The Tempest Act I
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
04_9781118486764-ch01.qxd:9781118486764-ch01.qxd 8/10/12 9:16 AM Page 29 COLES NOTES TOTAL STUDY EDITION THE TEMPEST ACT I Scene 1 . 31 Scene 2 . 35 Prospero They are both in either’s powers; but this swift business I must uneasy make, lest too light winning Make the prize light. COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL 04_9781118486764-ch01.qxd:9781118486764-ch01.qxd 8/10/12 9:16 AM Page 30 04_9781118486764-ch01.qxd:9781118486764-ch01.qxd 8/10/12 9:16 AM Page 31 Coles Notes Total Study Edition The Tempest • Act I, Scene 1 31 Act I, On board a storm-tossed ship at sea, sailors must battle against not only Scene 1 the elements but also the interference of King Alonso and his attendants. As the storm worsens, nearly everyone aboard the vessel—from the King to the lowliest sailor—is convinced that they are doomed to shipwreck and to death. ACT I, SCENE 1 NOTES [A ship at sea.] A tempestuous noise of thunder and lightning heard. Enter a SHIPMASTER and a BOATSWAIN. Master Boatswain! 1. Boatswain: (BO-sun) See line 12. The first mate. Boatswain Here, master. What cheer? Master Good, speak to th’ mariners; fall to’t 3. Good: good man or fellow. yarely, or we run ourselves aground. Bestir, bestir! 4. yarely: quickly, smartly. Enter MARINERS. Boatswain Heigh, my hearts! Cheerly, cheerly, 5 5. Cheerly: cheerfully, with a positive attitude. my hearts! Yare, yare! Take in the topsail! Tend to th’ master’s whistle! Blow till thou burst thy 7. Blow . : addressed to the storm. wind, if room enough! Enter ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, FERDINAND, GONZALO, and Others. Alonso Good boatswain, have care. Where’s the master? Play the men. 10 10. Play: Attend to the men; keep them on task. Boatswain I pray now, keep below. Antonio Where is the master, bos’n? 12. bos’n: (bo’-sun) See line 1. Boatswain Do you not hear him? You mar our labour. Keep your cabins: you do assist the storm. Gonzalo Nay, good, be patient. 15 15. good: man, understood as at line 3. Boatswain When the sea is. Hence! What cares 16. What cares: a common usage in Early Modern Eng- lish of the singular form of the verb with a plural these roarers for the name of king? To cabin! subject. Silence! Trouble us not! 17. roarers: roaring winds and thunder claps. Gonzalo Good, yet remember whom thou hast aboard. 20 Boatswain None that I more love than myself. You are a councillor: if you can command these elements to silence and work the peace of the 04_9781118486764-ch01.qxd:9781118486764-ch01.qxd 8/10/12 9:16 AM Page 32 32 Coles Notes Total Study Edition The Tempest • Act I, Scene 1 present, we will not hand a rope more; use your au- 24. hand: i.e., handle. thority. If you cannot, give thanks you have lived 25 so long, and make yourself ready in your cabin 26. make . ready: prepare yourself—physically and for the mischance of the hour, if it so hap.— spiritually—for death. Cheerily, good hearts!—Out of our way, I say. Exeunt 28. Cheerily, good hearts!: the boatswain addresses this to the sailors, and turns, with his next phrase, Gonzalo I have great comfort from this fellow: to brush the court party aside. methinks he hath no drowning mark upon him; his 30 complexion is perfect gallows. Stand fast, good Fate, 31. complexion: his face, as an indication of charac- to his hanging! Make the rope of his destiny our ter or temperament. cable, for our own doth little advantage. If he be Stand fast . hanging!: an allusion to the proverb not born to be hanged, our case is miserable. Exit “Who’s born to be hanged will never drown.” Enter BOATSWAIN. Boatswain Down with the topmast! Yare! Lower, 35 lower! Bring her to try with main-course! (A cry within.) 36. to try: to lie hull-to or hove-to; lower the mainsail A plague upon this howling! They are and stand nearly stationary. louder than the weather or our office. main-course: mainsail. 38. louder than . office: i.e., the “howling” of the Enter SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, and GONZALO. passengers makes more noise than either the Yet again? What do you here? Shall we give o’er weather or the sailors at their work (“office”). and drown? Have you a mind to sink? 40 39. Shall we give o’er: i.e., shall we give up, because of your interference, and drown? Sebastian A’pox o’ your throat, you bawling, blas- phemous, incharitable dog! Boatswain Work you, then. Antonio Hang, cur, hang, you whoreson, insolent noisemaker! We are less afraid to be drowned than 45 thou art. Gonzalo I’ll warrant him for drowning, though the 47. I’ll warrant . drowning: I’ll guarantee that he ship were no stronger than a nutshell and as leaky won’t drown. as an unstanched wench. 49. unstanched: loose. Boatswain Lay her ahold, ahold! Set her two 50 courses off to sea again. Lay her off! 51. Lay her ahold: i.e., a-hull, or hove-to. The boatswain immediately reverses this order (“Off Enter MARINERS wet. to sea again!”) when he sees there is no room to lie-to. The nautically minded Early Modern audi- Mariners All lost! To prayers, to prayers! All lost! ence would understand the crisis implied in this reversal. The sea-drenched mariners who now Exeunt enter confirm the danger. Boatswain What, must our mouths be cold? 52. cold: cold without the opportunity to enjoy a final drink. Gonzalo The King and Prince at prayers, let’s assist them, 04_9781118486764-ch01.qxd:9781118486764-ch01.qxd 8/10/12 9:16 AM Page 33 Coles Notes Total Study Edition The Tempest • Act I, Scene 1 33 For our case is as theirs. Sebastian I am out of patience. Antonio We are merely cheated of our lives by 55 56. merely: absolutely, completely. drunkards. This wide-chopped rascal—would thou mightst lie 57. wide-chopped: wide-jawed—often drinking—and drowning loud-mouthed. The washing of ten tides! 58. The washing . tides: “An exaggerated form of the sentence passed upon pirates by the English court Gonzalo He’ll be hanged yet, of Admiralty, which was that they should be hanged on the shore at low water mark and remain there Though every drop of water swear against it until three tides had flowed and ebbed.” (Arden edi- And gape at wid’st to glut him. 60 tion, second series) A confused noise within: 60. glut: swallow. “Mercy on us!”— We split, we split—Farewell, my wife and chil- dren!— Farewell, brother!—We split, we split, we split!” Exit BOATSWAIN Antonio Let’s all sink with th’ King. Sebastian Let’s take leave of him. Exit [with ANTONIO] Gonzalo Now would I give a thousand furlongs of 65 sea for an acre of barren ground—long heath, 66. barren ground: dry land no matter how unattractive. “Long heath” and “brown furze” are both forms of brown furze, anything. The wills above be done, but coarse or prickly shrubbery. I would fain die a dry death. Exit. 68. fain: rather, prefer to. COMMENTARY Shakespeare uses this short opening scene to imme- owned by Shakespeare and his partners in the King’s diately grab his audience and yank them into his play. Men), the power of this noisy scene to start the play in The setting is a ship at sea being violently tossed about a vivid, dramatic fashion is certainly a trick of the trade by the sea-storm that, in part, gives the play its name. Shakespeare developed by writing plays to be per- Although there is no direct evidence proving that The formed at the Globe, a theatre with an estimated seat- Tempest was performed at the Globe (the famous ing capacity of over 3,000. open-air, public amphitheatre-style playing house 04_9781118486764-ch01.qxd:9781118486764-ch01.qxd 8/10/12 9:16 AM Page 34 34 Coles Notes Total Study Edition The Tempest • Act I, Scene 1 This opening is a masterful one, which comes as no surprise given the late point in Shakespeare’s career when this play was written. In a little less than 100 lines, Shakespeare creates two conflicts—Man against Nature and Man against Man (showing conflict between differing social and economic classes and manners)—two of the play’s major themes. Important information is also imparted here. Elements of character emerge as we are first intro- duced to the King and the court party (attendants of the king—lords, dukes, earls, barons, and knights were known as the court). The King is gracious but clearly not in control in this scene. Among the humans, the most powerful and controlling character in Scene 1 is “Lay her a hold, a hold!” (I.1.49). The leeboard is a rudder-like attachment that might the Boatswain (pronounced BO-sun). The manner in aid with the sort of maneuver that the Boatswain calls for here, which is, in effect, to which the different characters deal with the threat of make the ship stand still. death by shipwreck begins to suggest something of their inner character. The court party (Gonzalo, Anto- worse by insulting and cursing the sailors (“A pox . ,” nio, and Sebastian) are out of place on the ship’s decks “hang cur,” and so on), especially the no-nonsense during a storm. Antonio and Sebastian only make this Boatswain. These men, even the Boatswain, who operates as though he has seen this type of storm before (and he probably has) are afraid.