Hear my soul speak

Miranda likes a log-bearing man

The holidays are upon us, which means that a scant few long weeks separate me and my fiancé from meeting again. Therefore, it's high time we come up with another speech to share in recitation. At first, I was overwhelmed with the possibilities, and flipped through my overly highlighted Complete Works for something outside of a soliloquy.

Lightbulb! One of Jamie's favorite plays is The Tempest, and what romance is there to be had in that piece but the at-first-sight kind? I scanned through the pages, vaguely remembering a scene where the two serendipitous lovers meet over a back-breaking chore in the wilderness. Miranda, who has shared her father Prospero's island exile, has never seen another man in all her life. With the undercover help of Ariel under orders from Prospero, she "discovers"  Ferdinand, the handsome young Prince of Naples, and instantly falls in love. When she sees him toiling with the chore thrust upon him by her father, she offers to help, and then proposes marriage. He accepts of course, because sometimes, this is how these things work out. I can vouch for that.

When I read my chosen passage to Jamie, his jaw dropped with how appropriate it was for us. It's a lover arriving on an island to unexpectedly meet their perfect match. If only marriage were so easily conducted as it is on Prospero's island, which doesn't have the benefit of Homeland Security and immigration visas. But Prospero wants the couple to value their relationship, and throws up obstacles to their partnership for a little while (like Uncle Sam). In the end it all works out, however, so worry not. The lovers shall be united (eventually)!


FERDINAND

... Hear my soul speak:
The very instant that I saw you, did
My heart fly to your service; there resides,
To make me slave to it; and for your sake
Am I this patient log--man.

MIRANDA

Do you love me?

FERDINAND

O heaven, O earth, bear witness to this sound
And crown what I profess with kind event
If I speak true! if hollowly, invert
What best is boded me to mischief! I
Beyond all limit of what else i' the world
Do love, prize, honour you.

MIRANDA

I am a fool
To weep at what I am glad of.

PROSPERO

Fair encounter
Of two most rare affections! Heavens rain grace
On that which breeds between 'em!

FERDINAND

Wherefore weep you?

MIRANDA

At mine unworthiness that dare not offer
What I desire to give, and much less take
What I shall die to want. But this is trifling;
And all the more it seeks to hide itself,
The bigger bulk it shows. Hence, bashful cunning!
And prompt me, plain and holy innocence!
I am your wife, if you will marry me;
If not, I'll die your maid: to be your fellow
You may deny me; but I'll be your servant,
Whether you will or no.

FERDINAND

My mistress, dearest;
And I thus humble ever.

MIRANDA

My husband, then?

FERDINAND

Ay, with a heart as willing
As bondage e'er of freedom: here's my hand.

MIRANDA

And mine, with my heart in't ...