Mojo, The Bard, & Me

A solemn air and the best comforter
To an unsettled fancy cure thy brains,
Now useless, boil'd within thy skull!

Prospero

The Tempest                                      Act V, Scene i     Line 60

Okay, before we get into it I’m going to give you the stage direction that appears immediately before Prospero speaks this line. It might help. Might not, but it might.

Re-enter ARIEL before: then ALONSO, with a frantic gesture, attended by GONZALO; SEBASTIAN and ANTONIO in like manner, attended by ADRIAN and FRANCISCO they all enter the circle which PROSPERO had made, and there stand charmed; which PROSPERO observing, speaks:

And then Prospero gives today's Totally Random line.

I don’t think we’ve covered any lines this late in The Tempest. There’s a lot going on in this play, and it all takes place over a pretty short span of time. And here in Act V, scene i Prospero wraps everything up, pretty quickly I might add. The first thing he takes care of is this group that he had put under his spell earlier in the play. Prospero is talking to these guys now who are under his spell, or in a trance, or whatever you want to call it. He’s bringing them out of this trance, and that’s what he’s talking about. So their brains are not literally boiled within their skulls. No, of course not.  Though it’s going to take a little more than fresh air to bring them to their senses. It’s going to take Prospero. Sometimes I feel like my brains are just a little boiled. Those are the times I could use old Prospero to help me out. Ever feel that way?

Wait a minute! Is that Dracula behind Nina? And why isn't she scared? And what's that little kid doing on the fountain? Is he gonna jump in? Holy cow this is a crazy picture! And what's it got to do with today's Totally Random line? Maybe nothing. Maybe it's just a Totally Random picture.