Prospero's use of magic

Prospero and his servant, Ariel, are the two principal workers of magic in The Tempest. Both possess powers of illusion and deception. Under Prospero's orders, Ariel creates a powerful tempest at the beginning of the play that appears to destroy Alonso's ship and strand all of its passengers on the island. By the end of the play, however, the Boatswain exclaims that the ship "Is tight and yare bravely rigg'd, as when / We first put out to sea." Likewise, Prospero uses magic to separate and confuse the new inhabitants on the isle and to convince each that the others were surely killed in the storm. Prospero's manipulation of others through magic points to one of the important motifs in the work, the contrast between appearance and reality. Thus, as the illusions are lifted at the end of the play, Shakespeare invokes the theme of disenchantment, and places reality aright.