Shakespears sounds

There are many benefits as to why plays are used to deliver entertainment rather than an author just writing their story on paper. A play pleases visual and auditory senses, while still delivering an entertaining storyline. Words on a page are simply no match for a play with the “extras” that come into the making of a play. Quoted to for his plays he wrote Ben Jonson said about William Shakespeare, “Soule of the Age! The applause! delight! The wonder of our stage!” William Shakespeare is one of the most influential playwrights to have ever existed. He was aware of what could be done on stage through his plays and the different roles that the effects of sound could have in his plays. This is specifically shown in Shakespeare’s play The Tempest. In The Tempest the different sounds that are featured throughout the play have a role of their own. Several different sounds are included throughout the play, including thunder, music, and several sounds that are made by the spirit Ariel. The many sounds in Shakespeare’s The Tempest are included to guide the completion of Prospero’s plan of forgiving his enemies. Although the sounds may seem at first as only to be extra text Shakespeare included in his play, with a further in depth look the magnitude of their role can be seen.

The most evident of sounds that is seen in the play, happens to be the first text seen in the play. The play opens up with the stage directions, “On a ship at sea: a tempestuous noise of thunder and lightning heard” (I.i.1-2). This was not just filler to start off the play. Shakespeare had a specific purpose as to why he starts off The Tempest in this way. The sound of the thunder in this case literally sets the scene for the entire play. This sound may be arguably...

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...tage performances and great number of plays of Shakespeare that are read, one needs to remember to use their imagination while reading Shakespeare. As Mitchell writes in her explanation of Shakespeare’s many sounds throughout his many plays, “Since sound effects contribute to emotional impact, it is useful to interpret them correctly” (Mitchell 127).

It may be possible to argue that The Tempest by William Shakespeare, should add the character “sound” into the lead role. The influence that the various sounds have throughout the play truly alter the characters paths and cause them to fall deeply into the plan of Prospero. Without sound, the plot of Prospero could not have been completed. William Shakespeare incorporated sound perfectly, again proving his genius as a playwright and giving anyone who reads or watches the play and witty and entertaining plot.