Music

music in the tempest introduction of music in shakespeare's plays. shakespeare knew the importance of music and songs and introduced songs and music in almost all his plays, even in his tragedies. as he said in one of his plays-"the man that has no music in himself is fit for treasons and stratagems" music shows the character of a person. usually song are sung in shakespeare's plays by clowns. but in the tempest songs are sung by ariel, caliban and stephano. their songs reveal their characters. these songs have a charm of their own. moreover the whole atmosphere of the enchanted island of prospero is full of noises, sweet sounds and sweet airs and it is highly musical. the charm of the songs in tempest. the tempest was one of the last plays written by william shakespeare. it was written when his dramatic genius and art had reached their full development. therefore, the songs in the tempest shakespeare's full and final development. the songs do not come in the way of the action f the tempest. indeed the songs help to develop the action of the play and raise dramatic situations. so the songs can be called action songs. they are written in rhymed measures. ariel's songs. ariel is a delicate airy creature. he is music itself. his songs are poetry. even his speech is songs. his songs are characteristic of him. in his song "full fathom five thy father lies," he informs ferdinand of his father's death and illustrates it in the language of nature. his song "come unto these yellow sands" is delicate and rippling. his song "where the bee sucks, there suck i" shows the joy of living in natural surroundings. it is a song of farewell to prospero. ariel's songs are beautiful examples of lyrical poetry. the other songs in the tempest caliban's song " ban, ban, caliban" is the howl of a monster. hence it is characteristic of him and reveals his character. stephano's two songs-"i shall no more to sea" and "the master, the swabbler" are sea songs quite characteristic of sailors. songs in the tempest are poetic. in the tempest music and magic are integral parts of the play. the tempest minus music and magic would be worthless. as george gordon says "to miss music and the singing is to miss the two things that are the very pulse of the play"