Note to The Tempest, 1.2.351, "Abhorred slave . . ."


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The Tempest,
Act 1, Scene 2, line 351.

Title page of the First Folio (1623)

The Tempest was first published in Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies, commonly referred to as the "First Folio." In the First Folio the speech beginning "Abhorred slave" [lines 351-362] is assigned to Miranda, not Prospero. However, Lewis Theobald (1688-1744), the first thoughtful editor of Shakespeare, assigned the speech to Prospero, for the good reason that it does not seem credible that Miranda as a three-year old child (see lines 40-41) would have been one who taught Caliban to speak.