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CHAPTER SIX
CONCLUSIONS
The concluding chapter in a study such as I have undertaken must inevitably consist, to a considerable extent, of summary. Such a summary would be pointless, for a dissertation of such moderate proportions, unless it revealed some general trend or pattern which would otherwise remain obscure. In the main body of the work I have dealt with the comedies in chronological sequence, disposing of each play before dealing with the next. For the purposes of this summary it will be more instructive to consider the various musical aspects separately. These aspects may be broadly classified as the use of song, instrumental music, musical references in the spoken text, and dancing.
The first two comedies make only slight use of song. No singing occurs in The Comedy of Errors, although the songs of sirens and mermaids are mentioned in connection with Luciana, whom Antipholus of Syracuse sees as temptingly beautiful, but possibly evil. In The Taming of the Shrew several snatches of popular ballads are used, all chosen for their relevance to the play. Some of these may be sung, but no skill would be required in their performance as they are chiefly vehicles for humour.
The first dramatic song is encountered in The Two Gentlemen of Verona. This is 'Who is Silvia?', which, unlike the fragments sung in The Taming of the Shrew, relies for its effect on an accomplished performance. Although it could conceivably have been sung by a boy, it is generally accepted as an adult song. 6.1 The singer is not positively identified and it was probably a professional musician hired to sing, rather than one of the characters in the play. The function of the song is to reveal to Julia that Proteus has been unfaithful to her, thus marking a climax in the play. It also, incidentally, introduces Julia to the action at Milan without any unnecessary ceremony.
In the next comedy, Love's Labour's Lost, Moth sings 'Concolinel', which, although its text has not survived, may have been another dramatic song written specifically for the play. It marks Shakespeare's first use of a boy singer - one who had a fairly substantial part to play as well. The most interesting use of song in this play is in the epilogue songs, probably added when the work was revised for a later performance. Once again, no singers are specified, but they may have been those who took part in the pageant of the Nine Worthies. These songs give the play a satisfactory conclusion, sustaining a humorous atmosphere, but commenting on the serious dramatic themes of the play - inconstancy and the mutability of life.
Love's Labour's Lost and the two comedies which follow it, A Midsummer
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Night's Dream and The Merry Wives of Windsor, all make use of boy singers. It is possible that boys were more freely available at this time, as the boys' companies were not very active until 1600. 6.2 A Midsummer Night's Dream was almost certainly written for a courtly wedding celebration, 6.3 which may explain the important role of song in the play. Fairies sing two songs, both of which make use of the association of music with the supernatural, and the fairy song at the end of The Merry Wives of Windsor is used to create an illusion of the supernatural to frighten Falstaff. All of these fairy songs are an integral part of the action, requiring polished singing to fulfil their functions. The other songs in these plays do not require any great skill in their performance: Bottom, Evans and Mistress Quickly all sing songs or fragments which are intended by the singers as disguises, and in each case the situation is comic, with the songs heightening the humour.
In the last of the Early Comedies, The Merchant of Venice, song is more closely connected with the plot than in any of the previous plays. It is surprising that so many years separate the appearance of Shakespeare's first great dramatic lyric, 'Who is Sylvia?', from the second, 'Tell me where is Fancy bred'. The later song has a far more important dramatic function than the earlier: it serves to guide Bassanio in his choice of caskets, thus revealing an aspect of Portia's double standards. Once again, it may be safely assumed that the song was performed by a specially hired singer.
In the Middle Comedies a significant development in the use of song may be noted: for the first time important songs are given to actors who have substantial parts in the play. This has a distinct advantage in that the song need no longer appear as a set piece, and can thus be more closely integrated with the action. It would appear that the first of these plays, Much Ado About Nothing, was experimental in this respect. 6.4 Balthasar, who has a distinct personality despite his small part, sings 'Sigh no more, ladies'. This song not only provides a good deal of humour in Benedick's comments on it, but it also carries a message of relevance to the action of the play: it may suggest to Claudio that Hero could be unfaithful. Benedick also sings a snatch of song, 'The god of love', which is introduced both to promote humour and to mark Benedick's conversion. No singer is named for the final song, 'Pardon, goddess of the night', but it was probably also sung by Balthasar, 6.5 being part of Claudio's ritualistic purging of grief and clearing of Hero's name.
In As You Like It the singer-actor becomes fully established in the character of Amiens, who sings three of the six songs in the play. While his songs all have distinct dramatic functions, one thing they have in common is their use as diversions. Two of the play's songs, 'What shall he
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have that kill'd the deer?' and 'It was a lover and his lass', also serve a function not encountered in any earlier songs: they effectively indicate the passing of time between one scene and the next. For the second of these songs, boy singers, who were obviously still popular, reappear. In addition, Touchstone is given a popular refrain to sing as a means of dismissing Sir Oliver Martext, and the final use of song is at the theophany in which Hymen appears, blessing the couples in singing 'Wedding is great Juno's crown' - an important development which looks forward to similar episodes in the Romances.
In Twelfth Night Feste, the second of Shakespeare's great singing characters, is more important than Amiens had been, as he plays a substantial role in the sub-plot. His first two principal songs, 'O mistress mine' and 'Come away, come away death', serve to comment on the action of the play, the first having particular relevance to Olivia's decision to mourn the death of her brother for seven years, and the second being associated with Orsino's unrequited love. Many other songs appear in the play, mostly snatches inserted to heighten the humour. The final song, 'When that I was and a little tiny boy', marks Shakespeare's second use of an epilogue song, which, like the songs of the Owl and the Cuckoo in Love's Labour's Lost, very effectively brings the play to a close, in this instance by providing a realistic balance to the fairy-tale conclusion.
All three of the Dark Comedies contain songs, although the snatches of ballads sung by the clown in All's Well That Ends Well are of considerably less importance than the songs in the other two plays. In Troilus and Cressida Pandarus sings 'Love, love, nothing but love' and possibly 'Full merrily the humble-bee doth sing', both of which have bawdy overtones reflecting the major theme of the play, corruption. In Measure for Measure it is a boy who sings 'Take, o take those lips away'. The boy has no other role in the play - a curious departure from what appeared to have become an established practice, as principal characters sing songs in all three Middle Comedies and Troilus and Cressida. However, it is clear that none of the principal characters in Measure for Measure could sing this song to Mariana with any dramatic integrity. Pandarus' song could easily have been given to a boy singer, but it would have been far less effective dramatically. It is most fitting that Pandarus should sing it, both because he is a comic figure (it is a humorous song) and because he is instrumental in getting Troilus and Cressida together. 'Take, o take those lips away' (dramatically more important than Pandarus' song, which could be dispensed with without serious damage to the play) contributes to the atmosphere of the scene in which it is sung, as well as presenting Mariana's probable course of action were the Duke not to interfere.
In the Romances, song is returned to the important status it achieved
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in the Middle Comedies, although Cymbeline continues the departure from apparently established practice noted in Measure for Measure: 'Hark, hark, the lark' is sung by hired musicians brought on to the stage for this purpose, which recalls a similar episode in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, 6.6 in which Silvia is praised in song by a hired singer. In Cymbeline the song is more refined in its praise, making use of bird imagery which would be associated with Imogen. While the other song in Cymbeline, 'Fear no more the heat o' th' sun', appears to have been intended for singing by two important characters, Arviragus and Guiderius, in the play as it stands it is not sung, but recited. This spoken dirge serves the function of pagan ritual, demonstrating the grief of the princes at the death of Fidele.
In the two final comedies, The Winter's Tale and The Tempest, the principal singers are once again important characters, Autolycus and Ariel. Without his songs, Autolycus would be a different character - indeed, he would be largely redundant, as his main function is to brighten the mood of Act IV, which he does admirably through the six songs he sings. These songs serve the additional function of depicting his character as a merry rogue. In fact the majority of the songs in Shakespeare's comedies may be seen to reveal character in one way or another, but not with such obvious intent, nor as effectively, as in Autolycus' songs.
In The Tempest songs are more fully integrated into the action of the play than in any of the earlier comedies. Ariel's songs in particular could not be omitted without serious damage to the play, as the beauty of his lyrics contributes significantly to the poetry, and each song has a clear dramatic function in its context. The songs of the low characters, Stephano, Trinculo and Caliban, form an obvious contrast to those of Ariel, and are thus also an aid to character delineation. The song of Juno and Ceres in the masque, 'Honour, riches, marriage-blessing', promises fertility, prosperity and harmony to Ferdinand and Miranda, much as Hymen's song had done to the couples in As You Like It.
The character of the songs in the last two plays differs considerably from those in earlier plays. Noble has noted that 'sententious phrases disappear from the songs' in the later plays, 6.7 which is certainly true of most songs in The Tempest, but not entirely true of those in The Winter's Tale, where such sayings as 'a quart of ale is dish for a king', 'A merry heart goes all the day, | Your sad tires in a mile-a' and 'Money's a meddler, | That doth utter all men's wear-a' may be found. The difference is one of approach, the songs in The Tempest being far more objective. Each of Ariel's songs, for example, is applicable only to its context in the play, where it performs a specific function relating to the action. These lyrics are frequently included in anthologies for their intrinsic beauty, but out of
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context they lose much of their meaning. The songs sung by the low characters are largely drunken celebrations and, except for Caliban's song, could appear in any context. Such songs are found in earlier plays as well, examples being those sung in the drunken revelries in Twelfth Night, Anthony and Cleopatra and Othello. Sententious phrases and drunkenness go well together and the only one found in the songs of The Tempest, 'Thought is free', appears in 'Flout 'em and cout 'em'. Equivalent sayings appear in the drunken songs of Othello: 'A life's but a span' and ''Tis pride that pulls the country down'.
The foregoing summary reveals the increasing importance of song in Shakespeare's comedies considered chronologically. Specific dramatic functions can be assigned to nearly all the songs, many of which occur at climactic moments in their plays - this applying particularly to the songs Shakespeare wrote himself, although even his borrowed lyrics are seen to be chosen for their relevance. That the words of popular songs are sometimes changed when included in the plays is evidence of the playwright's concern for dramatic congruity. 6.8 The development of roles for singer-actors made it possible for songs to be more closely woven into the dramatic structure, and the parts of Autolycus and Ariel in the Romances show the concept of the singer-actor brought to perfection. The increase in importance of masque-like episodes seen in the later comedies cannot be attributed solely to the popularity of the masque in the Jacobean court, for masques had been used in many of the earlier plays as well. This early use of masque elements indicates that Shakespeare was particularly fond of this type of episode in his plays, and by the time he wrote the Romances he was sufficiently experienced to be able to include more extended masque sequences with confidence. That such masques were popular at court fitted in well with the dramatist's intentions.
Second to the vocal songs in importance is the use of instrumental music. Certain dramatically effective conventions were widely adopted among playwrights of Shakespeare's time, and hardly need detailed comment here. Flourishes were frequently used to mark the entrances and exits of persons of high rank and also to mark important events, such as tournaments. Alarums usually accompanied battle scenes, and the winding of horns would go with hunting. These were all touches designed to add realism to drama, and Shakespeare sometimes used such conventions with great skill, giving them added symbolic meaning. Thus in Troilus and Cressida the flourishes become a symbol of decadence, and in All's Well That Ends Well the regimental drum is a symbol of Bertram's rejection of love and espousal of war.
In addition to these brief, conventional musical extracts Shakespeare frequently used extended passages of music. Instances of such use are too
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numerous to detail, and a few examples must suffice to illustrate the range of dramatic effects achieved. In the induction to The Taming of the Shrew music is used to beguile the senses of Sly, introducing an important theme of the play: the conflict between appearances and reality. In The Two Gentlemen of Verona music continues to play after the singing of 'Who is Silvia?', thus heightening the pathos and allowing Julia to express her grief through the discussion of the music while it is being played. The use of 'Musicke Tongs, Rurall Musicke' in A Midsummer Night's Dream emphasises Bottom's plebeian tastes as well as providing a humorous interlude. Portia's music in The Merchant of Venice is accompanied by dialogue which centres on the perfect harmony of the music of the spheres, revealing much in the various characters' responses to the music. In particular, Portia's indifference to the music confirms that she is not to be trusted. Music, a powerful symbol of love, opens Twelfth Night, feeding the lovesickness of the melancholy Orsino, while the music that opens Act III of Troilus and Cressida is used to reflect the decadence of Troy, clearly revealed in the discussion of the music which Pandarus has with the impudent servant.
While the diversity of uses to which Shakespeare put extended passages of instrumental music can be assessed from the foregoing, it should be noted that one use occurs more frequently than any - music associated with the supernatural. The earliest use of such music in the comedies is in A Midsummer Night's Dream, in which the association of song with the supernatural has already been noted. Instrumental music is called for by Oberon to lull the two pairs of lovers and Bottom into a deep sleep: the Folio calls for 'Musick still', which must have signified some quiet, slow, haunting music to enhance the magic atmosphere. Horns are used for a similar purpose in the fairy scene in The Merry Wives of Windsor, where they are associated with the ghost of Herne the hunter. In As You Like It 'Still musicke' is called for at Hymen's entrance, and similar music is implied in the text when Diana appears in Pericles, although none is called for in the stage directions. In Cymbeline 'Solemne Musicke' sounds before Jupiter enters, and in The Tempest 'soft musick' accompanies the entrance of Iris. Music is closely associated with supernatural powers when Thaisa is revived in Pericles, when Hermione's statue comes to life in The Winter's Tale, and when Prospero cures the guilty madness of Alonso, Sebastian and Antonio in The Tempest. In many cases supernatural powers are actually attributed to the music, while in others it merely creates an illusion of the supernatural.
An interesting facet of Shakespeare's use of music is found in the brilliant musical repartee in some of the earlier comedies. Most frequently this is a means of providing humour, but, as may be expected with Shakespeare,
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it often has some bearing on the dramatic action. Thus the music lessons in The Taming of the Shrew, one off-stage and one on-stage with Bianca, reveal a good deal about the characters of the two women as well as their tutors. Katherina is seen to be spirited and impatient with Hortensio, while the musical word play reveals Bianca's deceit in being amorous with her tutors. The exchange between Julia and Lucetta in The Two Gentlemen of Verona introduces the theme of love, but has ironic overtones which hint at Proteus' unfaithfulness. Moth's advice to Armado on matters of love in Love's Labour's Lost, abounds in typical clown's puns on musical and dancing terms. Similar musical word play appears in Romeo and Juliet, perhaps indicating that this type of humour had a particular fascination for Shakespeare at this time, as these four plays were probably written consecutively. 6.9 Shakespeare may have been working in close association with theatre musicians, or may even have been receiving music lessons himself - but this is pure conjecture. After Much Ado About Nothing and Twelfth Night, which contain similar witty dialogue on music and dancing, this type of humour all but disappears from the comedies, being less suited to the more serious themes of the Dark Comedies and the Romances.
Dancing, and the music which goes with it, is used as a powerful symbol of harmony, particularly marital harmony, throughout the comedies. Dancing and music were an important part of wedding celebrations, and the absence of dancing at Katherina's wedding in The Taming of the Shrew, despite the presence of music, indicates lack of harmony. A similar negative use of dancing is made in Love's Labour's Lost, where the young men, disguised as Russians, attempt to court the ladies in a dance which never materialises. In A Midsummer Night's Dream Oberon refuses to dance with Titania when they are quarrelling, but once amity is restored they do dance; in addition, the Bergamask and fairy dance at the end of this play celebrate the mortal marriages. In Much Ado About Nothing the first dance takes place while Beatrice and Benedick are still at odds with one another, and appropriately it is really a caricature of a dance, symbolising discord. The dance at the end of this play and that at the end of As You Like It symbolise the achieving of harmony. The two dances in The Winter's Tale also serve this function, with the Satyrs' dance symbolising fertility as well. In The Tempest the first dance and banquet are symbols of harmony - a harmony unattainable in a state of sin, as indicated in the second dance, 'with mockes and mowes'. The third dance of Nymphs and Reapers serves much the same function as the two dances in The Winter's Tale: it is a symbol of marital harmony and fertility.
Another powerful symbol of harmony encountered in the plays is the music of the spheres. The most important and sustained reference to this
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appears in the final act of The Merchant of Venice, where it serves as a reminder of the imperfect state of man, who cannot hear perfect music such as this, because he is out of harmony with Nature. This reinforces the idea that the Christians in the play are not faultless. The final state of harmony in Cymbeline is attributed to celestial powers - who would be associated with the music of the spheres just as Diana had been in Pericles. In saying 'The fingers of the powers above do tune | The harmony of this peace' (Cym. V.v.467-468), the soothsayer is, in effect, saying that the mortals have achieved divine harmony, the music of the spheres. The struggle for harmony is a theme underlying all the comedies, and in the true comic resolution it is always attained. What this implies is best expressed by Milton, who refers to the music of the spheres:
For if such holy song
Enwrap our fancy long,
Time will run back and fetch the age of gold,
And speckled Vanity
Will sicken soon and die,
And leprous Sin will melt from earthly mold,
And hell itself will pass away,
And leave her dolorous mansions to the peering day. 6.10
In the great majority of cases where music occurs in Shakespeare's comedies it is dramatically relevant. The popular demand for music in the playhouse, which led many of Shakespeare's contemporaries to include extraneous musical interludes in their plays, cannot explain Shakespeare's use of music. With few exceptions the music in Shakespearean comedy reveals a conscious striving to enhance or forward the action by means of specific dramatic effects achieved though the music.
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CHAPTER SIX
6.1 Sternfeld, Tragedy, p.99. return
6.2 Halliday, p.98; Sternfeld, Tragedy, p.108. return
6.3 Brooks, pp.liii-lv. return
6.4 Long, Seven Comedies, p.137. return
6.5 Humphreys, p.211 n. return
6.6 Long, Final Comedies, pp.50-51. return
6.8 Examples of such changes are those made to Marlowe's 'Come liue with mee' used in The Merry Wives of Windsor in Evans' song, 'To shallow rivers'; to 'The gods off loue' in Much Ado About Nothing; and to 'The Willow Song' in Othello. return
6.9 See the article on chronology in Halliday, p.102. return
6.10 'On the Morning of Christ's Nativity': The Hymn, XIV (Bush, p.69). return
Proceed to References and Notes