The Tempest; Act III, Scene iii First Folio

 

This speech is used in our interview with Erin Partin

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53  You are three men of sinne, whom destiny
54  That hath to instrument this lower world,
55  And what is in’t: the neuer surfeited Sea,
56  Hath caus’d to belch vp you; and on this Island,
57  Where man doth not inhabit, you ‘mongst men,
58  Being most vnfit to liue: I haue made you mad;
59  And euen with such like valour, men hang, and drowne
60  Their proper selues: you fooles, I and my fellowes
61  Are ministers of Fate, the Elements
62  Of whom your swords are temper’d, may as well
63  Wound the loud windes, or with bemockt-at-Stabs
64  Kill the still closing waters, as diminish
65  One dowle that’s in my plumbe: My fellow ministers
66  Are like-invulnerable: if you could hurt,
67  Your swords are now too massie for your strengths,
68  And will not be vplifted: But remember
69  (For that’s my businesse to you) that you three
70  From Millaine did supplant good Prospero,
71  Expos’d vnto the Sea (which hath requit it)
72  Him, and his innocent childe: for which foule deed,
73  The Powres, delaying (not forgetting) haue
74  Incens’d the Seas, and Shores; yea, all the Creatures
75  Against your peace: Thee of thy Sonne, Alonso
76  They haue bereft; and doe pronounce by me
77  Lingring perdition (worse then any death
78  Can be at once) shall step, by step attend
79  You, and your wayes, whose wraths to guard you from,
80  Which here, in this most desolate Isle, else fals
81  Vpon your heads, is nothing but hearts-sorrow,
82  And a cleere life ensuing.

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