The Tempest Act Five – “Now my charms are all o'erthrown, and what strength I have's mine own.”

The Tempest Act Five – “Now my charms are all o'erthrown,
 and what strength I have's mine own.”

Act Five of ‘The Tempest’ starts with Ariel telling Prospero that it was now sunset and 6pm and that Prospero had promised to release Ariel by this time. Prospero agrees that he had said this when he first raised the tempest but then asks Ariel how the king and the lords were doing. Ariel reveals that they are safe in the grove and that Gonzalo was weeping constantly:

“Confined together

In the same fashion as you gave in charge,

Just as you left them; all prisoners, sir,

In the line-grove which weather-fends your cell;

They cannot budge till your release. The king,

His brother and yours, abide all three distracted

And the remainder mourning over them,

Brimful of sorrow and dismay; but chiefly

Him that you term'd, sir, 'The good old lord Gonzalo;'

His tears run down his beard, like winter's drops

From eaves of reeds. Your charm so strongly works 'em

That if you now beheld them, your affections

Would become tender.”

Prospero commands Ariel to let the men go and Ariel exits. Shakespeare then gives Prospero his most well-known soliloquy where he decides to give up his magic:

“Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes and groves,

And ye that on the sands with printless foot

Do chase the ebbing Neptune and do fly him

When he comes back; you demi-puppets that

By moonshine do the green sour ringlets make,

Whereof the ewe not bites, and you whose pastime

Is to make midnight mushrooms, that rejoice

To hear the solemn curfew; by whose aid,

Weak masters though ye be, I have bedimm'd

The noontide sun, call'd forth the mutinous winds,

And 'twixt the green sea and the azured vault

Set roaring war: to the dread rattling thunder

Have I given fire and rifted Jove's stout oak

With his own bolt; the strong-based promontory

Have I made shake and by the spurs pluck'd up

The pine and cedar: graves at my command

Have waked their sleepers, oped, and let 'em forth

By my so potent art. But this rough magic

I here abjure, and, when I have required

Some heavenly music, which even now I do,

To work mine end upon their senses that

This airy 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.”

Ariel then re-enters with Alonso, Gonzalo, Sebastian, Antonio and others who are all under a spell, and form a circle. While they are still in a trance, Prospero speaks to them all praising some like Gonzalo:

“A solemn air and the best comforter

To an unsettled fancy cure thy brains,

Now useless, boil'd within thy skull! There stand,

For you are spell-stopp'd.

Holy Gonzalo, honourable man,

Mine eyes, even sociable to the show of thine,

Fall fellowly drops. The charm dissolves apace,

And as the morning steals upon the night,

Melting the darkness, so their rising senses

Begin to chase the ignorant fumes that mantle

Their clearer reason. O good Gonzalo,

My true preserver, and a loyal sir

To him you follow'st! I will pay thy graces

Home both in word and deed. Most cruelly

Didst thou, Alonso, use me and my daughter:

Thy brother was a furtherer in the act.

Thou art pinch'd fort now, Sebastian. Flesh and blood,

You, brother mine, that entertain'd ambition,

Expell'd remorse and nature; who, with Sebastian,

Whose inward pinches therefore are most strong,

Would here have kill'd your king; I do forgive thee,

Unnatural though thou art. Their understanding

Begins to swell, and the approaching tide

Will shortly fill the reasonable shore

That now lies foul and muddy. Not one of them

That yet looks on me, or would know me Ariel,

Fetch me the hat and rapier in my cell:

I will discase me, and myself present

As I was sometime Milan: quickly, spirit;

Thou shalt ere long be free.”

Prospero then sends Ariel to get, from his cell, the clothes he had worn years ago as the Duke of Milan. Ariel exits and quickly returns with Prospero’s clothes and helps him to put these clothes on. Prospero reinforces his promise to Ariel to release him and asks Ariel to fetch the Boatswain and other sailors from the ship.

“Why, that's my dainty Ariel! I shall miss thee:

But yet thou shalt have freedom: so, so, so.

To the king's ship, invisible as thou art:

There shalt thou find the mariners asleep

Under the hatches; the master and the boatswain

Being awake, enforce them to this place,

And presently, I prithee.”

Then Prospero undoes the spell he has on Alonso, Gonzalo, Sebastian and Antonio and reveals himself and forgives his brother Antonio asks Antonio to give back Prospero’s dukedom. Alonso tells Prospero of Ferdinand who went missing in the tempest. Prospero reveals to Alonso that he has also lost his own daughter:

“For the like loss I have her sovereign aid

And rest myself content…

As great to me as late; and, supportable

To make the dear loss, have I means much weaker

Than you may call to comfort you, for I

Have lost my daughter..”

Alonso is sympathetic but caught up in his own loss of his son. Then Prospero pulls across to reveal Ferdinand and Miranda playing chess. Alonso is shocked and happy. Miranda is over-the-moon to see so many people. Alonso is also happy and he hugs his son and asks Miranda’s forgiveness for what he did twelve years ago. Prospero tells Alonso to stop apologizing and forgives all and even asks Ariel to set Caliban and his friends free:

“Sir, my liege,

Do not infest your mind with beating on

The strangeness of this business; at pick'd leisure

Which shall be shortly, single I'll resolve you,

Which to you shall seem probable, of every

These happen'd accidents; till when, be cheerful

And think of each thing well. (Aside to ARIEL)

Come hither, spirit:

Set Caliban and his companions free;

Untie the spell. (Exit ARIEL)

How fares my gracious sir?

There are yet missing of your company

Some few odd lads that you remember not.”

Ariel brings the Boatswain and mariners and then brings Caliban, Trinculo, and Stephano in but they are told to return the clothes they stole. Prospero then invites Alonso and his company to stay the night. He will tell them the tale of his last twelve years, and in the morning, they can all set out for Naples, where Miranda and Ferdinand will be married. It is revealed that after the wedding, Prospero will return to Milan, where he plans to contemplate the end of his life. The last charge Prospero gives to Ariel before setting him free is to make sure the trip home is made on “calm seas”.

Everyone except Prospero exits and Prospero speaks a Epilogue:

“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

And pardon'd the deceiver, dwell

In this bare island by your spell;

But release me from my bands

With the help of your good hands:

Gentle breath of yours my sails

Must fill, or else my project fails,

Which was to please. Now I want

Spirits to enforce, art to enchant,

And my ending is despair,

Unless I be relieved by prayer,

Which pierces so that it assaults

Mercy itself and frees all faults.

As you from crimes would pardon'd be,

Let your indulgence set me free.”