The Comedies of Shakespeare
THE COMEDIES
OF
WILLIAM
SHAKESPEARE
T H E M O D E R N L I B R A R Y
N E W Y O R K
CONTENTS
Cover Page
Title Page
About The Modern Library
About the Book
The Tempest
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Measure for Measure
The Comedy of Errors
Much Ado About Nothing
Love’s Labour’s Lost
A Midsummer-Night’s Dream
The Merchant of Venice
As You Like It
The Taming of the Shrew
All’s Well That Ends Well
Twelfth-Night; or, What You Will
The Winter’s Tale
Notes
Glossary
Copyright Page
About The Modern Library
The Modern Library has played a significant role in American cultural life for the better part of a century. The series was founded in 1917 by the publishers Boni and Liveright and eight years later acquired by Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer. It provided the foundation for their next publishing venture, Random House. The Modern Library has been a staple of the American book trade, providing readers with affordable hard-bound editions of important works of literature and thought. For the Modern Library’s seventy-fifth anniversary, Random House redesigned the series, restoring as its emblem the running torchbearer created by Lucian Bernhard in 1925 and refurbishing jackets, bindings, and type, as well as inaugurating a new program of selecting titles. The Modern Library continues to provide the world’s best books, at the best prices.
About the Book
This Modern Library edition presents all fourteen comedies—each complete and unabridged—in the Shakespearean canon, along with notes and glossary. Here are:
The Tempest
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Measure for Measure
The Comedy of Errors
Much Ado About Nothing
Love’s Labour’s Lost
A Midsummer-Night’s Dream
The Merchant of Venice
As You Like It
The Taming of the Shrew
All’s Well That Ends Well
Twelfth-Night
The Winter’s Tale
THE COMEDIES OF
SHAKESPEARE
THE TEMPEST
CAST OF CHARACTERS
ALONSO, King of Naples
SEBASTIAN, his Brother
PROSPERO, the right Duke of Milan
ANTONIO, his brother, the usurping
Duke of Milan
FERDINAND, Son to the King of Naples
GONZALO, an honest old Counsellor
CALIBAN, a savage and deformed Slave
TRINCULO, a Jester
STEPHANO, a drunken Butler
Master of a Ship
Boatswain
Mariners
MIRANDA, Daughter to Prospero
ARIEL, an airy Spirit
IRIS | } | |
CERES | |
JUNO | presented by Spirits |
Nymphs | |
Reapers | | |
Other Spirits attending on Prospero
SCENE
The Sea, with a Ship; afterwards an Island
ACT ONE
SCENE ONE
On a Ship at Sea. A tempestuous noise of thunder and
lightning heard.
Enter a Shipmaster and a Boatswain severally
MASTER. Boatswain!
BOATSWAIN. Here, master: what cheer?
MASTER. Good, speak to the mariners: fall to ’t yarely, or we
run ourselves aground: bestir, bestir. Exit
Enter Mariners
BOATSWAIN. Heigh, my hearts! Cheerly, cheerly, my hearts!
Yare, yare! Take in the topsail. Tend to the master’s
whistle! Blow, till thou burst thy wind, if room enough!
Enter Alonso, Sebastian,
Antonio, Ferdinand, Gonzalo, and others
ALONSO. Good boatswain, have care. Where’s the master?
Play the men.
BOATSWAIN. I pray now, keep below.
ANTONIO. Where is the master, bos’n?
BOATSWAIN. Do you not hear him? You mar our labour: keep
your cabins: you do assist the storm.
GONZALO. Nay, good, be patient.
BOATSWAIN. When the sea is. Hence! What cares these roar-
ers for the name of king? To cabin! silence! trouble us not.
GONZALO. Good, yet remember whom thou hast aboard.
BOATSWAIN.
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