The Amulet of Samarkand

One of the main tensions in The Amulet of Samarkand is the coercive and exploitative power that magicians hold over spirits like Bartimaeus. In Stroud’s fantastical world, magicians are only as powerful as the spirits they can bind and enslave to their will. Though the author never elaborates as to why the British society of magicians (and, presumably, other such societies) view spirits with hostility, there is nevertheless a long-standing history of it, wherein magicians deliberately cultivate and inculcate a deep hatred for creatures of the Other Place as a matter of course.

Arthur’s teaching methods show how magicians instill disdain for spirits in their apprentices, perpetuating a cycle of hostility and coercion. In his first appearance in the book, Arthur speaks of spirits’ alleged wickedness: “Remember this. […] Demons are very wicked. They will hurt you if they can. Do you understand this?” (29). Arthur’s perspective on spirits encapsulates the justifying rhetoric employed by magicians for the cruel treatment they force upon spirits to extract their powers, but it also gestures to how this cruelty is necessarily inherited through tailored curriculums. Magicians’ use of the word “demon” linguistically vindicates the exploitation of spirits.