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The meaning and origin of the expression: Such stuff as dreams are made on

Such stuff as dreams are made on

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What's the meaning of the phrase 'Such stuff as dreams are made on'?

This expression is more usually spoken as 'the stuff of dreams'.

In the magician Prospero's speech in The Tempest he alludes to the gods and spirits in the play, which are imagined and apt to blow away in a puff of smoke. Shakespeare is also playing with the idea that the play itself evokes and requires a suspension of disbelief on the part of the audience, which also soon melts away when the play is ended and the characters return to being real life actors..

What's the origin of the phrase 'Such stuff as dreams are made on'?

The meaning and origin of the phrase 'Such stuff as dreams are made on'From Shakespeare's The Tempest, 1610:

Prospero:
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,

As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air:

And like the baseless fabric of this vision,

The cloud-capp'd tow'rs, the gorgeous palaces,

The solemn temples, the great globe itself,

Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,

And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,

Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff

As dreams are made on; and our little life

Is rounded with a sleep.

Gary Martin - the author of the phrases.org.uk website.

By Gary Martin

Gary Martin is a writer and researcher on the origins of phrases and the creator of the Phrase Finder website. Over the past 26 years more than 700 million of his pages have been downloaded by readers. He is one of the most popular and trusted sources of information on phrases and idioms.

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