Ophelia's Snatches Of Folk Music
Othello: Willow SongShakespeare also used songs to establish the character or mental state of the singer. Ariel simply describes himself in “Where the bee sucks.” Iago uses songs to give himself the appearance of a rough soldier. Most significantly, Ophelia’s snatches of folk song demonstrate the regressive breakdown of her personality. (The only other Shakespeare heroine who sings is Desdemona. To overwhelming effect, she sings a popular tune, “The Willow Song”—for which 16th-century words and music exist—just before she is murdered by Othello.) In King Lear Edgar feigns madness by singing snatches of folk song.
Other types of vocal music that appeared in the plays include serenades, part-songs, rounds, and catches, all used very much in
imitation of real life in Renaissance England
Other types of vocal music that appeared in the plays include serenades, part-songs, rounds, and catches, all used very much in
imitation of real life in Renaissance England