I have chosen the essay topic from 1984, were I select a line from the drama/play that I have found memorable and important. I will dissect the passage going into detail of what I have interpreted it as.
In the drama Prospero says,
“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 tow'rs, 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.”
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 tow'rs, 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.”
Prospero is in full awareness that the joy in life is coming to its end. The actors are being referred to the characters in the play. “Foretold you” is referring to how Prospero has said in the past… that the supernatural are “in the air”. Illusion is setup in this line with the “air” scheme. The illogical vision portrays the trickery in the senses. The imagination can go only as far as one’s own mind lets it. Skipping down to the line “And, like this insubstantial pageant faded” I have interpreted that this means the supernatural part of life is becoming more as a figure of speech. “We are such stuff as dreams are made on” I really do love this quote, and it would have to mean to me that the little stuff of the world is built on the greatest things. Such as our dreams being the greatness were we can find ourselves imagining anything we will let our minds reach, and the smallest of them all are being found on those very things. There is hope found in this line. “Our little life is rounded with a sleep”. Our simply short life, is surrounded by our sleep that keeps us going.
This is an important passage because it describes the act as a whole. The quote tells how Prospero’s happiness has shattered. I would go into more detail, but it would summarize the plot which the prompt says not to do, though that is why the quote is important.
In conclusion I believe I have interpreted the quote line by line in what I believe the words Prospero uses are saying. Along with that I have also done research(not copied) to help me learn more about these poetic lines that are stated in: act four scene one. I have recently learned that poems have masculine and famine sides and I have come to find that they are both stated in this quote. Finally I have stated why I believe the quote is important to the play.
