Shakespeare's brilliant portrayal of Prospero's use of magic and power continues to captivate both readers and audiences with the many meanings and interpretations of The Tempest. As the main character, Prospero, he is someone many people can identify with, with his desire to fulfill his wishes and gain power over others through the use of magic. It is this identification that surpasses Shakespearean works, with The Tempest emulating and presenting themes from other works of the Elizabethan period. Like “Doctor Faustus” by Christopher Marlowe, a play written twenty years before The Tempest, containing the same themes of magic and power. Furthermore, both Faustus and Prospero describe the idea that power, like magic, originates from books: whether they are works of “secret studies” or the “liberal arts” (Tempest 1.2.91-95). Magic and power are two forces, both of which can be found in literary works within the play, and it is through the works of Marlowe and Shakespeare that the audience is brought into the play of power. This essay will explore the idea of ​​Renaissance excess and its relationship to books. A wizard uses knowledge of magic to control his life and experience the world, which also allows him to influence both natural and supernatural powers. It is this knowledge of the supernatural, gained through books, that allows a wizard to rise above other influences and act as a power. These books are written by curious and gifted scholars who hope that by uniting and delving into various religious and philosophical dogmas, everything will fit together and create an ultimate truth. Scholars make enormous books, filled with their knowledge of the universe. Often these books lead the scholar to their destruction, consuming half the paper. 47-48. Google Book.Rabelais, François. The Sequel to Pantagruel: Being Books III, IV and V of Rabelais' Gargantua and the Heroic Deeds of Pantagruel. Ed. G. Routledge. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1888. Google Book.Shakespeare, William. The Tempest Eds. Mowat, Barbara A. and Paul Werstine. New York: Simon & Schuster Inc, 2009. Print.Shapiro, James S. Rival Playwrights: Marlowe, Jonson, and Shakespeare. New York: Columbia University Press, 1991. Google Book.Smith, Nicole. “The Forbidden Quest for Knowledge in Doctor Faustus and Paradise Lost.” Article Myriad. Published: December 6, 2011. Accessed: November 18, 2013. Web.Woodman, Tony. Poetry and politics in the age of Augustus. Ed. Anthony John Woodman, David Alexander West. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984. Google Book.