As to witches and ghosts in William Shakespeare's comedies, there is a character who alludes to himself as a 'shade' (shadow/spectre) in the comedy play 'A Midsummer Night's Dream.' As a season, spring did not exist in Shakespeare's time - only Summer, Autumn and Winter. However, this made the season of summer much longer and the ghostly summer beings would have 'been abroad' for longer. They were called up for fortune and romance divining - and some were mischievous. Puck is such a sprite and has special fairy powers, such as turning things into asses heads or sprinkling fairy dust in the eyes of dreamers. Puck seems to be more ghostly and frightening than Oberon as he is associated with the dark. Oberon states that they are 'spirits of another sort:'
No comments:
Post a Comment