‘When No Man Was His Own’: Magic and Self-Discovery in The Tempest

l:lLLt:N K BELTON 'When No Man Was His Own': Magic and Self-Discovery in The Tempest D.G. James says that in The Tempest 'we behold ... the mind of Europe saying farewell to magic as a part of its imagination of the world." Many studies have explored the influences of different philosophical and occult traditions on Shakespeare's handling of this subject.' However, there is one importantelement in Prospera's magic that, while itcertainlyformed a part of the folk belief of the period, receives little attention either from contemporary authorities on magic or from modern criticism. Prospera's magic has two sides to it: the manipulation of nature and of spirits associated with nature; and the attempted manipulation of human beings. In the area of natural magic Prospero's success is considerable. He is able to stage tempests, produce the harpy and other monsters, and command harvest spirits. The speech in which he takes leave of his powers creates images of other wonders that we never see. A consummate showman - perhapseven more adept atdramatic art than at white magicProspero guides us from the chaos and terror of the storm in I.i to the order and delight of the marriage masque in Iv.i, both the results of his mastery over Ariel and the 'rabble' under Ariel's contra!.' Moreover, Shakespearecarefully protects Prospera's achievement from any taint of association with black magic.' The only vestiges of ceremonial magic in the play are Prospera's 'magic garment,' his staff, and the books to which he refers but which we never see. Even these external symbols of his power seem unnecessary.> A whisper in Ariel's ear replaces the elaborate rituals described or hinted at in contemporary treatises on magic.6 The very spirits themselves were not conjured by Prospero, but found. Caliban, half human, half devil, was born on the island; Ariel carne there as Sycorax's servant and was left imprisoned by her when she died. Prospero's extraordinary powers over nature do not spring from artificial magic, but from natural magic, which, according to many writers, should not be called magic at all, since it is 'no more than a more exact knowledge of the secrets of Nature, which by observing the courses and influence of the stars in the heavens, and the sympathies and antipathies subsisting between separate things, compares one thing with another and so effects marvels which to the ignorant seem to be miracles or illusions.'7 The second aspect of Prospero's magic - indeed, the avowed purpose of all his showmanship - is to help all his subjects to achieve selfUNlVERSIT 'I OF TORONTO QUARTERLY, VOLUME 55, NUMBER 2, WINTER 198516 knowledge. Although many critics hold the traditional view that Prospero 's chief goal is to bring about repentance in the wicked or weakwilled ," it seems clear by the end ofthe play that few, if any, ofthe play's characters repent or change. Andrew V. Ettin makes this point: 'The character most transformed is the one who is himself most noble and most vulnerable, Alonso; the best ofthose whom this magic touches (Ferdinand and Gonzalo) have nothing to learn from it; the worst (the various "foul" conspirators of the island) are merely cowed by it.'9 Other recent studies support this position. ' 0 According to this view, Prospero is either deluded about his own accomplishments or resigned to changing behaviour without affecting his subjects' inner life. The Tempest itself, then, must be understood in terms of a tension between a triumphant vision of orderly nature and a sober acknowledgment of the inviolability of the human personality. Yet the side of Prospero's magic that deals with human behaviour offers its own kind of affirmation. When Prospero chooses to renounce his magic and return to Milan, he is accepting not the fact of human imperfection, but, as Herbert R. Coursen says, the fact of human freedom of will.H The play suggests that the special, unalterable identity of each member of the human community may in itself be a cause for celebration. It is the way in which Prospero's magic helps each character to discover and affirm his own identity that I wish...