Persuasive Twelfth Night
The overall ending of Twelfth Night is subversive, from Malvolio’s uncomfortable promises of revenge to Viola still in her Cesario attire after the grand unveiling of her identity. Feste’s song highlights these ambiguities: it is the only epilogue song with the exception of Love’s Labours Lost which is not celebratory (the latter being overshadowed by death). Feste’s lyrics emphasise the uselessness of material possessions when faced with the onslaught of time, and comes directly after Orsino’s professed desire to see Viola dressed as a queen, suggesting that this is a distraction at best, inherently dissatisfying at worst. The closing declaration that the players will “strive to please you every day” recalls Feste’s position as a professional performer and thus
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encourages the audience to interrogate his song selection: as the consummate performer, Feste knows what sells and what does not, what is appropriate for a certain scene – and therefore his songs are indicative of wider narrative arcs.
As a paid performer, Feste’s songs are indicative of Shakespeare’s conception of the audience; in The Tempest, which utilises music on a grander and more impactful scale, Ariel is both performer and prophet, capable of creating great works of beauty and simultaneously achieving Prospero’s ambitions. Full fathom five thy father lies Of his bones are coral made Those are pearls that were his eyes. Nothing of him that doth fade But doth suffer a sea-change Into something rich and strange. (Act.Scene.Line)
The lyrics are explicitly in distancing both Ariel and the audience from the song, so that instead of identifying with the lyrics the audience are instead encouraged to survey it from afar. The lyrical alliteration of the opening line contrasts the pleasing syllabic flow with the announcement of Alonso’s ‘death’: Ariel is already enacting the transformation of Alonso’s death into something “rich and strange” through the sound of his music. Similarly, the transfiguration of eyes into “pearls” suggests the power of the sea (and therefore Ariel’s magic) in creating rich beauty out of the ravages of the tempest. Ariel’s songs are propaganda in a way that Feste’s are not: Feste knowingly crafts his song to suit the audience but does not endeavour to convince them, or the characters, of anything, whereas Ariel’s songs are designed to accomplish Prospero’s goals and impact the narrative. Yet, unlike Feste, we witness a significant change in the mode of Ariel’s songs throughout. Whilst he is bound to Prospero, the songs function in the narrative but also reduce Ariel’s presence in the song. His final song, after Prospero promises to release him, demonstrates a radical shift: Where the bee sucks. there suck I: In a cowslip's bell I lie; There I couch when owls do cry. On the bat's back I do fly After summer merrily. Merrily, merrily shall I live now Under the blossom that hangs on the bough. (Act.Scene.Line)
As Lindley observes, appropriating music for the enjoyment of the self is a socially subversive act (‘Introduction 8) and thus the first person pronouns in this final scene is a declaration of independence.
The song in itself posed a staging problem for nineteenth century productions, many of whom removed it from context and attached it to the end of the play to serve as an epilogue song (Lindley, ‘Thematics’ 230) and yet its placement alongside Ariel dressing Prospero in his Milanese clothing offers it thematic significance. Just as Feste’s final song joins endings and beginnings, so too does Ariel’s song parallel his new freedom with Prospero’s return to his old position. Noble argues that the song and music in Twelfth Night are “not the indispensable factors in the presentment of the main theme [...] as have the lyrics in The Tempest” (13) and yet in this comparison the function of Feste and Ariel’s songs are similarly influential on the narrative. Just as in other elements, the specific songs in both plays subvert the generic expectations they set up, and help craft and activate the plot.
In Thomas Wright’s The Passions of the Mind in General he argues that, in spite of the emotions that music
incites, I cannot imagine that if a man had never heard a trumpet or drum in his life that he would at the first hearing be moved to wars.
Music is therefore contextual, and sometimes autobiographical, in resurfacing our auditory memories in order to teach us how to respond to certain patterns and rhythms. Shakespeare’s depiction of music both strengthens these expectations and undercuts them in surprising ways. Music is both prophetic and illusionary for Shakespeare, and it achieves these seeming antitheses by reacting against the expectations of its listeners as well as its performers. In this way, Shakespeare allies himself with Feste and Ariel in expertly manoeuvring the plot (whether unconsciously or consciously) and manipulating audience expectations. Yet the true power of music in Shakespeare’s art is as a vehicle for subversion and non-conformity. Its political implications, its revelry in disorder, its rejection of Pythagorean teachings, all position music as the most powerful statement of the self: both for Shakespeare’s characters, and for Shakespeare the playwright.
encourages the audience to interrogate his song selection: as the consummate performer, Feste knows what sells and what does not, what is appropriate for a certain scene – and therefore his songs are indicative of wider narrative arcs.
As a paid performer, Feste’s songs are indicative of Shakespeare’s conception of the audience; in The Tempest, which utilises music on a grander and more impactful scale, Ariel is both performer and prophet, capable of creating great works of beauty and simultaneously achieving Prospero’s ambitions. Full fathom five thy father lies Of his bones are coral made Those are pearls that were his eyes. Nothing of him that doth fade But doth suffer a sea-change Into something rich and strange. (Act.Scene.Line)
The lyrics are explicitly in distancing both Ariel and the audience from the song, so that instead of identifying with the lyrics the audience are instead encouraged to survey it from afar. The lyrical alliteration of the opening line contrasts the pleasing syllabic flow with the announcement of Alonso’s ‘death’: Ariel is already enacting the transformation of Alonso’s death into something “rich and strange” through the sound of his music. Similarly, the transfiguration of eyes into “pearls” suggests the power of the sea (and therefore Ariel’s magic) in creating rich beauty out of the ravages of the tempest. Ariel’s songs are propaganda in a way that Feste’s are not: Feste knowingly crafts his song to suit the audience but does not endeavour to convince them, or the characters, of anything, whereas Ariel’s songs are designed to accomplish Prospero’s goals and impact the narrative. Yet, unlike Feste, we witness a significant change in the mode of Ariel’s songs throughout. Whilst he is bound to Prospero, the songs function in the narrative but also reduce Ariel’s presence in the song. His final song, after Prospero promises to release him, demonstrates a radical shift: Where the bee sucks. there suck I: In a cowslip's bell I lie; There I couch when owls do cry. On the bat's back I do fly After summer merrily. Merrily, merrily shall I live now Under the blossom that hangs on the bough. (Act.Scene.Line)
As Lindley observes, appropriating music for the enjoyment of the self is a socially subversive act (‘Introduction 8) and thus the first person pronouns in this final scene is a declaration of independence.
The song in itself posed a staging problem for nineteenth century productions, many of whom removed it from context and attached it to the end of the play to serve as an epilogue song (Lindley, ‘Thematics’ 230) and yet its placement alongside Ariel dressing Prospero in his Milanese clothing offers it thematic significance. Just as Feste’s final song joins endings and beginnings, so too does Ariel’s song parallel his new freedom with Prospero’s return to his old position. Noble argues that the song and music in Twelfth Night are “not the indispensable factors in the presentment of the main theme [...] as have the lyrics in The Tempest” (13) and yet in this comparison the function of Feste and Ariel’s songs are similarly influential on the narrative. Just as in other elements, the specific songs in both plays subvert the generic expectations they set up, and help craft and activate the plot.
In Thomas Wright’s The Passions of the Mind in General he argues that, in spite of the emotions that music
incites, I cannot imagine that if a man had never heard a trumpet or drum in his life that he would at the first hearing be moved to wars.
Music is therefore contextual, and sometimes autobiographical, in resurfacing our auditory memories in order to teach us how to respond to certain patterns and rhythms. Shakespeare’s depiction of music both strengthens these expectations and undercuts them in surprising ways. Music is both prophetic and illusionary for Shakespeare, and it achieves these seeming antitheses by reacting against the expectations of its listeners as well as its performers. In this way, Shakespeare allies himself with Feste and Ariel in expertly manoeuvring the plot (whether unconsciously or consciously) and manipulating audience expectations. Yet the true power of music in Shakespeare’s art is as a vehicle for subversion and non-conformity. Its political implications, its revelry in disorder, its rejection of Pythagorean teachings, all position music as the most powerful statement of the self: both for Shakespeare’s characters, and for Shakespeare the playwright.