Many critics have commented that music and spectacle inform The Tempest to an extent unequalled in any of Shakespeare's earlier plays. Related to the magical atmosphere in the play, music foregrounds the work, setting its mood and reiterating many of its themes. On this point, Theresa Coletti observes that music is an "evocative symbol of magic in the play" and argues that it structures the work and its meaning. For Coletti this meaning is rooted in harmony and feeds into the play's reconciliation theme. David Lindley makes a similar assertion about the importance of order and harmony in the work, but (in keeping with a recent critical trend of looking for grim meaning in the drama) examines the problematic nature of music in The Tempest-seeing it as a means of deception and a source of dramatic.....
