LiteraturePoetryPrayer

Shakespeare on Prayer – Prospero’s Speech

From the end of The Tempest: Now my charms are all o’erthrown,And what strength I […]

David Zahl / 10.28.09

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From the end of The Tempest:

Now my charms are all o’erthrown,
And what strength I have’s mine own,
Which is most faint: now, ’tis true,
I must be here confined by you,
Or sent to Naples. Let me not,
Since I have my dukedom got
And pardon’d the deceiver, dwell
In this bare island by your spell;
But release me from my bands
With the help of your good hands:
Gentle breath of yours my sails
Must fill, or else my project fails,
Which was to please. Now I want
Spirits to enforce, art to enchant,
And my ending is despair,
Unless I be relieved by prayer,
Which pierces so that it assaults
Mercy itself and frees all faults.
As you from crimes would pardon’d be,
Let your indulgence set me free.

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COMMENTS

2 responses to “Shakespeare on Prayer – Prospero’s Speech”

1. StampDawg says:

   10/28/2009 at 11:55 am

   Lovely passage, Dave — and photo. Very evocative.

   Especially striking is Prospero's claim about the piercing quality of prayer, so much that it assaults mercy itself.

   Shakespeare wrote The Tempest at the end of his life.

   Reply
2. paul says:

   10/28/2009 at 1:24 pm

   This is really, really great.

   Reply