finished_summaries/shmoop/The Tempest/section_6_part_0.txt
The Tempest.act 3.scene 3
act 3, scene 3
{"name": "Act 3, Scene 3", "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20210411014001/https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/tempest/summary/act-3-scene-3", "summary": "Now we're back to Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Gonzalo, and their attendant lords somewhere else on the island. Gonzalo is weary, and Alonso has given up hope that his son might still be alive. Antonio, hearing this news, utters an aside to Sebastian, reminding him of their plan. Antonio says they will murder the King tonight when everyone else sleeps. Strange music then begins to play, and Prospero enters, invisible. Before the eyes of the King and shipwrecked lords, a magical banquet is laid by welcoming spirits who invite the King and company to eat. All wonder at the strange sight for a while, thinking they could now believe anything. Sebastian is done with oohing and ahhing for a while, and suggests that since they are hungry, they should eat what the spirits have given them. Alonso refuses, and Gonzalo comforts him by saying there were lots of things they wouldn't have believed when they were young that turn out to be true--like girls don't actually have cooties and Santa isn't real. Alonso decides to eat in spite of the risk, as \"the best is past,\" meaning life can't get much worse than it is now. He invites everyone to the table. Before they can dig in to their meal, Ariel appears in the shape of a harpy and the food disappears. The harpy stuns the men, and declares that three men of sin are at the table. The harpy says Destiny has caused the sea to put them on this uninhabited land because they are men unfit to live. The men draw their swords, and the harpy laughs at their foolishness, as their swords are no good against the natural elements she wields. The monster reminds them of the evil they did Prospero and the baby Miranda, and claims the sea paid them back for their crimes, taking Ferdinand and dooming the rest of them. If they repent their evil deeds, a better life might follow. Ariel then vanishes, and the spirits come once more to carry away the banquet table. Prospero praises Ariel for his good work, which he has watched while invisible. Gonzalo breaks the stunned silence when he asks what Alonso, Antonio, and Sebastian are looking so shocked about. King Alonso admits that the sea and thunder spoke to him of his ill deeds against Prospero, and has claimed his son as punishment. Sebastian and Antonio are unmoved. Instead of repenting, they agree to fight the ills that might befall them, one at a time. As the three exit, Gonzalo notes that Alonso, Antonio, and Sebastian's treachery against Prospero is catching up to them. The kind councilor asks the rest of the group to follow the three traitors and stop them from whatever craziness they might attempt in their stunned, post-harpy encounter state.", "analysis": ""}
SCENE III.

_Another part of the island._

  _Enter ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, GONZALO, ADRIAN, FRANCISCO,
  and others._

_Gon._ By'r lakin, I can go no further, sir;
My old bones ache: here's a maze trod, indeed,
Through forth-rights and meanders! By your patience,
I needs must rest me.

_Alon._             Old lord, I cannot blame thee,
Who am myself attach'd with weariness,                               5
To the dulling of my spirits: sit down, and rest.
Even here I will put off my hope, and keep it
No longer for my flatterer: he is drown'd
Whom thus we stray to find; and the sea mocks
Our frustrate search on land. Well, let him go.                     10

_Ant._ [_Aside to Seb._] I am right glad that he's so out of hope.
Do not, for one repulse, forego the purpose
That you resolved to effect.

_Seb._ [_Aside to Ant._] The next advantage
Will we take throughly.

_Ant._ [_Aside to Seb._] Let it be to-night;
For, now they are oppress'd with travel, they                       15
Will not, nor cannot, use such vigilance
As when they are fresh.

_Seb._ [_Aside to Ant._] I say, to-night: no more.

  [_Solemn and strange music._

_Alon._ What harmony is this?--My good friends, hark!

_Gon._ Marvellous sweet music!

  _Enter PROSPERO above, invisible. Enter several strange Shapes,
  bringing in a banquet: they dance about it with gentle actions of
  salutation; and, inviting the King, &c. to eat, they depart._

_Alon._ Give us kind keepers, heavens!--What were these?            20

_Seb._ A living drollery. Now I will believe
That there are unicorns; that in Arabia
There is one tree, the phoenix' throne; one phoenix
At this hour reigning there.

_Ant._                     I'll believe both;
And what does else want credit, come to me,                         25
And I'll be sworn 'tis true: travellers ne'er did lie,
Though fools at home condemn 'em.

_Gon._                          If in Naples
I should report this now, would they believe me?
If I should say, I saw such islanders,--
For, certes, these are people of the island,--                      30
Who, though they are of monstrous shape, yet, note,
Their manners are more gentle-kind than of
Our human generation you shall find
Many, nay, almost any.

_Pros._              [_Aside_] Honest lord,
Thou hast said well; for some of you there present                  35
Are worse than devils.

_Alon._              I cannot too much muse
Such shapes, such gesture, and such sound, expressing--
Although they want the use of tongue--a kind
Of excellent dumb discourse.

_Pros._                    [_Aside_] Praise in departing.

_Fran._ They vanish'd strangely.

_Seb._                         No matter, since                     40
They have left their viands behind; for we have stomachs.--
Will't please you taste of what is here?

_Alon._                                Not I.

_Gon._ Faith, sir, you need not fear. When we were boys,
Who would believe that there were mountaineers
Dew-lapp'd like bulls, whose throats had hanging at 'em             45
Wallets of flesh? or that there were such men
Whose heads stood in their breasts? which now we find
Each putter-out of five for one will bring us
Good warrant of.

_Alon._        I will stand to, and feed,
Although my last: no matter, since I feel                           50
The best is past. Brother, my lord the duke,
Stand to, and do as we.

  _Thunder and lightning. Enter ARIEL, like a harpy; claps his
  wings upon the table; and, with a quaint device, the banquet
  vanishes._

_Ari._ You are three men of sin, whom Destiny,--
That hath to instrument this lower world
And what is in't,--the never-surfeited sea                          55
Hath caused to belch up you; and on this island,
Where man doth not inhabit,--you 'mongst men
Being most unfit to live. I have made you mad;
And even with such-like valour men hang and drown
Their proper selves.    [_Alon., Seb. &c. draw their swords._
                   You fools! I and my fellows                      60
Are ministers of Fate: the elements,
Of whom your swords are temper'd, may as well
Wound the loud winds, or with bemock'd-at stabs
Kill the still-closing waters, as diminish
One dowle that's in my plume: my fellow-ministers                   65
Are like invulnerable. If you could hurt,
Your swords are now too massy for your strengths,
And will not be uplifted. But remember,--
For that's my business to you,--that you three
From Milan did supplant good Prospero;                              70
Exposed unto the sea, which hath requit it,
Him and his innocent child: for which foul deed
The powers, delaying, not forgetting, have
Incensed the seas and shores, yea, all the creatures,
Against your peace. Thee of thy son, Alonso,                        75
They have bereft; and do pronounce by me:
Lingering perdition--worse than any death
Can be at once--shall step by step attend
You and your ways; whose wraths to guard you from,--
Which here, in this most desolate isle, else falls                  80
Upon your heads,--is nothing but heart-sorrow
And a clear life ensuing.

  _He vanishes in thunder; then, to soft music, enter the Shapes
  again, and dance, with mocks and mows, and carrying out the
  table._

_Pros._ Bravely the figure of this harpy hast thou
Perform'd, my Ariel; a grace it had, devouring:
Of my instruction hast thou nothing bated                           85
In what thou hadst to say: so, with good life
And observation strange, my meaner ministers
Their several kinds have done. My high charms work,
And these mine enemies are all knit up
In their distractions: they now are in my power;                    90
And in these fits I leave them, while I visit
Young Ferdinand,--whom they suppose is drown'd,--
And his and mine loved darling.    [_Exit above._

_Gon._ I' the name of something holy, sir, why stand you
In this strange stare?

_Alon._              O, it is monstrous, monstrous!                 95
Methought the billows spoke, and told me of it;
The winds did sing it to me; and the thunder,
That deep and dreadful organ-pipe, pronounced
The name of Prosper: it did bass my trespass.
Therefore my son i' th' ooze is bedded; and                        100
I'll seek him deeper than e'er plummet sounded,
And with him there lie mudded.    [_Exit._

_Seb._                       But one fiend at a time,
I'll fight their legions o'er.

_Ant._                       I'll be thy second.

    [_Exeunt Seb. and Ant._

_Gon._ All three of them are desperate: their great guilt,
Like poison given to work a great time after,                      105
Now 'gins to bite the spirits. I do beseech you,
That are of suppler joints, follow them swiftly,
And hinder them from what this ecstasy
May now provoke them to.

_Adr._                 Follow, I pray you.    [_Exeunt._


  Notes: III, 3.

  2: _ache_] _ake_ F2 F3 F4. _akes_ F1.
  3: _forth-rights_] F2 F3 F4. _fourth rights_ F1.
  8: _flatterer_] F1. _flatterers_ F2 F3 F4.
  17: Prospero above] Malone. Prosper on the top Ff. See note (XIV).
  20: _were_] F1 F2 F3. _are_ F4.
  26: _'tis true_] _to 't_ Steevens conj.
  _did lie_] _lied_ Hanmer.
  29: _islanders_] F2 F3 F4. _islands_ F1.
  32: _gentle-kind_] Theobald. _gentle, kind_ Ff. _gentle kind_ Rowe.
  36: _muse_] F1 F2 F3. _muse_, F4. _muse_; Capell.
  48: _of five for one_] Ff. _on five for one_ Theobald.
    _of one for five_ Malone, (Thirlby conj.) See note (XV).
  49-51: _I will ... past_] Mason conjectured that these lines formed
    a rhyming couplet.
  53: SCENE IV. Pope.
  54: _instrument_] _instruments_ F4.
  56: _belch up you_] F1 F2 F3. _belch you up_ F4. _belch up_ Theobald.
  60: [... draw their swords] Hanmer.
  65: _dowle_] _down_ Pope.]
  _plume_] Rowe. _plumbe_ F1 F2 F3. _plumb_ F4.
  67: _strengths_] _strength_ F4.
  79: _wraths_] _wrath_ Theobald.
  81: _heart-sorrow_] Edd. _hearts-sorrow_ Ff. _heart's-sorrow_ Rowe.
    _heart's sorrow_ Pope.
  82: mocks] mopps Theobald.
  86: _life_] _list_ Johnson conj.
  90: _now_] om. Pope.
  92: _whom_] _who_ Hanmer.
  93: _mine_] _my_ Rowe.
  [Exit above] Theobald.]
  94: _something holy, sir_,] _something, holy Sir_, F4.
  99: _bass_] Johnson. _base_ Ff.
  106: _do_] om. Pope.






Act 3, Scene 3
Now we're back to Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Gonzalo, and their attendant lords somewhere else on the island. Gonzalo is weary, and Alonso has given up hope that his son might still be alive. Antonio, hearing this news, utters an aside to Sebastian, reminding him of their plan. Antonio says they will murder the King tonight when everyone else sleeps. Strange music then begins to play, and Prospero enters, invisible. Before the eyes of the King and shipwrecked lords, a magical banquet is laid by welcoming spirits who invite the King and company to eat. All wonder at the strange sight for a while, thinking they could now believe anything. Sebastian is done with oohing and ahhing for a while, and suggests that since they are hungry, they should eat what the spirits have given them. Alonso refuses, and Gonzalo comforts him by saying there were lots of things they wouldn't have believed when they were young that turn out to be true--like girls don't actually have cooties and Santa isn't real. Alonso decides to eat in spite of the risk, as "the best is past," meaning life can't get much worse than it is now. He invites everyone to the table. Before they can dig in to their meal, Ariel appears in the shape of a harpy and the food disappears. The harpy stuns the men, and declares that three men of sin are at the table. The harpy says Destiny has caused the sea to put them on this uninhabited land because they are men unfit to live. The men draw their swords, and the harpy laughs at their foolishness, as their swords are no good against the natural elements she wields. The monster reminds them of the evil they did Prospero and the baby Miranda, and claims the sea paid them back for their crimes, taking Ferdinand and dooming the rest of them. If they repent their evil deeds, a better life might follow. Ariel then vanishes, and the spirits come once more to carry away the banquet table. Prospero praises Ariel for his good work, which he has watched while invisible. Gonzalo breaks the stunned silence when he asks what Alonso, Antonio, and Sebastian are looking so shocked about. King Alonso admits that the sea and thunder spoke to him of his ill deeds against Prospero, and has claimed his son as punishment. Sebastian and Antonio are unmoved. Instead of repenting, they agree to fight the ills that might befall them, one at a time. As the three exit, Gonzalo notes that Alonso, Antonio, and Sebastian's treachery against Prospero is catching up to them. The kind councilor asks the rest of the group to follow the three traitors and stop them from whatever craziness they might attempt in their stunned, post-harpy encounter state.