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Message-ID: <38322asstr$1031911803@assm.asstr-mirror.org>
From: Pete Moss <peter_a_moss@yahoo.com>
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Subject: {ASSM} The Tempest, Act IV: Missing scenes (m/m, spirit/m,  m/f,  spirit/f)
Date: Fri, 13 Sep 2002 06:10:03 -0400
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The Tempest, Act IV: Missing scenes
Pete Moss (peter_a_moss@yahoo.com)

William Shakespeare's The Tempest is unique in only having a single scene 
in its fourth act.  It is also unusual for Prospero to be the final speaker 
in Act IV, scene 1, and the first speaker in Act V, scene 1.  The story arc 
of Stephano, Caliban, and Trinculo is truncated, despite a clearly 
cobbled-together conclusion in Act V.  Thus, it has long been speculated 
that a scene is missing.

I recently conducted a review of an early quarto of The Tempest.  One page 
revealed some ink stains that appear to be the remnants of another page 
pressed against it while the ink was still wet.  Computer analysis has 
allowed me to reconstruct that sheet, and it appears to contain not one but 
two additional scenes of Act IV.  In all likelihood, they were excised at 
the order of Sir Edmund Tilney, Master of the Revels, as being too bawdy 
for the public.  It is likely that they were never performed.

Here I present the text of page as I have reconstructed it.  Much of what 
follows is based on supposition and inference, because the computer 
reconstruction of the page is difficult to read, and the handwriting of the 
author is shaky.  I have modernized spellings and added minimal stage 
directions.

Tempest
Act IV
Scene 2
Another part of the island

[Enter TRINCULO, STEPHANO, and CALIBAN, running.]

TRINCULO
Are they gone, Stephano?

STEPHANO
I see them not.

[Enter PROSPERO, invisible.]

TRINCULO
Oh, Stephano, did not the wise man say that drinking proves three 
things?  I have drunk much sack, and of the third thing I am surely most 
provoked.

STEPHANO
And I.

CALIBAN
And I must piss like unto Bucephalus.

STEPHANO and TRINCULO
Bucephalus?

CALIBAN
Bucephalus. The horse of Alexander.  Read thee a book!  For myself, I must 
off my robe.

STEPHANO
And these my pants stand between me and the pool, where I may vent myself.

TRINCULO
And mine.  Ah, much relief this is.

STEPHANO
Was this Bucephalus thy sire, Caliban?

CALIBAN
No

STEPHANO
For thou art hung like unto him.  And your gain is his loss.

TRINCULO
Why, how I am mock'd.

CALIBAN
My new master presents himself most masterly.  My old master did make me 
shake his thing, when he was done, for he would not touch it himself, and I 
required but two fingers to measure out its length.

PROSPERO (aside)
Did thee indeed?  But I have a staff of power shall make thee tremble 
now!  Come, spirits!

[Enter three spirits, who steal their garments]

STEPHANO
What a sight is this?  Often have I seen trousers dance, but ne'er without 
a pair of legs in'm.

TRINCULO
I am most afeared!

CALIBAN
That's certain, for you have shrunk away in fear.

TRINCULO
Hold me, Stephano!

PROSPERO
They think so much of what's inside their pants
Perhaps a new perspective they may gain
Spirits, put their garments on their heads!

STEPHANO
Zounds!  I cannot see!

CALIBAN
Nor I.

TRINCULO
Nor I.  I will defend myself with this stick

STEPHANO
Ooh!

CALIBAN
And I this.

TRINCULO
Aah!  What a wonder is this?  This island gives delight indeed.

STEPHANO
Where is my bottle?  Ah, here it is.

CALIBAN
Mmm!

STEPHANO
No, that is not it, for it feels warm in my hand.

PROSPERO
This is an amorous little circle, yet
No wonders can I work upon them more
Than they each work upon each other.
Come, my servants, and restore their sight
That each may see how his companions have
Arisen to his ministration

[Spirits exit, bearing their clothes]

TRINCULO
O, Stephano, I, well, that is to say.

STEPHANO
Speak no more of it.

TRINCULO
O good, for that is never what I meant.

STEPHANO
No?

TRINCULO
No.

STEPHANO
O.

TRINCULO
Good.

STEPHANO
Nor I.

TRINCULO
O.

STEPHANO
Good.

CALIBAN
My master, the spirits have carried off my robe, and now I have nought to wear.

TRINCULO
Oh, Stephano, are we to be kings of this isle, with none but this monster 
and ourselves to serve us.

STEPHANO
The monster shall be our servant. I have lost my bottle!  Monster, down and 
find it!  Down, I say, on hands and knees.

TRINCULO
The fourth that drink provokes is lechery, and now that too begins to work 
upon me.  Monster, thou art an ass, and upon thy ass I work my art.

CALIBAN
O!  See, master, what indignity he works upon me.

STEPHANO
Come, open up thy mouth again, I've liquor sweet enough for thee.

CALIBAN
Thou hast lost thy bottle.

STEPHANO
But here is more.

CALIBAN
What of Prosper's daughter?  She waits for thee.

STEPHANO
There will be liquor enough for her, too.  Open thy mouth, I say, and to't.

[Enter ARIEL, girded with a  phallus]

PROSPERO
My Ariel, did I call you my "chick"?
More rather should I call you "cock"!  For cock
Thou bear'st.  Let them taste a little of their own.

ARIEL
[sings]
Achilles said to Patroclus
Come to me, my love, my boy
I'll show you the ways of boys and men
Fa la, fa la, fa la, fa la.

TRINCULO
Stephano!  Most worthy Stephano!  Thou pry'st me apart

STEPHANO
I'm over here, Trinculo.

[Exuent Stephano and Trinculo, running]

CALIBAN
These gods cannot finish what they begin.  But if I am to have my liquor, I 
must pursue my master and his bottle.

[Exit Caliban]

Act IV
Scene 3
Inside Prospero's cell

FERDINAND
A chess-board!  Do you play this game, Miranda?

MIRANDA
I do, but I know sports more fit than this.
Let you be king, and I shall be thy queen.

FERDINAND
How is it played?

MIRANDA
Let me begin it first.
I bind your eyes with this black satin sash
And take your hands to place upon myself
That whereon thou must make for me a rhyme
Of thy devising, what thou think'st of me.

FERDINAND
With poetry I have but little skill
But I shall play, and give to it my all

MIRANDA
I bind your eyes, and thus begins our game.

FERDINAND
Thy lips are like two cherries on a stem
As soft as this black sash upon my eyes
My fingertips delight in touching them
This game makes of they lips a goodly prize.

MIRANDA
Although thou see'st it not, I blush at your
High praise.  Thou play'st it well.  And thus:

FERDINAND
Miranda's hair is golden as the sun
The crowning glory of a woman's pride
Like waterfalls that through my fingers run
I would that she may soon become my bride

MIRANDA
You wish aloud the wishes in my heart.
Now your third turn you take as I do place
Your hand upon my heart.  Ooh, there!  Oh yes!

FERDINAND
What miracle is this?  'Tis not thy head,
Nor foot, nor anything that I
Have ever touched before.  Off with this sash!

MIRANDA
You said that you had loved several women
For their virtues.  What virtues then were these?

FERDINAND
Beatrice had a melodious voice
That nightingales would stop to hear her sing.
And Rosaline could dance on nimble toes
And make all worldly cares evaporate.
Maria played the lyre with fingers light
Such music as Apollo might have played.

MIRANDA
But none of them had alabaster teats
With tips as sweet as berries for you to taste?
And not a one would show you the delights
That wait for man's caress beneath the waist?

FERDINAND
What can you know of men, and what they want
That grew up lonesome on a desert isle?

MIRANDA
My father is a man with many books.

FERDINAND
That's certain.  I have seen them in his cell.

MIRANDA
His library goes far beyond that stack
Most sacred to him he keeps in this locked trunk
Which he believes beyond my skill to open
But diligence and cleverness I have
To turn the tumblers and read what's inside.
But little found I there to read!

FERDINAND
Thou said
That there were books inside.

MIRANDA
What books they were!
Of pictures, not of stories.  Of women, men
And beasts!  Of woman's body I do know
For I have seen myself in my own glass
But ne'er before did know the difference
That men possess, and use, with such a bold
Imagination that I scarce could stand.
For such a pleasure they did seem to take,
and such a wetness felt between my legs
At drawings that the truth must stop my heart.
With Caliban my curiosity
I'd sate to know if books did tell me true
I taught our language him, so he would speak
And  next instruct him how to read a book.
This he found dull, and soon was fast asleep.
Grown curious, I lifted up the hem
Of that rough gabardine that covers him
And was confirmed that books tell truth of men
For such a member dangled 'tween his legs
That I grew frightened.  But more it grew
When my hand closed about its girth, and he
Cried out, "Oh master, master, long have I
Longed for the day that you would wait on me."
Why he should call my father and not me
I compass not.  But then he woke, and claimed
Aloud, "Man delights not me!" and tried
To thrust himself between my maiden thighs
But he could not, for his stiff rod did melt
Away and would not be returned.  I tried
Encouragement of every form I knew
But came to nought.  In stormed my father then
And threw his monstrous form into the sea.
I see my story has awaked in you
Some interest in me, else I mistake
The turgid bulge new-formed in thy pants.
Although I am a maid, as sooth I told
I long for you to take my maiden head!

FERDINAND
I would, but I know not.  My father died
Before the ways of women he could teach.

MIRANDA
Together we shall learn.  I will begin.
I take thy pants down, thus (Oh my! Oh my!
'Tis not so big as Caliban's but
What a shape, a form, proportionate
I long to taste, and measure which of it
Or my throat's depth be greater of the two!)

FERDINAND
This is a virtue so beyond compare
My life entire held between thy cheeks
If you cease now, I shall bedaub your eyes
And heaving bosom with a potent potion.

MIRANDA
My father taught that I must persevere
Complete always the things I have begun.

FERDINAND
Speak not, thy lips and tongue have dear employ.
For if thou seek to finish out this job
Beware, for I shall fill you with my flood
Miranda, O!  I come! I spend! I spew!

MIRANDA
It tastes of brine, for thou wert cast up from
The sea, and warm, as heated by the fire
Of your heart and lust for me.  And now
My lord, reciprocate.  My legs I spread
And to your agile tongue reveal the place
My fingers often tread, but never seen
By other men.  It must be sweet down there
As oft I've licked the honey-nectar found
Upon my fingertips, when I am done.

FERDINAND
Much pleasure have I had, and to return
The favor unto you I long to do
But thou hast sucked my power through my loins
More than thy father's sorcery could do.
So I must sleep; I shall be with thee soon.

[sleeps]

MIRANDA
Sweet lord!  You play me false!  Awake!  Awake!
This island lacks of men, so it is well
A girl can do herself what they will not.

[enter ARIEL, invisible]

ARIEL
Prospero my master soon returns
And many men will soon be coming here
That she must soon herself again possess
Lest modesty become a virtue of the past.
But should she dress herself unsatisfied?
She shall not suffer this churl's lack of taste
A little taste of her I take myself.

MIRANDA
                         O!  O!
What need I men, when spirits do so much?
If men are built like we, their tongues
Are not this long, nor dexterous, nor soft.
So often have I wish'd that I had one
To kiss, but ne'er imagined I could kiss
With these my nether-lips. I come! I come!

ARIEL
And I, thy unseen loving friend
Do taste thee still upon my lips.

[A noise within. Exit Ariel]

MIRANDA
A noise?  Get up! Where is my dress? Awake!

FERDINAND
Where are my pants?

MIRANDA
         No time!  We must away!

[Exeunt omnes]

-- 
Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights
reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated.
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