The Impact of Magical Power in The Tempest by William Shakespeare

The play begins with the tempest that gives it its title and also the force of power. The Tempest as plainly concerned with its own nature as a play, frequently drawing links between Prospero’s art and dramatic illusion. Here the art is magic which is the representative of power and the structure and use of power in Shakespeare’s The Tempest can be linked to his day by examining governments in Britain. One the other hand the use of power may similar as seen in William Shakespeare’s The Tempest and its application to societies of the 17th century as our today’s society. As we see the 17th century society power and today’s globalization power may call similar in its direction.

The most important theme in his play is the possession of control and command over others, more commonly known as power. Prospero, Ariel, Caliban and the Nobel from Milan, all demonstrate different levels of control. The play portrays Prospero as a rational, not an occultist, magician by providing a contrast to him in Sycorax whose magic is frequently described as destructive and terrible, where Prospero’s is said to be wondrous and beautiful but we can see that Prospero uses his power of magic to control the inhabitant of the island and also to regain his power of dukedom. Though at the end of the play he throws-out his magic before returning to society:

“I’ll break my staff, bury it certain fathoms in the earth, and deeper than did ever plummet sound I’ll drown my book (Act V, Sc. I, 54-57)”

Prospero has been given considerable power as a magician and as the controller of the spirits of the island, and his enemies have been delivered to him by the tempest. Clearly, Shakespeare sees a healing power in drama itself and expresses that belief in this play, and again magic is identified with drama. Yet this very complexity is the source of the play’s simplicity–of its power to entertain, to move, and to satisfy our play going and thoughtful spirit.

The action of the play is Prospero’s discovery to his enemies, their discovery of themselves, the lovers’ discovery of a new world of wonder, Prospero’s own discovery of an ethic of forgiveness, and the denial of his magical power. Prospero in Act IV begins the process of change that leads to the conclusion of the play. Prospero assures her that he will not hurt them but that he has another purpose in mind, and as the play unfolds we see that this purpose is to heal wounds and teach lessons in order to restore the illusion of the world to its proper balance.

In the play Prospero has his enemies in his power. He shows that the one who can manipulate the illusions of life and enlist the min quest of his particular goal will be successful. Prospero in truth does much to assist the romance between Ferdinand and his daughter, and some critics have raised this as an issue, as if he had only manipulated their emotions to suit his own purpose of revenge. Prospero repeats that he has all his enemies in his power and that he will be able to achieve his ends in a short time.

The most salient features of the play is its affluences in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries include the Americanization and globalization of which theme is much like the theme of The Tempest. As the concept of globalization is mainly a history of exploitation of the “other” people as we see by the character of Prospero who exploit the “other” of the island by the help of his magical power. Actually The Tempest offers something of a primer case of the public life of art in a globalized age as if globalization power is much like magical power.

The play is thus a faultless thought experiment about divinity and power in the Old and the New World. Throughout the sixteenth century, the central justification for the take-over of the Amerindians had been that Europe had a religious duty to convert the “savages.” By which Shakespeare came to the question after almost 100 years of debate. The play invites audience into the debate about conquest and colonization. The Tempest spoke to Old World issues as well as to questions about the relationship between Europe and the Americas of the present world.