{"id":1369,"date":"2009-05-04T22:32:22","date_gmt":"2009-05-05T03:32:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shakespeareteacher.com\/blog\/?p=1369"},"modified":"2017-08-19T12:21:30","modified_gmt":"2017-08-19T17:21:30","slug":"question-of-the-week-51","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shakespeareteacher.com\/blog\/archives\/1369","title":{"rendered":"Question of the Week"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a recent review<\/a> of Shakespeare and Modern Culture<\/em> by Marjorie Garber, the Shakespeare Geek mentions that Garber completely dismisses the idea that The Tempest<\/em> was Shakespeare\u2019s \u201cfarewell\u201d play. I thought I’d take a closer look at her argument, and perhaps offer a different perspective, with the greatest of respect.<\/p>\n

She cites the passage that is most commonly used to make the claim:<\/p>\n

Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
\nAs I foretold you, were all spirits and
\nAre melted into air, into thin air:
\nAnd, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
\nThe cloud-capp\u2019d towers, the gorgeous palaces,
\nThe solemn temples, the great globe itself,
\nYea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
\nAnd, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
\nLeave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
\nAs dreams are made on, and our little life
\nIs rounded with a sleep.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

She then goes on to praise the high quality of the speech, before turning to the matter at hand:<\/p>\n

But what this passage certainly is not is “Shakespeare’s farewell to the stage.” The imagined social pathos of his departure from London – which would not come for more than a year after The Tempest<\/em>, and after he had written at least one more play, Henry VIII, or All Is True<\/em>, and possibly parts of some others – is something some readers and commentators have wanted to elicit from these words, for a variety of reasons. So far from being “Shakespeare’s farewell,” it is not even, in the play, “Prospero’s farewell,” since it takes place in the fourth act of a five act play. (14) <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So she uses the same argument<\/a> as Alan<\/a> that this wasn’t his last play, plus she adds in that the speech comes in Act 4. The rest of her argument basically boils down to ascribing psychological motivations to those who don’t share her certainty. <\/p>\n

I can’t say for certain that this play was his farewell to the theatre, but I’m not convinced by this argument that it wasn’t. First of all, it’s not entirely certain whether Shakespeare did write Henry VIII<\/em>, or under what circumstances. It may have been a collaboration. So what we actually see following The Tempest<\/em> may very well be an end to Shakespeare’s solo writing career and the beginning of a year-long period of mentoring John Fletcher who would replace him as playwright for the King’s Men. If so, the Shakespeare who wrote The Tempest<\/em> would have been pretty well geared up for retirement. The fact that it took him an extra year to leave London is just life happening while you’re busy making other plans. And that brings me to my next point. Even if this wasn’t Shakespeare’s last play, he would have no way of knowing so while writing it.<\/p>\n

As for the point that the speech is given in Act 4, I don’t see why it should make a difference. Even if the speech isn’t Prospero’s farewell in the play, Shakespeare might be expressing his own sentiments about leaving the theatre in this speech. But if this is still a problem for you, let’s take a look at a speech from Prospero in the final scene of the play:<\/p>\n

I have bedimm\u2019d
\nThe noontide sun, call\u2019d forth the mutinous winds,
\nAnd \u2019twixt the green sea and the azur\u2019d vault
\nSet roaring war: to the dread-rattling thunder
\nHave I given fire and rifted Jove\u2019s stout oak
\nWith his own bolt: the strong-bas\u2019d promontory
\nHave I made shake; and by the spurs pluck\u2019d up
\nThe pine and cedar: graves at my command
\nHave wak\u2019d their sleepers, op\u2019d, and let them forth
\nBy my so potent art. But this rough magic
\nI here abjure; and, when I have requir\u2019d
\nSome heavenly music,\u2014which even now I do,\u2014
\nTo work mine end upon their senses that
\nThis airy charm is for, I\u2019ll break my staff,
\nBury it certain fathoms in the earth,
\nAnd, deeper than did ever plummet sound,
\nI\u2019ll drown my book. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

An early quarto continues this speech:<\/p>\n

Upon three score and ten I can expect
\nTo end my labors, for I may collect
\nMy years of 401(k) contributions
\nThrough required minimum distributions.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Okay, I made that last part up. And I’m not saying definitively that this play is his farewell to the theatre. I just take exception to Garber saying that it “certainly is not.” That’s always a tough sell when talking about Shakespeare. But I’m interested to hear what you think.<\/p>\n

Is <\/em>The Tempest Shakespeare’s farewell to the theatre?<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a recent review of Shakespeare and Modern Culture by Marjorie Garber, the Shakespeare Geek mentions that Garber completely dismisses the idea that The Tempest was Shakespeare\u2019s \u201cfarewell\u201d play. I thought I’d take a closer look at her argument, and perhaps offer a different perspective, with the greatest of respect. She cites the passage that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[113,4,41,24,3,110,126],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-histories","category-history","category-information-literacy","category-question","category-shakespeare","category-shout-out","category-tempest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shakespeareteacher.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shakespeareteacher.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shakespeareteacher.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shakespeareteacher.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shakespeareteacher.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1369"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.shakespeareteacher.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1369\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1430,"href":"https:\/\/www.shakespeareteacher.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1369\/revisions\/1430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shakespeareteacher.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shakespeareteacher.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shakespeareteacher.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}