The dramatic function of song and music in Shakespeare's tragedies and romances

Abstract

While Shakespeare's plays have caught the attention of many critics, it seems as if the use of song and music in these plays has been slightly over-looked. This dissertation seeks to investigate whether the songs and music used in Shakespeare's plays have a dramatic function. Since the Shakespearean canon consists of thirty-seven plays, only eight of these plays will be discussed in depth. However, references to other plays will be made, in passing. The introduction to this dissertation seeks to make the reader familiar with the importance of music, dancing and the theatre in both the Elizabethan and the Jacobean eras, since Shakespeare was writing his plays then. This is followed by a Critical Debate, which shows that the handful of critics who have discussed Shakespeare's use of song and music, largely agree upon their very important functions within the plays. The main bulk of the dissertation looks at how song and music are used in four tragedies and four romances and the conclusion confirms that Shakespeare's song and music do in fact have a dramatic function within the plays. In writing this dissertation I found three works that proved to be of major importance to my understanding of Shakespeare's use of song and music. These works were Richmond Noble's Shakespeare's Use of Song: With the Text of the Principal Songs (1923), F.W. Sternfeld's Music in Shakespearean Tragedy (1963) and David Lindley's Shakespeare and Music (2006).