淺析“魔法”在《暴風雨》中的存在意義

張會潔

【Abstract】The Tempest is a world-famous play of William Shakespeare。In this play，a novel，fantastic story shows us the ugly human nature，as well as pure love and friendship。It is with the help of magic that the author can complete such complicated discussion in so short a play。

一、Introduction

The Tempest is a tragicomedy by William Shakespeare，which is regarded by many people as the last play and one of the best plays of Shakespeare。It depicts a story that Prospero whose Dukedom is usurped and stranded on an island uses magic to make a tempest，make his enemies feel regretful about their actions and get his Dukedom back。Lots of people have studied this play from various perspectives，such as humanism，new historicism and colonialism，but few people analyzed the significance of the magic。From my point of view，magic is a clue runs through as well as the basic setting of the whole play。

二、The Significance of“Magic”in The Tempest

1.A Clue Runs through The Tempest

Magic is a line run through this whole story。First，magic is the primary cause that leads to the tempest（韓媛媛70）。As the king of a state，Prospero does not indulge himself in political power and lordliness as other kings，while he is addicted to magic powers and he casts the government upon his brother out of trust，which gives the brother an opportunity to wrest Prosperos dukedom and drive Prospero and his daughter，Milanda，out of their state。Second，magic is the supporting power that helps Prospero and his daughter survive in the desert island。To tell the truth，Prospero and Milanda are not able to survive，let alone live at their pleasure under the circumstance，with a local person，Caliban，who is the son of a powerful witch，and to some extend is a savage，on the island。Caliban dares to seek to violate Milanda when Prospero possesses powerful magic。It is hard to imagine that how hard a life Prospero and Milanda will live in the island without magic power。Third，magic is the tool that Prospero employs to provoke the tempest and enlighten his enemies。In line with Prospero s order，Ariel，the sprite Prospero has saved，causes the tempest，shows the enemies what they have done to Prospero twelve years ago，which helps them begin to realize how guilty they are and feel regretful of the sin they have committed。Without magic，the charm work，this tempest can hardly appear and they crime cannot be reminded again。

2.The Basic Setting of The Tempest

Magic is a basic setting of this tragicomedy。Shakespeare sets the whole story in a mythological circumstance and with the help of magic，everything in this play seems to be possible。It is magic that causes the occurrence of the tempest，that separate people on the ship，that reminds those enemies of what they have done to Prospero。Perhaps this story can be developed in some other settings，but it is undeniable that magic is the best one。Because in such a setting，the story can develop much more smoothly and briefly，while in other backgrounds，it will not be easy to be depicted as tremendous as The Tempest。

三、Conclusion

Generally speaking，magic is of crucial significance both as a clue runs through the whole book and as the basic setting in this masterpiece。This essay can not only help readers to have a clear recognition of the structure of this book，but also help them have a command of the significance of magic as the basic setting。However，this essay is very limited because it does not analyze the sense of magic as a basic setting deeply and it does not connect the magic setting with humanism or realism。I sincerely wish that some scholars would associate magic with some deep theories and analyze it from different perspectives。

【參考文獻】

[1]韓媛媛。新歷史主義視角下的魔法世界——評莎士比亞的《暴風雨》[J]。名作欣賞，2010，（12）：69-72。