Shakespeare Project
Prospero's Monologue from The Tempest
Passage
You elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes, and groves,
you demi-puppets that
By moonshine do the green sour ringlets make,
Whereof the ewe not bites; and you whose pastime
Is to make midnight mushrumps, that rejoice
To hear the solemn curfew; by whose aid,
Weak masters though you be, I have bedimmed
The noontide sun, called forth the mutinous winds,
And 'twixt the green sea and the azured vault
Set roaring war;
graves at my command
Have waked their sleepers, oped, and let 'em forth
By my so potent art. But this rough magic
I here abjure, and when I have required
Some heavenly music, which even now I do,
To work mine end upon their senses that
This airy charm is for, I'll break my staff,
Bury it certain fathoms in the earth,
And deeper than did ever plummet sound
I'll drown my book.
An Introduction to the Monologue
5.1.45(p)-53(p), 57(p)-66
This monologue by Prospero -- the enchanter of the island -- takes place during the first scene of Act 5 of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. The monologue commences after Ariel, Prospero's servant, convinces Prospero that forgiveness and mercy are more important than revenge. Prospero decides that he should indeed free his enemies, who he initially brought to the island to punish for past crimes, and bring them all together to release them from their individual grief and guilt. The play then moves to Prospero's speech in which he bids a final farewell to his magic. He begins by acknowledging the magical spirits who have helped him exercise his immense control and finishes by saying that he must now renounce this dangerous magic and throw away his spell book. Throughout the play, it becomes clear to readers that Prospero is consumed by his magic; he has become obsessed with his desire to control everything he can using his "art." This monologue serves as Prospero’s way of escaping from the grip that magic has on him and returning to reality and what it means to be human.
What does this monologue mean?
This is arguably one of Prospero’s most meaningful and powerful speeches in the play. He begins by addressing the spirits who have helped him wield his magic to do the impossible: darken the midday sun, summon the strongest winds, start wars (a metaphor for starting wild storms) and awaken the dead. Shakespeare uses imagery to describe what the elves do in the nighttime, bringing to life the image of the spirits making fairy rings on grass that the “ewe” don’t eat. Shakespeare then uses personification as he describes the inanimate “midnight mushrumps” rejoicing to hear the “solemn curfew,” or the signaling of nightfall. Through imagery, Shakespeare explains the vastness of Prospero’s power and control when he says, “’twixt the green sea and the azured vault,” meaning everywhere between the sea and the sky. Though readers may think that this immense power can only be exciting and beneficial, Prospero takes an unexpected turn in the speech and says that he must renounce his magic altogether.
By using the words “so potent” to describe the magic, Shakespeare reveals how much Prospero reveres, and perhaps even slightly fears, his “art.” When Prospero says that he uses “heavenly music” to “work mine end upon their senses” (or to put a spell on people), it becomes clear that perhaps this magic is dangerous; perhaps Prospero has become too consumed by it. Shakespeare further develops a picture of Prospero's profound power by bringing to life, through personification, the graves that "waked" the dead bodies inside of them at his command. It seems that Prospero has gotten accustomed to having control over others’ lives, thanks to his magic, and has likely even lost his grip on reality. In order to return to the dukedom and be an effective, present leader, Prospero must regain his handle on life – hence his need to throw away his book of magic. The imagery that Shakespeare uses in the end of the speech to describe how Prospero intends to part with his magic is particularly important. Burying the book “certain fathoms in the earth” would ensure that no one could access it again, but drowning the book deeper than sound ever “plummet[ed]” shows Prospero’s extreme urgency and desperation to get rid of the magic. It is an interesting choice by Shakespeare to have Prospero deciding to separate himself from his “art;” it is almost as if Prospero must lose a part of himself in order to live again. The final image of drowning his spell book – the most dramatic point of the speech – puts a permanent end to the magic; the book metaphorically dies when the air, or the magic, is sucked out of it. The emotionally charged words about drowning the book indicate that Prospero was deeply affected by the magic over the course of the play—hence his passionate, intimate response. Overall, this speech serves as the end product of much inner conflict and turmoil on Prospero’s part as he weighed the pros and cons of giving up his tantalizing and addicting, though unnatural, amount of control in exchange for a life grounded in reality. The speech leaves readers wondering if perhaps, throughout the whole play, Prospero had been imprisoned by his “art” and is just now beginning to live.