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the use of magic in the tempest
magic in the tempest essay
magic in the tempest essay
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Prospero’s Magic in Shakespeare's The Tempest
In order to understand the full effect the character of Prospero, in Shakespeare's The Tempest, would have had on the audience, it is important to understand how magic was regarded during the time. During the Tudor and early Stuart periods, interest in magic ran high, and attitudes toward magic were varied and complex. For instance, magic was to be avoided by God-fearing men, but "God permitted magic partly to demonstrate, by its overthrow, his own miraculous powers, and partly as one of the pitfalls that appeared in the world as a result of original sin" (Traister 3). Also, many scholars and philosophers were magicians, and it was difficult to draw a line between magic and science since medicine and astronomy were often associated with magic.
So, people sought to clarify the ambiguities by distinguishing demonic magic from natural magic, or black magic from white magic. Basically, demonic magic was performed with the aid of spirits and natural magic was not. But even that definition became muddled with complexities during a revival of neoplatonism in England. There was a belief in a world spirit that could be tapped into by magic. Early neoplatonist ideas about magic can be traced to Marsilio Ficino. He developed theories of ways to "attract planetary daemons (to be carefully distinguished from 'demons' evil spirits) by the use of music, particular words similar to incantations, special colors, and perfumes" (Traister 7). Ficino argued this to be different from demonic magic because he intended to attract angelic spirits rather than evil spirits.
Ficino's ideas were further developed by Henry Cornelius Agrippa (1486-1535) as he divided natural magic and create...
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Craig, Hardin. "Magic in The Tempest." Philological Quarterly 47 (1968): 8-15.
Egan, Robert. "This Rough Magic: Perspectives of Art and Morality in The Tempest." Shakespeare Quarterly 23 (1972): 171-82.
Estrin, Barbara L. "Telling the Magician from the Magic in The Tempest." Bucknell Review: A Scholarly Journal of Letter, Arts and Science 25:1 (1980): 170-87.
French, Peter J. John Dee: The World of an Elizabethan Magus. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1972.
Harris, Anthony. Night's Black Agents: Witchcraft and Magic in Seventeenth-Century English Drama. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1980.
Thomas, Keith. Religion and the Decline of Magic. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971.
Traister, Barbara Howard. Heavenly Necromancers: The Magician in English Renaissance Drama. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1984.
Edward, Bever, 'Witchcraft Prosecutions and the Decline of Magic', Journal of Interdisciplinary History vol.11 no.2 (Autumn 2009)
Mack, Maynard. Everybody’s Shakespeare: Reflections Chiefly on the Tragedies. Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press, 1993.
Prospero is the image of the ideal Renaissance magician; whose magic is obtained from his books and knowledge that, in contrast to Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus, has domain over spirits, which represent the passions, Ariel and Caliban. B...
Sharpe, James. Instruments of Darkness: Witchcraft in Early Modern England. Paperback Edition. Philiadephia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997.
Shakespeare's play, The Tempest tells the story of a father, Prospero, who must let go of his daughter; who brings his enemies under his power only to release them; and who in turn finally relinquishes his sway over his world - including his power over nature itself. The Tempest contains elements ripe for tragedy: Prospero is a controlling figure bent on taking revenge for the wrongs done to him, and in his fury he has the potential to destroy not only his enemies, but his own humanity and his daughter's future.
Barry, Jonathan and Hester, Marianne and Roberts, Gareth. Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
Jomo Kenyatta began his journey in the country of Kikuyu. When he was 10 years old he became gravly ill and had to have surgery. It was then that he was brought to the Church of Scotland mission and encountered Europeans for the first time (“Jomo Kenyatta”, Britannica). After being exposed to the Europeans, Kenyatta later ran away from home to become a student of the Church of Scotland mission. During this time, he studied the Bible, English, Math, and worked for a European settler to pay his tution. He later left the mission and moved to Nairobi where he would encounter his first affiliation with an African political protest movement, the East Africa Association (EAA), led by a fellow Kikuyu named Harry Thuku. Kenyatta empathized with the movement because it involved his people, the Kikuyu. One of the main goals of the EAA’s was to regain the land that had been taken by the Euorpeans when Kenya ...
In the fourth voyage, Swift presents a case study for opposing states of nature, with the Yahoos representing the argument that man is governed by his passions, seeking his own advantage, pursuing pleasures and avoiding pain, and the Houyhnhnms representing the argument that man is governed by reason. If this is the case, then Swift’s misanthropy was such that he saw men as the foul and disgusting Yahoos, and made it plain that reform of the species was out of the question. A major fault with this theory is that it leaves no place for Gulliver. When attention is drawn to the figure of Gulliver himself, as distinct from his creator, Swift, he is taken to be the moral of the story. If you can't be a Houyhnhnm you don't need to be a Yahoo; just try to be like Gulliver. The trouble with this idea is that when taking a closer look at Gulliver, he isn't worth emulating. The final picture of him talking with the horses in the stable for four hours a day, unable to stand the company of his own family, makes him look foolish. Another theory is that Gulliver made a mistake in regarding the Houyhnhnms as models to be emulated: so far from being admirable creatures they are as repulsive as the Yahoos. The Yahoos might be ruled by their passions, but these have no human passions at all. On this view, Swift was not advocating, but attacking reason.
There are many elements in Shakespeare's play, The Tempest, which one cannot reconcile with the real world. The main theme in The Tempest is illusion, and the main focus is the experiment by Prospero.
Nesbit, E.. "The Tempest." The Best of Shakespeare: Retellings of 10 Classic Plays. Oxford University Press, 1997. n.pag. eLibrary. Web.
Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels presents a narrator, Lemuel Gulliver, who recounts his various sea voyages to fantastical lands. During each voyage, Gulliver encounters different societies and customs to which Gulliver must adjust to. in order to be accepted into their society The entire novel serves as a commentary on how people everywhere have a tendency to abuse the power given to them.
... in witchcraft, this revisits the medieval and unfounded views on witches perpetuated by the Spanish Inquisition that we see in his earlier works.
During England’s Elizabethan period, people were captivated by magic and the supernatural. During this period there was little distinction between science and magic. Educated people practiced medicine, astrology, alchemy, sorcery, and tried to control the elements. Some scholars conclude that controlling the elements of nature is an underlying basis for early science and some religions (Hopfe). One of the most famous Elizabethan scientists, and one who Queen Elizabeth herself kept on staff was Dr. John Dee (Woolley). John Dee was also known as a magus, a title given to someone who was considered a master magician or adept in astrology, alchemy, or sorcery (Melton). Evidence for this cultural preoccupation with magic during the Elizabethan period can be found in many of William Shakespeare’s plays, including his final work, The Tempest, which was written between 1610 and 1611. It is widely believed that Shakespeare may well have had Dr. John Dee in mind when creating the character of Prospero (Woolley). Prospero, the play’s protagonist, is a master magician. At its core, The Tempest entertains an underlying theme of justice and forgiveness for Prospero’s brother usurping and exiling him and his daughter to a desolate foreign isle, but more prominent is Prospero and Ariel’s use of magic and manipulation of the elements. Magic plays such a key role in the play, that it could be defined as an additional character. In fact, if it weren’t for the plays heavy use of magic, The Tempest Would be boring and uneventful, and we would be left with only a man stranded on an island with his daughter and a helpful and deformed native inhabitant named Caliban.
Kenya is a republic of East Africa. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean on the southeast. The capital of Kenya is Nairobi. It is located in the south central part of the country. It has a population of 1.5 million. The National Musum of Kenya, the National Theater and the University of Nairobi are in the city.
Marcus, Leah S. Recent Studies in Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama. No. 2 ed. Vol. 32. N.p.: Rice University, 1992. Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900. JSTOR. Web. 8 Dec. 2013. .