The magic at the beginning of the play is presented as evil as the tempest that begins the play, which brings all Prospero's enemies to him, symbolizes the suffering Prospero endured, and which he wants to inflict on others. This shows he uses his magic for his own good only and shows his frightening, potentially malevolent side of his power. Although it can be argued Shakespeare is showing Prospero as trying to teach the others a lesson, make them see their mistakes, by inflicting suffering. Shakespeare also presents Prospero as good as he does something good with his power by uniting Ferdinand and Miranda, Shakespeare uses this dichotomy to challenge the relationship between the audience and Prospero. Is Prospero a great and powerful man or just a cruel, frightening sorcerer? Using good magic makes the audience warm towards Prospero but his often use of cruel magic, such as suffering inflicted on Caliban "cramps and side stitches" and Prospero insisting on unquestionable service from Ariel, which is cruel as Ariel is very obedient and performs all his tasks very accurately but just wants to be free, makes the audience change their mind. Throughout this play Shakespeare presentation of Prospero questions the audience a lot, whether they "like" the character or not.
"The Tempest" deals with four distinct but mutually interactive worlds of existence- The heaven, the world of supernatural, the human world and the sub-human world. All these worlds are touched by magic in some way as are all inhabitants either for good but mainly to inflict suffering on others.
Prospero's magic helps to create power and control for himself. Shakespeare uses this idea in the beginning of the scene where Ariel performs the storm rather than Prospero because Prospero is in control of Ariel and makes him do his dirty jobs for him. "performed to point the tempest that i bade thee?".
"The Tempest" being Shakespeare's last play would have been tried to be made as the best play. It is significantly different to other plays. Shakespeare started using the theme of magic right from the beginning and did not stop until the end when Prospero commands Ariel for the very last time to keep waters still for the journey home. Although magic is used in other plays such as Macbeth where the witches influence the characters behaviour he is still free willed to make his own decisions, in "The Tempest" plot is entirely based on magic and none of the characters get to choose their fate except for Prospero as he is the controller for all the power, for example Ferdiand gets wowed by Ariels singing and follows it to find Miranda "Come unto these yellow sands" sings Ariel beckoning for Ferdinand to follow him, thus Ferdinand did not choose himself to follow but magic made him. So all the characters faiths are decided by supernatural intervention not by their actions. This theme is easily the most popular and captures the attention of the audience. This play also differs from others as it is not a tragicomedy or tragedy like most others but its a magical fairy tale with a hint of comedy especially created by Trinculo. And this type turned out to be a great success for Shakespeare with the audience.
Overall the presentation of the theme of magic is crucial in this play. Without it, play would have different meaning to it and would not be as enjoyable for the audience as its a twist of the regime of the themes Shakespeare usually uses. The clever use of portraying Prosepro as an alchemist or God or even as a representation of Shakespeare himself kept the audience guessing throughout the play keeping them on the edge, expecting something new and exciting and magical to happen. This play also questions the audience about the ups and downs of magic, as at one point the audience can be sure that Prospero's evil, as shown by cruelness to Caliban for example, making him obey even when Prospero himself is not about, manipulates him, "I must obey, his art is of such power" (Caliban), but then he does good by bringing a loved couple together and forgiving his brother of his sins, "I do forgive, thy rankest fault", makes audience wonder if he is good or cruel. "The Tempest" cannot be just pinpointed and said magic is most important theme in the whole play, as there are other important themes used such as love which may be just as important. Shakespeare just portrays the theme of magic as one of the most important elements in the play.
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