Perhaps the most important and interesting characters of A Midsummer Night’s Dream are the fairies. As creatures that are full of mysticism and magic, these types of creatures have been employed in multiple literary works. However, these types of creatures do not always have good intentions nor do they always use their powers for the benefit of the surrounding human beings. Rather, they occasionally cause chaos and mayhem. Additionally, within the literary context, they are typically used to accomplish other goals, such as critiquing society. Furthermore, when fairies were used in literature, they were presented as either being malevolent or they were depicted as being completely without morals to guide their actions for the benefit of human beings (Waits 42).
At the time at which Shakespeare would have been writing this particular literary work, England would have been experiencing quite a bit of social upheaval, as Queen Elizabeth was implementing multiple changes into the governing structure of England and the laws that were being passed (Waits 166). This was creating quite a bit of social contrast. For example, Queen Elizabeth was discriminating against Catholics, but also supporting the idea of ensuring that England would be tolerant towards individuals of all types of religious backgrounds (Waits 166). At the same time, she also invested heavily into the economy as a means of expanding it, but also incurred quite a bit of debt on behalf of her country (Waits 166). As a result, many within the British society experienced anxiety in relation to what would happen to England in the near future, as well as in the coming years.
Without the fairies in the play, it would be unlikely that the plot of this play would sufficiently advance and create the necessary conflict that is needed to make this work interesting. The central conflict of the play occurs between Titania and Oberon, both of which are fairies. At the crux of the conflict is a child that was stolen from the humans and which is creating a disagreement between the two fairies over what should be done with this child. The role of the fairies within the overall context of the play is so important that many versions following Shakespeare’s original play focused solely on the fairies and their actions and completely ignoring the actions and the role of the human characters (Ormerod 39).
Shakespeare’s fairies can be argued as being a social reaction to the upheaval created and propagated by Queen Elizabeth. The fairies in the play behave on the motivation of greed and wanting to pursue their own goals and objectives. Additionally, at the time Shakespeare created his fairies, society would have likely believed fairies to be mean creatures and out to harm human beings by engaging in such actions, as stealing children and harming cattle by preventing them from reproducing (Waits 166). As such, fairies were often blamed for any negative actions or consequences that members of society experienced in their daily lives.
Within Shakespeare’s work, fairies were a reflection of the social perception of the Catholic Church, as it was commonly viewed as being deceptive and not being truthful with its believers and members (Waits 167). As a result, the fairies, themselves, were depicted as not being transparent and as having ulterior motives. In the work, Oberon and Titania argue over the child, who represents the fairies pursuing commercial projects that they have not previously undertaken (Waits 170). As such, the new undertaking created quite a bit of friction between the fairy couple, with each not agreeing with the other one in relation to what should occur to the child. At first, Titania is more interested in the child and is drawn away from pursuing the new commercial projects, but after some time, she realizes the value of these projects and become fascinated by the human beings engaging in commerce. More specifically, she is manipulated by Oberon to refocus her attention from the child and onto the aspect of commerce. This underscores the idea of fairies pursuing their own interests in favor of caring about humans, unless human beings somehow provide a benefit to fairies, such as the merchants within the play do.
Furthermore, the fairies are presumed to have another role within Shakespeare’s play. Traditionally, fairies were associated with nature and living things, such as trees and flowers, as they traditionally lived and thrived in this type of an environment. However, in Shakespeare’s times, the British were not concerned with the environment (Waits 171). Rather, the British at this time sought to adapt nature to their own needs and goals through such productive actions, as farming the land and using it to grow food to sustain the society (Waits 171). At the same time, human beings were somewhat limited in their abilities to control the natural environment, which is why the role of the fairies was altered (Waits 171). Within the play, human beings overtook the land, without fully controlling it, but would not be able to feel sorrow for the land that was changed as a result of their actions, without also developing some positive feelings towards the fairies that inhabited this land. As a result, Shakespeare adapted the fairies and the manner in which they were depicted to, ultimately, be harmless towards human beings, so that human beings, in turn, could develop pity for the fairies for the loss of their environment and realize that, themselves, were also losing something valuable.
In summary, the role of the fairies is fairly complex, but works to highlight multiple important aspects of the play. While originally malevolent, the fairies in the play still cause chaos and drive conflict to develop, but they also cause human beings to begin feeling sorry for them. As a result, the fairies not only show the turmoil that the British queen was creating within society, but also show that human beings were developing a sense of realization in regard to what their actions were doing to the surrounding environment.
References:
Ormerod, David. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream: The Monster in the Labyrinth.” Shakespeare Studies, vol. 11, 1978, pp. 39-52.
Waits, Caitlin. “A Natural Transformation: Shakespeare’s Reimagining of Fairies as a Social Critique and an Observation of Ecological Anxiety.” Journal of the Wooden O Symposium, vol. 16/17, 2018, pp. 165-181.
Aiman's Literary Analysis 