Why the English Reformation succeeded demonising witches but failed with fairies

The article aims to explain the significance of Shakespeare’s transformations of the fairy image (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), which represent a shiſt in English mentality in early modern times and establish astill relevant tradition. The author follows the evolution of the perception of thesupernatural in popular consciousness, contemporary documents (bestiaries, treatises, and court proceedings), as well as literature (Spenser, Chaucer, and Milton). N. Zelezinskaya proceeds to identify the factors influencing the image of fairies in a religious, cultural, and philosophical context: opinions of d’Abano, Buridan, and Pomponazzi; the division into divine and false miracles, the Protestant crusade against the belief in spirits, the association of fairies with Papism, Elizabethan masquerades, and fears of James I and others. The article mentions the two traditions in thedepiction of fairies and explores the unique quality of Shakespearean images: agglutination of the two traditions in the same play, transformed appearance of fairies, distancing from the witchcraſt discourse, enhancement of positive connotations, and downgrading of the fairy queen’s image.

Digesting Shakespeare - Two Centuries of Adapting A Midsummer Night's Dream for Children

<p>The purpose of my thesis has been to establish the reasons for adapting Shakespeare for children in the modern age and to see if adaptations are influenced by the time they are written. From my analysis of forty- two adaptations for children of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, covering a period of almost two hundred years, three distinct trends have emerged. The first is the evolution of Shakespeare, in terms of his reputation and literary prestige. The second is the growth in the variety of adaptations of Shakespeare for children. The third is the tendency of treatments to reflect the eras in which they were produced. This project represents an under-discussed field of Shakespeare studies. Comparing a wide variety of texts in the context of the time they were written has been neglected, as has the comparison of texts in different eras. This project covers seven time periods (with a chapter devoted to each): 1800 to 1840 (The Beginning); 1850 to 1910 (The Golden Age), 1919 to 1939 (Between the Wars); 1940 to 1959 (Post War Recovery); 1960 to 1979 (Performance Adaptations); 1980 to 1989 (Shakespeare in Schools) and 1990 to 1999 (End of a Millennium). I argue three points: The first is that the prestige of Shakespeare has been systematically and consistently reinforced in each generation echoing his development from England’s greatest writer to an international icon. The second is that adaptations of MND have been influenced for the past 200 years by education in one way or another, either for pedagogic use or as metatheatrical device, ensuring an increasing variety of adaptations. The third is that MND has been rewritten to suit a specific era and audience.</p>

Digesting Shakespeare - Two Centuries of Adapting A Midsummer Night's Dream for Children

<p>The purpose of my thesis has been to establish the reasons for adapting Shakespeare for children in the modern age and to see if adaptations are influenced by the time they are written. From my analysis of forty- two adaptations for children of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, covering a period of almost two hundred years, three distinct trends have emerged. The first is the evolution of Shakespeare, in terms of his reputation and literary prestige. The second is the growth in the variety of adaptations of Shakespeare for children. The third is the tendency of treatments to reflect the eras in which they were produced. This project represents an under-discussed field of Shakespeare studies. Comparing a wide variety of texts in the context of the time they were written has been neglected, as has the comparison of texts in different eras. This project covers seven time periods (with a chapter devoted to each): 1800 to 1840 (The Beginning); 1850 to 1910 (The Golden Age), 1919 to 1939 (Between the Wars); 1940 to 1959 (Post War Recovery); 1960 to 1979 (Performance Adaptations); 1980 to 1989 (Shakespeare in Schools) and 1990 to 1999 (End of a Millennium). I argue three points: The first is that the prestige of Shakespeare has been systematically and consistently reinforced in each generation echoing his development from England’s greatest writer to an international icon. The second is that adaptations of MND have been influenced for the past 200 years by education in one way or another, either for pedagogic use or as metatheatrical device, ensuring an increasing variety of adaptations. The third is that MND has been rewritten to suit a specific era and audience.</p>

The Manifestation of Desire

Chapter 4 conceptualizes the device of ‘manifestation,’ the term identifying the causal power of desires, thoughts, and words to call forth objects and even characters in Shakespeare’s comic world. In the spirit of critic Elena Zupančič, the device shows, among other things, the way that comedy can surface the amusing monstrousness and presumptuousness of human wishes. The concept of manifestation entails various literary and dramatic values that characterize Shakespearean comedy. Historically, it reflects interests and theories found in Renaissance treatises on magic, and it even parallels certain modern-day linguistic patters. The chapter formalizes and theorizes the device, drawing examples from a range of comedies. The Comedy of Errors (Dr. Pinch), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Helana and the love potion), and The Merry Wives of Windsor (the Witch of Brainford) come in for special discussion. The chapter ends by situation manifestation in relation to entrance effects in medieval and Tudor drama and to allegorical effects in Spenser’s The Faerie Queene.

Clowns, Fools, and Folly

Chapter 1, on clowns, fools, and folly analyzes the clown-figure in terms of his magical ontology and explores moments of folly that intervene—transformatively, enchantingly—in a comic narrative. In doing so, it argues against the prevailing view that fool- and clown-figures are fundamentally marginal and peripheral to a play’s action, at least in the case of the comedies. The chapter demonstrates how these magical clowns can influence other characters, affecting their perceptions and choices, illustrated especially in Feste’s fantastical chop-logical interview with the lachrymose Olivia in Twelfth Night, which makes possible her subsequent infatuation with Viola. It also shows how clowns can intervene in and alter the action, with Dogberry, a hybrid of Providence and everyman, emerging as a paradigmatic example. The chapter closes with a discussion of the theater-happy Bottom as the mystical moral center of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Voice, Face, and Fascination: The Art of Physiognomy in 'The Midsummer Night's Dream'

Bottom: I see a voice. Now will I to the chinkTo spy an I can hear my Thisbe’s face.Thisbe?(A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 5.1.191–3)The revels have begun. After long rehearsals, the artisans finally perform their play in honour of Theseus and Hippolyta’s wedding: ‘A tedious brief scene of young Pyramus / And his love Thisbe: very tragical mirth’ (5.1.56–7). The play within the play provides a comic reflection of the communication situation in the theatre insofar as it creates another space-within-a-space wherein observers observe other observers observing. But, as Theseus notices (‘“Merry” and “tragical”? “Tedious” and “brief”?’ (5.1.58)), it also reconciles the irreconcilable: it makes the tragic comic; it makes visible what can only be heard; and it disembodies what can usually only be seen.In the following, I will take up Bottom’s cue and provide new perspectives on voices and faces as well as their interaction and translation in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. As I will argue, much of the fascination with this specific play derives from the complex physiognomic discourse it reveals and with which it engages its audience(s).