Jul 26, 2008

The Tempest | Principal Topics

Magic
Magic has a strong presence throughout The Tempest and pervades nearly every action in the play. While this quality Informs the work with a fairy tale atmosphere, it Is important to recognize that in Shakespeare's time the topic of magic was treated with more seriousness than in our own. Some Renaissance scholars, such as Henry Cornelius Agrippa (of whose writings Shakespeare may have been cognizant), possessed much expertise in the subject of magic and wrote books describing the different sources of magical power. In simple terms, Shakespeare's audience would have been...