Understanding Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream by Robert A. Albano - HTML preview
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Names for Oberon & Titania
- Titania is another name for Circe in Ovid
- Oberon is called King of the Fairies in Robert Greene’s James IV (1591)
- both names appear in the French romance
Huon of Bordeaux, translated into English in 1534
Name of Puck
- a mischievous sprite – dating back to Anglo-Saxon times
- Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584)
Author Reginald Scot provides names and a description of Puck (Robin Goodfellow)
Names of Artisans are related to their professions:
Bottom – the core (spool) upon which weaver’s yarn was wound
Quince – a block of wood used by carpenters Snout – the nozzle of a kettle, which was mended by tinkers
Snug – means “close-fitting” – appropriate for a joiner (cabinet-maker)
Flute – stops of church organs had fluted tops that were repaired by a bellows-mender
Starveling – stereotype of tailors – depicted as small and skinny