Magic and Illusion in the Tempest

The tempest contains various themes that were portrayed in the play. I talked about the power and politics that are involved in this play. Ther is another theme that I want to shed light on is Magic and illusion. 

We all know that something such as magic does not exist in reality but was portrayed in the play with a blend of the then problems of power and politics. This perfect blend of the themes made the play much more believable.

The theme of magic comes in through the introduction of our main protagonist Prospero who controls nature and has used his magic to cause the tempest in the sea. Prospero with a strong personality seems to use his magic wisely. As he does cause shipwrecks but saves all of them. Somebody with the power of magic that could bend nature to its will would rather be filled with pride, arrogance but Prospero has never been anything but kind. At times, he might come off the stern in situations.

Magic seems to give control to the events that will take place. Compared to Sycorax, the witch who used her magic for ill events. Prospero's magic was far better and considered to be white magic which involves nature and doesn’t do any harm to anyone. Whereas Sycorax's magic was about the magic that does harm and for that, she was banished.

The illusion was a tool used by the spirit named Ariel who was under Prospero's rule. Illusions came to the rescue when certain mishaps were about to happen like the plotting of the murder of Alonso. It was also used throughout the play to guide the characters of the play to believe things that could’ve happened like Ariel’s song to Ferdinand about his father’s death which led him to believe his father was no longer alive and he came to sense that he needs to grow up as he would be the king of Naples now.

These elements of magic and illusions formed a perfect play into being. The magic that Prospero used came from studying the books. Here, there is a parallel of how we often transformed into our magical world while reading books. Prospero brought this magic into reality. He was invisible with the help of magic.

The magic and illusion in this play made it fictional at the same time contrasted with the theme of power and politics that was non-fictional at that time. The play blended with the fictional and non-fictional elements made it a great one.

Though the play showcases the then-current society problems it was shown with a twist of magic which made it a perfect play with a blend of magic and societal norms. 

See you in the next article!