The Tempest: Class Quotes

“Miranda.—O my father/ I have broke your hest to say so!” (Act 3, Scene 1. Speaker=Miranda, Audience=Ferdinand (inadvertently Prospero) Context: Miranda breaks her word and speaks her name to her love Ferdinand, something her father forbade her to do. )
“Thou liest, malignant thing. Hast thou forgot/ The foul witch Sycorax, who with age and envy/ Was grown into a hoop? Hast thou forgot her? 1. 2. 307-310). Speaker: Prospero Audience: Ariel Context: Prospero is scolding Ariel for being ungrateful and asking for freedom so persistently. Prospero reminds Ariel that he saved him from Sycorax.
Pray you, tread softly, that the blind mole/ may not hear a footfall” (4.1.218-219). Speaker: Caliban, Audience: Stephano and Trinculo, Context: Stephano and Trinculo, led by Caliban, are near Prospero’s cell, they are about to act out their plan to kill Prospero. Caliban reminds them to keep quiet so that Prospero doesn’t catch them.
“Beat him enough. After little a time/ I’ll beat him too. (3.2.92-93) Speaker: Caliban, Audience: Stephano and Trinculo, Context: Caliban is explaining to Stephano how they should go about killing Prospero.
“None that I love more then myself” (1.1.21). Speaker: Boatswain, Audience: Gonzalo, Context: Gonzalo reminds him who is on board the ship.
“Good wombs have borne bad sons.” (1.2.143) Speaker: Miranda, Audience: Prospero, Context: Prospero just told her the story of how they got to the island, he mentioned how Antonio was his brother. Miranda responds with the aforementioned statement. It has a deeper meaning, showing how evil things may sometimes rise from good intentions.
“You taught me language, and my profit on’t is I know how to curse. The red plague rid you for learning me your language!” (1. 2. 366-8) Speaker: Caliban to Prospero + Miranda Context: When Prospero and Miranda went to see Caliban in his cave
“Twelve year since, Miranda, twelve year since, Thy father was the Duke of Milan and A prince of power. (1.2) Speaker:Prospero Audience: Miranda Context: He is telling her about why they are on the island.
“If I have too austerely punished you, / Your compensation makes amends, for I / Have given you here a third of mine own life—” (4,1) Speaker: Prospero Audience: Ferdinand Context: Saying that if he has punished him harshly, then maybe his giving Miranda, a third of his life, could be the compensation.
you, brother mine, that entertained ambition,/Expelled remorse and nature, whom, with Sebastian,/ Whose inward pinches therefore are most strong,/ would here have killed your king, I do forgive thee….¨ (act 5 scene 1) Speaker: Prospero Audience: His brother, Antonio Context: This is where Prospero is forgiving his brother for all the bad things Antonio has done to him. Prospero is making peace between them.
“Draw together,/ And when I rear my hand, do you the like/ To fall it on Gonzalo.” (2.1 337-339) Speaker: Antonio, Audience: Sebastian, Context: This is where both Antonio and Sebastian are about to kill King Alonso and Gonzalo. Sebastian and Antonio are plotting against the others in order to become powerful.
“If by your art, my dearest father , you have/ Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them./ The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch,/ But that the sea, mounting to th’ welkin’s cheek,/ Dashes the fire out. O, I have suffered/ With those that I saw suffer!” (1.2.1-6) Speaker: Miranda; Audience: Prospero; Context: Miranda has just witnessed the tempest and the sinking of the king’s ship and is asking Prospero to stop the storm because she feels sorry for the men who were on the ship.
“And now I pray you, sir-/ for ’tis still beating in my mind- your reason/ for raising this sea storm?” (Act 1, Scene 2). Speaker: Miranda, Audience: Prospero, Context: Miranda is asking her father why he made the storm with his magic.
“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” (Epilogue pg 169). Speaker: Prospero Audience: None Context: “charms are all o’erthrown” signifies the loss of his powers. He goes onto say that he is at peace because he will return as the Duke of Naples.
“But, as ’tis,/ We cannot miss him. He does make our fire,/ Fetch in our wood, and serves in offices/ That profit us” (1.2.372-275). Speaker: Prospero Audience: Miranda Context: This is a significant quote because although Prospero and Miranda despise Caliban for becoming the monster he is and constantly announce that, they would have never survived without his work and effort and skills, which they have to be grateful for.
“O, I have suffered/With those that I saw suffer! A brave vessel,/Who had, no doubt, some noble creature on her,/Dashed all to pieces. O, did the cry knock/Against my very heart! Poor souls, they perished. “ (I. ii. 5-9). Speaker: Miranda. Audience: Prospero. Context: Miranda is devastated at the sight of the ship being destroyed by the tempest. Her sympathy toward people who she does not even know shows her innocence and purity. Since she has lived isolated on the island for most of her life, she has been shielded from most of the evils of human
“O, wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world, that has such people in’t!” (Act V. Scene 1. Lines 187-189) Speaker: Miranda Audience: Prospero, Alonso, Ariel, Antonio, Sebastian, etc… Context: Miranda says this when she sees all of Prospero’s enemies at the end of the play. This quote shows Miranda’s innocence because she is amazed by the sight of all the humans before her even though they are all liars, thieves and immoral people. Miranda hasn’t been exposed to the corrupt people in the world around her, so all the people she sees as beautiful
“I have great comfort from this fellow: methinks he hath no drowning mark upon him; his complexion is perfect gallows,” (1.1.29-31). Steven’s quote, context needed
“He shall taste of my bottle. If he have/ never drunk wine afore, it will go near to remove/ his fit. Act 2 scene 2. This is Stephano talking to Caliban, when he makes Caliban drink the wine.
“Most sure, the goddess on Whom these airs attend!” This displays love at first sight between Ferdinand and Miranda. (Act 1 Sc.2 ln.505-506)
“Hang, cur! Hang, you whoreson insolent noisemaker! We are less afraid to be drowned than thou art.” Act 1 Scene 1. Speaker: Antonio. Audience: Boatswain. He says this during the tempest and truly reveals how little he values and Human’s life, including his own.
July 3, 2019