Notable Quotes in The Tempest [Click on any quote to see it in the complete annotated text of The Tempest.] Gonzalo, fearing the ferocity of the storm, takes comfort from the fact that the boatswain's complexion marks him as a probable candidate for hanging, conforming to the then well-known proverb which states, 'He that is born to be hanged need fear no drowning.' Gonzalo swears that he would trade a thousand furlongs (one furlong equals 220 yards) for an acre of barren, useless ground which will grow nothing but heath flowers.
Gonzalo grants the gods their supremacy ('The wills above be done!' ), but avidly prefers to die on land. Prospero is surprised that his daughter, Miranda, can remember having several attendants as a child of three, so Prospero asks her what else she can remember from that deep, dark pit of past ('backward') time, when she was but three. Prospero is telling his daughter, Miranda, their family history: it seems that Prospero used to be the Duke of Milan, a duke who fully trusted his brother Antonio, and gave him many responsibilities for the dukedom, while Prospero spent his time pursuing the life of the mind. Antonio became a skilled power broker and told so many lies so many times that he began to believe his own liesthe biggest lie being that Antonio (not his brother Prospero) was the Duke of Milan.
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Prospero is in the middle of a long and complicated tale of his brother's betrayal; every time he pauses for breath he has accused Miranda of not paying attention, an accusation which Miranda has denied several times. When her father asks her once again if she is listening, she gently replies that his tale would cure deafness.
Prospero continues explaining to his daughter how his brother was able to wrest away his dukedom, when he tells her that his old library was large enough to encompass his interests, so that was where he spent most of his time. Prospero is telling his daughter, Miranda, how they first came to live on their remote island; Antonio, his brother, (daring not to kill the popular Prospero) had his men take Prospero and the infant Miranda far out to sea before setting them afloat upon a sad excuse for a boat.
The boat was more like a tub, as it was not equipped with sails or riggingeven the rats knew by instinct to flee ('quit') their leaky tub, as abandoning ship is what rats instinctively do when a ship is about to sink. Prospero is explaining to Miranda how they would not have survived had it not been for Gonzalo who, in addition to the necessities of life, had provided Prospero with some of his own books, which Prospero vows that he valued more than his dukedom. Ariel, an airy spirit, has just told Prospero that his enemies survived the storm he ordered and are safe and unharmed; now Prospero wants to know what has become of their main ship. Ariel replies that the king's ship is also safe at harbor, in the very inlet ('nook') where Prospero commanded his spirit to fetch the magic dew from the always stormy ('still-vex'd') Bermuda Islands.
Ariel becomes submissive to his master, Prospero, who threatens to imprison him in an oak box for twelve years. Ariel replies that he will do exactly as instructed, plus he will go over and above Prospero's commands by adding graciousness to his spiriting. Caliban is denouncing Prospero for teaching ('learning') him his language, declaring that the only good Prospero's language has done him is enabling him to curse; Caliban gives an immediate example of his cursing ability by calling upon the red plague to destroy Prospero for teaching him his language. These romantic song lyrics, which describe a beach with yellow sand and incoming waves dashing about while two lovers hold hands, curtsy and kiss, initiate the spell Ariel is putting on Ferdinand; the charm which will induce Ferdinand to fall in love with Miranda per her father's whispered instructions to Ariel (which Prospero later confirms in aside 1.2.439). Ferdinand asks himself where the music which mellows out the passions is coming from; Ferdinand follows the 'sweet air' of Ariel's music which has enchanted him. According to Ferdinand, Ariel's song lyrics commemorate the death of his father, which further charms Ferdinand with heroic images ('pearls that were his eyes') and an hourly sea-nymphs' celebration of his father's life and person, which has been turned into 'something rich and strange' from the effects of a 'sea-change.' Prospero is encouraging his daughter, Miranda, to appreciate the sight of Ferdinand, the young 'gallant': the sight of the beloved was thought to fuel and inflate sexual passion.