finished_summaries/sparknotes/The Tempest/section_4_part_0.txt
The Tempest.act ii.scene ii
act ii, scene ii
{"name": "Act II, scene ii", "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20210131162607/https://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/tempest/section5/", "summary": "Caliban enters with a load of wood, and thunder sounds in the background. Caliban curses and describes the torments that Prospero's spirits subject him to: they pinch, bite, and prick him, especially when he curses. As he is thinking of these spirits, Caliban sees Trinculo and imagines him to be one of the spirits. Hoping to avoid pinching, he lies down and covers himself with his cloak. Trinculo hears the thunder and looks about for some cover from the storm. The only thing he sees is the cloak-covered Caliban on the ground. He is not so much repulsed by Caliban as curious. He cannot decide whether Caliban is a \"man or a fish\" . He thinks of a time when he traveled to England and witnessed freak-shows there. Caliban, he thinks, would bring him a lot of money in England. Thunder sounds again and Trinculo decides that the best shelter in sight is beneath Caliban's cloak, and so he joins the man-monster there. Stephano enters singing and drinking. He hears Caliban cry out to Trinculo, \"Do not torment me! O!\" . Hearing this and seeing the four legs sticking out from the cloak, Stephano thinks the two men are a four-legged monster with a fever. He decides to relieve this fever with a drink. Caliban continues to resist Trinculo, whom he still thinks is a spirit tormenting him. Trinculo recognizes Stephano's voice and says so. Stephano, of course, assumes for a moment that the monster has two heads, and he promises to pour liquor in both mouths. Trinculo now calls out to Stephano, and Stephano pulls his friend out from under the cloak. While the two men discuss how they arrived safely on shore, Caliban enjoys the liquor and begs to worship Stephano. The men take full advantage of Caliban's drunkenness, mocking him as a \"most ridiculous monster\"  as he promises to lead them around and show them the isle.", "analysis": "Analysis Trinculo and Stephano are the last new characters to be introduced in the play. They act as comic foils to the main action, and will in later acts become specific parodies of Antonio and Sebastian. At this point, their role is to present comically some of the more serious issues in the play concerning Prospero and Caliban. In Act I, scene ii, Prospero calls Caliban a \"slave\" , \"thou earth\" , \"Filth\" , and \"Hag-seed\" . Stephano and Trinculo's epithet of choice in Act II, scene ii and thereafter is \"monster.\" But while these two make quite clear that Caliban is seen as less than human by the Europeans on the island, they also treat him more humanely than Prospero does. Stephano and Trinculo, a butler and a jester respectively, remain at the low end of the social scale in the play, and have little difficulty finding friendship with the strange islander they meet. \" Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows,\" says Trinculo , and then hastens to crawl beneath Caliban's garment in order to get out of the rain. The similarity, socially and perhaps physically as well, between Trinculo and Caliban is further emphasized when Stephano, drunk, initially mistakes the two for a single monster: \"This is some monster of the isle with four legs\" . More important than the emphasis on the way in which Caliban seems to others more monster than man, is the way in which this scene dramatizes the initial encounter between an almost completely isolated, \"primitive\" culture and a foreign, \"civilized\" one. The reader discovers during Caliban and Prospero's confrontation in Act I, scene ii that Prospero initially \"made much of\" Caliban ; that he gave Caliban \"Water with berries in't\" ; that Caliban showed him around the island; and that Prospero later imprisoned Caliban, after he had taken all he could take from him. The reader can see these events in Act II, scene ii, with Trinculo and Stephano in the place of Prospero. Stephano calls Caliban a \"brave monster,\" as they set off singing around the island. In addition, Stephano and Trinculo give Caliban wine, which Caliban finds to be a \"celestial liquor\" . Moreover, Caliban initially mistakes Stephano and Trinculo for Prospero's spirits, but alcohol convinces him that Stephano is a \"brave god\" and decides unconditionally to \"kneel to him\" . This scene shows the foreign, civilized culture as decadent and manipulative: Stephano immediately plans to \"inherit\" the island , using Caliban to show him all its virtues. Stephano and Trinculo are a grotesque, parodic version of Prospero upon his arrival twelve years ago. Godlike in the eyes of the native, they slash and burn their way to power. By this point, Caliban has begun to resemble a parody of himself. Whereas he would \"gabble like / A thing most brutish\"  upon Prospero's arrival, because he did not know language, he now is willfully inarticulate in his drunkenness. Immediately putting aside his fear that these men are spirits sent to do him harm, Caliban puts his trust in them for all the wrong reasons. What makes Caliban's behavior in this scene so tragic is that we might expect him, especially after his eloquent curses of Prospero in Act I, scene ii, to know better."}
SCENE II.

_Another part of the island._

  _Enter CALIBAN with a burden of wood. A noise of thunder heard._

_Cal._ All the infections that the sun sucks up
From bogs, fens, flats, on Prosper fall, and make him
By inch-meal a disease! His spirits hear me,
And yet I needs must curse. But they'll nor pinch,
Fright me with urchin-shows, pitch me i' the mire,                   5
Nor lead me, like a firebrand, in the dark
Out of my way, unless he bid 'em: but
For every trifle are they set upon me;
Sometime like apes, that mow and chatter at me,
And after bite me; then like hedgehogs, which                       10
Lie tumbling in my barefoot way, and mount
Their pricks at my footfall; sometime am I
All wound with adders, who with cloven tongues
Do hiss me into madness.

  _Enter TRINCULO._

                        Lo, now, lo!
Here comes a spirit of his, and to torment me                       15
For bringing wood in slowly. I'll fall flat;
Perchance he will not mind me.

_Trin._ Here's neither bush nor shrub, to bear off any
weather at all, and another storm brewing; I hear it sing i'
the wind: yond same black cloud, yond huge one, looks               20
like a foul bombard that would shed his liquor. If it should
thunder as it did before, I know not where to hide my head:
yond same cloud cannot choose but fall by pailfuls. What
have we here? a man or a fish? dead or alive? A fish: he
smells like a fish; a very ancient and fish-like smell; a kind      25
of not of the newest Poor-John. A strange fish! Were I
in England now, as once I was, and had but this fish
painted, not a holiday fool there but would give a piece of
silver: there would this monster make a man; any strange
beast there makes a man: when they will not give a doit to          30
relieve a lame beggar, they will lay out ten to see a dead
Indian. Legged like a man! and his fins like arms! Warm
o' my troth! I do now let loose my opinion; hold it no
longer: this is no fish, but an islander, that hath lately
suffered by a thunderbolt. [_Thunder._] Alas, the storm is come     35
again! my best way is to creep under his gaberdine; there
is no other shelter hereabout: misery acquaints a man with
strange bed-fellows. I will here shroud till the dregs of the
storm be past.

  _Enter STEPHANO, singing: a bottle in his hand._

_Ste._ I shall no more to sea, to sea,                              40
                Here shall I die a-shore,--

This is a very scurvy tune to sing at a man's funeral: well,
here's my comfort.                                  [_Drinks._


[_Sings._ The master, the swabber, the boatswain, and I,
                       The gunner, and his mate,                    45
               Loved Mall, Meg, and Marian, and Margery,
                   But none of us cared for Kate;
                   For she had a tongue with a tang,
                   Would cry to a sailor, Go hang!
               She loved not the savour of tar nor of pitch;        50
               Yet a tailor might scratch her where'er she did itch.
                   Then, to sea, boys, and let her go hang!

This is a scurvy tune too: but here's my comfort. [_Drinks._

_Cal._ Do not torment me:--O!

_Ste._ What's the matter? Have we devils here? Do                   55
you put tricks upon 's with savages and men of Ind, ha? I
have not scaped drowning, to be afeard now of your four
legs; for it hath been said, As proper a man as ever went
on four legs cannot make him give ground; and it shall be
said so again, while Stephano breathes at's nostrils.               60

_Cal._ The spirit torments me:--O!

_Ste._ This is some monster of the isle with four legs, who
hath got, as I take it, an ague. Where the devil should he
learn our language? I will give him some relief, if it be
but for that. If I can recover him, and keep him tame, and          65
get to Naples with him, he's a present for any emperor that
ever trod on neat's-leather.

_Cal._ Do not torment me, prithee; I'll bring my wood
home faster.

_Ste._ He's in his fit now, and does not talk after the             70
wisest. He shall taste of my bottle: if he have never drunk
wine afore, it will go near to remove his fit. If I can recover
him, and keep him tame, I will not take too much for
him; he shall pay for him that hath him, and that soundly.

_Cal._ Thou dost me yet but little hurt; thou wilt anon, I          75
know it by thy trembling: now Prosper works upon thee.

_Ste._ Come on your ways; open your mouth; here is that
which will give language to you, cat: open your mouth; this
will shake your shaking, I can tell you, and that soundly:
you cannot tell who's your friend: open your chaps again.           80

_Trin._ I should know that voice: it should be--but he
is drowned; and these are devils:--O defend me!

_Ste._ Four legs and two voices,--a most delicate monster!
His forward voice, now, is to speak well of his friend;
his backward voice is to utter foul speeches and to detract.        85
If all the wine in my bottle will recover him, I will help
his ague. Come:--Amen! I will pour some in thy other
mouth.

_Trin._ Stephano!

_Ste._ Doth thy other mouth call me? Mercy, mercy!                  90
This is a devil, and no monster: I will leave him; I have
no long spoon.

_Trin._ Stephano! If thou beest Stephano, touch me,
and speak to me; for I am Trinculo,--be not afeard,--thy
good friend Trinculo.                                               95

_Ste._ If thou beest Trinculo, come forth: I'll pull thee
by the lesser legs: if any be Trinculo's legs, these are they.
Thou art very Trinculo indeed! How earnest thou to be
the siege of this moon-calf? can he vent Trinculos?

_Trin._ I took him to be killed with a thunder-stroke.             100
But art thou not drowned, Stephano? I hope, now, thou
art not drowned. Is the storm overblown? I hid me
under the dead moon-calf's gaberdine for fear of the storm.
And art thou living, Stephano? O Stephano, two Neapolitans
scaped!                                                            105

_Ste._ Prithee, do not turn me about; my stomach is not
constant.

_Cal._ [_aside_] These be fine things, an if they be not sprites.
That's a brave god, and bears celestial liquor:
I will kneel to him.                                               110

_Ste._ How didst thou 'scape? How camest thou hither?
swear, by this bottle, how thou camest hither. I escaped
upon a butt of sack, which the sailors heaved o'erboard, by
this bottle! which I made of the bark of a tree with mine
own hands, since I was cast ashore.                                115

_Cal._ I'll swear, upon that bottle, to be thy true subject;
for the liquor is not earthly.

_Ste._ Here; swear, then, how thou escapedst.

_Trin._ Swum ashore, man, like a duck: I can swim
like a duck, I'll be sworn.                                        120

_Ste._ Here, kiss the book. Though thou canst swim
like a duck, thou art made like a goose.

_Trin._ O Stephano, hast any more of this?

_Ste._ The whole butt, man: my cellar is in a rock by
the sea-side, where my wine is hid. How now, moon-calf!            125
how does thine ague?

_Cal._ Hast thou not dropp'd from heaven?

_Ste._ Out o' the moon, I do assure thee: I was the man
i' the moon when time was.

_Cal._ I have seen thee in her, and I do adore thee:               130
My mistress show'd me thee, and thy dog, and thy bush.

_Ste._ Come, swear to that; kiss the book: I will furnish
it anon with new contents: swear.

_Trin._ By this good light, this is a very shallow monster!
I afeard of him! A very weak monster! The                          135
man i' the moon! A most poor credulous monster! Well
drawn, monster, in good sooth!

_Cal._ I'll show thee every fertile inch o' th' island;
And I will kiss thy foot: I prithee, be my god.

_Trin._ By this light, a most perfidious and drunken               140
monster! when's god's asleep, he'll rob his bottle.

_Cal._ I'll kiss thy foot; I'll swear myself thy subject.

_Ste._ Come on, then; down, and swear.

_Trin._ I shall laugh myself to death at this puppy-headed
monster. A most scurvy monster! I could find in                    145
my heart to beat him,--

_Ste._ Come, kiss.

_Trin._ But that the poor monster's in drink: an abominable
monster!

_Cal._ I'll show thee the best springs; I'll pluck thee berries;   150
I'll fish for thee, and get thee wood enough.
A plague upon the tyrant that I serve!
I'll bear him no more sticks, but follow thee,
Thou wondrous man.

_Trin._ A most ridiculous monster, to make a wonder                155
of a poor drunkard!

_Cal._ I prithee, let me bring thee where crabs grow;
And I with my long nails will dig thee pig-nuts;
Show thee a jay's nest, and instruct thee how
To snare the nimble marmoset; I'll bring thee                      160
To clustering filberts, and sometimes I'll get thee
Young scamels from the rock. Wilt thou go with me?

_Ste._ I prithee now, lead the way, without any more
talking. Trinculo, the king and all our company else being
drowned, we will inherit here: here; bear my bottle: fellow        165
Trinculo, we'll fill him by and by again.

_Cal. sings drunkenly._] Farewell, master; farewell, farewell!

_Trin._ A howling monster; a drunken monster!

_Cal._ No more dams I'll make for fish;
                Nor fetch in firing                                170
                At requiring;
             Nor scrape trencher, nor wash dish:
                'Ban, 'Ban, Cacaliban
                Has a new master:--get a new man.

Freedom, hey-day! hey-day, freedom! freedom, hey-day,              175
freedom!

_Ste._ O brave monster! Lead the way.    [_Exeunt._


  Notes: II, 2.

  4: _nor_] F1 F2. _not_ F3 F4.
  15: _and_] _now_ Pope. _sent_ Edd. conj. (so Dryden).
  21: _foul_] _full_ Upton conj.
  35: [Thunder] Capell.
  38: _dregs_] _drench_ Collier MS.
  40: SCENE III. Pope.
  [a bottle in his hand] Capell.]
  46: _and Marian_] _Mirian_ Pope.
  56: _savages_] _salvages_ Ff.
  60: _at's nostrils_] Edd. _at 'nostrils_ F1. _at nostrils_ F2 F3 F4.
    _at his nostrils_ Pope.
  78: _you, cat_] _you Cat_ Ff. _a cat_ Hanmer. _your cat_ Edd. conj.
  84: _well_] F1 om. F2 F3 F4.
  115, 116: Steevens prints as verse, _I'll ... thy True ... earthly._
  118: _swear, then, how thou escapedst_] _swear then: how escapedst
    thou?_ Pope.
  119: _Swum_] _Swom_ Ff.
  131: _and thy dog, and thy bush_] _thy dog and bush_ Steevens.
  133: _new_] F1. _the new_ F2 F3 F4.
  135: _weak_] F1. _shallow_ F2 F3 F4.
  138: _island_] F1. _isle_ F2 F3 F4.
  150-154, 157-162, printed as verse by Pope (after Dryden).
  162: _scamels_] _shamois_ Theobald. _seamalls, stannels_ id. conj.
  163: Ste.] F1. Cal. F2 F3 F4.
  165: Before _here; bear my bottle_ Capell inserts [To Cal.].
    See note (XII).
  172: _trencher_] Pope (after Dryden). _trenchering_ Ff.
  175: _hey-day_] Rowe. _high-day_ Ff.






Act II, scene ii
Caliban enters with a load of wood, and thunder sounds in the background. Caliban curses and describes the torments that Prospero's spirits subject him to: they pinch, bite, and prick him, especially when he curses. As he is thinking of these spirits, Caliban sees Trinculo and imagines him to be one of the spirits. Hoping to avoid pinching, he lies down and covers himself with his cloak. Trinculo hears the thunder and looks about for some cover from the storm. The only thing he sees is the cloak-covered Caliban on the ground. He is not so much repulsed by Caliban as curious. He cannot decide whether Caliban is a "man or a fish" . He thinks of a time when he traveled to England and witnessed freak-shows there. Caliban, he thinks, would bring him a lot of money in England. Thunder sounds again and Trinculo decides that the best shelter in sight is beneath Caliban's cloak, and so he joins the man-monster there. Stephano enters singing and drinking. He hears Caliban cry out to Trinculo, "Do not torment me! O!" . Hearing this and seeing the four legs sticking out from the cloak, Stephano thinks the two men are a four-legged monster with a fever. He decides to relieve this fever with a drink. Caliban continues to resist Trinculo, whom he still thinks is a spirit tormenting him. Trinculo recognizes Stephano's voice and says so. Stephano, of course, assumes for a moment that the monster has two heads, and he promises to pour liquor in both mouths. Trinculo now calls out to Stephano, and Stephano pulls his friend out from under the cloak. While the two men discuss how they arrived safely on shore, Caliban enjoys the liquor and begs to worship Stephano. The men take full advantage of Caliban's drunkenness, mocking him as a "most ridiculous monster"  as he promises to lead them around and show them the isle.
Analysis Trinculo and Stephano are the last new characters to be introduced in the play. They act as comic foils to the main action, and will in later acts become specific parodies of Antonio and Sebastian. At this point, their role is to present comically some of the more serious issues in the play concerning Prospero and Caliban. In Act I, scene ii, Prospero calls Caliban a "slave" , "thou earth" , "Filth" , and "Hag-seed" . Stephano and Trinculo's epithet of choice in Act II, scene ii and thereafter is "monster." But while these two make quite clear that Caliban is seen as less than human by the Europeans on the island, they also treat him more humanely than Prospero does. Stephano and Trinculo, a butler and a jester respectively, remain at the low end of the social scale in the play, and have little difficulty finding friendship with the strange islander they meet. " Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows," says Trinculo , and then hastens to crawl beneath Caliban's garment in order to get out of the rain. The similarity, socially and perhaps physically as well, between Trinculo and Caliban is further emphasized when Stephano, drunk, initially mistakes the two for a single monster: "This is some monster of the isle with four legs" . More important than the emphasis on the way in which Caliban seems to others more monster than man, is the way in which this scene dramatizes the initial encounter between an almost completely isolated, "primitive" culture and a foreign, "civilized" one. The reader discovers during Caliban and Prospero's confrontation in Act I, scene ii that Prospero initially "made much of" Caliban ; that he gave Caliban "Water with berries in't" ; that Caliban showed him around the island; and that Prospero later imprisoned Caliban, after he had taken all he could take from him. The reader can see these events in Act II, scene ii, with Trinculo and Stephano in the place of Prospero. Stephano calls Caliban a "brave monster," as they set off singing around the island. In addition, Stephano and Trinculo give Caliban wine, which Caliban finds to be a "celestial liquor" . Moreover, Caliban initially mistakes Stephano and Trinculo for Prospero's spirits, but alcohol convinces him that Stephano is a "brave god" and decides unconditionally to "kneel to him" . This scene shows the foreign, civilized culture as decadent and manipulative: Stephano immediately plans to "inherit" the island , using Caliban to show him all its virtues. Stephano and Trinculo are a grotesque, parodic version of Prospero upon his arrival twelve years ago. Godlike in the eyes of the native, they slash and burn their way to power. By this point, Caliban has begun to resemble a parody of himself. Whereas he would "gabble like / A thing most brutish"  upon Prospero's arrival, because he did not know language, he now is willfully inarticulate in his drunkenness. Immediately putting aside his fear that these men are spirits sent to do him harm, Caliban puts his trust in them for all the wrong reasons. What makes Caliban's behavior in this scene so tragic is that we might expect him, especially after his eloquent curses of Prospero in Act I, scene ii, to know better.