Dec 2, 2008
The Tempest opens with a storm at sea. Travelling back from Tunis with Alonso, King of Naples, and Antonio who had previously usurped his brother Prospero's role as Duke of Milan, Gonzalo ('an honest old councillor') attempts to engage the Boatswain in an urgent debate about their prospects of survival:
Boatswain: Keep your cabins! You do assist the storm.
Gonzalo: Nay, good, be patient.
Boatswain: When the sea is. Hence! What cares these
roarers for the name of king? To cabin! Silence!
Trouble us not.
Gonzalo: Good, yet remember whom thou hast aboard.
...
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