by Christine Fahnestock (Circle 6)
The first two acts of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by William Shakespeare alluded to several fairy tale elements that were twisted into a real life narrative / play, and I spent a lot of my time thinking about how that was executed. These fairy tale elements are not really something you’d expect to see in a Shakespeare play, as most of his work focuses on comedies, tragedies, and histories, focusing on events that were likely to take place during his time period.
The play takes place in Athens originally, and then begins to shift towards the woods outside of the city parameters. The woods themselves have an almost mystical quality to them which the audience sees carried out throughout the play. When Demetrius and Hermia agree to meet in the woods to leave behind Athens and its laws that ensure the two cannot marry because it is against Hermia’s father’s wishes, the heavy fairy tale elements of the play begin.
The fairy tale aspect that stands out the most is within Act II when Oberon and Titania are revealed as characters in the play once Demetrius and Hermia are in the woods. Oberon and Titania are the fairy King and Queen that inhabit the woods; Shakespeare writes of a smaller, separate world that exists in the woods, and once Demetrius and Hermia are there, these two worlds collide and a new conflict is brought to the stage. When Puck, another fairy, gets the love-in-idleness flower and pours the juices over the eyelids of Demetrius, the mystical world and the real world collide. The flower’s magical powers—to make one fall in love with the first thing it sees—are also extremely magical, as well as the history as to how the flower came to exist.
While this may not necessarily be a direct fairy tale element, Theseus’ will to bend to Egeus’s commands/wishes seemed sort of fairy-tale-like. In a situation like that, most of the time the person in Theseus’ position would not walk into a situation like that so blindly and bend to the wishes of Egeus as though they were in a controlled state. I saw the parallel between the love-in-idleness flower and Theseus’s state; when under the effect of the flower, the person effected will act almost in a zombie-like state and completely devote themselves to the object or person that they first see. While Theseus isn’t necessarily infatuated with Egeus, he did bend to the will of him immediately. The opinion that the woman is owned by the father/husband and should obey their commends was popular during Shakespeare’s time and the time period of this play, but nevertheless, someone in Theseus’s position would have thought through their actions and words before acting.
The fairy aspect of the play reminded me of Edward Spencer’s “The Faerie Queen”, just because of the two different worlds that are collided suddenly because of a particular element in the plot. You have a realistic world with realistic characters, that have a specific plot line and/or conflicts that they battle through and follow, and you also have a really mystical magical world that has developed characters and plots / conflicts that they follow.
The question I am left asking myself (and will hopefully answer with more reading / more careful analysis of the text) is whether or not there is an intended parallel between the fairy world’s conflict and the real world’s conflict.
I think it’s a tough question to ask whether or not there is an intended parallel between the fairy world’s conflict and the human world simply because the conflicts of both are so complicated! (What a surprise! Conflict being complicated in Shakespeare?)
There is the conflict of Oberon being upset about Titania’s refusal to relinquish the Indian child. In that situation, a man is demanding something from a woman he has an authority over and the woman is failing to yield. In a sense that is similar to Hermia denying her father’s wishes at the beginning of the play. Do Titania and Hermia have the right to deny their respective male authority figures their requests in this world?
I think your question is answerable! The conflicts in both the human and fairy worlds are initiated by a female figure refusing the rights of a male figure.
Shakespeare’s synthesis of the traditional English fairy fantasy and the classical setting of Ancient Greece creates a very fanciful world in which the text truly becomes otherworldly. The stereotypical princesses and princes exist in the forms of Hermia, Lysander, Helena and Demetrius and in keeping with tradition, the story ends with not one, but three marriages.
However, the classical elements of Greek mythology infuse an interesting character into the narrative which it would otherwise not possess. The “fairies” Oberon and Titania seemingly exist as simulacra of the Greek gods themselves, as they bicker with each other, have humans that worship them, and they often mettle in the human world to amuse themselves. Despite this, the character of Robin Goodfellow or “Puck” bridges the gap back into English tradition, as he causes mischief but also wishes for their to be some kind of return to order as experienced in the play.
The fusion of Greek and English tradition is what makes the play so effective at conveying this “fairy tale” atmosphere and for that matter, the play continues to live on as a testament to Shakespeare’s creative genius.
The fairytale elements present in the play I also found to be very relevant to the Athenian and human world of the play. I believe Shakespeare uses the elements of a fairy tale to be able to change the logic and other elements of the real world. Helena and Lysander run to the wood—the home of the fairies—in order to escape the reality they find themselves in which does not suit them and their relationship. They go to seek a world free from the rules of the court (Theseus and Egeus). Now, in reality there is no difference in rules and logic between the court and the forest, but Shakespeare uses the forest as a device to create a different world, in this case the fairy world. This element of time discrepancy comes up in his other plays, most similarly in As You Like It, where the characters run to the forest in order to escape the life of the court. Ultimately, their lives in the forest mirror those they had tried to escape from. I assume that the fate of the characters in A Midsummer Night’s Dream will be similar, indicative that the conflicts of the fairies seem to replicate those of the humans.
I never considered the fairy tale- like quality of Theseus and Egeus. I can see your point, although at first it just seemed to me that tit was so obvious that a father owned and controlled his daughter that he just went along with it. It was common knowledge that he didn’t need to be bothered with. I do like that you pointed out how it has a similar effect that the flower has. It adds more mystery and playfulness to the play.
Christine—
I love that you mention the fairy tell elements in this play. When I took English Lit we talked a lot about folklore and how those original folk tales influenced later authors. I think Shakespeare definitely drew from some of these elements, especially with the woods, as you mention. The woods in folklores are usually very mystical and magical places with fairy rings and various other creatures… creatures that often meddle in human’s lives, often as some kind of punishment. The Faire Queen is such a rich and interesting story and one that, I agree, very much relates to Midsummer’s
I too find that most of the conflict in this play is initiated by the women (Titania and Hermia) refusing male commands. It is interesting that the men in the play must go through such efforts to remain in control. What is also interesting is the way Shakespeare uses this fairy land to mirror and almost make fun of the world of the humans. By using the love potion, the fairies make a complete mess among the humans and when all is well (Oberon gets the Indian boy) in fairy world, the human world is put back into place, better than when it started in my opinion (because Demetrius is still in love with Helena). It puts the foolishness of humans and their love into perspective.
Although, I have to disagree with you on the Theseus/Egeus connection and fairy-tale aspect of that relationship. I read their first scene together as Theseus trying to simple appease Egeus in order to get him to go away. I read it as though Theseus was just doing is (annoying) Kingly duties to uphold the city. I did not find it odd that Theseus bent to Egeus’ request.
I was reminded of Sondheim’s musical Into the Woods while reading both the play and your blog post! The moment the characters in Into the Woods enter “the woods”, they are brought into a world that is much less predictable and more magical than their own. The idea that “Anything Can Happen in the Woods” is one that is discussed (and sung about) in Into the Woods, and this principle definitely applies to A Midsummer Night’s Dream! Into the Woods is a story that is centered around fairy tales such as Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk and Little Red Riding Hood. Characters that the audience has grown up with are thrust into adult situations like adultery and loss. Although A Midsummer Night’s Dream is more subtly dark than Into the Woods, the woods are still a mysterious, magical and fairytale-like place.