Use Of Fairies In A Midsummer Night's Dream By William Shakespeare

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Shakespeare presents the fairies’ world and principles through different means which includes the language being used, the characters, and the setting throughout the play. The fairies’ system of living incorporates similarities and differences to the world of the humans. The audience during that time believed in magic and so would have taken this representation of the fairies’ into account as Shakespeare plays with their suspicion s and bases some of his magical characters on folk tales that the audience might have heard of. By way of introduction, the world and values of the fairies are presented through different techniques. First off, the two characters at the beginning of the scene are introduced as Puck, a main character, and a fairy.…show more content…
This can be supported when Oberon tries to use his position as her lord to take the Indian boy from her possession but because of her stubborn personality, Titania retorts by saying “then I must be thy lady”. This shows that the male gender does not obtain great powers over the female gender and shows that while there is a hierarchy in their world, there is still equality amongst the genders. Moreover, the language is a major factor in helping Shakespeare express the nature of the fairies. While communicating to each other, both Puck and the fairy speak in catalectic trochaic tetrameter where it creates vivid poetic imagery and lyricism to their speech. It can be seen through Oberon’s speech to Puck when he orders Puck to go and find the flower dosed with the love potion of Cupid’s arrow. Oberon orders Puck to go but in a poetic manner, allowing the audience to visualise themselves the same stormy night that he had once lived through. This complicated way of talking shows the audience how educated the fairies are and how, while in different ranks of the hierarchy structure, enlightened they all are. The rhythmic pattern is evident when the fairy and Puck are talking to each other but when Oberon and Titania are talking, the pattern changes like the tone of the conversation when they exchange matters on a hostile

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