Original: If by your art, my dearest father, you have
Modern: If you used your magic, my dear father, to

Original: Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them.
Modern: Create this violent storm, please calm it down.

Original: The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch,
Modern: The sky looks like it wants to pour down burning tar,

Original: But that the sea, mounting to the welkin’s cheek,
Modern: Except the sea is rising so high up to the clouds

Original: Dashes the fire out. O, I have suffered
Modern: That it puts the fire out. Oh, I have felt pain

Original: With those that I saw suffer: a brave vessel,
Modern: Watching those people suffer: a beautiful ship,

Original: Who had, no doubt, some noble creature in her,
Modern: Which surely had some good people on board,

Original: Dash’d all to pieces. O, the cry did knock
Modern: Was smashed to pieces. Oh, their screams hit

Original: Against my very heart. Poor souls, they perish’d.
Modern: Right against my heart. Those poor people died.

Original: Had I been any god of power, I would
Modern: If I had been a powerful god, I would

Original: Have sunk the sea within the earth or ere
Modern: Have made the sea sink into the earth before

Original: It should the good ship so have swallow’d and
Modern: It could swallow up that good ship and

Original: The fraughting souls within her.
Modern: All the precious lives inside it.

In Act I, Scene 2 of “The Tempest,” Prospero reveals the truth of their exile to his daughter Miranda on the island where they have lived for twelve years. He explains that he was once the rightful Duke of Milan but was overthrown by his brother Antonio, who conspired with Alonso, King of Naples. Prospero tells Miranda how Antonio usurped his dukedom while Prospero was absorbed in his magical studies, and how they were eventually cast out to sea in a rotten boat with the help of the kind nobleman Gonzalo, who secretly provided them with provisions and Prospero’s precious books of magic.

The scene continues as Prospero uses his magic to put Miranda to sleep and summons his spirit servant Ariel, who reports on the tempest he created at Prospero’s command to shipwreck their enemies. Ariel describes how he separated the passengers, leaving Ferdinand (Alonso’s son) alone on the island while scattering the others in different groups. Prospero promises Ariel freedom after completing his tasks, then awakens Miranda and leads her to encounter Ferdinand, who has been drawn by Ariel’s invisible music. When Miranda and Ferdinand meet, they fall instantly in love, though Prospero secretly observes their interaction and decides to test Ferdinand by accusing him of being a spy and making him his prisoner, despite Miranda’s protests.

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.