANTONIO And how does your content Tender your own good fortune? SEBASTIAN I remember 310 You did supplant your brother Prospero. ANTONIO True, And look how well my garments sit upon me, Much feater than before. My brother’s servants Were then my fellows; now they are my men. 315 SEBASTIAN But, for your conscience? ANTONIO Ay, sir, where lies that? If ’twere a kibe, ’Twould put me to my slipper, but I feel not This deity in my bosom. Twenty consciences That stand ’twixt me and Milan, candied be they 320 And melt ere they molest! Here lies your brother, No better than the earth he lies upon. If he were that which now he’s like—that’s dead— Whom I with this obedient steel, three inches of it, Can lay to bed forever; whiles you, doing thus, 325 To the perpetual wink for aye might put This ancient morsel, this Sir Prudence, who Should not upbraid our course. For all the rest, They’ll take suggestion as a cat laps milk. They’ll tell the clock to any business that 330 We say befits the hour.	Sebastian quibbles a bit, and asks if Antonio's conscience doesn't bother him for stealing his brother's title. Antonio replies that he's led by practicality, not conscience. (Geesh. Who does Antonio think he is? Bad-brother Claudius from Hamlet?)
SEBASTIAN Thy case, dear friend, Shall be my precedent: as thou got’st Milan, I’ll come by Naples. Draw thy sword. One stroke Shall free thee from the tribute which thou payest, 335 And I the King shall love thee. ANTONIO Draw together, And when I rear my hand, do you the like To fall it on Gonzalo. They draw their swords. SEBASTIAN O, but one word. 340 They talk apart.	Sebastian comes around, and two plotters agree that if Antonio draws his sword to kill the King, Sebastian will draw on Gonzalo, and Sebastian's path to power will be clear. They unsheathe their swords, and Sebastian says, "Oh wait—one last thing."
Enter Ariel, invisible, with music and song. ARIEL, to the sleeping Gonzalo My master through his art foresees the danger That you, his friend, are in, and sends me forth— For else his project dies—to keep them living. Sings in Gonzalo’s ear: While you here do snoring lie, Open-eyed conspiracy 345 His time doth take. If of life you keep a care, Shake off slumber and beware. Awake, awake! ANTONIO, to Sebastian Then let us both be sudden. 350	Ariel enters and whispers in Gonzalo's ear of their treachery.
GONZALO, waking Now, good angels preserve the King! He wakes Alonso. ALONSO, to Sebastian Why, how now, ho! Awake? Why are you drawn? Wherefore this ghastly looking? GONZALO, to Sebastian What’s the matter? 355	Gonzalo wakes up and quickly wakes the King, too. Everyone rises to find Sebastian and Antonio with their swords drawn.
SEBASTIAN Whiles we stood here securing your repose, Even now, we heard a hollow burst of bellowing Like bulls, or rather lions. Did ’t not wake you? It struck mine ear most terribly. ALONSO I heard nothing. 360 ANTONIO O, ’twas a din to fright a monster’s ear, To make an earthquake. Sure, it was the roar Of a whole herd of lions.	Sebastian and Antonio claim they heard the howling of lions and only drew their swords to protect the King.
ALONSO Heard you this, Gonzalo? GONZALO Upon mine honor, sir, I heard a humming, 365 And that a strange one too, which did awake me. I shaked you, sir, and cried. As mine eyes opened, I saw their weapons drawn. There was a noise, That’s verily. ’Tis best we stand upon our guard, Or that we quit this place. Let’s draw our weapons. 370 ALONSO Lead off this ground, and let’s make further search For my poor son. GONZALO Heavens keep him from these beasts, For he is, sure, i’ th’ island. ALONSO Lead away. 375	King Alonso is freaked out by the possibility of lions and, not knowing Antonio and Sebastian's wicked plan, he suggests they all leave the place at once to see if they can find his son.
ARIEL, aside Prospero my lord shall know what I have done. So, king, go safely on to seek thy son. They exit.	Ariel pledges to tattle to Prospero about Sebastian and Antonio's wickedness. Meanwhile, he will help the King safely seek the Prince.

The Tempest: Act 2, Scene 1 Translation

A side-by-side translation of Act 2, Scene 1 of The Tempest from the original Shakespeare into modern English.

Original Text

Translated Text

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