At the start of this module we discussed a course on the history of magic taught at Brown University. The students who signed up for the course had two chief reasons for wanting to take it--they were interested in fantasy literature, or they thought that magic would help them avoid the complications of life in a technical, post-industrial world.
How do you evaluate these two responses? Does either suggest to you good reasons for learning more about magic and its power? Does either speak to your own interests in magic?
One way to pursue this question would be to take the "fantasy" option and consider the role of magic in creating fantasy in some of the works we've read--Beowulf, for starters, but also Sir Gawain and many of Chaucer's Tales. Magic is part of fantasy, but you don't have to believe in fantasy worlds in order to analyze the role of fantasy in the medieval world. This topic means you have to learn more about romance as a narrative form; it could also lead you to science fiction; and if you are interested in psychology more than in literature, you could start learning about the function of fantasies in our lives.
Another way to consider the "So What" of medieval magic is to think about the computer as a form of modern magic. Even the machine you use this program on strikes many people as magical in its effects. Why? Remember that magic means, at least in part, effects that stem from hidden causes, not necessarily unknown ones. Every magic trick has an explanation, a mechanical point of origin, including the tricks one can make a computer program perform.