PROSPERO For what purpose?
ARIEL To tutor this beast.
PROSPERO And why?
ARIEL That he may grow To reverence Miranda, and forswear Setebos.
PROSPERO So! and to dispel the Powers Of Setebos, I have transformed his cave To be her temple and my theatre.—Look!
[Prospero raises his staff toward the darkness that conceals the background. As he does so, increasing light reveals the rude, irregular contours of the cave of Setebos transformed to the architectural lines of a splendid proscenium, in the oblong of which the Cloudy Curtains shut off the inner stage. The idol of Setebos has vanished. While this transformation is taking place, the Spirit Choirs of Ariel appear above the proscenium, singing.]
SPIRITS OF ARIEL In the same abode and cell Where the Toad was wont to dwell, And the Tiger stretched his claw, We have built a shrine of Law: We have chosen the lair of hate To love, imagine and create.
Out of blood and dross, Out of Setebos, We are risen to show The art of Prospero: Here within his head and heart Our souls are servants of his art.
[Their appearances vanish above.]
ARIEL Most noble Master! Show me now behind Those cloudy curtains: How have you transformed The cave within?