Dive into our insightful analysis of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream as we explore power dynamics, Shakespeare's orientalistic imagery, and a nuanced interpretation of a specific scene involving Titania and Oberon. Our post, perfect for educators and students alike, brings a fresh perspective on this classic play.
Teaching and Analyzing a Midsummer Night's Dream
I've taught high school students A Midsummer Night's Dream several times. It's a popular text in American schools. Heck, I even read it in high school. And I have seen it performed on stage several times. It's a fun play that has worn well over the last five hundred years.
Power Plays in the Play
When teaching the play, I recommend skipping the part in the first scene where Hippolyta and Theseus talk about their wedding (and I go back to it later). I go straight to the part where Egeus comes to the court to ask Theseus to force his daughter Hermia to marry a boy she doesn't want to marry.
I ask students to keep a record of disagreements that occur in the play. Who is arguing with who and what is the power differential at work? In this case, it is a debate between an adolescent girl and her upper-class middle-aged father who wants to make decisions about the future of his family tree. Having the kids identify these power struggles is an effective way to hook them onto the play. Who doesn't like a rollicking tale of parental control and teen rebellion?
If you don't know the plot, it involves two young pairs of lovers from Athens' aristocratic class who escape into the woods to evade their parents' authority and the law. I am leaving out a few plot details but basically, a fairy named Puck mucks around with the concept of love at first sight and all hell breaks out in the forest. Even the queen and king of the fairies get in on the craziness.
So there is a lot to say about this play, and I have written about it on this blog; however, in this post, I want to zero in on a particular scene one may overlook when reading the play.
A Closer Look at a Particular Scene (Act.2.S.1)
Titania, the Queen of the fairies, has "stolen" a lovely boy from an Indian king, and her husband, Oberon, wants the boy for himself. Now, by Indian, Shakespeare means the Asian sub-continent, not the first nations inhabitants of the New World. In Shakespeare's time, Britain had already made in-roads into India and had begun what would become a long colonial presence there. There is debate among scholars as to the exact implications of this term in the play. In the late 16th century, when Shakespeare was writing, England was just beginning its interactions with India. The British East India Company, which began formalizing British presence in India, was established in 1600, a few years after "A Midsummer Night's Dream" was written. This means that while there were some interactions and awareness of India, the full-scale colonial presence hadn't been fully established yet in Shakespeare's time.
But the germ of colonial enterprise is there, in the text. Shakespeare romanticizes India.
The argument between Titania and Oberon over the "changeling boy" primarily takes place in Act 2, Scene 1. In this scene, Oberon confronts Titania about the Indian boy whom she has brought from India and is caring for. Oberon wants the boy to become one of his followers, but Titania refuses to give him up, which causes a conflict between the two characters. The scene contains key dialogues that reveal the depth of their disagreement over the boy.
When Titania explains how the boy was not stolen, but rather, she became the child's protector, Shakespeare infuses the language with orientalistic flourishes. For example, in describing Titania's visit, Shakespeare describes the Indian air as spiced, and he notes that Titania takes a seat on "Neptune's yellow sands". I am not sure why he refers to Neptune here, but it is a reference to the god of the sea (in Greek, Poseidon). My guess is that it is a soft allusion to the trade relations between India and Europe, a relationship that was born on the sea, but also traversed through trade routes (hence the "spiced Indian air" that also seems to allude to the export of spices from Asia).
Oberon: "I do but beg a little changeling boy to be my henchman"
While Oberon contends that Titania is a thief, the Fairy Queen explains that she came in possession of the boy because "His mother was a votaress of my order." When the mother dies in childbirth, Titania takes it upon herself to raise the boy as her own and she steals away with him - basically stealing the child from his father.
Their conflict over the boy plays a significant role in the plot development, as it prompts Oberon to instruct his sprite, Puck, to apply the juice of a magical flower to Titania's eyes while she sleeps. This leads to Titania falling in love with Bottom (who has been given a donkey's head) when she wakes up. When Titania returns to the forest with the "changeling," as she calls the boy, Oberon becomes furious when she won't share what she stole. The two royal fariy monarchs duke it out and to make a long story short, they kiss and make up — but not after Titania has her way with Bottom, and falls in love with the donkey-man.
One could look at this episode as a metaphor for colonialism. The British Empire was basically stolen by the British and then raised as its own.
Stop at the end of this scene and have your students discuss — better yet, have them prepare discussion points based on the following prompts:
- Understanding the Conflict Between Oberon and Titania: Discuss the core issue that instigates the dispute between Oberon and Titania in "A Midsummer Night's Dream." How does their disagreement over the "changeling boy" inform their characters and affect the overall plot?
- Traces of Early Colonial Influence in Shakespeare's Work: Examine the textual evidence in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" that could suggest the beginnings of Britain's colonial influence on India and East Asia. How does Shakespeare's portrayal of the Indian boy reflect or contradict the historical context of early British-Indian relations?
- Shakespeare's Orientalism in Depicting India: Analyze how "A Midsummer Night's Dream" may exemplify an "Orientalist" perspective, in which India is depicted as mysterious, exotic, and otherworldly. Consider instances in the text where Shakespeare romanticizes or idealizes India. How might this perspective have influenced perceptions of India during Shakespeare's time, and how does it relate to the broader discourse of Orientalism in literature?
The Changeling in Literature
Another stab at the text is to look at the trope of the changeling — as Oberon refers to the boy. There is a long, and detailed history of the changeling child in European fairytale and lore. The changeling is a substitute child left to replace a real one — stolen by fairies — or by goblins (cue the Jim Henson flick Labyrinth). Even into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, this lore has endured, as evidenced by a pack of cigarette cards. The card reads:
Cigarette Card 'The Fairies' Changeling
THE FAIRIES' CHANGELING (Herefordshire) A mother was greatly worried over her child, for it never grew but lay in its cradle vear after year. When her elder son, a soldier, returned from the wars, he refused to believe the child was his brother, declaring it was a changeling. To prove this, he blew out some eggs, filled the shells with malt and hops, and brewed them over the fire. "Though I've lived a thousand years," chuckled the changeling, "this is the first time I've seen beer brewed in egg-shells." He then rushed from the house. Shortly afterwards, a fine young man walked in — he was none other than the boy the fairies had been keeping for many years.
Suffice it to say the "changeling" represents the unwanted child, a fairytale metaphor for the step-child, or the boy under the stairs (from Harry Potter). On the one hand, the fairy tale hinges on a childhood fear that "I am not wanted;" or the fear that "My parents are not my real parents." But it also reflects a more disturbing fact, of abuse, and neglect of children.
Ahhh A Comedy (But, Wait. What about the Boy?)
The play is a comedy. And at the end of the play, all is made right, lovers get what they want and the audience is treated to a play within a play. But we never find out the fate of the boy. What happened to him — what is his story? There is a creative piece here, waiting to be written, in the vein of The Wide Sargasso Sea, where a novel is written that gives a voice and character to the changeling boy from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Let's not leave the changeling boy to be neglected and give them their voice and story.
By Greig Roselli
Sources:
1. Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library. "New York City Ballet production of movie version of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" with director Dan Eriksen coaching child actress playing the changeling, choreography by George Balanchine (New York)" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1964.
2. George Arents Collection, The New York Public Library. "The fairies' changeling (Herefordshire)." The New York Public Library Digital Collections.
