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Day 17: Your Favorite Speech
You all know what pushes my buttons by now, I'm sure: reflections on the brevity and transience of life, metatheater, moments when the great and powerful reveal themselves to be merely human. So.
You do look, my son, in a moved sort,
As if you were dismay'd: be cheerful, sir.
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep. Sir, I am vex'd;
Bear with my weakness; my brain is troubled:
Be not disturb'd with my infirmity:
If you be pleased, retire into my cell
And there repose: a turn or two I'll walk,
To still my beating mind.
-- The Tempest, 4.1.
This is the speech that everyone calls "Prospero's farewell to his magic," although it really isn't. That speech comes in the next scene, and it is also drop-dead gorgeous. This one isn't a farewell to anything except the wedding masque Prospero has been conjuring up for Ferdinand and Miranda, and it ends with an excuse to get them out of the way so he can deal with Caliban and then with the castaways, all of which will involve more magic. In fact, it's far from clear that he's made the decision to give up his powers at this point. So this speech is very much in the moment -- although it glances toward eternity. You do see Prospero starting to reflect on the limits of his power, and I think this nudges him toward the realization that forgiveness is the better part, but he isn't quite there yet.
This is also the part of the play when he really reminds me of King Lear. One of the striking things about this speech is the way all that soaring imagery, and the philosophical reflection it inspires, crash-lands in mid-line and we hear something far more mundane: the voice of an old man grappling with a world that is suddenly bigger and stronger than he is. It's a powerful moment.
Day #1: Your favorite play
Day #2: Your favorite character
Day #3: Your favorite hero
Day #4: Your favorite heroine
Day #5: Your favorite villain
Day #6: Your favorite villainess
Day #7: Your favorite clown
Day #8: Your favorite comedy
Day #9: Your favorite tragedy
Day #10: Your favorite history
Day #11: Your least favorite play
Day #12: Your favorite scene
Day #13: Your favorite romantic scene
Day #14: Your favorite fight scene
Day #15: The first play you read
Day #16: Your first play you saw
Day #17: Your favorite speech
Day #18: Your favorite dialogue
Day #19: Your favorite movie version of a play
Day #20: Your favorite movie adaptation of a play
Day #21: An overrated play
Day #22: An underrated play
Day #23: A role you've never played but would love to play
Day #24: An actor or actress you would love to see in a particular role
Day #25: Sooner or later, everyone has to choose: Hal or Falstaff?
Day #26: Your favorite couple
Day #27: Your favorite couplet
Day #28: Your favorite joke
Day #29: Your favorite sonnet
Day #30: Your favorite single line
You do look, my son, in a moved sort,
As if you were dismay'd: be cheerful, sir.
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep. Sir, I am vex'd;
Bear with my weakness; my brain is troubled:
Be not disturb'd with my infirmity:
If you be pleased, retire into my cell
And there repose: a turn or two I'll walk,
To still my beating mind.
-- The Tempest, 4.1.
This is the speech that everyone calls "Prospero's farewell to his magic," although it really isn't. That speech comes in the next scene, and it is also drop-dead gorgeous. This one isn't a farewell to anything except the wedding masque Prospero has been conjuring up for Ferdinand and Miranda, and it ends with an excuse to get them out of the way so he can deal with Caliban and then with the castaways, all of which will involve more magic. In fact, it's far from clear that he's made the decision to give up his powers at this point. So this speech is very much in the moment -- although it glances toward eternity. You do see Prospero starting to reflect on the limits of his power, and I think this nudges him toward the realization that forgiveness is the better part, but he isn't quite there yet.
This is also the part of the play when he really reminds me of King Lear. One of the striking things about this speech is the way all that soaring imagery, and the philosophical reflection it inspires, crash-lands in mid-line and we hear something far more mundane: the voice of an old man grappling with a world that is suddenly bigger and stronger than he is. It's a powerful moment.
Day #1: Your favorite play
Day #2: Your favorite character
Day #3: Your favorite hero
Day #4: Your favorite heroine
Day #5: Your favorite villain
Day #6: Your favorite villainess
Day #7: Your favorite clown
Day #8: Your favorite comedy
Day #9: Your favorite tragedy
Day #10: Your favorite history
Day #11: Your least favorite play
Day #12: Your favorite scene
Day #13: Your favorite romantic scene
Day #14: Your favorite fight scene
Day #15: The first play you read
Day #16: Your first play you saw
Day #17: Your favorite speech
Day #18: Your favorite dialogue
Day #19: Your favorite movie version of a play
Day #20: Your favorite movie adaptation of a play
Day #21: An overrated play
Day #22: An underrated play
Day #23: A role you've never played but would love to play
Day #24: An actor or actress you would love to see in a particular role
Day #25: Sooner or later, everyone has to choose: Hal or Falstaff?
Day #26: Your favorite couple
Day #27: Your favorite couplet
Day #28: Your favorite joke
Day #29: Your favorite sonnet
Day #30: Your favorite single line