Raven - The Birds of Shakespeare

The birds of the crow family are well represented in Shakespeare’s works. Chief among them comes the raven, to which frequent and effective allusion is made. The remarkably dark hue of the bird, including even his bill and his feet, has made his name proverbial as a type of the deepest blackness in Nature…

“In the old age black was not counted fair,
Or if it were, it bore not beauty’s name;
But now is black beauty’s successive heir;
…Therefore my mistress’ eyes are raven black.”
[Sonnet 127]

With pardonable exaggeration, Juliet, as she stood alone in the orchard awaiting her lover, gave vent thus to her longing:

“Come, night; come, Romeo; come, thou day in night;
For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night
Whiter than new snow on a raven’s back.” [Romeo and Juliet – III, 2]

The blackness of this bird in contrast to the pure whiteness of a dove, supplies an image to Lysander, mistakenly bewitched by the mischievous Puck:

“Not Hermia but Helena I love:
Who will not change a raven for a dove?”
[A Midsummer Night’s Dream – II, 2]

The raven has long had the evil reputation of not only killing the smaller wild animals but, in common with the crows and kites, of watching for and attacking those of larger size that look enfeebled by disease or accident. Thus we read that

“Vast confusion waits,
As doth a raven on a sick-fallen beast,
The imminent decay of wrested pomp.” [King John – IV, 3]

With less justice, the bird has also been credited with savageness of disposition – a character which Shakespeare has sometimes attributed to persons who may outwardly seem to be gentle and kindly. These are said to have “a raven’s heart within a dove.” [Twelfth Night – V, 1]

Juliet expands the simile –

“Beautiful tyrant! fiend angelical!
Dove-feather’d raven! wolvish-ravening lamb!
Just opposite to what thou justly seem’st.” [Romeo and Juliet – III, 2]

Yet there was a belief that the Raven can show a wholly different nature:

“Some say that ravens foster forlorn children,
The whilst their own birds famish in their nests.” [Titus Andronicus – II, 3]

The raven comes into one of the Scriptural allusions in the plays where the faithful old Adam, pressing upon Orlando the thrifty savings of his lifetime, consoles himself with the prayer

“He that doth the ravens feed,
Yea, providently caters for the sparrow,
Be comfort to my age!” [As You Like It – II, 3]

But the most frequent reference made by Shakespeare to this bird has regard to its supposed boding power. It is called the “fatal raven”
[Titus Andronicus – II, 3]. A messenger of ill news is said to “sing a raven’s note” [2nd Henry VI – III, 2].

When Othello has the first suspicions craftily suggested to him by Iago, he exclaims

“O, it comes o’er my memory,
As doth the raven o’er the infected house,
Boding to all.” [Othello – IV, 1]

When the king is approaching the Castle at Inverness, we hear from Lady Macbeth the ominous words:

“The raven himself is hoarse
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements.” [Macbeth – I, 5]