Anna Miller 
The Role of Music in Shakespeare’s 'The Tempest’ [PDF ebook] 

Essay from the year 2011 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies – Literature, grade: 1, 3, University of Tubingen, language: English, abstract: Content
I. Introduction…………………………………….1
II. Analysis and Interpretation……………….1
1. Music as Message…………………………1
2. Music as Essential Part of the Play….4
3. Music as Power-Tool…………………….5
III. Conclusion……………………………………..7
IV. Bibliography…………………………………..8
I. Introduction
The Tempest is full of music, singing, and dancing. Every act and every scene has at least
one musical element. This is not very surprising, as Shakespeare had his own musicians, whom he
did not have to pay, and thus he could afford such a variety of music. The whole play takes place on
a desert island which is inhabited by only three people. Particularly, the “unusual soundscape [shall]
underpin[s] the strangeness of the island” (Shakespeare, Introduction 23-4). Hearing all the songs
accompanied by “solemn” music is not only spectacular for the audience, even Caliban, whom we
know as a rude and uneducated native of the island, is fascinated by “the isle [which] is full of
noises, / Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not” (3. 2. 127-128). Thus he wants to
calm his new friends Stephano and Trinculo, who had never seen and heard such things. Moreover,
Ariel casts a spell over Ferdinand with his music and he follows it, although he has just
shipwrecked and a different behaviour would be expected in the case of such a catastrophe.
We can see that music has a huge impact on both the figures in the play and the audience, as
this drama was actually written to be performed rather than to be read. Nonetheless it is not enough
to say that music is only used to create a nice background sound for the play. One can even go so far
and say that music plays the main role and the whole play only revolves around music. In order to
prove this, I will show in the following the important functions of music and musical elements.
Firstly, I would like to demonstrate the music’s function as a message for both the figures and the
audience, secondly, the music’s function as an essential part of the play and last but not least, the
most important function – music as a 'power-tool’ for Prospero and in a sense also for Ariel.