I promised to do this, so here I shall fulfill my promise:

A line in Shakespeare that I like particularly and that surprised me when I first noted it is this:

“It’s new to you.”

In The Tempest, Prospero says this to his daughter Miranda after she sees, for the very first time ever, humans other than him.

She says, “Oh brave new world, that has such people in’t.”

Which is a great and wonderful line, especially when we remember that in those days “brave” meant wonderful or imaginative. Her whole world had changed because she saw a good example of what a human can be. By the way, Miranda is Latin for, to put it as awkwardly as possible: “she who is to be wondered at” or “She who is to be ad-mired.” I love that she passes that ad-miranda-ness on to others.

But Prospero had known plenty of humans, and some of them were beasts, so for him the glory was effaced.

If you were the director of the Tempest or the actor playing Prospero, how would you instruct him to say those words? Laughing? Bitter? Something else?

I think I’d have him say it under his breath.

Our children should hold on to the vision of what a human can be for as long as possible. This world has lost its glory, but not totally.