Original: Abhorred slave,
Modern: You disgusting servant,

Original: Which any print of goodness wilt not take,
Modern: Who refuses to accept any mark of goodness,

Original: Being capable of all ill! I pitied thee,
Modern: Since you’re capable of every kind of evil! I felt sorry for you,

Original: Took pains to make thee speak, taught thee each hour
Modern: I worked hard to teach you how to speak, teaching you every hour

Original: One thing or other: when thou didst not, savage,
Modern: Something new: back when you couldn’t, you wild creature,

Original: Know thine own meaning, but wouldst gabble like
Modern: Understand your own thoughts, but would just babble like

Original: A thing most brutish, I endow’d thy purposes
Modern: The most beast-like creature, I gave your intentions

Original: With words that made them known. But thy vile race,
Modern: The words to express them clearly. But your evil nature,

Original: Though thou didst learn, had that in’t which good natures
Modern: Even though you learned, had something in it that good people

Original: Could not abide to be with; therefore wast thou
Modern: Could not stand to be around; that’s why you were

Original: Deservedly confined into this rock,
Modern: Rightfully imprisoned on this island,

Original: Who hadst deserved more than a prison.
Modern: You who deserved worse punishment than just being locked up.

In Act I, Scene ii of The Tempest, Prospero reveals to his daughter Miranda the truth about their past and how they came to be stranded on the island. He tells her that he was once the Duke of Milan, but his brother Antonio usurped his position with help from Alonso, King of Naples, while Prospero was absorbed in his magical studies. Antonio and Alonso set Prospero and the infant Miranda adrift in a rotting boat, though the noble Gonzalo secretly provided them with supplies and Prospero’s books of magic. They eventually washed ashore on the island where they have lived for twelve years.

After putting Miranda to sleep with his magic, Prospero summons Ariel, his spirit servant, who reports on the shipwreck he has caused at Prospero’s command. The ship carrying Antonio, Alonso, and their party has been wrecked on the island’s shore, though all passengers survive and are scattered across different parts of the island. Ariel reminds Prospero of his promise of freedom, but Prospero tells him he must serve one more year. Prospero then awakens the island’s other inhabitant, Caliban, whom he had initially treated kindly but now keeps as a slave after Caliban attempted to assault Miranda. The scene establishes the magical nature of the island and introduces the complex relationships between Prospero and the other characters who serve him.

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.