Archetypes in Mid summer

Archetypes present in Midsummer Night’s Dream

A Midsummer Night’s Dream was written and produced during a period of English history that was not the most productive for farming. In fact it was a time when nature was anything but typical. During the years of 1594 – 97, England had undergone four bad harvests in a row, an odd weather pattern turned normally warm summer days into chilly winter ones. The overwhelming number of peasant farmers, most times superstitious looked for an answer to this unfortunate weather pattern. Due to the fact that these farmers’ meals and futures of their families rested in the hands of good harvests, a positive relationship with the forces and spirits of nature was perceived as crucial to their existence. And this invariably led to what was often termed the “religion of the soil”. Always wishing to please his target audience, the goundlings, while, of course placating the crown, Shakespeare drew upon these notions of “fairydom” to further confuse the drama that transpired between reality and appearance. This also gave something or someone for the commoner’s to blame (i.e. Puck)

The myth of fairies is one that has existed in countless cultures since the dawn of time. Each culture has

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However, when looked at more closely it is quite easy to see how the audience of Shakespeare’s day might have taken this a completely different way. They were known as protective creatures and would become attached to a particular place or family. In France fairies became known as goblins, a slightly more grotesque version of gnomes. But as time went on and word of mouth increased almost invariably these fairies became diverse in their functions.

People may have believed, or half-believed, in the fairies (elves, sprites, pixies, leprechauns, and so forth). ”

Shakespeare must have derived his forest spirits from oral folk traditions. The mysterious people of the forest might be in turn helpful (household chores), mischievous (pranks, illusions), or sinister. Goblin smiles were known to curdle blood and their laughs caused milk to sour and fruit to fall from trees. The Bedford Inroduction to Drama Boston: Bedford Books, 1997

. The character of Puck might very well have fooled his audience to this day. The use of horns and satyr’s legs on Puck’s costume, for example, would immediately connote a sense of evil to the general public. This Pooka is a cognate of Old English Puca, which later became Puck. This more than likely developed out of the Celtic belief that spirit-horses brought dead heroes to their final resting place. These supernatural entities found homes in all manner of places, from underneath the ground to inside of trees and inside bogs and swamplands to on rocks in the guise of other animals such as toads.

Approximate Word count = 1359
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

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