finished_summaries/cliffnotes/The Tempest/section_3_part_0.txt
The Tempest.act 2.scene 2
scene 2
{"name": "Scene 2", "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20201219151049/https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/t/the-tempest/summary-and-analysis/act-ii-scene-2", "summary": "The scene opens with Caliban cursing Prospero. When he hears someone approach, Caliban assumes it is one of Prospero's spirits, coming to torture him once again. Caliban falls to the ground and pulls his cloak over his body, leaving only his feet protruding. But instead of Prospero, the king's jester, Trinculo, enters. Trinculo is looking for shelter from the coming storm when he sees Caliban. With his body partially covered with the cloak, Caliban appears to be half man and half fish, or at least that is Trinculo's initial impression. Trinculo immediately sees the possibilities that this find presents. He can take this \"monster\" back to civilization and display it, charging admission to spectators who want to view this aberration of nature. Yet after touching Caliban, Trinculo decides that his \"find\" is not half man-half fish, but an islander. With the coming storm, Trinculo decides to seek shelter under Caliban's cloak. The king's butler, Stefano, enters, clearly drunk. Stefano stops at the sight of the object on the ground, covered with a cloak and with four legs sticking out. Like Trinculo, Stefano immediately sees the financial possibilities that such a creature offers back home. But all of Stefano's poking has alarmed Caliban, who thinks that he is about to experience a new form of torture, beyond what Prospero has provided. After pulling the cloak from Caliban's head, Stefano begins to pour wine into Caliban's mouth. Trinculo emerges from under the cloak and, happy to find another survivor of the storm on the island, joins Stefano and Caliban in drinking wine. Caliban drunkenly watches the happy reunion of Stefano and Trinculo and decides that Stefano is a god, dropped from heaven. Caliban swears devotion to this new \"god,\" and the three leave together, amid Caliban's promises to find Stefano the best food on the island.", "analysis": "For the first time, the audience is given a close look at Caliban, who appeared only briefly in Act I. He appears now, cursing Prospero, and so, the depth of Caliban's animosity is quickly evident. He is very frightened by Prospero, whom he both cowers before and hates. Prospero has made Caliban his slave. The island was originally Caliban's, and he lived under no man's control. Although Caliban blames Prospero for all his troubles, it is clear that nature, itself, has turned against him. In his soliloquy that opens this scene, Caliban admits that the animals on the island make faces at him, bite him, and hiss at him. This he blames on Prospero, reasoning that he controls all nature. Every noise is thought to be a spirit, sent by Prospero to torture him. Caliban represents nature, unfettered by man's domesticity -- nature, as it appears untouched by corrupt forces. And yet Caliban is not totally innocent. Prospero has already told the audience of Caliban's attack on Miranda. His behavior recalls the undisciplined nature of wild animals rather than that of natural man. He has not been civilized to the rules of social discourse and, instead, functions as the animals in the forest do -- obeying the instincts of nature. If Caliban represents the most basic elements of nature, then Stefano and Trinculo represent how low civilized men can sink without self-control. Both men are opportunists, ready to exploit the new \"man\" they discover under a cloak. Both Stefano and Trinculo share the same initial thought -- how to make money from a being as unusual in appearance as Caliban. They immediately see the potential in exhibiting him as a freak of nature. Of course, Shakespeare is commenting on a real phenomena in English society: the exhibition of American Indians, transported back to England from the new colonies in Virginia. Elizabethan entrepreneurs quickly saw a profit in the \"natural\" people who inhabited the Americas. These Native Americans were brought to England and displayed for profit. Most quickly succumbed to diseases for which they had no natural immunity. But more of these natural people were readily available, and so the trade continued for some time. Stefano and Trinculo's thinking reveals them to be little more than charlatans, out to make a quick profit. Stefano and Trinculo readily fall into agreement with Caliban and plot to commit murder because they think there is a profit to be made. But there is another reason, as well. Stefano enjoys his new status as Caliban's god. He delights in the adoration, the reversal of fortune. He has gone from butler to god and sees it as a huge improvement in status. Just as Sebastian and Antonio expect power as a reward for violent behavior, the butler and the court jester would like power with a minimal amount of effort. If murdering Prospero will make them kings of the island, they are ready to do Caliban's bidding. Of course, just as Sebastian and Antonio were being watched, so too are these three drunken conspirators. This scene involves low comedy, the kind of slapstick that depends more on actions than words. Caliban, Stefano, and Trinculo are funny because the audience thinks their efforts ridiculous. Trinculo is dressed as a clown, and Trinculo rode the storm to safety in a wine cask. Although Sebastian and Antonio's plot might represent real danger to Alonso , Trinculo and Stefano's plot can only represent impotence. Their plan to murder Prospero and ravish Miranda is doomed from the start, and the audience is always aware of this. In their drunkenness, they are ineffectual and thus can be enjoyed. In  Caliban's innocence, he has allied himself with buffoons. He bribes his accomplices with promises of choice foods and is too unsophisticated to realize that these men would also enslave him if given the opportunity. Stefano and Trinculo represent the worst that civilization has to offer -- debauchery and absurdity. Glossary inch-meal inch by inch. Here, Caliban hopes for Prospero's fall. bombard a large leather container meant to hold liquor. swabber the sailor who washes the ship and keeps the decks clean. chaps jaws. Stefano is telling Caliban to open his jaws and drink more. long spoon alluding to an old proverb that a man must have a very long spoon to eat with the devil. Stefano thinks that Trinculo is a ghost. moon-calf  a monstrosity; a misshapen creature born under the moon's influence. Scamels The meaning is uncertain but thought to be either shellfish or rock-inhabiting birds."}
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.






Scene 2
The scene opens with Caliban cursing Prospero. When he hears someone approach, Caliban assumes it is one of Prospero's spirits, coming to torture him once again. Caliban falls to the ground and pulls his cloak over his body, leaving only his feet protruding. But instead of Prospero, the king's jester, Trinculo, enters. Trinculo is looking for shelter from the coming storm when he sees Caliban. With his body partially covered with the cloak, Caliban appears to be half man and half fish, or at least that is Trinculo's initial impression. Trinculo immediately sees the possibilities that this find presents. He can take this "monster" back to civilization and display it, charging admission to spectators who want to view this aberration of nature. Yet after touching Caliban, Trinculo decides that his "find" is not half man-half fish, but an islander. With the coming storm, Trinculo decides to seek shelter under Caliban's cloak. The king's butler, Stefano, enters, clearly drunk. Stefano stops at the sight of the object on the ground, covered with a cloak and with four legs sticking out. Like Trinculo, Stefano immediately sees the financial possibilities that such a creature offers back home. But all of Stefano's poking has alarmed Caliban, who thinks that he is about to experience a new form of torture, beyond what Prospero has provided. After pulling the cloak from Caliban's head, Stefano begins to pour wine into Caliban's mouth. Trinculo emerges from under the cloak and, happy to find another survivor of the storm on the island, joins Stefano and Caliban in drinking wine. Caliban drunkenly watches the happy reunion of Stefano and Trinculo and decides that Stefano is a god, dropped from heaven. Caliban swears devotion to this new "god," and the three leave together, amid Caliban's promises to find Stefano the best food on the island.
For the first time, the audience is given a close look at Caliban, who appeared only briefly in Act I. He appears now, cursing Prospero, and so, the depth of Caliban's animosity is quickly evident. He is very frightened by Prospero, whom he both cowers before and hates. Prospero has made Caliban his slave. The island was originally Caliban's, and he lived under no man's control. Although Caliban blames Prospero for all his troubles, it is clear that nature, itself, has turned against him. In his soliloquy that opens this scene, Caliban admits that the animals on the island make faces at him, bite him, and hiss at him. This he blames on Prospero, reasoning that he controls all nature. Every noise is thought to be a spirit, sent by Prospero to torture him. Caliban represents nature, unfettered by man's domesticity -- nature, as it appears untouched by corrupt forces. And yet Caliban is not totally innocent. Prospero has already told the audience of Caliban's attack on Miranda. His behavior recalls the undisciplined nature of wild animals rather than that of natural man. He has not been civilized to the rules of social discourse and, instead, functions as the animals in the forest do -- obeying the instincts of nature. If Caliban represents the most basic elements of nature, then Stefano and Trinculo represent how low civilized men can sink without self-control. Both men are opportunists, ready to exploit the new "man" they discover under a cloak. Both Stefano and Trinculo share the same initial thought -- how to make money from a being as unusual in appearance as Caliban. They immediately see the potential in exhibiting him as a freak of nature. Of course, Shakespeare is commenting on a real phenomena in English society: the exhibition of American Indians, transported back to England from the new colonies in Virginia. Elizabethan entrepreneurs quickly saw a profit in the "natural" people who inhabited the Americas. These Native Americans were brought to England and displayed for profit. Most quickly succumbed to diseases for which they had no natural immunity. But more of these natural people were readily available, and so the trade continued for some time. Stefano and Trinculo's thinking reveals them to be little more than charlatans, out to make a quick profit. Stefano and Trinculo readily fall into agreement with Caliban and plot to commit murder because they think there is a profit to be made. But there is another reason, as well. Stefano enjoys his new status as Caliban's god. He delights in the adoration, the reversal of fortune. He has gone from butler to god and sees it as a huge improvement in status. Just as Sebastian and Antonio expect power as a reward for violent behavior, the butler and the court jester would like power with a minimal amount of effort. If murdering Prospero will make them kings of the island, they are ready to do Caliban's bidding. Of course, just as Sebastian and Antonio were being watched, so too are these three drunken conspirators. This scene involves low comedy, the kind of slapstick that depends more on actions than words. Caliban, Stefano, and Trinculo are funny because the audience thinks their efforts ridiculous. Trinculo is dressed as a clown, and Trinculo rode the storm to safety in a wine cask. Although Sebastian and Antonio's plot might represent real danger to Alonso , Trinculo and Stefano's plot can only represent impotence. Their plan to murder Prospero and ravish Miranda is doomed from the start, and the audience is always aware of this. In their drunkenness, they are ineffectual and thus can be enjoyed. In  Caliban's innocence, he has allied himself with buffoons. He bribes his accomplices with promises of choice foods and is too unsophisticated to realize that these men would also enslave him if given the opportunity. Stefano and Trinculo represent the worst that civilization has to offer -- debauchery and absurdity. Glossary inch-meal inch by inch. Here, Caliban hopes for Prospero's fall. bombard a large leather container meant to hold liquor. swabber the sailor who washes the ship and keeps the decks clean. chaps jaws. Stefano is telling Caliban to open his jaws and drink more. long spoon alluding to an old proverb that a man must have a very long spoon to eat with the devil. Stefano thinks that Trinculo is a ghost. moon-calf  a monstrosity; a misshapen creature born under the moon's influence. Scamels The meaning is uncertain but thought to be either shellfish or rock-inhabiting birds.