MIRANDA O, the heavens!
What foul play had we that we came from thence?
Or blessed wast we did?
PROSPERO Both, both, my girl.
By foul play, as thou sayst, were we heaved thence,
But blessedly holp hither.
MIRANDA O, my heart bleeds
To think o’th’ teen that I have turned you to,
Which is from my remembrance. Please you, farther. (1.2.59-65)
The line-sharing becomes more frequent as the conversation intensifies, but it also highlights their interdependence and intimacy: Miranda keeps exclaiming with shock, amazement, wonder; she is, as her response to the shipwreck demonstrated, intensely empathetic. But she’s also got a sharp eye for plot details and motivation; she’s not entirely naive: was it foul play that led to their departure from Milan? But, at the same time – and this is akin to her anxiously checking that Prospero is indeed her father – was their coming to the island also blessed, a blessing? She is at pains to discover the basis of their life together, and to understand it properly, from her father’s perspective as well as her own. It was foul play, yes, but they also were blessed with care and help, which he will go into much more detail about later on. And implicitly, yes, their life together on the island has been a blessing. But Prospero is, it seems, upset by his recollection of his past, and Miranda is touchingly aware of this; it is the chief cause of her distress here. My heart bleeds to think o’th’ teen that I have turned you to, which is from my remembrance, she says: I must have been a burden to you then, caused you trouble, suffering, teen, and I can’t even remember any of it. But she is also upset by his evident distress at remembering in the present, and by the way in which she cannot, yet, share these upsetting memories. Please you, farther – please go on – but also, we hear, father, answering his previous my girl. That relationship is their reassuring touchstone.
