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Why the English Reformation succeeded demonising witches but failed with fairies
https://doi.org/10.31425/0042-8795-2021-5-188-210
Abstract
The article aims to explain the significance of Shakespeare’s transformations of the fairy image (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), which represent a shiſt in English mentality in early modern times and establish astill relevant tradition. The author follows the evolution of the perception of thesupernatural in popular consciousness, contemporary documents (bestiaries, treatises, and court proceedings), as well as literature (Spenser, Chaucer, and Milton). N. Zelezinskaya proceeds to identify the factors influencing the image of fairies in a religious, cultural, and philosophical context: opinions of d’Abano, Buridan, and Pomponazzi; the division into divine and false miracles, the Protestant crusade against the belief in spirits, the association of fairies with Papism, Elizabethan masquerades, and fears of James I and others. The article mentions the two traditions in thedepiction of fairies and explores the unique quality of Shakespearean images: agglutination of the two traditions in the same play, transformed appearance of fairies, distancing from the witchcraſt discourse, enhancement of positive connotations, and downgrading of the fairy queen’s image.
About the Author
N. S. Zelezinskaya
Belarusian State University
Belarus
Belarus
Natalia S. Zelezinskaya, Candidate of Philology
4 Nezavisimosti Av., Minsk, 220030
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Review
For citations:
Zelezinskaya N.S. Why the English Reformation succeeded demonising witches but failed with fairies. Voprosy literatury. 2021;(5):188-210. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.31425/0042-8795-2021-5-188-210
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