Original: There be some sports are painful, and their labour
Modern: Some activities are painful, but the hard work involved

Original: Delight in them sets off: some kinds of baseness
Modern: Makes the pleasure even greater: some types of lowly work

Original: Are nobly undergone and most poor matters
Modern: Are done with honor, and even the most humble tasks

Original: Point to rich ends. This my mean task
Modern: Lead to valuable results. This simple job of mine

Original: Would be as heavy to me as odious, but
Modern: Would feel as burdensome as it is hateful, but

Original: The mistress which I serve quickens what’s dead
Modern: The woman I serve brings life to what feels lifeless

Original: And makes my labours pleasures: O, she is
Modern: And turns my hard work into joy: Oh, she is

Original: Ten times more gentle than her father’s crabbed,
Modern: Ten times kinder than her father is grumpy,

Original: And he’s composed of harshness. I must remove
Modern: And he’s made entirely of cruelty. I have to move

Original: Some thousands of these logs and pile them up,
Modern: Thousands of these logs and stack them up,

Original: Upon a sore injunction: my sweet mistress
Modern: Under a harsh command: my dear lady

Original: Weeps when she sees me work, and says, such baseness
Modern: Cries when she watches me work, and says such lowly labor

Original: Had never like executor. I forget:
Modern: Never had someone so noble doing it. I lose track of time:

Original: But these sweet thoughts do even refresh my labours,
Modern: But these loving thoughts actually make my work feel easier,

Original: Most busy lest, when I do it.
Modern: I’m most energetic and least tired when I’m working.

In Act III, Scene 1 of “The Tempest,” Ferdinand is discovered carrying logs as punishment, having been enslaved by Prospero following his arrival on the island. Despite the physical labor being difficult and demeaning work typically performed by servants, Ferdinand willingly endures it because his love for Miranda makes the burden bearable. He reflects on how his affection for Prospero’s daughter transforms what would otherwise be painful drudgery into something he can tolerate, even as he struggles with the heavy logs.

Miranda enters and, moved by compassion for Ferdinand’s plight, offers to carry the logs herself or at least help him with the work. Ferdinand refuses her assistance, and their conversation quickly turns to declarations of mutual love. Miranda reveals that she knows few people other than her father, making Ferdinand seem exceptional to her, while Ferdinand assures her that among all the noble ladies he has known, she surpasses them all in beauty and virtue. The scene concludes with the two young lovers exchanging vows of marriage, with Miranda proposing to Ferdinand, and both pledging their devotion to one another. Unbeknownst to them, Prospero observes the entire exchange from a distance, pleased that his plan to bring the couple together has succeeded.

The Tempest opens with a violent storm at sea that shipwrecks a vessel carrying Alonso, King of Naples, his son Ferdinand, his brother Sebastian, Antonio (the usurping Duke of Milan), the counselor Gonzalo, and others. The tempest has been conjured by Prospero, the rightful Duke of Milan, who lives in exile on an island with his daughter Miranda. Twelve years earlier, Prospero was overthrown by his brother Antonio with the help of Alonso, and set adrift at sea with the infant Miranda. They survived and reached this island, where Prospero has spent years studying magic and commanding the spirit Ariel, whom he freed from imprisonment in a tree.

The shipwreck separates the survivors into different groups across the island. Ferdinand becomes separated from the others and encounters Miranda, with whom he immediately falls in love, though Prospero tests the young man by enslaving him temporarily. Meanwhile, Antonio and Sebastian plot to murder Alonso and Gonzalo while they sleep, but Ariel awakens Gonzalo just in time. Another group, including the drunken butler Stephano and jester Trinculo, meets Caliban, Prospero’s reluctant servant who is the island’s original inhabitant. Caliban persuades them to help him kill Prospero and take control of the island.

Prospero orchestrates a series of magical interventions: he presents a banquet to Alonso’s group that vanishes when they try to eat, and Ariel appears as a harpy to remind them of their crimes against Prospero. Ariel also disrupts Caliban’s murder plot by leading the conspirators into a stinking pond and then tormenting them with spirits disguised as hunting dogs. Ferdinand proves his love for Miranda by completing the tasks Prospero sets him, and Prospero gives his blessing to their betrothal, celebrating with a masque of spirits.

In the final act, Prospero reveals himself to all the castaways, forgives his enemies, and renounces his magic, breaking his staff and freeing Ariel. Alonso repents his past actions and restores Prospero to his dukedom. Ferdinand and Miranda’s engagement is celebrated, Caliban acknowledges Prospero’s authority and promises to be wise hereafter, and Prospero prepares to return to Milan. The play concludes with Prospero’s epilogue, in which he asks the audience to free him with their applause, as he has freed Ariel.