Prompt for Drama “The Tempest” by William Shakespeare

There are so many elements related to the William Shakespeare and his fascination about magic and transformation. The literature has also always included this element that how supernatural elements are part of life, especially how men are stronger than others due to having some supernatural abilities. The magic and human knowledge has been going along with so many elements to talk about. It was known that magic said to be an important element for people to dig out secrets of this universe and look for something extra ordinary. The philosopher and writers like Shakespeare has always maintained the element of magic in their thoughts by putting magicians as the most important part of their writings.

In English drama and literature, the magic and supernatural elements have been included to bring in more sensation to the ideas. It is important to understand the fact that when magic is included in the ideas, the writer can go beyond any limits. The supernatural things can do something impossible, which may not be possible in normal real world. So, magic and the essence of magicians provide a great energy to a drama or writing, as writer can go in any direction. When you look at the play written by Shakespeare named “The Tempest”, it is quite evident that magic and transformation has been two major aspects of the story as they were heavily included in every part of the story. The element of magic and magician totally dominated the whole idea (Kriegel)

This transformation of physical as well as psychological level has shown that spiritual element with the magic was major part of the concept from the beginning. Shakespeare tried to build a perspective from the start that magic and transformation will be the actual theme of this story. It is important to mention here that there can be transformations, which may be possible with normal circumstances, and one can transform physically or even psychologically. But in the case of “the Tempest”, this transformation is totally based on magic. The fascination developed by magic for the characters has developed the story from the start till the end.

It has also been observed that Shakespeare has always been using fascination of magic such as witches in his ideas to sensitize things for its readers so that they may take more interest in every story. Shakespeare always included witchcraft in his imagination and attracted readers towards such ideas and actually he was able to achieve great success through this. In play “the Tempest”, he began the magic element from the start, when it was depicted that Ship was surrounded by the tempest, and people on the board were worry for their survival. But main character Prospero was standing calm, as he knew that this magic was done by him, and there is no real tempest going on (Hossain and Iseni)

Even when his daughter asked her to do something, he was sitting relaxed, as this transformation was attained by so many years. Once, he was Duke of Milan, but his life was changed, when his own brother took her status. But then he became a magician and his life transformed as he was able to do things, which he could never think off before learning magic. Different types of magic have been made part of the story and Shakespeare enlarged his focus on each and every element of magic. From start of the story till its end, magic was a dominating thing as its effect was there in every perspective.

The story started to describe a tempest, which seemed real for the others, but only one character knew that it was not real, rather it was the magic. But how the scenario was portrayed in the story, one could feel the element of reality in this tempest. But it was just an element of enchantment, and it is important to mention here that music was also a major part to fascinate the element of magic. The story was offering wonderful illusions, interesting shapes as well as amazing creatures, which gave a mesmerizing effect to the story. All of these characters showed that how magic was a main aspect associated with them. The plot of the story was dominated by this magic and transformation in so many ways.

One can analyze the content and language of the story, and can say that if magic and transformation with the help of magic would not have been included, then story would never have been the same. There was one song from Ariel, which talked about mysterious happening and transformation, which were taking place in the story. The things were not as normal as they should be rather each element was making the story more fascinated through the strange perspective ( Carlson)

It is important to look at the scene from the Act 5, which showed that once Prospero was down and his fate did not help him, but today, he has transformational power through magic, which has allowed him to get all of his enemies under his power of magic. He was Duke of Milan but then he was overthrown by Antonio, Sebastian, and Alonso. So now it was time to take revenge through his ultimate power of magic, which he possesses. Now, he could do anything with his enemies. Prospero was thinking that now it was time to achieve something, which was never possible before like uniting Naples with Milan and to do so, he created the element of love between his daughter Miranda and Ferdinand. The act has shown that how magic has put an element of transformations with its strong presence (http://shakespeare.mit.edu)

A common man, who was once thrown out by his enemies has transformed into a person, who can do anything at his will. This transformation was achieved by him with the help of magic. In the act, it was evident that magic is dominating each element of the story and its effect is evident. Prospero promised Ariel that soon, he will be free to live his life, but he first started to get rid of his enemies. But then he listened to Ariel, who was still showing some compassion about the one, who have done nothing right in their lives. Prospero was amazed to see that how Ariel still was compassionate about those three wrongdoers, and this element really changed his mind too.

It was the time, when feelings as well as perception of Prospero totally changed and transformed regarding his enemies. It was the time, when story took new turn and plot started to change a bit as Prospero was now thinking otherwise, whereas earlier he was all set to take his revenge from enemies through his supernatural power and magic. One can easily anticipate as an audience that when a person, who has all the powers and magic to take his revenge from enemies, then he will do it without any doubt. But beauty of the story is its changing transformation by changing the ideas and perceptions of the audience. This is what happened when Prospero totally changed his plan of taking the revenge. Now, the plot of the story has taken a major turn, where enemies will be forgiven for their wrongdoing rather facing any serious revenge.

It was another transformation, when Prospero started to think that his rough magic is not going to change the end reality, which is his mortality. So, he believed that forgiveness is the best option, and once enemies are forgiven, and then there is no point to keep this rough magic in his possession. So, he asks the spirits, that he will leave all his magic powers, which were given to him by these spirits. Prospero believes that reconciliation is the best outcome, rather going for a revenge, which is based on superpowers attained by the magic.

The drama was full of words, which showed the essence of natural mysteries. Certain kinds of words in the story were more relevant to the magic theme. The words also suggest that time has taken a great turn and now Prospero has so many abilities to do anything, which was not possible in the past. He transformed into a person through magic, which can achieve anything without any problem. His sense of power as well as wonder is evident from the story as his expressions are vividly interesting and active. The story was very interesting to learn that how one common man can be so much powerful by transforming his life through magic.

The story shows the image of Prospero being an element of transformation was the most significant part of the story. Prospero depicted his magical powers and spoke about spirits, and when everything seemed in his control as per his plan, he suddenly gives up the idea of taking the revenge from enemies. The qualities shown by Prospero revealed that he is like a magus, who had the power to achieve any feat for his own life as well as for the life of his daughter, who also went through all the phases of life with him.

In the end, it can be said that magic was too much important element of the drama and if magic is vanished from the story, and then all its fascination and mesmerizing effects for the audience will also be vanished. It was the element of magic and superpowers of Prospero, which kept the story alive in so many ways

References of Works Cited

Carlson, Donald. "“'Tis New to Thee”: Power, Magic, and Early Science in Shakespeare's The Tempest." Ben Jonson Journal 22.1 (2015): 1-22.

Hossain, Amir and Arburim Iseni. "Perception of the Supernatural Worlds in Shakespeare’s The Tempest." Anglisticum Journal (IJLLIS) 3.6

(2014): 78-89.

http://shakespeare.mit.edu. The Tempest. n.d. 29 April 2019 <http://shakespeare.mit.edu/tempest/full.html>.

Kriegel, Jill. "A Case against Natural Magic: Shakespeare's Friar Laurence as Romeo and Juliet's Near-Tragic Hero." A Journal of Catholic

Thought and Culture 13.1 (2010).