Quotes

Significant Quotes from Each of the Characters

 

Prospero

Act 1, Scene 2

- 'I have done nothing but in care of thee-' (page 9, line 16)

- 'pluck my magic garment from me-' (page 11, line 23)

- 'Obey, and be attentive' (page 11, line 38)

- 'Thy mother was a piece of virtue, and/she said thou wast my daughter;' (page 13, line55/56)

- 'This King of Naples, being an enemy'(page 17, line 121)

- 'A noble Neapolitan, Gonzalo/Out of his charity -' (page 19, line 161)

- 'volumes that/I prized above my dukedom' (page 19, line 167/168)

- 'Hast thou, spirit, performed to point the tempest/That I bade thee?' (page 21, line 193/194)

- 'Dost thou forget/ From what a torment I did free thee?' (page 25, line 250/251)

- 'This damned witch Sycorax' (page 25, line 263)

- 'Caliban, my slave' (page 27, line 308)

- 'Though most lying slave' (page 31, line 345)

- 'It goes on, I see,/As my soul prompts it' (page 35, line 418)

- 'For I can here disarm thee with this stick' (page 39, line 471)
 

Act 3, Scene 1

- 'Poor worm, thou art infected;' (page 81, line 33)
 

Act 4, Scene 1

- 'Worthily purchased, take my daughter. But/If thou dost break her virgin-knot before/All sanctimonious ceremonies' (page 105, line 14-16)

- 'Be cheerful, sir,/Our revels are now ended; these our actors,/As I foretold you, were all spirits, and/Are melted into air, into thin air;/And like the baseless fabric of this vision,/The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,/The solemn temples, the great globe itself,/Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,' (page 115, line 147-154)

- 'A devil, a born devil, on whose nature/Nurture can never stick' [Caliban] (page 117, line 188/189)

- 'Let them be hunted soundly. At this hour/Lies at my mercy all mine enemies' (page 121, line 256/257)

Act 5, Scene 1

- 'Now does my project gather to a head' (page 125, line 0)

- 'And when I have required/Some heavenly music - which even now I do -/To work mine end upon their senses that/This air charm is for, I'll break my staff,/Bury it certain fathoms in the earth,/And deeper than did ever plummet sound/I'll drown my book.' (page 127, line 51-57)

- 'I do forgive thee,/Unnatural though thou art' [Antonio] (page 129, line78/79)

- 'Why  that's my dainty Ariel. I shall miss thee,/But yet thou shalt have freedom.' (page 131, line 95/96)

- 'Let us not burden our remembrances with/A heaviness that's gone.' (page 137, line 198/199)

 

Miranda

Act 1, Scene 2

- 'my dearest father' (page 9, line 0)

- 'O, I have suffered/With those that I saw suffer!' (page 9, line 5/6)

- 'Your tale, sir, would cure deafness.' [Prospero's tale] )page 15, line 107)

- 'Alack, what trouble/Was I then to you !' (page 17, line 152/153)

- ''Tis a villain, sir,/I do not love to look upon.' (page 27, line 310/311)

- 'I pitied thee,/Took pains to make thee speak, taught thee each hour' (page 31, line, 353, 354)

- 'I might call him/A thing divine, for nothing natural/I ever saw so noble.' [Ferdinand] (page 35, line 417/418)

- 'This is the third man that I e'er saw; the first/That e'er I sighed for.' [Ferdinand] (page 37, line 444/445)

- 'Beseech you, father!' (page 39, line 473)

- 'I have no ambition/To see a godlier man' (page 39, line481/482)

Act 3, Scene 1

- 'It would become me/As well as it does you;' [carrying logs, Ferdinand] (page 81, line 29/30)

- 'I do not know one of my sex' (page 83, line 48/49)

- 'I would not wish/Any companion in the world but you;/Nor can imagination form a shape/Besides yourself, to like of.' [Ferdinand] (page 83, line 55-58)

- 'I am a fool/To weep at what I'm glad of.' [That Ferdinand loves her] (page 83, line 75/76)

- 'At mine unworthiness, that dare not offer/What I desire to give, much less take/What I shall die to want... I am your wife, if you will marry me;/If not, I'll die your maid. To be your fellow/You may deny me, but I'll be your servant/Whether you will or no.' (page 85, line 79-88)

Act 5, Scene 1

- 'Sweet lord, you play me false.' (page 135, line 71)

 

Caliban

Act 1, Scene 2

- 'This island's mine by Sycorax my mother,/Which thou tak'st from me.' (page 29, line 333/334)

- 'For I am all the subjects that you have,/Which first was mine own king;' (page 29, line 342/343)

- 'Thou didst prevent me - I had peopled else/This island with Calibans.' (page 31, line350/351)

- 'You taught me language, and my profit on't/Is I know how to curse.' (page 31, line 363/364)

- 'I must obey; his art is of such power,' (page 31, 373)

Act 2, Scene 2

- 'The spirit torments me!' (page 69, line 58)

- 'That's/A brave god, and bears celestial liquor. I will kneel to him.' [Stephano] (page 71, line 98/99)

- 'Hast thou not dropped from heaven?' [Stephano] (page 73, line 115)

- 'I'll show thee every fertile inch o'th'island. And I will kiss thy/Foot - I prithee by my god.' [Stephano] (page 73, line 125/126)

Act 3, Scene 2

- 'I'll not serve/Him, he's not valiant. [Trinculo] (page 87, line 21/22)

- 'I am subject to a tyrant, a sorcerer, that/by cunning hath cheated me of the island.' (page 87, line 37/38)

- 'If thy greatness will/Revenge it on him' [on Prospero] (page 89, line 47/48)

- 'I'll yield him thee asleep,/Where thou mayst knock a nail into his head.' (page 89, line 54/55)

- 'Remember/First to possess his books; for without them/He's but a sot...' [Prospero] (page 91, line 84/85)

- 'the isle is full of noises,/Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not/...Will make me sleep...' (page, 93, line 127-133)

Act 5, Scene 1

- 'I shall be pinched to death.' (page 141, line 275)

- 'I'll be wise hereafter,/And seek for grace.' (page 143, line 292/293)

 

 

Ariel

Act 1, Scene 2

- 'I come/To answer thy best pleasure' (page 21, line 189/190)

- 'Since thou dost give me pains,/Let me remember thee what thou hast promised' [Ariel's liberty] (page 23, line 242/243)

- 'I will be correspondent to command/And do my spiriting gently.' (page 27, line 298/299)

- 'That's my noble master!' (page 27, line 300)

Act 3, Scene 2

- 'Thou liest.' [To trick Trinculo] (page 87, line 39)

Act 3, Scene 3

- 'I have made you mad;' [Harpy scene] (page 99, line 58)

- 'I and my fellows/Are ministers of Fate.' (page 99, line 61)

Act 4, Scene 1

- 'Do you love me master? No?' (page 107, line 48)

- '...but I feared/Lest I might anger thee.' (page 115, line 169)

- 'I go, I go.' [To fulfill Prospero's wishes] (page 117, line 188)

Act 5, Scene 1

- 'Mine would, sir, were I human.' [Ariel would feel compassion for the men] (page 125, line 19)

- 'Merrily, merrily, shall I live now,' [after Prospero given freedom] (page 131, line 93)

- 'Sir, all this service/Have I done since I went.' [Helping Prospero since Ariel has been freed] (page 139, line 225/226)

 

Gonzalo

Act 1, Scene 1

- 'Nay, good, be patient.' [During the tempest] (page 3, line 14)

- 'Good, yet remember whom thou hast aboard.' [Reminding the Boatswain to respect the King] (page 3, line 17)

- 'The king and prince at prayers! Let's assist them,/For our case is as theirs.' (page 7, line 46/47)

Act 2, Scene 1

- 'You have cause -/So have we all - of joy; for our escape/Is much beyond our loss. Our hint of woe/ Is common.../But for the miracle -/I mean our preservation -/few in millions/Can speak like us.' (page 45, line 0-8)

- 'Here is everything advantageous to life.' (page 47, line 48)

- 'How lush and lusty the grass looks!' (page 47, line 51)

- '...my doublet as fresh as the first day I wore it...' (page 49, line 97)

- 'For no kind of traffic/Would I admit; no name of magistrate;/Letters should not be known; riches, poverty,/And use of service, none;' [Gonzalo's dream of a utopia] (page 53, line 145-148)

- 'Who, in this kind of merry fooling, am nothing to you; so/you may continue, and laugh at nothing still.' (page 174/175)

- 'Now, good angels preserve the king.' (page 63, line 303)

Act 3, Scene 3

- 'My old bones aches.' (page 95, 1)

- 'Who though they are of monstrous shape, yet note/Their manners are more gentle, kind, than of/Our human generation you shall find' (page 97, line 31-33)

Act 5, Scene 1

- 'All torment, trouble, wonder and amazement/Inhabits here. Some heavenly power guide us/Out of this fearful country!' (page 131, 104-106)

- 'O rejoice...' [At the fortunate ending] (page 137, line 206-213)

 

Antonio

Act 1, Scene 1

- 'Hang, cur, hang, you whoreson, insolent noisemaker, we are/less afraid to be drowned than thou art.' [To the Boatswain] (page 5, line 38/39)

- 'Let's all sink wi'th'king.' [Sarcastically] (page 7, line 54)

Act 2, Scene 1

- 'Temperance was a delicate wench.' (page 47, line 43)

- 'The ground is indeed tawny.' [Mocking Gonzalo] (page 47, line 52)

- 'What impossible matter will he make easy next?' [Mocking Gonzalo] (page 49, line 84)

- 'The latter end of his commonwealth forgets the beginning.' [Gonzalo's] (page 53, line 154)

- 'Twas' you we laughed at.' [Gonzalo] (page e53, line 173)

- 'Nay, good my lord, be not angry.' [Gonzalo] (page 55, line 182)

- 'My strong imagination sees a crown/Dropping upon thy head.' (page 55, line 204/205)

- 'Will you grant with me/That Ferdinand is drowned?' (page 59, line 237/238)

- 'she that from Naples/Can have no note' [Claribel cannot become ruler of Milan] (page 59, line 243/244)

- 'My brother's servants/Were then my fellows, now they are my men.' (page 61, line 270/271)

- 'Here lies your brother,/No better than the earth he lies upon,/If he were that which now he's like - that's death;/Whom I with this obedient steel, three inches of it,/Can lay to bed forever:' [Plot to kill the king] (page 61, line 277-280)

Act 3, Scene 3

- 'I am right glad that he's so out of hope.' [Alonso] (page 95, line 11)

- 'One of them/Is a plain fish, and no doubt marketable.' [Caliban] (page 141, line 265)

 

Ferdinand

Act 1, Scene 2 

- 'The ditty does remember my drowned father./This is no mortal business,' (page 35, line 404)

- 'This gallant which thou seest/Was in the wrack; and but he's something stained/With grief - that's beauty's canker - though might'st call him/A goodly person.' [About himself to Miranda] (page 35, line 412-415)

- 'Most sure the goddess/On whom these airs attend.' [Miranda] (page 35, line 420/421)

- 'I am the best of them that speak this speech,/Were I but where 'tis spoken.' (page 35, line 430-431)

- 'O, if a virgin,/And your affections not gone forth, I'll make you /The Queen of Naples.' (page 37, line 447/448)

- 'My father's loss, the weakness which I feel,' (page 41, line 486)

Act 3, Scene 1

- 'This my mean task would be/As heavy to me as odious, but/The mistress which I serve quickens what's dead/And makes my labours pleasures.' (page 79, line 4-7)

- 'No, precious creature,/I'd rather crack my sinews, break my back,/Than you should dishonor undergo,/While I sit lazy by.' (page 81, line 27-30)

- 'Full many a lady/I have eyed with best regard, and many a time/Th'harmony of their tongues hath into bondage/Brought my too diligent ear.' (page 81, line 40-43)

- 'O, you,/So perfect and so peerless, are created/Of every creature's best.' [Miranda] (page 81, line 47-49)

- 'The very instant that I saw you, did/My heart fly to your service, there resides/To make me slave to it,' (page 83, line 66-68)

- 'I/Beyond all limit of what else i'th'world,/Do love, prize, honour you.' (page 83, line 74/75)

Act 4, Scene 1

- '...shall never melt/Mine honour into lust, to take away/The edge of that day's celebration,' [He will not sleep with Miranda until their wedding night] (page 107, line 27-29)

- 'I warrant you, sir,/The white cold virgin snow upon my heart/Abates the ardour of my liver.' (page 109, line 54-56)

- 'Let me live here ever;/So rare a wondered father, and a wife,/Makes this place paradise.' (page 113, line 23-25)

Act 5, Scene 1

- 'No, my dearest love, I would not for the world.' [Play Miranda false] (page 135, line 172)

- 'Sir, she is mortal;/I chose her when I could not ask my father/For his advice...' (page 137, line188-191)

 

Alonso

Act 1, Scene 1

- 'Good boatswain, have care. Where's the master? Play the men.' (page 3, line 9)

Act 2, Scene 1

- 'Prithee, peace.' (page 45, line 9)

- 'For coming hence, my son is lost,' (page 51, line 103/104)

- 'So is the dearest of the loss' (page 51, line 130)

- 'Lead off this ground, and let's make further search/For my poor son.' (page 63, line 321)

Act 3, Scene 3

- 'What harmony is this? my good friends, hark!' [The harpy scene] (page 95, line 19)

- 'I'll seek him deeper than e'er plummet sounded,/And with him there lie mudded.' [Die with Ferdinand] (page 101, line 101/102)

Act 5, Scene 1

- 'since I saw thee,.Th'affliction of my mind amends, with which.../Thy dukedom I resign, and do entreat/Thou pardon me my wrongs.' (page 131, line 114-119)

- 'Is she the goddess that hath severed us,/And brought us thus together?' [Miranda] (page 137, line 187/188)

- 'Give me your hands:/Let grief and sorrow still embrace his heart/That doth not wish you joy.' [Miranda and Ferdinand] (page 139, line 212-214)

 

Sebastian

Act 1, Scene 1

- 'A pox o'your throat, you bawling, blasphemous, in-charitable dog.' [To Boatswain] (page 5, line 35)

- 'I'm out of patience.' (page 7, line 48)

Act 2, Scene 1

- 'He receives comfort like cold porridge.' (page 45, line 10)

- 'I think he will carry this island home in his pocket, and give/it his son for an apple.' [Gonzalo] (page 49, line 85)

- 'Sir, you may thank yourself for this great loss,/That would not bless Europe with your daughter,/But rather lose her to an African,/Where she, at least, is banished from your eye,' (page 51, line 118-121)

- ''Save his majesty!' [Mocking Gonzalo] (page 53, line 166)

- 'The setting of thine eye and cheek proclaim/A matter from thee; and a birth, indeed,/Which throes thee much to yield.' [Antonio] (page 57, line 225-227)

- 'I have no hope/That he's undrowned.' [Ferdinand] (page 57, line 235/236)

- 'Draw thy sword; one stroke/Shall free thee from the tribute which thou payest,/And I the king shall love thee.' (page 61, line 289-291)

Act 3, Scene 3

- 'The next advantage/We will take throughly.' (page 95, line 12/13)

- 'Now I will believe/That there are unicorns; that in Arabia/There is one tree, the phoenix's throne, one phoenix/At this hour reigning there.' (page 97, line 21-24)

Act 5, Scene 1

- 'A most high miracle.' [That Alonso has found his son] (page 135, line 178)

- 'Ha, ha! What are these things, my lord Antonio?/Will money buy them?' [Caliban] (page 141, line 263)

 

Stephano

Act 2, Scene 2

- 'I shall no more to sea, to sea,/Here shall I die ashore.' (page 67, line 37/38)

- 'This is some monster of the isle, with four legs.../Where the devil should he learn our language?.../If I can recover him, and keep him tame, and get to Naples with him, he's/a present for any emperor...' [Caliban] (page 69, line 59-63)

- 'He shall taste of my bottle.' [He gives Caliban alcohol] (page 69, line 66)

- 'Four legs and two voices; a most delicate monster!' (page 69, line 78)

- 'This is a devil, no monster.' (page 69, line 84)

- 'kiss the book' [Alcohol] (page 71, line 109)

- 'I was the man i'th'moon,/when time was.' [Makes Caliban believe that he is magic] (page 73, line 120)

Act 3, Scene 2

- 'Servant monster, drink to me.' (page 85, line 2/3)

- 'thou beest a good moon-calf' (page 87, line 19/20)

- 'Trinculo, keep a good tongue in your head. If you prove a mutineer, the next tree.' (page 87, line 30/31)

- 'Monster, I will kill this man. His daughter and I will be/king and queen -' [Kill Prospero] (page 91, line 99/100)

- 'At thy request, monster, I will do reason, any reason.' (page 93, line 112)

- 'This will prove a brave kingdom to me, where I shall have/my music for nothing.' (page 93, line 136)

Act 4, Scene 1

- 'Do you hear, monster? If I should take a/displeasure against you, look you -' (page 117, line 200)

- 'Be you quiet, monster! Mistress line, is not this my jerkin?' [He is distracted by clothes when attempting to kill Prospero] (page 119, line 233)

- 'Help to bear this away where/my hogshead of wine is, or I'll turn you out of my kingdom.' (page 121, line 245/246)

 

Act 5, Scene 1

- 'Every man shift for all the rest, and let no man take care/for himself; for all is but fortune.' (page 141, line 256)

 

Trinculo

Act 2, Scene 2

- 'What have we here - a man or a fish? Dead or alive?' [Caliban] (page 67, line 23)

- 'I hid me under the dead moon-calf's gabardine/for fear of the storm.' (page 71, line 94)

- 'I afeared of him? A very weak monster... A most poor, credulous monster.' (page 73, line 122/123)

Act 3, Scene 2

- 'They say there's but five upon this isle; we are three of them - if th'other/two be brained like us, the state totters.' (page 85, line 4-6)

- 'O, forgive me my sins!' (page 93, line 123)

Act 4, Scene 1

- ' Monster, I do smell all horse-piss, at which my nose is in great indignation.' (page 117, line 198)

Act 5, Scene 1

- 'If these be true spies which I wear in my head, here's a goodly sight.' [Prospero and the royals] (page 141, line 258/259)

- 'I have been in such a pickle since I saw you last, that I fear/me will never out of my bones. I shall not fear fly-blowing.' (page 143, line 281/282)