While the magic of Prospero, the fallen Duke of Milan at the center of Shakespeare's The Tempest, is frequently associated with art or creativity, this reading of the text seems inconsistent with a wealth of textual evidence. More specifically, if the play is a celebration of Prospero's artistic talent, why does the sorcerer give up his magic after achieving his goals: the happy marriage of his daughter and the reconquest of his duchy? The answer to this question is hinted at throughout the text (although Prospero himself never states it directly): Prospero's magic seems to contain a certain addictive and dehumanizing element which Prospero realizes is at least partly responsible for his exile. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The first evidence that Prospero is addicted to magic occurs in Act I, Scene II of the play, when Prospero explains to his daughter Miranda how he lost his dukedom to his brother Antonio. According to Prospero: And Prospero, the first Duke, being so renowned in dignity and for liberal arts without parallel; these being all my study, the government which I exercised over my brother and to my state became foreign, being transported and ravished into secret studies.... (I. ii, 72-77) In short, while Prospero blames his brother for the loss of his duchy, he essentially admits that he was more concerned with his "secret studies", presumably magical, than with the actual leadership of Milan. This belies the all-consuming nature of magic: Prospero claims that "my library was a dukedom large enough" (I. I, 109-110) while blaming his brother for the loss of a kingdom he clearly did not care for. This refusal to take responsibility for his exile appears as a kind of denial: Prospero admits to being completely absorbed by his studies, but he refuses to admit that they made him lose contact with the outside world, his duchy. The nature of Prospero's "art" lies in the characterization of Sycorax, the witch who inhabited the island before Prospero. Prosper describes Sycorax as: ...This cursed witch Sycorax, For her multiple misdeeds and her terrible sorceries To enter into human ear, from Algiers, You know, has been banished. (I. ii 265-268) For Prospero, Sycorax's magic is somehow "bad" while his is somehow "good" in nature. However, a comparison of the two mages' actions reveals fundamental similarities between the two characters. Prospero and Sycorax were exiled from their country because of their magic. Both proclaim themselves "ruler" of the island by enslaving Ariel, a native spirit, and forcing him to carry out their orders. While Prospero claims that Sycorax used Ariel to "carry out his earthly and abhorred orders" (I ii, 275), Prospero neglects to mention that in Caliban he has another, less talented servant whom he essentially subjects to the work of slave. Furthermore, just as Prospero and Ariel call Sycorax's magic evil, Caliban calls Prospero's magic wicked and sinister. Caliban tells Stephano and Trinculo that: ...I am subject to a tyrant, a sorcerer who, through his cunning, stole the island from me. (3.2 41-43) By describing Prospero's magic as inherently "good" in nature, the reader confuses Prospero's arguably noble intentions with his magic itself. Upon discovering Caliban, Trinculo and Stephano trying to steal his belongings, Prospero curses them, declaring: Go, charge my goblins that they grind their joints with dry convulsions, shorten their tendons with aged cramps, and make them more pinched than pard . or mountain cat. (4.1 260-263) With this fate, Prospero.