QUOTES FROM THE BARD

PLAY: The Tempest
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Prospero
CONTEXT:
You do look, my son, in a moved sort,
As if you were dismayed. 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-capped 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 vexed.
Bear with my weakness. My old brain is troubled.
Be not disturbed 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.

DUTCH:
Wij zijn van de stof, Waar droomen van gevormd zijn; ‘t korte leven Is van een slaap omringd./
Van dezelfde stof zijn wij als onze dromen; en ons kleine leven is door de slaap omringd

MORE:
Frequently misquoted as “Such stuff as dreams are made of”
These our actors…not a rack behind. This passage is often extracted from its context and treated as farewell to his art; Al Pacino recited it in his 1996 film ‘Looking for Richard’.
In a moved sort=Agitated, upset
Revels=Courtly entertainment
Insubstantial pageant=imagined pageant
Baseless fabric of this vision=Having no basis in reality
Rack=’driving mist or fog’ (OED): scarcely a trace
Compleat:
Pageant=Een grootsche vertooning. Pageantry+Praal, pracht, triiomfelyke vertooning. Het is but meer (sic) pageantry=Het is maar klatergoud, niets anders dan een ydele vertooning.
Moved=Bewoogen, verroerd, ontroerd


Topics: life, age/experience, misquoted