Myth: Fairies in a Mid-Summer Night Dream

I believe that fairies would be included under Myths, in Mythological and Archetypal Criticisms.  I was trying to study up on how Shakespeare and his audience would have believed in fairies.  In this 'modern age' we don't believe in fairies and magic that are displayed in this play, but back then people were much more superstitious.  

The main fairies in A Mid-Summer Night's Dream are: Titania, Oberon, and Puck(!).  I found a really interesting article that talked about the fairies in Shakespeare.  I wasn't quite sure what to think of them just reading through the play.  This article, Shakespeare's Fairies: The Triumph of Dramatic Art edited by William J. Rolfe, views the fairies as children, "They are not diminutive human beings with superhuman powers, though in some respects they are like human children. Like young children before they have learned the distinction between right and wrong, they have no moral sense, and little or no comprehension of such sense in the mortals with whom they are associated. Like children, they live in the present, and are quite incapable of reflection."

I liked what this article was saying (I was almost tempted to just copy and past the whole thing, or at least sections of it extensively.)  Viewing fairies as children really worked for me.  Oberon really does want to help, and I don't think Puck means to be bad, but their ideas are only ideas and they aren't fully thought through. 

Also, when Titania is enchanted to fall in love with Bottom as a donkey - what adult would do soemthing like that? The more I think about it, the more I like to view Shakespeare's conception of faries as not moral or unmoral, but underdeveloped magical beings - innocent.

It's interesting idea anyways . . .

Bibliography 

Rolfe, William J (editor). "Shakespeare's Fairies: The Triumph of Dramatic Art."  New York: American Book Company, 1903. Shakespeare Online.