The Tempest: Act 1, Scene 1

    comedy

    On a ship at sea: a tempestuous noise

    Scene Summary

    Skip to text ↓

    A ship carrying a king and his court is caught in a violent storm. The sailors try to manage the vessel while the nobles get in the way. The boatswain tells them bluntly that their titles mean nothing in a storm — the sea does not care who they are. The ship appears to sink and all seem lost.

    of thunder and lightning heard.
    Enter a Master and a Boatswain
    Master
    Boatswain!
    Boatswain
    Here, master: what cheer?
    Master
    Good, speak to the mariners: fall to't, yarely,
    or we run ourselves aground: bestir, bestir.
    Exit
    Enter Mariners
    Boatswain
    Heigh, my hearts! cheerly, cheerly, my hearts!
    yare, yare! Take in the topsail. Tend to the
    master's whistle. Blow, till thou burst thy wind,
    if room enough!
    Enter ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, FERDINAND, GONZALO, and others
    ALONSO
    Good boatswain, have care. Where's the master?
    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
    cabins: you do assist the storm.
    GONZALO
    Nay, good, be patient.
    Boatswain
    When the sea is. Hence! What cares these roarers
    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
    counsellor; if you can command these elements to
    silence, and work the peace of the present, we will
    not hand a rope more; use your authority: if you
    cannot, give thanks you have lived so long, and make
    yourself ready in your cabin for the mischance of
    the hour, if it so hap. Cheerly, good hearts! Out
    of our way, I say.
    Exit
    GONZALO
    I have great comfort from this fellow: methinks he
    hath no drowning mark upon him; his complexion is
    perfect gallows. Stand fast, good Fate, to his
    hanging: make the rope of his destiny our cable,
    for our own doth little advantage. If he be not
    born to be hanged, our case is miserable.
    Exeunt
    Re-enter Boatswain
    Boatswain
    Down with the topmast! yare! lower, lower! Bring
    her to try with main-course.
    A cry within
    A plague upon this howling! they are louder than
    the weather or our office.
    Re-enter SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, and GONZALO
    Yet again! what do you here? Shall we give o'er
    and drown? Have you a mind to sink?
    SEBASTIAN
    A pox o' your throat, you bawling, blasphemous,
    incharitable dog!
    Boatswain
    Work you then.
    ANTONIO
    Hang, cur! hang, you whoreson, insolent noisemaker!
    We are less afraid to be drowned than thou art.
    GONZALO
    I'll warrant him for drowning; though the ship were
    no stronger than a nutshell and as leaky as an
    unstanched wench.
    Boatswain
    Lay her a-hold, a-hold! set her two courses off to
    sea again; lay her off.
    Enter Mariners wet
    Mariners
    All lost! to prayers, to prayers! all lost!
    Boatswain
    What, must our mouths be cold?
    GONZALO
    The king and prince at prayers! let's assist them,
    For our case is as theirs.
    SEBASTIAN
    I'm out of patience.
    ANTONIO
    We are merely cheated of our lives by drunkards:
    This wide-chapp'd rascal--would thou mightst lie drowning
    The washing of ten tides!
    GONZALO
    He'll be hang'd yet,
    Though every drop of water swear against it
    And gape at widest to glut him.
    A confused noise within: 'Mercy on us!'-- 'We split, we split!'--'Farewell, my wife and children!'-- 'Farewell, brother!'--'We split, we split, we split!'
    ANTONIO
    Let's all sink with the king.
    SEBASTIAN
    Let's take leave of him.
    Exeunt ANTONIO and SEBASTIAN
    GONZALO
    Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an
    acre of barren ground, long heath, brown furze, any
    thing. The wills above be done! but I would fain
    die a dry death.
    Exeunt