Previous
Song as a Means for Transformation
Find the Perfect Quote
LitCharts makes it easy to find quotes by
scene,
character,
and theme. We assign a color and icon like this one
to each theme, making it easy to track which themes apply to each quote below.
Need another quote?
Need analysis on another quote?
Need analysis for a quote we don't cover?
Need analysis for a quote we don't cover?
Need analysis for a quote we don't cover?
A LitCharts expert can help.
A LitCharts expert can help.
A LitCharts expert can help.
A LitCharts expert can help.
A LitCharts expert can help.
Request it
Request it
Request analysis
Request analysis
Request analysis
Scene 1 Quotes
We are so hammed, / Over-taxed and rammed, / We are made hand-tammed / By these gentlemen.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
At the opening of the play, Coll gives a lengthy and impassioned soliloquy, complaining about his difficult life as a shepherd and pointedly blaming the wealthy landowners for his suffering. Coll’s emotionally-charged complaints are reflective of Medieval England’s social and political fabric, which was characterized by extreme poverty and tyrannical landowners. Just like his other shepherd companions, Gyb and Daw, Coll is forced to work long hours as a shepherd for very little pay. Used in succession, the rhyming words “hammed,” “over-taxed and rammed,” and “hand-tammed” have the rhythm of a hammer that beats Coll over and over again, emphasizing Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut ist
There was never since Noah’s flood such weather seen. / …How these snows all drown / The fields and the town / And bear all down, / ‘Tis a wonder!
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
In his soliloquy, Daw likens the brutal storm to Noah’s flood from the Old Testament, recognizing the way harsh weather affects everyone in the vicinity, regardless of whether they are rich city-dwellers or poor shepherds in the fields. While Daw’s comment says something about the intensity of the storm, it also reveals Medieval England’s divisive social makeup. Daw suggests that the gap between rich and poor is so wide that it takes a powerful, natural force—a storm strong and widespread enough to rival Noah’s flood—to bridge the class divide. In addition, by comparing the present storm to a biblical one, Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam volupt
Ere we go now, I would someone gave us a song.
So I thought, as I stood, to beguile us along.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
After each of the three shepherd protagonists—Coll, Gyb, and Daw—give their long, sad soliloquies, Daw suggests that they stop wallowing in their misery and distract themselves with a song. Gyb agrees, noting that a song will “beguile us along,” illustrating the way that singing has a cheering quality. This is the first instance of song in the play, as well as the first time that song is implied to have a transformative power—a theme that pervades the play up until its closing lines. In this instance, singing transforms the shepherds’ sour moods and temporarily alleviates their suffering.
Let be! I’m a yeoman of the king / And a messenger from a great lordling / …I must have reverence! / Dare you ask, who am I?
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Coll, Gyb, and Daw see Mak, a well-known thief, approaching. The shepherds recognize him instantly and address him by name, but Mak ignores their greeting and pretends to be an important visitor from the south. In the Middle English version of the play, Mak uses the word “Ich,” the southern dialect of the word “I’m,” contrasting with the shepherds’ northern accents. Using his disguise, Mak tries to falsely put himself above the shepherds, pretending to be a powerful foreigner rather than a lowly local thief. Mak is immediately depicted as prideful and manipulative—he even goes so far as to demand Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor
Manus tuas commendo / Pontio Pilato.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
When Coll, Gyb, and Daw lie down to sleep for the night, they force Mak to sleep between them so that they will sense if he gets up in the middle of the night to steal one of their sheep. However, as soon as the shepherds fall asleep, Mak casts a spell upon them to ensure they don’t wake up. He then pledges his allegiance to Pontius Pilate in this Latin quote. Mak’s phrase is a parody of Luke 23:46, when Jesus, dying on the cross, calls out to God, “Into thy hands I commend my spirit.” In contrast, Mak Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident exp
Scene 2 Quotes
I am worthy of my meat, / For in a trice I can get / More than they who strive and sweat / All the day long.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
When Mak returns to his shack to show his wife, Gill, the stolen sheep, she warns him several times that stealing is punishable by hanging. Flippantly, Mak waves off her warnings and confidently asserts that he can provide for his family better by stealing than by working. Mak tries to justify his theft by making it seem as if he is doing his family a favor, rather than stealing for his own benefit. In addition, he shows no remorse for his actions and actually looks down upon “they who strive and sweat / All the day long,” meaning shepherds like Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae volupta
Scene 4 Quotes
Were a worse plight, I’d find a way still.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Despite being the mastermind behind the plan to disguise the stolen sheep as a newborn baby, and despite theft being a crime punishable by death, Gill still craves a bigger challenge. She tells her husband, Mak, that even if the plan were more complicated and dangerous than this one, she would still be able to help him pull it off. Gill’s desire for a bigger challenge reveals her to be as prideful and manipulative as her husband—if not more so—as she seems to want to take part in a more dangerous scheme just for the thrill of it. Like her Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut ve
Scene 6 Quotes
Oh, my belly! I die! / I vow to God so mild / If ever I you beguiled / Then I will eat this child / That doth in cradle lie!
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
While Coll, Gyb, and Daw search Mak and Gill’s shack for any sign of their missing sheep, Gill cries out in fake postpartum pain and makes sweeping claims that she and her husband are innocent. She assures the shepherds that if she has ever tricked them, she will go so far as to eat her newborn in the cradle—which, unbeknownst to the shepherds (but fully known to the audience), is the stolen sheep that she and Mak have every intention of eating later. Gill’s dramatic outburst is an example of the crude humor peppered throughout the first part of the Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut
Sirs, for this deed, take my advice instead / For this trespass. / We will neither curse not fight / Nor dispute our right / We’ll tie him up tight / And toss him in canvas.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
When the shepherds realize that Mak and Gill have been disguising the stolen sheep as their newborn baby all along, Daw is furious and is adamant that Mak and Gill face the standard punishment for theft—death by hanging. However, Coll reveals himself to be the most compassionate of the three shepherds and convinces Gyb and Daw to let Mak and Gill off easy. Instead of demanding Mak and Gill be hanged, the shepherds need only humiliate Mak by tossing him in a blanket. While humiliating Mak isn’t a wholly compassionate thing to do (they could, for example, empathize with his Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae volupta
Rise, herdsmen, rise, for Christ is born / To rend that fiend that Adam had lorn / The Saviour of all, this night is he born. / His behests / To Bethlehem go see / Where lies this baby / In a crib full poorly / Betwixt two beasts.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
After carrying the 140-pound sheep back to fields, Coll, Gyb, and Daw are more exhausted than before. The moment that they finally lie down to rest, the sky ignites with light and sound, as an Angel appears, singing “Gloria in Excelsis Deo.” The Angel tells the shepherds of Christ’s birth and urges them to depart for Bethlehem immediately. The Angel’s song, like all of the songs in the play, is transformative. In this instance, song transforms the mood of the play from comical and lighthearted (and, at times, absurd) to solemn and religious. The Angel’s song and accompanying commentary also Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam volu
Hie we thither right merry / If we be wet and weary / Still, we’ll find the child and lady, / We cannot lose.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Once the Angel departs, the three shepherds know they must get to Bethlehem immediately to see the Christ child. Daw notes that with Christ on the forefront of their minds, all of their earthly suffering melts away. Even the sleep deprivation and relentless storm that have been hounding them for the duration of the play no longer matter as much. The mere promise of seeing Christ gives the shepherds renewed purpose and comfort. This is similar to when, at the opening of the play, the shepherds sing a nativity carol to distract themselves from their earthly struggles. The theme of Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veni
Scene 7 Quotes
Thou hast cowed at last the devil so wild / The false beguiler now goes beguiled.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Once they arrive in Bethlehem, Coll, Gyb, and Daw present their humble gifts to the Christ child while Mary looks on. Before presenting Christ with his gift, a bunch of cherries, Coll declares that Christ’s birth has cast out Satan, whom he calls “The false beguiler.” However, since the word “beguiler” appears frequently in the first part of the play in the context of Mak and Gill’s theft, Coll’s comment implies that Christ’s birth also does away with earthly “false beguilers,” or tricksters, like Mak and Gill. Thus, the play affirms that Christ can save mankind from both spiritual and Dolorem et quae. Exe
And now he is born. / To keep you from woe / I shall pray him so, / Tell it forth, as ye go, / And mind on this morn!
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Once all three of the shepherds have presented their gifts to Christ, Mary explains the significance of Christ’s birth, declaring that Christ will keep them out of harm’s way. She also urges the shepherds to spread the news of the nativity, consequently revealing herself to be the most religiously pedagogical character in the play. Since the heart of the mystery play is to teach religious lessons, Mary’s lines are some of the most important lines in the play, even though they are brief. Her comments about Christ’s power and significance extend beyond the shepherds and to the audience, implying that Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor a
No matches.
