Prospero's (Shakespeare's) Farwell...

Prospero as a character is not nessisarily well liked until the last few scenes of the play. Prospero shows his compassion by forgiving his enemies and demonstrating his love for his daughter Miranda. With Prospero's farewell to magic, we can see signs of Shakespeare's farewell to playwriting. Especially in such lines where Prospero says, "Gentle breath of yours my sails, Must fill, or else my project fails, Which was to please." This can be taken literally as the magic of Prospero was to please, and would therefor be useless if it did not give some pleasure. However, this can also mean Shakespeare's playwriting and aim to please his audience with his work. The youtube clip of the final lines of The Tempest shows sad images, as well as the voice seems to invoke a sad ending to the magic Prospero practices, or even Shakespeare's playwriting. I felt the lines in the Epilogue would be a bit more upbeat than that, more of a bittersweet way of thinking. However, assuming these lines are meant to reflect Shakespeare's end as a playwright, it definitely would feel more sad on a personal level.