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A masque is an elaborate, costly, semi dramatic, courtly form of
entertainment introduced from Italy to England during first half of the 16th
century. It flourished in the reign of James I , when poets like Jonson ,
Samuel Daniel and Willian Browne wrote songs and dialogues. In it, plot,
character and to a great extent even dialogues are subordinated to the
spectacular and the musical elements. The earliest mention of an English
masque occurs in Hall’s Chronicle for the year 1512. It was a medley of
music, elaborate scenic effect, and dancing, elaborate costumes(masks)
woven around a Fairy tale , a myth or ellegory.
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The Masque developed into something like a splendid ballet with
additional attractions of beautiful speeches and songs. The characters in
the highly perfected form of the masque are deities of classical
mythology , nymphs and personified abstractions like love, delight,
harmony ,etc. The number of characters is restricted to six. The setting of
the scene is ideal regions such as Olympus , Arcadia , the Fortunate Isles.
Shakespeare has introduced Masque interludes in his plays. For example
the marriage of Ferdinand and Mirenda in The Tempest is celebrated with
a masque.
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In Shakespeare’s time masques were written for
performance before a king’s or nobles’s court; thus,
they were given the name Court Masques. They
provide an allegorical setting to celebrate feast
days, harvests, betrothals and marriages. Although
there is no evidence, it is believed that the masque
in The Tempest was written especially for a
performance of the play at the marriage celebration
of King James’ daughter. Within the play itself, the
masque is written in celebration of the betrothal and
future marriage of Ferdinand and Miranda, and it
provides an allegorical setting for the wedding.
 Specifically, the
masque in The Tempest
occurs in Act IV, scene i. The goddesses and
reapers are conjured up by Prospero to
shower eternal spring on the engaged
couple. In the masque we travel from season
to season, with the exception of winter. We
hear of “spongy April”, and “lasslorn”
spring. Next we hear Ceres sing of summer,
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Vines with clustering bunches
growing,
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Plants with goodly burden bowing…
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Iris then conjures up three “sunburned sickle-men of
August weary” (IV, I, 134). The goddesses have
carried us through three stages of life: growth,
maturation, and harvest. Winter has no role in this
merry celebration because it was in winter that
Ceres’ daughter was abducted and the rape of
Persephone was indeed the cause of winter,
according to mythology (specifically Ovid).
For Prospero, however, winter is very real as
we see when he breaks in with,
I had forgot that foul conspiracy
Of the beast Caliban and his confederates
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The masque gives a momentary vision of a world without
problems, immediacy, and drama. We know, however, that
such a state cannot be. Prospero has nearly become
entrapped in such a belief. The masque is totally dependent
on Prospero; thus, when he begins to lose his awareness, he
forgets the immediate action needed to return to the “real”
world, Milan. It is because of this slight loss of awareness
that Prospero is “touch’d with anger” when he makes the
transition from fantasy to reality. The masque provides a
bridge for the action of the play to move from the magical
island back to the civilized Milan. The poetry of the play also
changes with the masque. Both an operatic and a fairytale
quality are produced in the masque.
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Finally, Shakespeare has several different
uses for the masque in The Tempest. He has
made it a bridge from magic to reality; a
celebration of Ferdinand’s and Miranda’s
engagement, and of King James’ daughter. It
has provided an operatic, musical quality to
the play, and a fairytale quality as well. The
masque produces a necessary section of the
play, and although The Tempest has been
performed without the masque it is an
addition which almost perfectly rounds out
Shakespeare’s play.