We were discussing about the world of fairies in the play. The queen and king of the Fairies were the main focus today. In the play, the king and queen address each other differently. The king is gotten his name as Jealous Oberon, whereas the queen is called Proud Titania. The fight between them is the origin of the rest of the disorders developed throughout the play.
There are some reasons or issues they are fighting for:
- Child “Changling Boy”
- Not faithful to each other
- She is not meeting his needs
- Jealous of Theseus
Power struggle “Who is in control” - She is sick of fighting
- Not doing her job (she is in charge of season changing)
- Not doing his job (to be a good husband)
She is inserting herself into humanity - Titania seems to be an angle; Oberon is a demon. Angle should be higher position than the demon, but in the society, male is higher than female.
The order is very important in the conflict. The order is the great chain of being. Supposedly, the boy should be taken by the king, Oberon. However, the queen insists to keep the boy in her site. Under the the order, the woman should obey what the male mate says; as a result, the king is saying, "Am not I thy lord?" which gives a sense of control. However, the relationship between Titania and Oberon is different because Titania is an angle and Oberon is a devil. In the great chain of being, the position of an angle is sightly higher then devil. Titania is unnecessary to obey what Oberon tells her to do.
The themes of Oberon are:
- Jealous of child (Motherly affection)
- Jealous of her affections
- Jealous of Theseus (sexual affection)
- Insecure
- Jealous of emotion
- Mother envy
- He is being like a girl
- Role reversal
- Cuckold
The themes of Titania:
- Noble and responsible
- Loyalty
- Logical
- Equality
- Autonomy
