Who is puck in a midsummer nights dream

The broom symbolises his function as household spirit. Still, there is a difference between Will and Robin, since Robin is just misleading the night - wanderers but never lets them die. As already said, it seems that Robin was mostly not regarded as really evil, at least not by the common people.

On the other hand Robins image on the woodcut looks quite devilish and the little figures dancing in a circle around him look very much like witches and warlocks invoking a demon. For this reasons clergymen in general were probably not very happy about the people believing in Robin Goodfellow and leaving cream bowls on the door steps for him. The name of Robin Goodfellow is also an indication of his double nature.

There is a record for a Robin Goodfellow ballad in Less than a decade later, William Shakespeare gave his Puck the name and nature of the more benevolent Robin Goodfellow. There are many mentions of Robin Goodfellow in the literature of the 17th century and at least two ballads about him. In these ballads, Robin Goodfellow is the son of the fairy king Oberon and a human girl.

Not only for his presence in the popular Shakespeare play, but also because he keeps coming back in different forms, but still recognisable.

Comics and cartoons are full of them and most of them have at least few characteristics of the mythological and Shakespearean Puck. Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite Call'd Robin Goodfellow: are not you he That frights the maidens of the villagery;. A Dictionary of Fairies. Hobgoblins, Brownies, Bogies and other Supernatural Creatures. Rose, Carol. Spirits, Fairies, Gnomes and Goblins. An Encyclopaedia of the Little People.

J V Jelena Vukadinovic Author. Add to cart. Inhalt 1. Updated March 28, Featured Video. Cite this Article Format. Jamieson, Lee. Puck in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'.

Oberon and Titania Character Analysis. What Is Drama? Literary Definition and Examples. Overview of Shakespeare's 'The Tempest'. Character Analysis of Helena and Demetrius.

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We and our partners process data to: Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Perhaps it isn't surprising that he brings a somewhat more dangerous element to Titania and Oberon's seemingly benevolent fairy realm. He invokes the "damned spirits" that wander home to graveyards after a night of evil doing, while Oberon reminds him that his band of fairies are aligned with the morning dew, with sunlight and joy.

Unlike Oberon who genuinely tries to create human happiness, Puck seems indifferent to human suffering. When he has accidentally caused both Lysander and Demetrius to fall in love with Helena, Puck enjoys the pleasure their folly brings him. Although he restores the proper lovers to each other, he does so only at Oberon's request, not out of any feelings of remorse.

Similarly, Oberon feels repentance for Titania's idiotic love for Bottom, but Puck doesn't.