In what is perhaps the most splendidly picturesque10 effort of Shakespeare’s genius, “The Tempest,” he hurls11 us at the outset into the hurly-burly of a storm at sea with all the terror-striking details attendant upon the embaying of a ship in such weather. She is a passenger ship, too, and the passengers behave as landsmen might be expected to do in such a situation. The Master (not Captain be it noted12, for there are no Captains in the merchant-service) calls the boatswain. Here arises a difficulty for a modern sailor. Where was the mate? We cannot say that the office was not known, although Shakespeare nowhere alludes13 to such an officer; but this much is certain, that for one person who would understand who was meant by the mate ten would appreciate the mention of the boatswain’s name, and that alone would justify14 its use in poetry. In this short colloquy15 between the Master and boatswain we have the very spirit of sea service. An immediate16 reply to the Master’s hail, and an inquiry17 in a phrase now only used by the vulgar, bring the assurance “Good”; but it is at once followed by “Speak to the mariners18, fall to’t yarely, or we run ourselves aground; bestir, bestir.” Having given his orders the Master goes—he has other matters to attend to—and the boatswain heartens up his crew in true nautical20 fashion, his language being almost identical with that used to-day. His “aside” is true sailor,—“Blow till thou burst thy wind, if [we have] room enough.” This essentially21 nautical feeling, that given a good ship and plenty of sea-room there is nothing to fear, is alluded22 to again and again in Shakespeare. He has the very spirit of it. Then come the meddlesome23 passengers, hampering24 the hard-pressed officer with their questioning and advice!—until, exasperated25 beyond courtesy, he bursts out: “You mar19 our labour. Keep your cabins. You do assist the storm.” Bidden to remember whom he has on board, he gives them more of his mind, winding26 up by again addressing his crew with “cheerly good hearts,” and as a parting shot to his hinderers, “Out of our way, I say.”
But the weather grows worse; they must needs strike the topmast and heave-to under the main-course (mainsail), a manœuvre which, usual enough with Elizabethan ships, would never be attempted now. Under the same circumstances the lower main-topsail would be used, the mainsail having been furled long before because of its unwieldy size. Still the passengers annoy, now with abuse, which is answered by an appeal to their reason and an invitation to them to take hold and work. For the need presses. She is on a lee shore, and in spite of the fury of the gale27 sail must be made. “Set her two courses [mainsail and foresail], off to sea again, lay her off.” And now the sailors despair and speak of prayer, their cries met scornfully by the valiant28 boatswain with “What, must our mouths be cold?”[55] Then follows that wonderful sea-picture beginning Scene 2, which remains29 unapproachable for vigour30 and truth. A little further on comes the old sea-superstition of the rats quitting a foredoomed ship, and in Ariel’s report a spirited account of what must have been suggested to Shakespeare by stories of the appearance of “corposants” or St. Elmo’s fire, usually accompanying a storm of this kind. And in answer to Prospero’s question, “Who was so firm?” &c., Ariel bears incidental tribute to the mariners,—“All, but mariners, plunged31 in the foaming32 brine and quit the vessel33,” those same mariners who are afterwards found, their vessel safely anchored, asleep under hatches, their dangerous toil34 at an end.
In the “Twelfth Night” there are many salt-water allusions no less happy, beginning with the bright picture of Antonio presented by the Captain (of a war-ship?) breasting the sea upon a floating mast. Again in Act I., Scene 6, Viola answers Malvolio’s uncalled-for rudeness, “Will you hoist35 sail, sir?” with the ready idiom, “No, good swabber, I am to hull36 [to heave-to] here a little longer.” In Act V., Scene 1, the Duke speaks of Antonio as Captain of a “bawbling vessel—for shallow draught37, and bulk, unprizable”; in modern terms, a small privateer that played such havoc38 with the enemy’s fleet that “very envy and the tongue of loss cried fame and honour on him.” Surely Shakespeare must have had Drake in his mind when he wrote this.
Who does not remember Shylock’s contemptuous summing-up of Antonio’s means and their probable loss?—“Ships are but boards, sailors but men, there be land rats and water rats, water thieves and land thieves—I mean, pirates; and then there is the peril39 of waters, winds, and rocks” (Act I., Scene 3). In this same play, too, we have those terrible quicksands, the Goodwins, sketched41 for us in half-a-dozen lines: “Where the carcases of many a tall ship lie buried” (Act III., Scene 1); and in the last scene of the last act Antonio says his “ships are safely come to road,” an expression briny42 as the sea itself.
In the “Comedy of Errors,” Act I., Scene 1, we have a phrase that should have been coined by an ancient Greek sailor-poet: “The always-wind-obeying deep”; and a little lower down the page a touch of sea-lore that would of itself suffice to stamp the writer as a man of intimate knowledge of nautical ways: “A small spare mast, such as seafaring men provide for storms.” Who told Shakespeare of the custom of sailors to carry spare spars for jury-masts?
In “Macbeth,” the first witch sings of the winds and the compass card, and promises that her enemy’s husband shall suffer all the torments43 of the tempest-tossed sailor without actual shipwreck44. She also shows a pilot’s thumb “wrack’d, as homeward he did come.” Who in these days of universal reading needs reminding of the allusion4 to the ship-boy’s sleep in Act III., Scene 1, of “Henry IV.,” a contrast of the most powerful and convincing kind, powerful alike in its poetry and its truth to the facts of Nature? Especially noticeable is the line where Shakespeare speaks of the spindrift: “And in the visitation of the winds who take the ruffian billows by the top, curling their monstrous46 heads, and hanging them with deaf’ning clamours in the slippery clouds.”
“King Henry VI.,” Act V., Scene 1, has this line full of knowledge of sea usage: “Than bear so low a sail, to strike to thee.” Here is a plain allusion to the ancient custom whereby all ships of any other nation, as well as all merchant ships, were compelled to lower their sails in courtesy to British ships of war. The picture given in “Richard III.,” Act I., Scene 4, of the sea-bed does not call for so much wonder, for the condition of that secret place of the sea must have had peculiar47 fascination48 for such a mind as Shakespeare’s. Set in those few lines he has given us a vision of the deeps of the sea that is final.
A wonderful passage is to be found in “Cymbeline,” Act III., Scene 1, that seems to have been strangely neglected, where the Queen tells Cymbeline to remember—
As Neptune’s park, ribbed and palèd in
With rocks unscaleable and roaring waters;
With sands that will not bear your enemies’ boats,
But suck them up to the top-mast.”
And again, in the same scene, Cloten speaks of the Romans finding us in our “salt-water girdle.”
But no play of Shakespeare’s, except “The Tempest,” smacks50 so smartly of the brine as “Pericles,” the story of that much enduring Prince of Tyre whose nautical mishaps51 are made to have such a miraculously52 happy ending. In Act II., Scene 1, enter Pericles, wet, invoking53 Heaven that the sea having manifested its sovereignty over man, may grant him one last boon,—a peaceful death. To him appear three fishermen characteristically engaged in handling their nets, bullying54 one another, and discussing the latest wreck45. And here we get a bit of sea-lore that all sailors deeply appreciate. “3rd Fish. Nay55, master, said not I as much, when I saw the porpus how he bounced and tumbled? they say, they are half fish, half flesh; a plague on them! they ne’er come but I look to be wash’d.” Few indeed are the sailors even in these steamship56 days who have not heard that the excited leaping of porpoises57 presages58 a storm. The whole scene well deserves quotation2, especially the true description of the whale (rorqual) “driving the poor fry before him and at last devours59 them all at a mouthful.” Space presses, however, and it will be much better for those interested to read for themselves. Act III., Scene 1, brings before us a companion picture to that in the opening of “The Tempest,” perhaps even more vivid; where the terrible travail60 of the elements is agonisingly contrasted with the birth-wail of an infant, and the passing of the hapless Princess. Beautiful indeed is the rough but honest heartening offered by the labouring sailors, broken off by the sea-command to—
Blow and split thyself.
2nd Sailor. But sea-room, an’ the brine and cloudy billow kiss
the moon, I care not.”
Bolins, modern “bowlines,” were anciently used much more than now. At present they are slight ropes which lead from forward to keep the weather edges (leaches) of the courses rigid62 in light winds when steering63 full and bye. But in olden days even topgallant sails had their bolins, and they were among the most important ropes in the ship. Then we have the sea-superstition creating the deepest prejudice against carrying a corpse64. And, sympathetic as the mariners are, the dead woman must “overboard straight.” Reluctantly we must leave this all too brief sketch40 of Shakespeare’s true British sea-sympathies, in the hope that it may lead to a deeper appreciation65 of the sea-lore of our mightiest66 poet.
点击收听单词发音
1 quotations | |
n.引用( quotation的名词复数 );[商业]行情(报告);(货物或股票的)市价;时价 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2 quotation | |
n.引文,引语,语录;报价,牌价,行情 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3 waded | |
(从水、泥等)蹚,走过,跋( wade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4 allusion | |
n.暗示,间接提示 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5 allusions | |
暗指,间接提到( allusion的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6 copiousness | |
n.丰裕,旺盛 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7 spoke | |
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8 ashore | |
adv.在(向)岸上,上岸 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9 dependence | |
n.依靠,依赖;信任,信赖;隶属 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10 picturesque | |
adj.美丽如画的,(语言)生动的,绘声绘色的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
11 hurls | |
v.猛投,用力掷( hurl的第三人称单数 );大声叫骂 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12 noted | |
adj.著名的,知名的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
13 alludes | |
提及,暗指( allude的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
14 justify | |
vt.证明…正当(或有理),为…辩护 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
15 colloquy | |
n.谈话,自由讨论 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
16 immediate | |
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
17 inquiry | |
n.打听,询问,调查,查问 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
18 mariners | |
海员,水手(mariner的复数形式) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
19 mar | |
vt.破坏,毁坏,弄糟 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
20 nautical | |
adj.海上的,航海的,船员的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
21 essentially | |
adv.本质上,实质上,基本上 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
22 alluded | |
提及,暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
23 meddlesome | |
adj.爱管闲事的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
24 hampering | |
妨碍,束缚,限制( hamper的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
25 exasperated | |
adj.恼怒的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
26 winding | |
n.绕,缠,绕组,线圈 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
27 gale | |
n.大风,强风,一阵闹声(尤指笑声等) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
28 valiant | |
adj.勇敢的,英勇的;n.勇士,勇敢的人 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
29 remains | |
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
30 vigour | |
(=vigor)n.智力,体力,精力 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
31 plunged | |
v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 );暴跌;骤降;突降 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
32 foaming | |
adj.布满泡沫的;发泡 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
33 vessel | |
n.船舶;容器,器皿;管,导管,血管 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
34 toil | |
vi.辛劳工作,艰难地行动;n.苦工,难事 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
35 hoist | |
n.升高,起重机,推动;v.升起,升高,举起 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
36 hull | |
n.船身;(果、实等的)外壳;vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
37 draught | |
n.拉,牵引,拖;一网(饮,吸,阵);顿服药量,通风;v.起草,设计 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
38 havoc | |
n.大破坏,浩劫,大混乱,大杂乱 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
39 peril | |
n.(严重的)危险;危险的事物 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
40 sketch | |
n.草图;梗概;素描;v.素描;概述 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
41 sketched | |
v.草拟(sketch的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
42 briny | |
adj.盐水的;很咸的;n.海洋 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
43 torments | |
(肉体或精神上的)折磨,痛苦( torment的名词复数 ); 造成痛苦的事物[人] | |
参考例句: |
|
|
44 shipwreck | |
n.船舶失事,海难 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
45 wreck | |
n.失事,遇难;沉船;vt.(船等)失事,遇难 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
46 monstrous | |
adj.巨大的;恐怖的;可耻的,丢脸的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
47 peculiar | |
adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
48 fascination | |
n.令人着迷的事物,魅力,迷恋 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
49 isle | |
n.小岛,岛 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
50 smacks | |
掌掴(声)( smack的名词复数 ); 海洛因; (打的)一拳; 打巴掌 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
51 mishaps | |
n.轻微的事故,小的意外( mishap的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
52 miraculously | |
ad.奇迹般地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
53 invoking | |
v.援引( invoke的现在分词 );行使(权利等);祈求救助;恳求 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
54 bullying | |
v.恐吓,威逼( bully的现在分词 );豪;跋扈 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
55 nay | |
adv.不;n.反对票,投反对票者 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
56 steamship | |
n.汽船,轮船 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
57 porpoises | |
n.鼠海豚( porpoise的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
58 presages | |
v.预示,预兆( presage的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
59 devours | |
吞没( devour的第三人称单数 ); 耗尽; 津津有味地看; 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
60 travail | |
n.阵痛;努力 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
61 wilt | |
v.(使)植物凋谢或枯萎;(指人)疲倦,衰弱 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
62 rigid | |
adj.严格的,死板的;刚硬的,僵硬的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
63 steering | |
n.操舵装置 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
64 corpse | |
n.尸体,死尸 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
65 appreciation | |
n.评价;欣赏;感谢;领会,理解;价格上涨 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
66 mightiest | |
adj.趾高气扬( mighty的最高级 );巨大的;强有力的;浩瀚的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
欢迎访问英文小说网 |