Zotov S. O. Folklore or Literature: Images of Fairies and Witches in Shakespeare’s Plays

(Russian State University for the Humanities)

Abstract ♦ Since the release of M. Murray’s controversial work “The God of the Witches” (1931), a number of specialists have been drawing parallels between traditional folk images of witches and fairies. The plays of William Shakespeare had been also involved in this analytical process — concerning the witches in “Macbeth” and fairies in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. This article presents an attempt to investigate the sources which Shakespeare might have used to obtain information about witches, fairies and elves, and to bring up a comparative study of these images in his plays as well. I will also touch in detail upon the etymological roots of the words “faierie”, “faie” and “elf” and their first usage.

This work refutes common misconceptions relating to the role of Shakespeare in shaping miniature fairies as good-natured creatures. Having compared faeries in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” with folklore images and examined their similarities and differences, I suggest that the Shakespearean fairies preserve ancient chthonic traits of their folk ancestors, which is manifested through motives of stealing children, malevolence and close relationship with the images of nature.

The second part of this study reveals a connection between images of witches in Shakespeare’s works and the phenomenon of fairie-demonization within a period of English Reformation. Goddess Hecate from “Macbeth” is regarded here as a unifying image, which merges together Shakespearean images of fairies and witches.

In the last paragraph I come up with a more general conclusion. The concept of “fairies” involves many kinds of magical creatures, including witches. The affinity between images of witches and fairies in Shakespeare’s plays is due to their close typological similarity within English folklore and to the Reformation tradition of demonizing fairies. Multi-dimensionality and even ambivalence of faerie images show that Shakespeare was deeply aware of Warwickshire folklore.

Keywords: William Shakespeare, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, “Macbeth”, faeries, fairies, elves, images of witches, folklore.  

Zotov Sergey Olegovich, Master’s student, Russian School of Anthropology, Russian State University for the Humanities; Volunteer researcher, Laboratory of Social, Historical and Cultural Anthropology (LSHCA); Member, Association for the Study of Esotericism and Mysticism (ASEM). Postal address: Room 104, Bldg. 5, 6 Miusskaya St., Moscow, Russian Federation, 125047. Tel.: +7 (499) 250-68-38. E-mail: godlike90@rambler.ru. Research advisor: I. A. Protopopova, Candidate of Culturology.

Citation: Zotov S. O. (2015) Fol'klor ili literatura: obrazy feiri i ved'm v p'esakh Shekspira [Folklore or Literature: Images of Fairies and Witches in Shakespeare’s Plays]. Znanie. Ponimanie. Umenie, no. 1, pp. 295-303. (In Russ.). DOI: 10.17805/zpu.2015.1.29

Submission date: 20.09.2014.

RUSSIAN VERSION

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