The Tempest: Magic

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that it was this text, and texts succeeding this (The
Art of Juggling, written by Samuel Ridd in 1610 also presented a few how-to's of
magic) were probably not only what suggested the idea of using magic as a them
to Shakespeare, but in addition, provided methods as to how the magic in the
play might be accomplished.

Despite the fact that in retrospective analysis it is fairly clear that
witches were nothing more that magicians with a slightly different presentation,
audiences were not always aware of –and those that were, were rarely convinced
by—the two aforementioned texts. Witches were still persecuted and witch-hunts
did not actually stop until the end of the seventeenth century. Therefore,
Shakespeare's use of magic was controversial, compounded by the fact that
Prospero was presented in a largely good light—a move probably made as a
political statement, as it is known that Shakespeare's plays were sometimes
written to include political suggestions to King James. However, ...

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