The Tempest is often considered the capstone of Shakespeare’s legacy in the English canon. It is accepted as the last play written solely by William Shakespeare. The Tempest fits into the genre of the “Late Romance,” a blending of literary concepts that involves elements of both comedy and tragedy.
One of the most important romantic elements in The Tempest is its use of magic as a thematic device. Prospero is a wizard whose spells enchant and mystify everyone else on the island. Stage productions have interpreted Prospero’s magic in many different ways, but the text itself presents a clear vision of his power’s true nature. Propsero is a master of the spoken word, and his language is the source of his magical ability.
Prospero's Magic
Prospero’s magic is rarely described in the stage directions; instead, when Prospero casts a spell, he announces its effects himself. In Act 1, Scene 2, he casts his first onstage incantation to end his retelling of the play’s backstory. “Thou art inclined to sleep,” he tells Miranda in line 220, and, immediately after, she is seized by a sudden drowsiness. He paralyzes Miranda’s suitor, Ferdinand, with the same technique. He has only to inform his target of their change in condition, and it is so.
Prospero also uses language as a weapon against his slave, the monstrous Caliban. He constantly threatens to torture Caliban, but the audience does not witness these events. Instead, Prospero describes them in exact detail: “Tonight, thou shall have cramps,” he tells the man-beast in Act 1, Scene 2. In both of these cases, Prospero holds power over other characters onstage because of his mastery over language. Only Caliban dares to challenge Prospero’s rule, but his lone voice of dissent is ineffective; as he confesses, the only benefit he has gained from learning language is that he “knows how to curse.”
Ariel: Songs and Spells
Ariel, Prospero’s servant spirit, also uses language as a form of magic. Ariel’s charms take the form of mystical songs. In Act 2, Scene 1, he awakens the counselor Gonzalo with the words “If of life you keep a care / Shake off slumber and beware / Awake!” Gonzalo then stops Antonio and Sebastian from murdering Alonso. Ariel uses language more deliberately in Act 3, Scene 2, when he imitates the voice of Trinculo and calls Caliban a liar, causing discord among the rebels who intend to overthrow Prospero.
The power of these words is enough to derail the seditious plot. In this scene, the audience also discovers that the source of Prospero’s power is his books. Later, Ariel visits Alonso and Gonzalo as a Harpy. When they draw their swords to defend themselves, he says, “Your swords are now too massy for your strengths / And will not be uplifted.”
A Literary World
Throughout The Tempest, characters are subject to the circumstances that Prospero and his magical allies impose upon them. The source of this supernatural compulsion is the power of language—something that Shakespeare and Prospero both value above all else. In the play’s epilogue, Prospero sets his magical items aside and asks for the audience’s applause, proclaiming that his "arts" are done. What he means when he says this is that he has finished his speech and the play is over.
The spell that Shakespeare’s words have cast has been lifted. The Tempest is a profound reflection on the written word and the nature of literature. In Shakespeare’s world, every word is its own miracle.
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