Key Quote
“"We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep"”
Prospero · Act 4, Scene 1
Focus: “dreams”
Prospero's most famous meditation dissolves the boundary between reality and illusion, suggesting that all human experience — including theatre itself — is as insubstantial as a dream.
Technique 1 — EXISTENTIAL METAPHOR / METATHEATRE
The metaphor equating human existence with dream-stuff operates on two levels: existential (relating to fundamental questions about existence) — our lives are fleeting illusions — and metatheatrical — we are watching actors on a stage, and the play itself is as temporary as a dream. The word 'stuff' is deliberately vague and universal: not gold, not clay, but 'stuff' — undefined substance that could be anything or nothing.
The euphemism 'rounded with a sleep' transforms death into rest, removing its terror through linguistic gentleness. But 'rounded' also means 'completed' or 'made whole,' suggesting that death is not an ending but a completion — life is an arc that begins and ends in unconsciousness. Shakespeare offers both comfort and vertigo in a single phrase.
Key Words
RAD — PROGRESS
Prospero progresses from a figure obsessed with control — manipulating others through magic — to one who recognises the impermanence of all human endeavour, including his own. This philosophical growth prepares his decision to renounce magic and forgive his enemies. His progression is toward humility: the recognition that even the powerful are made of 'dream-stuff.'
Key Words
Technique 2 — INCLUSIVE PRONOUN — 'WE' / 'OUR'
The inclusive pronouns 'we' and 'our' are crucial: Prospero does not say 'you' (others) or 'they' (the actors) but 'we.' For the first time, he includes himself — and the audience — in a universal statement about human frailty. The powerful magician acknowledges that he is made of the same insubstantial 'stuff' as everyone else. This egalitarian (treating all people as equal) grammar underpins his eventual decision to give up power.
The adjective 'little' applied to 'life' creates a sense of diminution (making something seem small): human existence, from the perspective of eternity, is tiny and brief. Shakespeare achieves emotional impact through scale — placing human life against the vastness of time and showing how insignificant it appears.
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Context (AO3)
SHAKESPEARE'S FAREWELL
Many scholars read this speech as Shakespeare's farewell to the theatre — Prospero's renunciation of magic mirroring Shakespeare's retirement from playwriting. The speech acknowledges that theatre (like magic) creates beautiful illusions but ultimately dissolves: 'the great globe itself... shall dissolve' — a possible reference to the Globe Theatre.
VANITAS TRADITION
The speech belongs to the vanitas tradition — artworks reminding viewers of mortality and the futility of earthly pleasures. Prospero becomes a memento mori figure (a reminder of death), urging the audience to remember that power, beauty, and even the theatre they sit in will eventually vanish.
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WOW — EXISTENTIAL ABSURDITY (Camus / Sartre)
Camus argued that human existence is absurd — we seek meaning in a universe that offers none. Prospero's speech anticipates this: if life is 'dream-stuff,' then our actions, ambitions, and sufferings have no permanent significance. But unlike Camus, who responded to absurdity with defiant action ('one must imagine Sisyphus happy'), Prospero responds with acceptance and relinquishment (letting go). Sartre's existentialism adds another dimension: if we are 'such stuff as dreams are made on,' then we are free to dream ourselves into being — our identity is not fixed but self-created. Shakespeare's speech operates at the intersection of despair and liberation: the meaninglessness of 'dream-stuff' is simultaneously terrifying (nothing is real) and freeing (nothing constrains us).
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