Analysis of Passage from Shakespeare's Tempest - We Are Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made On

In this passage, Prospero ends the wedding masque, also ending his own magic. What Prospero says is that the pageant has come to an end. Immediately, the magic ends and spirits melt away. he calls this "the baseless fabric of this vision." All of the palaces and temples and other things of this world will dissolve away. In fact our lives themselves dissolve away to nothing and end with death. Human beings and their deeds are transitory at best. Prospero realizes here his own mortality. he also realizes that life fades away like a dream. The works of men that seem so profound while they are living really mean nothing in the end. This speech seems like it should be somber, but it really isn't when reading. The reader recognizes the same things that Prospero does.

There are many words that relate to magic and that theme can be traced throughout the play-"revels," "spirits," "melted into air, " "thin air," "baseless fabric," "vision," "dissolve," "insubstantial pageant," and "dreams." These words all contribute to the theme of Prospero's magic. Shakespeare uses some similes and metaphors to better make his point. "All actors were spirits" is a metaphor. Then, he personifies these spirits by saying they "melted into air." He uses two similes of "like baseless fabric" and "like this insubstantial pageant faded." And a final metaphor is used in the famous line, "We are such stuff as dreams are made of." The theme of clothing seems to come through too with the words "fabric," "pageant," and "rack", even though rack means clouds.

Basically, this is a speech much like the one in Macbeth where he talks about the world being a stage. Here he tells the reader through Prospero that our lives are dreams that fade into nothing. Prospero is pulled back into the real world with the idea to make things right. Some readers would take this further to mean that Shakespeare is saying his own goodbye to writing with the "great globe" being the Globe Theater. This passage may be Shakespeare realizing the fleeting nature of art and thinking that whatever he has written will not last. This may be stretching too far.

The passage is spoken by Prospero after the masque or kind of magic show that Prospero orders for Ferdinand and Miranda's wedding. Ironically, Prospero had already decided to let Ferdinand marry Miranda and put an enchantment on them early in the play thus tracing the theme of magic further back. So, it makes sense that more magic would be performed for them now. The marriage between these two would secure Prospero's position and help to make his daughter the queen. This is at least partly why he is so intent of Miranda's virginity. Virginity happened to be a great bargaining tool in marriage in Elizabethan times, and without it, Prospero is afraid he will not be able to secure his rightful position.

The idea of the masque itself fits the play because these masques were to signify important marriages. these were special plays put on where the protagonists were royalty and the subject was basically that royalty resolved tensions and made things right again. This is exactly what happens in the real play as well. things are set right for Prospero again.

Within this betrothal masque there are events which parallel the larger play as well. Ceres who presides over the play is credited with "civilizing men" because he taught them agricultural methods so they did not have to be wild and hunt anymore. In this same way, Prospero is to bring order to the island, especially to Caliban. Pluto adducted Ceres' daughter. Caliban reminds the reader of Pluto as he has attempted to rape Miranda. the masque itself confirms the importance of the marriage, as only important people had masks.

In this speech, Prospero throws off his reverie and magic. he becomes conscious of exactly where he is and what is going on. he has almost given up his chance to act due to this magic show. Prospero realized his own mortality here. He realized that his magic had limits. The masque, which he has created with his magic, disappears and he realizes that his attempts at magic are indeed "baseless fabric." In other words, the effects of his magic will not last. He realizes his age and that his powers are failing here. He recognizes his own weakness, the reader could say. They are fragile like the "stuff that dreams are made of." The reader believes this will be the end of Prospero's magic. This fits the play so well because Prospero seems to alternate back and forth between magic and the real world.

This passage represents Prospero well as he was always trying to use his magic for his own gain. The play itself alternates between fantasy and reality, as Prospero uses Ariel to achieve his goals. Prospero has been taken with his own magic and the way he was able to control everyone else through his magic.

Prospero is known for his magic in "The Tempest" and these lines perfectly personify this. Some will even say that Shakespeare himself is talking here. Shakespeare is consumed with his art. Prospero is to give up his magic as Shakespeare will stop writing or give up his pen. Ariel and Caliban would then represent the two pulls of the artist's creative mind with Ariel representing the imagination or creativity necessary to sustain art and Caliban representing the more selfish side of the mind.

"The Tempest" represents Shakespeare's best speech about dreams and illusion. In Macbeth he makes the speech about all the world is a stage, strutting and fretting our hour on the stage and when it comes to the end, our lives signify nothing. this speech is an additional comparison to life being a stage. Shakespeare tells the reader in this speech that men and their deeds will dissolve like summer clouds. Each man has a vision, but his vision and his life are dreams. There is hope for us as there is for Ferdinand and Miranda and their "brave new world." But for Prospero there is a sense of completion, calmness in this speech. In Macbeth, the same speech seemed sort of bitter; here it is calm. It seems as though Shakespeare himself has matured and is able to accept such things with a calmness that is previously unseen.