From the earliest times the raven, with his deep and solemn voice, has always commanded attention, and superstitious people have become impressed with the idea that there is something unearthly in his nature and ominous in his voice.[62] By the Romans this bird was consecrated to Apollo, and regarded as a foreteller of good or evil. Through a long course of centuries this character has clung to him; and even to this day, there are many who believe that the raven’s croak predicts a death.
A BIRD OF ILL OMEN.
No wonder, then, that Shakespeare has taken advantage of this wide-spread belief, and has introduced the raven into many of the solemn passages of his Plays, to carry conviction to the minds of the people, and render his images the more impressive. He frequently alludes to “the ill-boding raven:”
“It comes o’er my memory,
As doth the raven o’er the infectious house,
Boding to all.”
Othello, Act iv. Sc. 1.
Thersites, in Troilus and Cressida (Act v. Sc. 2), says,—
“Would I could meet that rogue Diomed; I would croak like a raven; I would bode, I would bode.”
In the play of Henry VI, Suffolk vainly endeavours to cheer up the King, who has swooned on hearing of Gloster’s death, saying:—