{"id":9789,"date":"2024-08-07T07:00:40","date_gmt":"2024-08-07T11:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enchantedlivingmagazine.com\/?p=9789"},"modified":"2024-08-04T11:30:33","modified_gmt":"2024-08-04T15:30:33","slug":"elizabethan-flower-magic-oberons-trick-in-a-midsummer-nights-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enchantedlivingmagazine.com\/elizabethan-flower-magic-oberons-trick-in-a-midsummer-nights-dream\/","title":{"rendered":"Elizabethan Flower Magic: Oberon&#8217;s Trick in A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\"><div id=\"tdi_1\" class=\"tdc-row\"><div class=\"vc_row tdi_2  wpb_row td-pb-row\" >\n<style scoped>\n\/* custom css - generated by TagDiv Composer *\/\n\n\/* custom css - generated by TagDiv Composer *\/\n.tdi_2,\r\n                .tdi_2 .tdc-columns{\r\n                    min-height: 0;\r\n                }.tdi_2,\r\n\t\t\t\t.tdi_2 .tdc-columns{\r\n\t\t\t\t    display: block;\r\n\t\t\t\t}.tdi_2 .tdc-columns{\r\n\t\t\t\t    width: 100%;\r\n\t\t\t\t}.tdi_2:before,\r\n\t\t\t\t.tdi_2:after{\r\n\t\t\t\t    display: table;\r\n\t\t\t\t}\n<\/style><div class=\"vc_column tdi_4  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<style scoped>\n\/* custom css - generated by TagDiv Composer *\/\n\n\/* custom css - generated by TagDiv Composer *\/\n.tdi_4{\r\n                    vertical-align: baseline;\r\n                }.tdi_4 > .wpb_wrapper,\r\n\t\t\t\t.tdi_4 > .wpb_wrapper > .tdc-elements{\r\n\t\t\t\t    display: block;\r\n\t\t\t\t}.tdi_4 > .wpb_wrapper > .tdc-elements{\r\n\t\t\t\t    width: 100%;\r\n\t\t\t\t}.tdi_4 > .wpb_wrapper > .vc_row_inner{\r\n\t\t\t\t    width: auto;\r\n\t\t\t\t}.tdi_4 > .wpb_wrapper{\r\n\t\t\t\t    width: auto;\r\n\t\t\t\t    height: auto;\r\n\t\t\t\t}\n<\/style><div class=\"wpb_wrapper\" ><div class=\"wpb_wrapper td_block_empty_space td_block_wrap vc_empty_space tdi_6 \"  style=\"height: 32px\"><\/div>[vc_column_text css=&#8221;&#8221;]<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>\u201cI know a bank where the wild thyme blows,Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine.\u201d\u2014Oberon in A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream Act 2, Scene 1<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1 dropcap dropcap2\">S<\/span>hakespeare\u2019s plays are full of magic: the fairies in <i>A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream, <\/i>the witches in <i>Macbeth, <\/i>the ghost in <i>Hamlet, <\/i>the spirit-summoning in <i>Henry VI Part 2. <\/i>Although his work doesn\u2019t necessarily illustrate a belief in the supernatural, Shakespeare often made use of common beliefs about magic as plot devices, turning folklore and written magical tradition into stories his audience would find entertaining.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\">The magic in Shakespeare\u2019s plays becomes more fascinating when examined alongside the folklore and manuscripts of learned magic that were circulating in early modern England. Historians agree that belief in magic during this period was widespread. It wasn\u2019t only famous occultists and alchemists like the queen\u2019s astrologer, John Dee, who collected these texts, but also other learned people, such as nobles and physicians. Secret grimoires like <i>The Sworn Book of Honorius <\/i>were rare, but practical magical manuscripts were more common. With the rise of literacy, the charms and healing spells cast by cunning folk and village wisewomen began to be written down too, although elitism and male privilege caused those practices to be viewed by some as lesser.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><i>A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream, <\/i>one of Shakespeare\u2019s most fanciful plays, owes much to astrology, folk wisdom, and mythology. The title and setting of the play derive from the legend that the magical powers of flora and fauna were at their highest on Midsummer Night, when the fairies who haunted bluebell forests came out to dance. To a modern reader, Oberon\u2019s reference to \u201ca bank where wild thyme grows\u201d might seem like a throwaway sylvan detail, but thyme, like bluebells, was associated with fairies. According to Richard Folkard\u2019s <i>Plant Lore, Legends and Lyrics, <\/i>a bank of thyme was a common location for fairy revels. An oil derived from the herb, when rubbed on the eyes, was said to grant second sight. Emily Carding notes<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">that period herbals and grimoires categorized most of the other flowers in Oberon\u2019s speech\u2014oxlips, violets, woodbine, and musk roses\u2014as being ruled by the planet Venus, evoking the play\u2019s focus on love.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">Of course, the most famous magical aspect of the play is the love potion Oberon uses to make Titania fall in love with the next person she looks upon, who happens to be Bottom. The potion is made from a flower Oberon calls \u201clove-in-idleness.\u201d Period herbals list this as a folk name for wild pansy, which was commonly used in love potions of the day. Oberon asks Puck to fetch the flower because he is angry with Titania and wants to play a trick on her. He explains the power of \u201clove-in-idleness\u201d as follows:<\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\"><i>The juice of it on sleeping eyelids laidWill make or man or woman madly doteUpon the next live creature that it sees. <\/i>(Act 2, Scene 1)<\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\">After they apply the potion, Titania awakes and falls in love with Bottom, a man temporarily cursed with the head of an ass. It\u2019s worth noting that this \u201ctrick\u201d has two male characters give a woman a drug to make her love a man, and that this is played as comedy. The gender politics of <i>A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream <\/i>are by far the least charming aspect of the play.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\">The character of Oberon seems to have been inspired at least in part by a sinister spirit named Oberyon, who is described in several grimoires, most notably a 1583 magical manuscript entitled <i>Book of magic, with instructions for invoking spirits<\/i>. In this manuscript, Oberyon is described in terms that Shakespeare fans will find familiar:<\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\"><i>He teacheth a man knowledge in phisicke and he sheweth the nature of stones herbes and trees and of all mettall. He is a great and mighty kinge and he is kinge of the fayries. (<\/i>Folger MS Vb26, p. 80)<\/p>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=&#8221;&#8221;]<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">The manuscript also includes descriptions of a fairy queen and court. The invocation for Oberyon, similar to many spells in medieval and Elizabethan grimoires, reads like a prayer, with repeated references to \u201cGod\u2019s most holy name.\u201d It also contains a Catholic profession of faith. This is not uncommon; medieval and Renaissance magical texts are quite religious<i>. <\/i>Shakespeare scholar Barbara Mowat notes that Oberyon also appears in historical records: A 1444 court case calls him a \u201cwycked spyryte,\u201d a 1510 register \u201ca certain demon.\u201d It may even be possible that Shakespeare\u2019s audience would have been familiar with the name.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">Elizabethan England was home to a complex brew of faiths: legally mandated Anglicanism, suppressed Catholicism, and ancient magical beliefs that were being syncretized with both. In Shakespeare\u2019s plays, as in period herbals and grimoires, herbal folklore intermingles with ancient mythology, astrology, and written magical tradition. Suppressed Catholicism admixes with fairy folklore. These traditions, which may seem unrelated today, were not seen as separate. The flower magic in <i>A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream <\/i>shows the early modern English belief that everything had a spiritual essence, which was swayed by the celestial circumstances. Physicians consulted an ephemeris (a kind of astrological almanac) before recommending treatment. Alchemists, apothecaries, and village cunning folk believed that the occult properties of herbs, stones, and metals came from the planets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\"><em><strong>Everything, everything was ruled by the stars.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text]<div class=\"vc_row_inner tdi_8  vc_row vc_inner wpb_row td-pb-row\" >\n<style scoped>\n\/* custom css - generated by TagDiv Composer *\/\n\n\/* custom css - generated by TagDiv Composer *\/\n.tdi_8{\r\n                    position: relative !important;\r\n                    top: 0;\r\n                    transform: none;\r\n                    -webkit-transform: none;\r\n                }.tdi_8,\r\n\t\t\t\t.tdi_8 .tdc-inner-columns{\r\n\t\t\t\t    display: block;\r\n\t\t\t\t}.tdi_8 .tdc-inner-columns{\r\n\t\t\t\t    width: 100%;\r\n\t\t\t\t}\n<\/style><div class=\"vc_column_inner tdi_10  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-inner-column td-pb-span6\">\n<style scoped>\n\/* custom css - generated by TagDiv Composer *\/\n\n\/* custom css - generated by TagDiv Composer *\/\n.tdi_10{\r\n                    vertical-align: baseline;\r\n                }.tdi_10 .vc_column-inner > .wpb_wrapper,\r\n\t\t\t\t.tdi_10 .vc_column-inner > .wpb_wrapper .tdc-elements{\r\n\t\t\t\t    display: block;\r\n\t\t\t\t}.tdi_10 .vc_column-inner > .wpb_wrapper .tdc-elements{\r\n\t\t\t\t    width: 100%;\r\n\t\t\t\t}\n<\/style><div class=\"vc_column-inner\"><div class=\"wpb_wrapper\" >[vc_single_image image=&#8221;9791&#8243; img_size=&#8221;full&#8221; add_caption=&#8221;yes&#8221; css=&#8221;&#8221;]<\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"vc_column_inner tdi_12  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-inner-column td-pb-span6\">\n<style scoped>\n\/* custom css - generated by TagDiv Composer *\/\n\n\/* custom css - generated by TagDiv Composer *\/\n.tdi_12{\r\n                    vertical-align: baseline;\r\n                }.tdi_12 .vc_column-inner > .wpb_wrapper,\r\n\t\t\t\t.tdi_12 .vc_column-inner > .wpb_wrapper .tdc-elements{\r\n\t\t\t\t    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'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\"><i>&amp; <\/i><\/span><b style=\"font-family: Verdana, BlinkMacSystemFont, -apple-system, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">Fauna <\/b><em><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">issue!<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n<p>[\/vc_cta]<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[vc_column_text css=\"\"] \u201cI know a bank where the wild thyme blows,Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine.\u201d\u2014Oberon in A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream Act 2, Scene 1 Shakespeare\u2019s plays are full of magic: the fairies in A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream, the witches in Macbeth, the ghost in [...]","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":9790,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[80,91],"tags":[2011,429,2990,2989,2981,2979,2983,734,2984,2986,2987,2982,1591,2980,2985,570,2988],"class_list":{"0":"post-9789","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fiction","8":"category-writing","9":"tag-a-midsummer-nights-dream","10":"tag-astrology","11":"tag-celestial-influence","12":"tag-elizabethan-beliefs","13":"tag-elizabethan-england","14":"tag-elizabethan-flower-magic","15":"tag-fairy-folklore","16":"tag-folklore","17":"tag-herbal-folklore","18":"tag-john-dee","19":"tag-learned-magic","20":"tag-love-potion","21":"tag-mary-mcmyne","22":"tag-oberon","23":"tag-renaissance-magic","24":"tag-shakespeare","25":"tag-shakespeares-plays"},"yoast_head":"<!-- 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