Folklore is an important theme in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, shown by the fairies who are integral to the plot. There are various types of fairies that appear throughout the play, some of which fit in with the typical portrayals of fairies found in traditional folklore.
Oberon and Titania are often found within traditional folklore as they are the King and Queen of the Fairies, and are very much portrayed as being quite powerful and in control as they are human sized rather than being stereotypically small and inconspicuous. Oberon can also be seen to be a mischievous character as he plays a cruel trick on Titania by causing her to fall in love with an ‘ass’s head’. This can also be linked to the character of Robin Goodfellow, or Puck as …show more content…
He purposefully causes mischief throughout the course of the play, mainly by giving Bottom an ass’s head, and by squeezing the love potion mistakenly into Lysander’s eyes, causing all the confusion for the human characters within the play. According to Sukanta Chaudhuri, “his closest links are with the brownie performing household chores and the hobgoblin spinning illusions and knaveries and leading travellers astray.” (Chaudhuri 44) This shows that in the play Robin Goodfellow is portrayed to be lightheartedly altering the events of the play and that “he is mischievous rather than malicious” (Chaudhuri 44). However, in folklore he seems to be portrayed in more of a sinister light as he is often described to have punished and/or sexually humiliated women for not doing their household chores for example. This suggests that fairies and the like often evoked a sense of terror within traditional folklore, acting in a malicious way and not considering the consequences these actions would have upon the individuals they terrorized. According to Mary Ellen Lamb, “Reginald Scot’s 1584 Discourie of Witchcraft lists fairies along with [other figures originating from folklore] and Robin Goodfellow as terrifying bugs commonly passed down in childhood by our mother’s maids.” (Lamb 283) This supports the fact that fairies have long been considered figures of a destructive nature, and that a 17th century audience would have been disturbed by the idea of fairies being anything other than malicious. According to Jason Gleckman, “[the fairies] could represent both the demonic and the devilish, the world of night and the unquiet dead (as Puck maintains), or the dawn and a close proximity to the humans they often kindly served (as Oberon insists)” (Gleckman 26). This supports the idea of the previously mentioned
Oberon and Titania are often found within traditional folklore as they are the King and Queen of the Fairies, and are very much portrayed as being quite powerful and in control as they are human sized rather than being stereotypically small and inconspicuous. Oberon can also be seen to be a mischievous character as he plays a cruel trick on Titania by causing her to fall in love with an ‘ass’s head’. This can also be linked to the character of Robin Goodfellow, or Puck as …show more content…
He purposefully causes mischief throughout the course of the play, mainly by giving Bottom an ass’s head, and by squeezing the love potion mistakenly into Lysander’s eyes, causing all the confusion for the human characters within the play. According to Sukanta Chaudhuri, “his closest links are with the brownie performing household chores and the hobgoblin spinning illusions and knaveries and leading travellers astray.” (Chaudhuri 44) This shows that in the play Robin Goodfellow is portrayed to be lightheartedly altering the events of the play and that “he is mischievous rather than malicious” (Chaudhuri 44). However, in folklore he seems to be portrayed in more of a sinister light as he is often described to have punished and/or sexually humiliated women for not doing their household chores for example. This suggests that fairies and the like often evoked a sense of terror within traditional folklore, acting in a malicious way and not considering the consequences these actions would have upon the individuals they terrorized. According to Mary Ellen Lamb, “Reginald Scot’s 1584 Discourie of Witchcraft lists fairies along with [other figures originating from folklore] and Robin Goodfellow as terrifying bugs commonly passed down in childhood by our mother’s maids.” (Lamb 283) This supports the fact that fairies have long been considered figures of a destructive nature, and that a 17th century audience would have been disturbed by the idea of fairies being anything other than malicious. According to Jason Gleckman, “[the fairies] could represent both the demonic and the devilish, the world of night and the unquiet dead (as Puck maintains), or the dawn and a close proximity to the humans they often kindly served (as Oberon insists)” (Gleckman 26). This supports the idea of the previously mentioned