feat_summary_path: finished_summaries/cliffnotes/The Tempest/section_9_part_0.txt
feat_book_id: The Tempest.act 5
feat_summary_id: epilogue
feat_summary: {"name": "Epilogue", "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20201219151049/https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/t/the-tempest/summary-and-analysis/act-v-epilogue", "summary": "Prospero, who is now alone on stage, requests that the audience free him. He states that he has thrown away his magic and pardoned those who have injured him. Now he requires that the audience release him from the island, which has been his prison so that he might return to Naples. The audience's applause will be the signal that he is freed. Prospero indicates that his forgiveness of his former enemies is what all men crave. With the audience's applause, Prospero leaves the stage.", "analysis": "The Epilogue is often used to tie up loose ends and clarify any issues that remain unresolved. However, this epilogue does not provide the answers that the audience might expect. For instance, the audience never learns what is to become of Caliban or what will happen to Antonio and Sebastian. Few scholars ponder such questions. Instead, there has been a great deal of speculation on whether Prospero's farewell to magic is intended to announce Shakespeare's retirement from the stage. When Prospero asks the audience to free him from his imprisonment, is it instead the voice of Shakespeare asking the audience to free him from his craft? Certainly, there are parallels between Prospero and Shakespeare to consider. Both are manipulators; Prospero manipulates everyone on the island, and Shakespeare manipulates the characters he creates and the plots he devises. Both create entertainment, Prospero the masque and Shakespeare his plays, and both are intent on retiring. It is easy to look at Prospero's words and imagine Shakespeare mouthing them as he retires from the stage. But such parallels do not necessarily reveal how the author was, could be, or wants to be. The words on the page, or now spoken before an audience, do not tell the author's intentions or tone. To attribute Prospero's words to Shakespeare's own life may be a fallacy. After the completion of Prospero's story, Shakespeare did continue to write, composing parts of three more plays. It would be unwise to focus solely on The Tempest as somehow representative of Shakespeare's farewell to the stage and thus overlook the many other important strengths of the play."}
text: EPILOGUE.
  
  SPOKEN BY PROSPERO.
  
  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,                                       5
  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:                                   10
  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,                                           15
  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.                                    20
  
  
  
    Notes: Epilogue.
  
    EPILOGUE ... PROSPERO.] advancing, Capell.]
    1: _Now_] _Now, now_ F3 F4.
    3: _now_] _and now_ Pope.
    13: _Now_] _For now_ Pope.
  
  
  
  
  NOTES.
  
  
  NOTE I.
  
  I. 1. 15. _What cares these roarers._ This grammatical inaccuracy, which
  escaped correction in the later folios, probably came from Shakespeare's
  pen. Similar cases occur frequently, especially when the verb precedes
  its nominative. For example, _Tempest_, IV. 1. 262, 'Lies at my mercy
  all mine enemies,' and _Measure for Measure_, II. 1. 22, 'What knows the
  laws, &c.' We correct it in those passages where the occurrence of a
  vulgarism would be likely to annoy the reader. In the mouth of a
  Boatswain it can offend no one. We therefore leave it.
  
  
  NOTE II.
  
  I. 1. 57-59. _Mercy on us!--we split, &c._ It may be doubtful whether
  the printer of the first folio intended these broken speeches to express
  'a confused noise within.' Without question such was the author's
  meaning. Rowe, however, and subsequent editors, printed them as part of
  Gonzalo's speech. Capell was the first editor who gave the true
  arrangement.
  
  
  NOTE III.
  
  I. 2. 173. _princesses._ See Mr Sidney Walker's _Shakespeare's
  Versification_, p. 243 sqq. 'The plurals of substantives ending in _s_,
  in certain instances, in _se_, _ss_, _ce_, and sometimes _ge_, ... are
  found without the usual addition of _s_ or _es_, in pronunciation at
  least, although in many instances the plural affix is added in printing,
  where the metre shows that it is not to be pronounced.'
  
  In this and other instances, we have thought it better to trust to the
  ear of the reader for the rhythm than to introduce an innovation in
  orthography which might perplex him as to the sense. The form
  'princesses,' the use of which in Shakespeare's time was doubted by one
  of our correspondents, is found in the _History of King Leir_.
  
  Rowe's reading 'princes' might be defended on the ground that the
  sentiment is general, and applicable to royal children of both sexes; or
  that Sir Philip Sidney, in the first book of the _Arcadia_, calls Pamela
  and Philoclea 'princes.'
  
  
  NOTE IV.
  
  I. 2. 298. The metre of this line, as well as of lines 301, 302, is
  defective, but as no mode of correction can be regarded as completely
  satisfactory we have in accordance with our custom left the lines as
  they are printed in the Folio. The defect, indeed, in the metre of line
  298 has not been noticed except by Hanmer, who makes a line thus:
  
    'Do so, and after two days I'll discharge thee.'
  
  Possibly it ought to be printed thus:
  
                'Do so; and
    After two days
    I will discharge thee.'
  
  There is a broken line, also of four syllables, 253 of the same scene,
  another of seven, 235.
  
  There is no reason to doubt that the _words_ are as Shakespeare wrote
  them, for, although the action of the play terminates in less than four
  hours (I. 2. 240 and V. 1. 186), yet Ariel's ministry is not to end till
  the voyage to Naples shall be over. Prospero, too, repeats his promise,
  and marks his contentment by further shortening the time of servitude,
  'within two days,' I. 2. 420. Possibly 'Invisible' (301) should have a
  line to itself. Words thus occupying a broken line acquire a marked
  emphasis.
  
  But the truth is that in dialogue Shakespeare's language passes so
  rapidly from verse to prose and from prose to verse, sometimes even
  hovering, as it were, over the confines, being rhythmical rather than
  metrical, that all attempts to give regularity to the metre must be made
  with diffidence and received with doubt.
  
  
  NOTE V.
  
  I. 2. 377, 378:
  
    _Courtsied when you have and kiss'd_
    _The wild waves whist._
  
  This punctuation seems to be supported by what Ferdinand says (391,
  392):
  
    'The music crept by me upon the waters,
    Allaying both their fury and my passion, &c.'
  
  At the end of the stanza we have printed _Hark, hark! ... The watch-dogs
  bark_ as that part of the burthen which 'sweet sprites bear.' The other
  part is borne by distant watch-dogs.
  
  
  NOTE VI.
  
  I. 2. 443. _I fear you have done yourself some wrong._ See this phrase
  used in a similar sense, _Measure for Measure_, I. 11. 39.
  
  
  NOTE VII.
  
  II. 1. 27. _Which, of he or Adrian._ 'Of' is found in the same
  construction, _Midsummer Night's Dream_, III. 2. 336,
  
    'Now follow if thou darest to try whose right,
    Of thine or mine, is most in Helena.'
  
  
  NOTE VIII.
  
  II. 1. 157. _Of its own kind._ There is no doubt, as Dr Guest has shewn,
  that 'it,' which is the reading of the 1st and 2nd folios, was commonly
  used as a genitive in Shakespeare's time, as it is still in some
  provincial dialects. 'Its,' however, was coming into use. One instance
  occurs in this play, I. 11. 95, 'in its contrary.'
  
  
  NOTE IX.
  
  II. 1. 241. _she that from whom._ Mr Spedding writes: 'The received
  emendation is not satisfactory to me. I would rather read, "She
  that--From whom? All were sea-swallow'd &c., i.e. from whom should she
  have note? The report from Naples will be that all were drowned. We
  shall be the only survivors." The break in the construction seems to me
  characteristic of the speaker. But you must read the whole speech to
  feel the effect.'
  
  
  NOTE X.
  
  II. 1. 249-251. All editors except Mr Staunton have printed in italics
  (or between inverted commas) only as far as '_Naples?_', but as '_keep_'
  is printed with a small k in the folios, they seem to sanction the
  arrangement given in our text.
  
  
  NOTE XI.
  
  II. 1. 267. _Ay, sir; where lies that? if 'twere a kibe._ Mr Singer and
  Mr Dyce have changed ''twere' to 'it were' for the sake of the metre.
  But then the first part of the line must be read with a wrong emphasis.
  The proper emphasis clearly falls on the first, third, and fifth
  syllables, 'AY, sir; WHERE lies THAT?' See Preface.
  
  
  NOTE XII.
  
  II. 2. 165. Before 'here; bear my bottle' Capell inserts a stage
  direction [_To Cal._], but it appears from III. 2. 62, that Trinculo was
  entrusted with the office of bottle-bearer.
  
  
  NOTE XIII.
  
  III. 1. 15. _Most busy lest, when I do it._ As none of the proposed
  emendations can be regarded as certain, we have left the reading of F1,
  though it is manifestly corrupt. The spelling 'doe' makes Mr Spedding's
  conjecture 'idlest' for 'I doe it' more probable.
  
  
  NOTE XIV.
  
  III. 3. 17. The stage direction, which we have divided into two parts,
  is placed all at once in the folios after 'as when they are fresh'
  [Solemne and strange Musicke; and Prosper on the top (invisible:) Enter
  ... depart].
  
  Pope transferred it to follow Sebastian's words, 'I say, to night: no
  more.'
  
  
  NOTE XV.
  
  III. 3. 48. _Each putter out of five for one._ See Beaumont and
  Fletcher, _The Noble Gentleman_, I. 1. (Vol. II. p. 261, ed. Moxon):
  'The return will give you five for one.' MARINE is about to travel.
  
  
  NOTE XVI.
  
  IV. 1. 146. _You do look, my son, in a moved sort._ Seymour suggests a
  transposition: 'you do, my son, look in a moved sort.' This line however
  can scarcely have come from Shakespeare's pen. Perhaps the writer who
  composed the Masque was allowed to join it, as best he might, to
  Shakespeare's words, which re-commence at 'Our revels now are ended,'
  &c.
  
  
  NOTE XVII.
  
  IV. 1. 230. _Let's alone._ See Staunton's "Shakespeare," Vol. I. p. 81,
  note (b).
  
  
  NOTE XVIII.
  
  V. 1. 309. _Of these our dear-beloved solemnized._ The Folios have
  'belov'd'; a mode of spelling, which in this case is convenient as
  indicating the probable rhythm of the verse. We have written 'beloved,'
  in accordance with the general rule mentioned in the Preface.
  
  'Solemnized' occurs in four other verse passages of Shakespeare. It is
  three times to be accented 'SOlemnized' and once (_Love's Labour's
  Lost_, II. 1. 41) 'soLEMnized.'
  
         *       *       *       *       *
             *       *       *       *
         *       *       *       *       *
  
  Sources:
  
  The editors' Preface (e-text 23041) discusses the 17th- and
  18th-century editions in detail; the newer (19th-century) editions
  are simply listed by name. The following editions may appear in the
  Notes. All inset text is quoted from the Preface.
  
    Folios:
    F1 1623; F2 (no date given); F3 1663; F4 1685.
      "The five plays contained in this volume occur in the first Folio
      in the same order, and ... were there printed for the first time."
  
    Early editions:
    Rowe 1709
    Pope 1715
      "Pope was the first to indicate the _place_ of each new scene;
      as, for instance, _Tempest_, I. 1. 'On a ship at sea.' He also
      subdivided the scenes as given by the Folios and Rowe, making
      a fresh scene whenever a new character entered--an arrangement
      followed by Hanmer, Warburton, and Johnson. For convenience of
      reference to these editions, we have always recorded the
      commencement of Pope's scenes."
    Theobald 1733
    Hanmer ("Oxford edition") 1744
    Warburton 1747
    Johnson 1765
    Capell 1768; _also Capell's annotated copy of F2_
    Steevens 1773
    Malone 1790
    Reed 1803
  
    Later editions:
    Singer, Knight, Cornwall, Collier, Phelps, Halliwell, Dyce, Staunton
  
    Dryden:
      "_The Tempest_ was altered by Dryden and D'Avenant, and published
      as _The Tempest; or the Enchanted Island_, in 1669. We mark the
      emendations derived from it: 'Dryden's version.'"
  
  
  Errors and inconsistencies:
  
    _Re-enter Boatswain._
      [printed BOATSWAIN in small capitals]
    _Enter _Ariel_._
      [printed "Ariel" in lower case]
    Where my son lies. When did you lose you daughter?
      [Text unchanged: error for "your"?]
  
    [Text-critical notes]
  
    I. 2. 135: _to 't_] om. Steevens (Farmer conj.).
      [Here and elsewhere in the volume, body text has unspaced "to't"
      while line notes have spaced "to 't".]
    I. 2. 202: _o' the_] _of_ Pope.
      [Text unchanged: body text is capitalized "O' the"]
    II. 1. 88: _Ay._] I. Ff. _Ay?_ Pope.
      [Text unchanged: apparent error for italic _I._]
    III. 3. 17: Prospero above]
      [Text unchanged: stage direction is after l. 19]
  
    [Endnotes]
  
    I: I. 1. 15.  [I. 1. 16]
    V: 377, 378.  [376-377]
    XVI: IV. 1. 146  [IV. 1. 147]
  
  
feat_summary_name: Epilogue
target: Prospero, who is now alone on stage, requests that the audience free him. He states that he has thrown away his magic and pardoned those who have injured him. Now he requires that the audience release him from the island, which has been his prison so that he might return to Naples. The audience's applause will be the signal that he is freed. Prospero indicates that his forgiveness of his former enemies is what all men crave. With the audience's applause, Prospero leaves the stage.
feat_summary_analysis: The Epilogue is often used to tie up loose ends and clarify any issues that remain unresolved. However, this epilogue does not provide the answers that the audience might expect. For instance, the audience never learns what is to become of Caliban or what will happen to Antonio and Sebastian. Few scholars ponder such questions. Instead, there has been a great deal of speculation on whether Prospero's farewell to magic is intended to announce Shakespeare's retirement from the stage. When Prospero asks the audience to free him from his imprisonment, is it instead the voice of Shakespeare asking the audience to free him from his craft? Certainly, there are parallels between Prospero and Shakespeare to consider. Both are manipulators; Prospero manipulates everyone on the island, and Shakespeare manipulates the characters he creates and the plots he devises. Both create entertainment, Prospero the masque and Shakespeare his plays, and both are intent on retiring. It is easy to look at Prospero's words and imagine Shakespeare mouthing them as he retires from the stage. But such parallels do not necessarily reveal how the author was, could be, or wants to be. The words on the page, or now spoken before an audience, do not tell the author's intentions or tone. To attribute Prospero's words to Shakespeare's own life may be a fallacy. After the completion of Prospero's story, Shakespeare did continue to write, composing parts of three more plays. It would be unwise to focus solely on The Tempest as somehow representative of Shakespeare's farewell to the stage and thus overlook the many other important strengths of the play.