Episode 342: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
/From Greek mythology to fairy lore, Shakespeare has always loved the magical and supernatural in his plays. With A Midsummer Night’s Dream, we chat about hot messengers, earnest amateur actors, and the parallels between rulers and fairy kings. Also, why doesn’t everyone just kiss a little?
Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of genitals, death, execution, racism, exoticism, murder, human sacrifice, and abduction.
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Transcript
AMANDA: Welcome to Spirits Podcast, a boozy dive into mythology, legends and folklore. Every week we pour a drink and learn about a new story from around the world. I'm Amanda.
JULIA: And I'm Julia.
AMANDA: And this is our episode all about A Midsummer Night's Dream, baby.
JULIA: Woooo! Amanda as theater nerds, we were very much exposed to Shakespeare at kind of a young age I would say.
AMANDA: It's true.
JULIA: And this is a hot take I'm sure. They are fantastic plays. They are full of dick jokes.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: And high school kids like us loved learning about them, that's just a fact.
AMANDA: Yeah, that was the biggest surprise to me. Just how many references are phallic ones?
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: And it is incredibly funny, and hey, these plays are not like annoying literature you have to read but entertainment for the masses that also have a lot of poetry in them. And so there are also a ton of sources in mythology that The Bard borrowed from. So I'm really excited to see your take on these plays, Julia.
JULIA: Yeah. So as you've highlighted for the audience, Shakespeare does feature in both the tragedies and the comedies, a lot of both magical and supernatural elements and of course, mythological and folkloric references. And Shakespeare, like a lot of literature and art at the time really pulled heavily from these various different classical Western mythologies and folklore, to make allusions or to take poetic license, right? And I mean, in certain plays, he quite literally pulls figures from mythology and folklore and puts them into his stories. And one of the best examples of this is the focus of today's episode, which is A Midsummer Night's Dream.
AMANDA: Yeah, we got Queen Titania, all kinds of stuff.
JULIA: Exactly. So, Amanda, I do have to ask, what is your relationship with A Midsummer Night's Dream? Because it wasn't one that we did in high school, but it is one that I feel like I've seen at least a few times, like actually performed.
AMANDA: Yes, I've seen it performed a lot. I have seen it at the globe, which was really cool. I've seen it in Stratford upon Avon at the like reconstituted Globe Theater and like professional Shakespeare Company. The Royal Shakespeare Company, that's the one. It is—I don't know, it's like we read it in middle school. It's one of the plays that is adapted very often. It's not necessarily one that I find the most like impactful or that I think back on again and again. But it is A Midsummer Night's Dream is like a hotdog to me, Julia. It's not like the highest of art, but it's something I have a lot of opinions about because it's so ubiquitous in my life. And there are things to love and there are things to be annoyed by. And if you look under the hood sometimes you're like the hell's going on here. But I think I've come around to really respecting what I really believe to be like the common food of Shakespeare.
JULIA: Okay, okay. Now I need to know your hot takes on hotdogs.
AMANDA: All hotdogs are good.
JULIA: Okay.
AMANDA: And there are the plainer the better for me hotdog white bread bun that's almost falling apart, some ketchup, I'm good to go. But any version of a fancy hotdog, a gourmet hotdog, a weirdo hotdog, and one of my favorites like peanut butter, pickles, and chips from Crif Dogs.
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: Here in the city of a little mall. Every hot dog is good, and the high art and low art you don't have to like class it up for it to be worth your time, in my opinion. And I think that's how I feel about A Midsummer Night's Dream ultimately. That's not you know, the one with like the soliloquy that will break your heart or one that you know is filled with like huge meditations on you know, life and mortality and love and all of that. It's got a play within a play. It's got a lot about slobbing, lot of dick jokes, a lot of just like farcical shenanies, and like most rom coms, it would be solved by like a single conversation. And ultimately, I kind of love that.
JULIA: I love that too. By the way, next time you're on Long Island and we see there's a like local hot dog truck called Gina's Wieners.
AMANDA: Ohhh.
JULIA: First off, fantastic name. Secondly, they do a bon me hotdog and it is one of the greatest things I've ever had in terms of hotdog like it's so—
AMANDA: Hell yeah.
JULIA: —freaking good, like I can't even.
AMANDA: It's got to do it. Well, take a break from Tony's Tacos to get Gina's Wiener's.
JULIA: Listen, Gina's Wiener's is kind of like you have to come for like a festival day and like make that a whole thing.
AMANDA: Yeah, yeah.
JULIA: But like listen, we can make that happen. I'm—I'm just saying. So before we dive into the kind of like mythological origins and characters that are featured in A Midsummer Night's Dream, of course, we have to go through the plot, right, Amanda?
AMANDA: We gotta. And as we do it, you'll say, huh, and I'll say that's right.
JULIA: That's right, that's it. To start us off the play starts with Theseus, who is referred to by Shakespeare as the Duke of Athens, who is preparing for his wedding. He is getting married to Hippolyta who is the queen of the Amazons. The, you know, classic Greek warrior women. And it is going to be like a whole to do. It's going to be a four-day festival full of performances and feasts and all kinds of entertainment, which I will say Shakespeare got right because there's nothing the Greeks love more than a four-day festival of entertainment getting drunk and maybe some sports, you know, that's just their thing.
AMANDA: Maybe some sports, some light sporting.
JULIA: Maybe some sport.
AMANDA: Or maybe watching someone else sport in between your drunken carousing, which TDH, that's what I'm looking for in a three-day weekend.
JULIA: Yeah, that's like, you know, going to the US Open and getting super drunk and being like, throw that discus.
AMANDA: Exactly. Mmm, get oil.
JULIA: Mmmm, yeah. So since this is such a momentous event for Theseus to be getting married, he tasks his master of the rebels, which is basically like the royal party planner and is either a dream job or an absolute nightmare, depending on how you do it.
AMANDA: Yeah. It feels like a very high likelihood that you get beheaded over like a catering incident.
JULIA: Yep.
AMANDA: Which is not unlike catering and planning big events now from what I understand from my friends who do it, but I think a good day at work is one where like, all of your revelers are sort of too drunk to stand and like fall asleep where they are.
JULIA: I mean, that's the dream, right? And a bad day at work is like why is there not enough drinks for everyone, Thor smash, and then everyone's dead.
AMANDA: You're dead.
JULIA: So anyway, he asked the master of the rebels to find some entertainment for the wedding, which he sets out to do. And meanwhile, an Athenian noblemen name Egeus comes to the court and he's towing alongside his daughter Hermia and two men, Demetrius and Lysander. Egeus is like, hey, Duke, I've got a problem. I want to marry my daughter to this guy, Demetrius and that's great because he also loves her, but my daughter what a pain, she's in love with this guy Lysander and refuses to marry Demetrius. Can you make her marry him since you're the Duke and you've got the power to do so, because I know that you can make her comply or otherwise, like send her to a nunnery or like even sentenced her to death.
AMANDA: Exactly. Yeah, the—the specific line is, as she is mine, I may dispose of her, which shall be either to this gentleman or to her death according to our law immediately provided in the case.
JULIA: Excuse me. What? Excuse me? She doesn't want to marry the guy so she gets put to death. What?
AMANDA: Yeah, it's a lot.
JULIA: And this is a romantic comedy, basically.
AMANDA: [laughs] It is.
JULIA: Just want to specify, romantic comedy.
AMANDA: It sure is. Yes.
JULIA: Meanwhile, Lysander is like listening to [7:44] he's like, oh, wait, Duke, you also got to know that this guy Demetrius he sucks, he was engaged to Hermia's best friend Helena but broke it off when he met Hermia. So like he—
AMANDA: Rude.
JULIA: —is kind of a dick and Theseus is like yeah, I heard that hot gas, let's talk about this in private. But he tells Hermia before he leaves that Hermia has only until the royal wedding to make up her mind. Either marry Demetrius or get banished to the nunnery or even killed.
AMANDA: Mmmm.
JULIA: Mmmm, mmm.
AMANDA: Not good.
JULIA: You know what you don't want to do right before your wedding is sentenced a young lover to death.
AMANDA: That's what I think especially because, you know, the framing—one part of this play that I've seen done well a couple of times and there are a lot of readings about like, there's a lot of like play within a play, it's obviously called A Midsummer Night's Dream. And like there's a lot of like dreaming what's real, what's not etc. The framing of this being Theseus and Hippolyta's wedding specifically starts with Theseus saying, you know, I wooed you with my sword Hippolyta. But now I'm going to marry you sweetly and with revelry. There is a lot of like, this cool party is going to make up for a lot of stuff, right? And part of that is perhaps sentencing a young woman to death because she wants to marry somebody who her father does not want her to marry.
JULIA: Yeah. And we'll talk about what that line means, I wooed you with my sword, later when we talk about the mythological origins–
AMANDA: Oh, good.
JULIA: —of Theseus and Hippolyta. But yeah, I'm just like this marriage is not starting off great, and it—Spoiler alert, won't end well either.
AMANDA: Nope.
JULIA: But not featured in this play.
AMANDA: Not yet.
JULIA: So Hermia and Lysander are left alone on stage and they talk about their plan basically to escape Athens in the cover of night, get married without her father's wishes at Lysanders aunt's house, which seems like a cool aunt if she's into this. I don't know. Like, you know, do you have one relative that you're like, if I wanted to get married in secret, I would go to their house?
AMANDA: A thousand percent Aunt Patsy, who is a massage therapist/vintage reseller on Etsy. And after helping raise her 10 siblings said I'm fucking out of here, move to Seattle and it's great.
JULIA: I love that for you.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: I love that. Shout out Patsy, that's great.
AMANDA: Love you, Aunt Patsy. Her name is Helen Patricia and she does not for me, Patsy it is.
JULIA: Patsy it is. I think if Jake and I were doing this, he has this one aunt that lives out in California who like basically takes care of their grandma and also is married to this guy who is like the most California stoner surfer guy ever and he's like, my favorite of Jake's relatives by far.
AMANDA: Yeah, I'm sensing the theme of the— the aunts who were like, fuck this noise I'm going west and—
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: —figured out their own destiny. Those are the ones that you go to elope with.
JULIA: God, I love those hippie relatives. God, I love them, they're great.
AMANDA: Mmm.
JULIA: They also let Hermia's best friend Helena, who, like I said, used to be engaged to Demetrius and still loves him. They let Helena know what their plan is. And Helena fucking snitches on her bestie in order to get Demetrius to love her and tells him all about what the two have planned. Not—not good friend vibes here for Helena, simply not.
AMANDA: No.
JULIA: Can't do that to your friend, you can't. So she tells Demetrius where and when they are going to flee and Demetrius races off to the woods to intercept them with Helena following behind. Now meanwhile, Amanda in the same woods, there is a lot of other shit going on. At least three other storylines, I would say.
AMANDA: Yes. It's like there's a B plot and then a second B plot, and then is C plot that turns into a D plot for donkey.
JULIA: It does turn into D for donkey. That's true.
AMANDA: If you don't know what I'm talking about, you will. Maybe—
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: —it's goes from— from B for Bottom to D for donkey, we'll get there.
JULIA: It also could go to a, he might get moved to the a plot for ass.
AMANDA: That's true, that's true.
JULIA: Yeah, yeah. So we'll start with the fairies, the fairies who will be talking a lot about in our second half of our episode. But the fairies are led by Oberon who is the fairy king and his wife Titania, who has been off traveling through India. Which I was like, ah, yes, you know, when you lived in England, and you want to make things like ooh, fancy place and exotic, let's send them to India. Perhaps [11:57] age the best but hey, Shakespeare, you're a product of your time. So, what can you do?
AMANDA: Yes. And it's kind of on England that that didn't change from the late 1400s and early 1500s to oh, checks watch right now.
JULIA: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So Titania has been traveling through India, she's returned back to bless the marriage between Theseus and Hippolyta, but Oberon and Titania are at odds because while in India, Titania had been given basically a young handsome prince as a gift from his mother. You know when you give the fairy queen just child for funsies?
AMANDA: Yeah. It's not even like a diplomacy situation, which I think a lot of us saw depicted in Game of Thrones and stuff like that. Where like, you have a ward or you have somebody where it's like, hey, [12:43] this like political alliances you know our like third most important principle go to live with you. No, no, she was just like, given a human kid.
JULIA: Yep, she certainly was. And Oberon upon seeing this human child is like, I want this child, I want to quote-unquote, "make the prince one of his knights," which is this is Greek mythology, definitely a euphemism. Definitely want to fuck that boy.
AMANDA: Yes.
JULIA: —that's probably what's happening here. Much like any story where Zeus is like, I guess I want him to be my cup of bearer. you're like, Zeus, I don't think that's what you want actually, I think you want to fuck this boy. And yeah, he did—he did want to fuck that boy.
AMANDA: Yes.
JULIA: So Titania definitely does not want to share this handsome prince, which pisses Oberon off, so he tasks his servant Puck to enact his revenge. Now, this is our first introduction of Puck, one of my favorite Shakespeare characters of all time.
AMANDA: And one of the hottest messenger trickster figures.
JULIA: Truly.
AMANDA: We've talked about it before.
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: Messengers, tricksters, always hot. Puck, perhaps the hottest.
JULIA: Perhaps the hottest. Certainly, the most mischievous that we'll see in Shakespeare's plays. But Oberon sends Puck to find a magic flower whose juice can be spread over the eyes of a sleeping person and makes that person fall in love with the first thing or person they see when they wake up. Classic, kind of like both Greek mythology but also just like general play shenanigans that are happening here.
AMANDA: Yes.
JULIA: Just like Shakespeare is like, alright, you can see how this is gonna go wrong, right audience? And the audience is like, yes, Shakespeare we understand what's happening.
AMANDA: Yes, we can.
JULIA: With this magic flower, Oberon also happens to come across Demetrius and Helena in the woods. And he's like really annoyed by how poorly Demetrius is treating this woman who loves him. So he orders Puck to spread the juice on the eyelids of Demetrius. However, the way he phrases it, Puck accidentally spreads it on the eyes of Lysander when he comes across Lysander and Hermia in the forest. So Lysander awakes, and the first person he sees is Helena, and then instantly falls in love with her abandoning Hermia for her bestie.
AMANDA: Julia.
JULIA: Shenanigans are— they're happening, they're just happening.
AMANDA: It's a love parallelogram, where all of the lines instead of intersecting, run concurrent to each other. And that is not the way we wish the lines to go.
JULIA: No, we want the lines to line up with the people that love each other, that would be nice, right? So Puck realizing and then trying to fix his mistake, both Lysander and Demetrius ended up falling in love with Helena, who as a result of all this kind of unexpected attention, convinces herself that they must be making fun of her, which girl same.
AMANDA: So relatable.
JULIA: So relatable.
AMANDA: Especially because Helena and Hermia are defined as big and little like those aren't their— those are their only character traits.
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: And it is just extremely funny and tragic and relatable for her to be like, no, you must be joking.
JULIA: Yeah, Helena's vibe is really like tall and sad, and then Hermia's is short and wants to fight.
AMANDA: It's me and Julia. And you can understand why—
JULIA: It does!
AMANDA: —when I went to England when I was 16, I said I gotta find Julia some Hermia merch and did buy for her.
JULIA: And you did, you got me a beautiful mug, I love it. Incredible. So, Hermia, meanwhile, who had both of these men in love with her only earlier in the day, becomes incredibly jealous and tries to legit fight Helena which is fantastic, a great scene. And then meanwhile Demetrius and Lysander almost get into a duel over Helena's love, but Puck intervenes by mimicking their voices and leading them to get lost in separate parts of the forest. Which is a classic trickster nonsense, like we see that all through folklore just like yes, follow the voice that sounds like your beloved or the person in this case you want to fight. And then ends up getting you even more lost.
AMANDA: Yeah. And there's some like humble eroticism, like Lysander, Demetrius, like, you know, they're—they're lusting after each other, not in a sexual way necessarily, but they— they are sparking passionate feelings in each other that is really interesting to see.
JULIA: Yes. Especially depending on how it's directed in stage. You can be like, do you guys want to kiss? What's—what's up?
AMANDA: Like all four of you should kiss. Like that—that—you could.
JULIA: All of you could just kiss each other, that would be nice, you know?
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: Yeah. Oh, Hermia just drag Helena down and give her a big old smooch. Let's do it, let’s do it. So meanwhile, while all this with the lovers is happening, Oberon has also applied the flower love potion Titania while she is sleeping. And the other group in the forest besides the fairies, and the four lovers is a band of Athenian craftsmen who are rehearsing a play called Pyramus and Thisbe, that they hope they'll get to perform for Theseus and Hippolyta's wedding.
AMANDA: Yes.
JULIA: Now, Amanda, let's talk about Pyramus and Thisbe real quick.
AMANDA: Yeah, let's do it.
JULIA: One, it's hilarious.
AMANDA: It is.
JULIA: It's like any time you see this perform because little spoiler for the end of the thing, they end up getting to perform the show, but it's like, they're so concerned that it's not going to go over well, that they basically change all of the plot and stuff like that.
AMANDA: Yup.
JULIA: Like there's this whole thing where it's like, one character is like, I'm gonna play a lion, but I gotta make sure my big roar doesn't scare all the ladies in the audience, you know?
AMANDA: Yeah, he's like, if I roar too good everyone's gonna be really afraid, and it's—
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: —incredibly sweet and the, you know, like friendship and shenanigans between all these men, they're also you know, like tradesmen, they're good at craftsmen, they're not like actors. And so—
JULIA: Actors, yeah.
AMANDA: —seeing, you know, real actors play civilians playing parts is incredibly funny.
JULIA: Yes.
AMANDA: And yeah, it's— it's pretty much a take on Romeo and Juliet, like, it's a very similar parody and it's got real sort of Saturday Night Live vibes, where like, a celebrity, you know, is playing a, you know, like, sexy lady and it always goes over well.
JULIA: This is something that I probably should talk about in the second half, but Pyramus and Thisbe was a real play, a real story that comes from Ovid Metamorphoses. And like, is basically the premise that would become Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. It also has a couple of other like iterations and stuff like Tristan and Isolde is another kind of classic like Romeo and Juliet's predecessor, that is inspired by the story of Pyramus and Thisbe. So Shakespeare knew his stuff and was using it in this play. You know what I mean?
AMANDA: Yeah, he's a genre writer, like people think that you know, I don't know Star Trek sex pollen is crazy and comes from nowhere, but it doesn't, it's the same, like py—like Midsummer Night's Dream has sex pollen fallen.
JULIA: Yes.
AMANDA: And then puck is like, uh-oh, put it on the wrong dude. Ya-ha.
JULIA: Woah-oh.
AMANDA: And then like, runs away.
JULIA: Uses—uses a cane to pull himself off this age, you know classic.
AMANDA: [19:51]
JULIA: These craftsmen include Peter Quince, who is a carpenter and the sort of like—
AMANDA: Oh, Peter Quince.
JULIA: —leader of the Craftsman.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: He unfortunately gets sidelined by the overconfident Nick Bottom who we're going to talk about, who is the star—
AMANDA: Yup.
JULIA: —as Pyramus in the play. There's also Francis Flute, love all of these names. Shakespeare was just like, what if I made all these really silly and you're like, my guy?
AMANDA: I know, it's like—it's like John Hammer is essentially the name of all of them.
JULIA: Francis Flute, he is unwillingly forced into the role of Thisbe in the play, he's annoyed that he has to play like the young girl in love.
AMANDA: Yes.
JULIA: And he has to like put on a falsetto voice. [20:30]
AMANDA: I know. They're like do the voice. Better voice, higher voice.
JULIA: Higher voice! Then there's Robin who is a tailor, there's Tom, the Tinker, there's Snug, who's a joiner.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: And I just, I love them all so much.
AMANDA: I love them all.
JULIA: So much. They're such like minor parts in the play too, but they spend so much time on stage for being so minor.
AMANDA: Yes. And you know it's the funnest one, because they get to just rehearse their little band of like parodying actors, and they probably can like parody other people in the company who they, you know, like or don't like, and it's just— it is joyous. And especially compared to other instances, there have been thousands of academic papers written about the use of like plays within plays in Shakespeare. And for my mind, this is so joyous, it is so much fun. Like everybody's having fun talking about theater and being in the theater and referencing the theater, as opposed to especially something like Hamlet. Where the arrival of players and actors in the theater troupe is like a cover for murder. And is a—
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: —political device to further Hamlet's goals and leads to deadly conflict. As opposed to a bunch of you know, tradesmen putting on a play for the royal wedding.
JULIA: And I mean, like, it just like proves that like Shakespeare was someone who also consumed plays as much as he wrote them. And I—
AMANDA: Yes.
JULIA: —love him as like both a expert and playwright, but also a audience member. And you're like, ah, yes, of course. And we'll talk a little bit about that because like, there are certain plays that Shakespeare almost definitely saw or heard performed, and was inspired by, which I think is really cool.
AMANDA: Hell yeah.
JULIA: So that is our kind of crew of Athenian craftsmen. And Puck while they're rehearsing, stumbles upon them and finding Nick Bottom, such a poor yet far too confident actor decides to transform Bottom's head into the head of a donkey, an ass when he steps away from the craftsman.
AMANDA: Puck is literally like, you're a bad actor, you seem like an asshole, yoink. And then it makes him wake up at the head of a donkey, it's amazing.
JULIA: Amanda, you've seen a lot of productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream. What's your favorite transformation of Bottom into the ass's head?
AMANDA: Giant paper mache donkey's head.
JULIA: You got to do the giant paper mache donkey's head, you simply gotta.
AMANDA: You simply must. I've also seen it with like little donkey ear headband, maybe some makeup, maybe like a more silicone, you know, or attempting to be realistic mask. I always love productions of Shakespeare that are pretty stripped down and not necessarily trying to be period or even trying to be modern. I like when it sort of lets the language speak for itself and they have like props that gesture at the real thing without being you know, aiming for total like verisimilitude. So for me, like a big kind of like rough, you know, farcical mascot head, but paper mache is my favorite version of this I've seen.
JULIA: Like a—like a pinata almost.
AMANDA: Exactly, right. Yes.
JULIA: I love it. Fantastic. Thank you, thank you for sharing that, that's so great. These as you stressed before are just simple craftsmen, Amanda. So when their friend returns with a donkey head, the rest of the men run away terrified, because what else would you do if your friend suddenly had an animal head? I certainly would run away terrified.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: And I could be like, man, what up? What's up with that head? What happened to you? You wouldn't even recognize him. You just be like this donkey put on Nick's clothes!
AMANDA: Exactly right, yeah. And—and you would not think, mmm I'm sure a trickster, a hot trickster has gotten up to some mischief here.
JULIA: Yes. And as we know, probably Puck has been invisible this whole time. But Puck chases after all of these men as they run away terrified, amused by their panic. And Bottom confused why they're running away, remains behind. He's like, oh, man, okay. I mean, I thought my acting was pretty good.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: I'm going to take a nap now, I guess.
AMANDA: It's incredible.
JULIA: Unseen by bottom, the sleeping Titania awakes, and of course sees Bottom, instantly falling in love with him because of that love potion that Oberon put on earlier.
AMANDA: That ass is mine Titania. Thinks and very infrequently do people meet it quite so literally.
JULIA: She truly does. So she is thoroughly enamored. And so she insists that Bottom remain by her side and has her group of fairy maidens of who have the best Shakespeare names in the world.
AMANDA: Mmmm.
JULIA: Peace blossom.
AMANDA: Yep.
JULIA: Cobweb, Moat, and Mustard Seed.
AMANDA: That's right.
JULIA: They are going to see to his every wish and command. Now Amanda, if you can pick one of those four names which one would you pick?
AMANDA: Gotta be Mustard Seed, that one's Jewish.
JULIA: I also was going to agree, Mustard Seed that's the way to go. Peace blossom also very Good.
AMANDA: It is.
JULIA: But Mustard Seed takes the cake man, just takes the cake.
AMANDA: I think if I had four cats I'd be pretty tempted to name them those four names.
JULIA: That's very good, Amanda. I know that you're slowly coming over your allergies and you can soon have animals. So maybe you got to start with Mustard Seed the cat, who I imagine is like a little sandy ginger tabby.
AMANDA: Yes they would have to be.
JULIA: Okay so let's go through this one more time. Mustard Seed, sandy ginger tap.
AMANDA: Yes.
JULIA: Right? Peace blossom, I'm picturing is kind of like a calico, maybe like you know a little like brindle situation happening there, I think that would look really cute.
AMANDA: Yeah. Or even like a light gray to white, like not mono color, but I think we're both on the same page that's some kind of like spotting striping, you know cute situation makes sense for an adorable name like Peace blossom.
JULIA: Now cobweb was the one that I was picturing as a kind of like gray tabby against stripes. Not like black and white necessarily, but it kind of has that vibe of a cobweb certainly.
AMANDA: I thought all black, all black cat.
JULIA: Okay. So for me Moat was going to be my all-black cat.
AMANDA: That is really good.
JULIA: With like, maybe like one paw white or like a little white spot right here on his chest.
AMANDA: Yeah, one little sock.
JULIA: One little sock. Yes, I love that.
AMANDA: Adorable.
JULIA: If someone has named their cat after the fairy maidens from A Midsummer Night's Dream, please send us photos immediately.
AMANDA: Yes, please.
JULIA: So Bottom is shockingly chill about all the events that are happening to him. The fact that a fairy queen is now in love with him randomly, he's like this is the life hell yeah, rub my feet. Fairy lady, let's go.
AMANDA: Exactly. He's like, mmmm, look it up for Bottom baby.
JULIA: But he also has not realized that his head has been transformed into donkey's head.
AMANDA: No.
JULIA: Simply— I don't think he ever figures it out if I remember correctly, but—
AMANDA: No, I don't think he does. Because at some point, Puck is like fine and then like look with your own full eyes, you idiot, basically.
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: And takes it off. But I think he only notices after it's gone.
JULIA: Classic. Classic Bottom. So Puck at this point, let's Oberon know that his wife is now in love with a donkey-headed buffoon. And Oberon is delighted to know that his revenge is working.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: We see him talking to Puck and he apparently has come across to Titania off-stage and has asked for her stolen prints in exchange for undoing the love spell on Titania, which she consents to. Be like, fine, you can have him and yes, I suppose you did put a little cursor, a potion on me. You can remove it, I suppose. I'm extremely happy with my donkey lover though right now.
AMANDA: Yeah. She's really trying to maintain her dignity, and this is quite a toxic relationship.
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: In many definitions. These actors are often also double cast with the Athenian.
JULIA: Theseus and Hippolyta, yeah.
AMANDA: Exactly. So seeing sort of like the late stage of a marriage where they kind of hate each other and you know, are like doing petty tricks and jealous of like a kid, it's not great. And leaves—it's like, again, the you know, the contrast as all these things are between young love and how quickly that young love can turn.
JULIA: Yes, I think that's 100% true, and I'm glad you—you talked about the kind of double casting, we'll get to that in a little bit, and we can talk about the parallels between the mythological characters of Titania and Hippolyta, and Theseus and Oberon. I think it'd be fun.
AMANDA: Oh, hell yeah.
JULIA: Titania has agreed to have the curse removed, finding the sleeping Titania cuddled up with Bottom, Oberon speaks a charm to undo the potion, and then when she awakes Titania is like, oh man, is this who I was loved with? Fuck. That—that sucks.
AMANDA: Yeah. If he could take like a sort of, you know, video that would later embarrass her, of her snuggled up, he totally would. But that was not available in the 1500s
JULIA: Simply was not, sorry about that. So Oberon sweeps her away, calling for music for them to dance to while Puck restores a sleeping Bottom to his normal appearance. And Oberon now having everything he wanted, sends Puck once more to spread love potion on Lysanders eyes, and the Athenian couples find that all as well, everyone's in love with who they're supposed to be in love with and everything's fine again.
AMANDA: And with that, bunch of marriages.
JULIA: Yes. At this point, we're in the final act of the play in the forest. Theseus and Hippolyta enter with like their kind of entourage. They discover the four lovers and they're like, hey, what's going on? Why are you guys asleep in the forest? Did you guys figure out what's going on? And the lovers are like, man, I mean, I think we did. I can't really remember what happened last night, it's almost like it was A Midsummer Night's Dream.
AMANDA: And they all make eye contact with the camera, and then a white circle sort of like closes in and it says the end, and then the car from Greece flies by and that's the end of the play.
JULIA: They did, [29:44] the title. They did it. Not quite the end of the play.
AMANDA: Yeah, yeah.
JULIA: Because listen, everything's good, Theseus finding that all the couples have happily found love. Demetrius with Helena, Hermia with Lysander. He then orders them to follow him to the temple of the great wedding feast and they're gonna all get married together, like in a group marriage, which is kind of fun, you know?
AMANDA: It is kind of fun.
JULIA: It's like after gay marriage was legalized and everyone's doing it was like big joint gay weddings.
AMANDA: And Guy Fieri did one, I was thinking about that.
JULIA: Guy Fieri did one.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: Yeah. I was rewatching Top Chef, Amanda and we got to that one episode where Pad was like, I'm marrying you all now.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: And they all had to cater the wedding. I was like, oh, man, that power suit she had on, so good.
AMANDA: [30:22] incredible.
JULIA: So good. Oh, man. So they all do the wedding, the Lovers are married, as is Theseus and Hippolyta. And then after the wedding, the craftsmen because they're back now they're all good, the craftsmen come and perform their play in a kind of bumbling and hilarious performance despite their best attempts to be earnest. It's really rather sweet, Bottom has rejoined them at this point because he was like, I had a wonderful dream and I'm gonna make Peter Quince write a monologue for me about it.
AMANDA: Yep.
JULIA: Which he does, he certainly does. And then at this point, all the lovers go to their marriage beds. The fairies emerged to bless the sleeping couples with fidelity and beautiful children because why not? And then the play ends Amanda, with Puck asking the audience for either applause or forgiveness. And if they didn't like it just being like, hey, just like think about it like this, maybe it was all a dream.
AMANDA: Exactly right. And then Shakespeare drops us Quill and is like, can't review be badly bitches.
JULIA: Done. Amanda, would you like to read the final monologue by Puck for me? Because you have such a great Shakespearean reading voice. Yes.
AMANDA: If we shadows have offended, think that this and all is mended. That you have but slumbered here while these visions did appear. And this weak in idle theme, no more yielding but a dream. Gentles, do not reprehend, if you pardon, we will mend. And as I am an honest Puck, if we have an unearned luck, now to escape the serpent's tongue, we will make amends their long. Eltz the Puck a liar call, so can they unto you all? Give me your hands if we be friends, and Robin shall restore amends.
JULIA: I remember being absolutely blown away, Amanda when I was like, what is this thing about the scape of the serpent's tongue? And then someone was like, oh, it's because like the audience would like hiss if they were pissed off and didn't like a play and I was like, mind blown!
AMANDA: Yup.
JULIA: Mind blown! Incredible.
AMANDA: My moment like that was a couple lines earlier, where Oberon says through the house give glimmering light by the dead and drowsy fire, every alpha fairy sprite. Hop as delight, a bird from briar, etc. Like calling the—the fairies away. And in many productions, the house lights will actually raise or to sort of like break that spell and start having the audience like look at each other and realize and remember that we have like, assembled to watch a play.
JULIA: A play. Yeah. Amazing, that's so good. That's such a smart way to put that on to. Amazing. God, I love it so much. So that is A Midsummer Night's Dream. And when we get back from our refill, we'll talk a little bit more about the kind of mythological characters that Shakespeare uses in here and how he might come up with a few on his own.
AMANDA: Let's do it.
[theme]
JULIA: Hey, this is Julia and welcome to the refill. Of course, we have to start by thanking our newest patrons here, Steven, Hope, and Cayla. Welcome, welcome, welcome. It is your generosity that allows us to make this show each and every week. And we are so, so pleased that you've joined us here on the Patreon. And of course, you too listening can join our Patreon at patreon.com/spiritspodcast and join the ranks of people like our supporting producer-level patrons, Uhleeseeuh, Anne, Brittany, Froody Chick, Hannah, Jack Marie, Jane, Kneazlekins, Lily, Matthew, Megan Moon, Nathan, Phil Fresh, Rikoelike, Captain Jonathan MAL-uh-kye Cosmos, Sarah, and Scott. And of course our legend-level patrons, Arianna, Audra, Bex, Chibi Yokai, Morgan, Morgan H., Sarah, and Bea Me Up Scotty. And again you too can join and get some fabulous rewards, like add free episodes, recipe cards for each and every episode, bonus urban legends episodes and so much more at patreon.com/spiritspodcast. Of course, I love to leave you guys with a little recommendation and a another project that I worked on has just started their second season. Life with Leo(h) is a audio drama, it's like a sci-fi romantic comedy. And if that's something that tickles your fancy, go check it out. It is from our friends at Atypical Artists and it is Life with Leo(h). It's very cute, it's very sweet and I had a lot of fun doing the sound design on it. So check it out. You can find it in any of your podcatchers of choice. And speaking of podcasts that you can find in your podcatchers of choice, have you listened yet to Pale Blue Pod? Pale Blue Pod is an astronomy podcast for people who are overwhelmed by the universe, but also want to be its friend. Astrophysicist Dr. Moiya McTier and comedian Corinne Caputo demystify space one topic at a time with open eyes, open arms, and open mouths, just from like laughing and jaw-dropping. It's a very, very fun show. By the end of each episode, the cosmos will be a little less, too scary, and a lot more, ooh, so cool. You can get new episodes every Monday, wherever you get your podcasts. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. And listen, you probably give a lot of your energy to other people. And it's really hard trying to find a balance between helping others and also helping yourself. And this is something that I talk to my therapist a lot about. And I really think that therapy has benefited me. I talk about this all the time, but being able to talk to someone who can help you get better insight into situations where you're not like too much into your head is so, so important. And therapy can give you the tools you need to find more balance in your life so that you can keep supporting others without leaving yourself behind. And if you're thinking of starting therapy, consider giving BetterHelp a try. It's entirely online, designed to be convenient, flexible and suited to your schedule. Just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist, and switch therapist anytime for no additional charge find more balance with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com/spirits today to get 10% off your first month that's betterHELP.com/spirits. And if you're like me and are celebrating summer by making just as many tiki drinks as possible, let me recommend to you Shaker & Spoon. Shaker & Spoon is a subscription cocktail service that helps you learn how to make handcrafted cocktails right at home. I love Shaker & Spoon. This month I believe they're doing a Jamaican rum box. And oh my gosh, I took a sneak peek at what those recipes are gonna be, and I am obsessed. Every box comes with enough ingredients to make three different cocktail recipes developed by world-class mixologist. All you need to do is buy one bottle of that month spirit and you have all you need to make 12 drinks at home. It just 40 to $50 a month plus the cost of the bottle, it is a super cost-effective way to enjoy craft cocktails. And you can skip or cancel boxes at any time. Think about going to a very fancy bougie cocktail bar. Imagine how much you're spending on each of those cocktails. Now imagine you can get those for much cheaper and in the comfort of your own home. That's what Shaker & Spoon is all about. So invite some friends over class of your nightcaps, or be the best house guests of all time with your Shaker & Spoon box. Get $20 off your first box at shakerandspoon.com/cool. That's shakerandspoon.com/cool. And now let's get back to the show. So Amanda for A Midsummer Night's Dream, A Midsummer-inspired cocktail is definitely necessary, I think you'll agree with me. And now this one in particular is what I have referred to as a Midsummer Gin Dream.
AMANDA: Yay!
JULIA: The key ingredient here is Ttis Hendrix seasonal gin which they call their mid-summer solstice gin.
AMANDA: Yes.
JULIA: It's extremely good, it's very floral and light and like perfect for a kind of light summer cocktail. If you can't find it in your local distributor or your liquor store, just try to find the most like floral gin you can find and that'll be a good substitute for it. But basically, this is just a bit of tonic water, lime juice, and then [38:30] which is a raspberry liquorice. So it's really like floral light, tad sweet, a little bit like sour, which I think is a really good fit for this play.
AMANDA: I love it so much. I think if you wanted to be extra, you could add in an ounce or so of pea blossom tea, which is like a beautiful purple and can also change color as it warms up or as you add acid to it. Absolutely delicious, and I'm picturing this Julia with like a couple of edible flowers or like a little sprig of herb on top, and just like a lovely little bower that with those notes of juniper and the gin reminds you of a forest.
JULIA: There you go. I also would recommend if you are looking for a gin that isn't this Midsummer Solstice gin, the Empress gin is a gin that is made with the butterfly pea blossom and you can like get that purple color without having to add anything to it, which I think is really, really good.
AMANDA: Gotta get my hands on that.
JULIA: Oh my gosh, yes. We have some— it's like fairly affordable at our local like liquor store, Amanda. So next time you're here we can pick it up.
AMANDA: Love it.
JULIA: Before we get to the second half of the episode, I've put together a little game for you.
AMANDA: Yay!
JULIA: Now this one is called, the course of true love never did run through a dating app.
AMANDA: [claps] Let's play.
JULIA: Alright. So basically I'm gonna read you of four dating at bios from four of the characters from A Midsummer Night's Dream, and it is up to you to determine whose profile is which. And for a little added bonus, you can let me know if you would swipe right based on the description that they wrote.
AMANDA: Oh hit me up, Julia, let's do it.
JULIA: Number one, is looking for a partner who's up for anything, who likes it when plans go sideways because it's way more fun that way. Love listening to other people's gossip and making my boss laugh, as well as pulling pranks.
AMANDA: This is gotta be Robin Goodfellow Puck, and I would definitely swipe left because I am too anxious for that.
JULIA: That's fair, that is fair. Alright, our second one is, trying to find a guy who my dad will approve of. Won't consider anyone that my bestie doesn't approve of. Short queen.
AMANDA: Hermia, though she be but little, she is fierce.
JULIA: She is.
AMANDA: I guess dad's would approve of me, but I'm a little worried about how much personality she has. So I probably swipe right, but then be scared and see if she messages me back or not.
JULIA: That's fair. You know what, Amanda, you're a 30 under 30 media luminary, and you own your own business. I bet her dad would be super into you.
AMANDA: Thank you, thank you. I wonder if Helena would not like me though, because I too am tall and sad.
JULIA: No, I think that like you guys would— you would vibe well, you know?
AMANDA: Thank you, thank you.
JULIA: Yeah, of course. Alright. Our next one is just a small-town guy trying to make it in the big city. I love hanging out with my boys and messing around. Sometimes I'm kind of bad at noticing when people are flirting with me.
AMANDA: Well this I think has to be one of the lads from the traveling troupe. I'm gonna go with— I think people are flirting with me.
JULIA: I feel like it maybe it should be more like, sometimes people call me oblivious. but I don't think so.
AMANDA: Yeah, I think it's got to be Nick Bottom.
JULIA: Yes, absolutely correct.
AMANDA: Main Character's energy all over the place. And I'd probably swipe right, go on one day and then decide he'd be just like a good hang, you know?
JULIA: Yeah. The vibe that I wanted to give from this one with the description was like, basically like, yeah, technically, I'm a tailor, but I'm trying to be an actor, you know, and I'm going on a lot of auditions. And you're like, are you good at what you do, or are you just trying really hard?
AMANDA: No, he would definitely have a lot of like photos of his apartment with like a printout of Al Pacino taped to the wall. Yeah.
JULIA: Fight Club poster.
AMANDA: Uh-huh.
JULIA: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
AMANDA: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
JULIA: Great. Alright. Here is our last one, this one is the one I'm most proud of. Joint account with my wife. Looking for a third that can keep up with a high-status power couple like us. Will treat you like royalty, so long as you don't cross us. Matches being reviewed by our assistant.
AMANDA: Julia it's incredibly good, and you know it's Oberon and Titania, and she may or may not have given permission for him to make this.
JULIA: A 100%. Yes, that was the vibe I was coming for. Thank you.
AMANDA: I would definitely swipe left because This has real getting murdered in the woods energy. You show up for a threesome, They change their minds. You get murdered in the woods. I don't think so.
JULIA: Yeah, that's also like just a really common thing. For people who aren't bisexuals on dating apps out there.
AMANDA: Yeah, yeah.
JULIA: Do you know how many like joint account couples there are, who are like looking for our third and you're like, no, I just want to date. I don't want to like be your weird threesome that is going to not help your marriage even though you think it will.
AMANDA: Yeah. They're looking for a unicorn, that's great but there's no filters. And especially when you reach out and you're like, hi, I am not actually a individual man or woman looking for another person to date. You get surprised by invitations for threesomes all the time.
JULIA: Yep.
AMANDA: And listen, not that that's not flattering, but it gets old after the first few.
JULIA: Yep, yep. When that's not what you're looking for, it's not a great time.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: Let's get into some mythology behind Shakespeare, alright? Like I mentioned before, it's not uncommon during this period to make references to quote classical mythology, like you'll see a lot of this in poetry in particular. And scholars have assumed that Shakespeare read several Greek and Roman works, including, like I mentioned before, Ovid's Metamorphoses and Homer's Iliad. So for someone of what we assume is Shakespeare's education, it's also safe to assume that this education would include some sort of like the classical works, and the mythology and history of ancient Greece, right? So this is perhaps most obvious in A Midsummer Night's Dream with the inclusion of Theseus and Hippolyta. And Theseus and Hippolyta kind of sandwich the play, only really appearing at the beginning and the end. But their wedding is this kind of catalyst for the rest of the plot. It's the driving force behind the action. And for those of us who are familiar with Greek mythology, they might recognize these names. But let me remind you a little bit of who they were. Amanda, do you remember anything about the Theseus at all?
AMANDA: Not a one.
JULIA: Just from what we've talked about? That's totally fine, no worries. So Theseus famously, was the mythical founding king of the city of Athens, which is where our play takes place, even though Shakespeare decides to call him a Duke instead. I was like, I guess you just didn't want to insult like the royal family at the time, so everyone got like sidelined as Dukes instead?
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: Why not? Sure. So his mother was the Princess Ethera. And while his father was either a Egeus or the God Poseidon depending on which version of the story is being told. So Ethera chooses to raise her son away from his presumed mortal father. But when he comes of age, he finds out about his lineage, and he travels to Athens to claim his birthright. And so he kind of starts his hero's journey, like literally on this journey to Athens, because he has the choice of either taking a boat, which is the safe route, or he can travel by land and face all of these like challenges and bandits in this very dangerous road. And of course, because he's the hero of the story, he picks the dangerous road, you know. He literally comes across a chain of six entrances to the underworld, each of which is guarded by this kind of enemy that he has to face off of. So he defeats each one and these become known as his six labors, kind of like Hercules, but like, not quite. So when he finally arrives in Athens, he finds that his father has married Madea who you might remember had also been married to the hero Jason and was like kind of a sorceress-esque character.
AMANDA: Very cool. A great hang maligned in mythology.
JULIA: Exactly. So in this story, she's also very maligned. Medea is rightfully concerned that the arrival of Theseus will mean that her child with the king will not be the like inheriting heir. So she immediately is trying to like get rid of him, she plots against him. There's like a whole like poisoning arc that happens in here too. And then finally, Egeus realizes who Theseus is like, oh, that's my son, I am going to make him my heir. I'm going to side with him, and then Medea flees to a different country. I think it also might be India, but that's you know again, classic mythology stuff. However, Theseus is most famous story was yet to come. Like, that's great, and like, that's kind of his origin of how he becomes the Prince of Athens, but not how he becomes the King of Athens. Now, Athens had become well known for throwing the Pan Athenian games, which the Greeks like I mentioned before, love, a kind of athletic competition festival for the gods. Any excuse to like, watch hot men do sports, and also get drunk and eat a lot.
AMANDA: Not much has changed.
JULIA: We're always happy to do that.
AMANDA: Mmmmm.
JULIA: Not much has changed. So one of the sons of the King Mino's of Crete was competing in these games and was doing really, really well, like he was winning a lot of different tournaments and stuff like that. But Theseus's cousins, who are like the children of his father's younger brother, became really jealous of his success.
AMANDA: Sure.
JULIA: And so he— they ended up killing this Prince of Mino's. So not—not great.
AMANDA: Bummer.
JULIA: When King Mino's hears what has happened, he sends his fleet to Athens and demands justice, or else he will destroy the city. Now, at this point, this is a little bit of a problem, because neither a Egeus nor Theseus know who actually killed the prints. And so Egeus has to yield to Crete, which has a mightier force and fleet than he does. Now, this is kind of a problem, because Mino's as a, like, powerful king says, alright, here's what you're going to do to make it up to me. Every seven years, you are going to send seven young men and seven young women on a boat to Crete, and you'll never see them again.
AMANDA: Oh, boy, that's a big price.
JULIA: That is a big price. And Theseus is like, that's a big price debt. And he's like, son, you're absolutely right. Theseus is like, I'm gonna do something about that. He's like, but my son, you're my heir, like don't do anything dangerous. He's like, I'm gonna go on the boat, and he's like, okay, sure, fine. Alright.
AMANDA: Yup. Alright, if you insist.
JULIA: So Theseus volunteers to be one of these tributes and is sent to Crete to be sacrificed to. Amanda, the character that you probably know very well, the Minotaur.
AMANDA: Yay!
JULIA: So the Minotaur, for those of you who don't know is the half-man, half-bull son of Mino's, who was trapped in the labyrinth. And these offerings were being made as basically human sacrifices to appease him.
AMANDA: Julia, half man, half bull, all hottie. Okay?
JULIA: All hottie. We've all played the game Hades, we know he's a hottie.
AMANDA: We'd all swipe right on the Minotaur, let's not lie to ourselves.
JULIA: Yeah, except for the bloodlust, and not a huge fan of the bloodlust. Amanda's like right, right bloodlust, sure.
AMANDA: Why not?
JULIA: You work with it. As you can imagine, the story goes if you're familiar with it at all, Theseus is able to navigate the maze and defeat the Minotaur with the help of Mino's daughter Ariadne, who fell in love with him. And he basically promised to rescue Ariadne and the rest of the basically young people who are going to get sacrificed and instead ends up betraying her, leaving her behind and she as I think I talked about in our Dionysus episode, ends up getting married to Dionysus. Dionysus is like, Lady what are you crying for? Do you want to be my wife? And she's like, sure.
AMANDA: Seems better.
JULIA: Seems better than what that asshole Theseus did to me. I'm into it. It ends basically with Theseus returning home, his father has died and he inherits the title of King of Athens. And this is actually a great part that leads into our second mythological character in the play who is Hippolyta. Now in Greek mythology, Hippolyta is as I mentioned before, Queen of the Amazons. And depending on the source, Theseus either abducted her. She was given to Theseus as a spoil of war by Heracles during his labors, or she fell in love with him and betrayed the Amazons by willingly leaving their island to marry him.
AMANDA: No one would ever do that.
JULIA: Now, Amanda, you brought up that great quote from earlier where Theseus was like, well, I wooed you with the sword, and I'm just like—
AMANDA: Yes.
JULIA: Now which version of the story is Shakespeare telling? Was she wooed by his ability with the sword? Or was she quote-unquote, wooed when he was like, “I'm pointing a sword at you, come back with me.”
AMANDA: I'm assuming that one.
JULIA: Yeah, yeah, that's probably a safe bet. So either way, whatever version we're seeing of Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night's Dream, she ends up going to Athens which as we see in the play, they marry. And in some versions, this ends up leading to a war between Athens and the Amazons known as the Attic war. Regardless of what happens, the story basically does not end well for Hippolyta at all. In some versions, she is spurned by Theseus, who instead marries the Creatian Princess Phaedra. She either dies fighting by Theseus aside in the Attic war or is killed in a battle that she leads because she was spurned, which basically leaves the Amazons to attack Theseus. But A Midsummer Night's Dream because it is a comedy and romance kind of leaves all of that out.
AMANDA: Yep. She's like, cool, a big wedding. Goodbye.
JULIA: Cool. I'm gonna marry you and probably nothing bad will happen afterwards. Now that we've covered Theseus and Hippolyta, it's time to talk about their parallels in the play Oberon and Titania. As Amanda you pointed out earlier, the parts are often double cast with the actor playing Theseus also playing Oberon, and Hippolyta playing Titania. The character Oberon has a bit more actual history than the character of Titania, but we'll get to that in a little bit. Basically, Oberon was first reference to in the early 13th century as part of a French epic poem, in which he is an ovenman who has a meeting with the hero of the story whose name is Juan. Before entering the forest, an old hermit warns this hero, Juan, not to speak to the elf, but Juan, to polite answers over on this call when he sees him in the forest. And it turns out that this old hermit was full of shit, because without Oberon's help, Juan would basically, eventually have failed at his task that he's trying to achieve by the end of the play. So Oberon is actually like a very helpful fairy spirit in the story. And like a lot of his origins turn out to be like, oh, yes, he's incredibly handsome, but he's also quite small. He was cursed by a fairy at his christening, but because she felt guilty about the curse, she's like, I'm gonna make you incredibly handsome instead. And he's like, okay—
AMANDA: Sure.
JULIA: —that's fine I guess.
AMANDA: I'll take it. Great.
JULIA: Yeah. In some later stories, he is given a magical cup that is always full. If the person who is drinking it is virtuous.
AMANDA: Hell yeah.
JULIA: I love that. it's kind of like a parallel to like the Cornucopia or to the Holy Grail and a lot of stories, you know kind of very classic in that sense. In some stories wildly, he is said to be the son of Morgan Le Fay, who you might know from Arthurian legend.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: And Amanda, Julius Caesar for some reason.
AMANDA: Incredible.
JULIA: Yeah, you're just like, ah, yes. You know who—you know who the English love more than anything. This sorceress who either fucked King Arthur or was his sister and Julius Caesar.
AMANDA: Why not?
JULIA: Why not? Why not? They're like, yeah, you know, if Shakespeare wrote about it, whatever. It's also likely that Shakespeare saw a reference to him in the translation of the original epic into English from around 1540 or had seen the epic performed in song form at some point around 1593. Because scholars have found evidence that it had been performed around the time like two years before A Midsummer Night's Dream first premiered.
AMANDA: There you go.
JULIA: There you go. That's how you know, that's how you know, baby. Shakespeare was out there going to see plays and like singing of epic French poems, and he's just like all about the place.
AMANDA: It's really good.
JULIA: Now Oberon's bride Titania might not have as much of a folkloric origin, as she seems to have just like been given her name by Shakespeare. Typically, up to this point the queen of the fairies was of course like a really common character seen in folklore.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: But she was typically unnamed. A lot of times when you look at references to fairy queens, they're now solely based on Shakespeare. So Titania being the fairy queen and Queen Mab being the fairy queen.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: Originated with Shakespeare as far as we're aware.
AMANDA: No way. I—I totally assumed that Titania was like the figure with a lot of mythology behind her specifically, but I guess it's like looking back at the sort of like maiden mother crone situation where there's, you know, these archetypes and not a particular character to them. Way before there is a like final or authoritative or most common version of, you know, the take on the form.
JULIA: Yeah, absolutely. Well, it's really interesting because again, we're talking about like, kind of Shakespeare's classical education. And he took the name Titania from again, Ovid Metamorphosis. It was an epithet for the goddess Diana, meaning like, comes from the Titans.
AMANDA: Wow.
JULIA: So you're just like, oh, sure. Shakespeare, like that makes sense. Like, why wouldn't you use that name?
AMANDA: Yeah, I guess so. And it— it feels sufficiently I mean, it is Greek and so it feels like it lasts a lot longer, and it's come from much earlier than simply 1600ish.
JULIA: Yes, exactly. Some scholars have kind of tied Titania with the sorceress sourcey. Who, as you might remember, is like a sorceress who would transform her lovers into animals. But also points out that in A Midsummer Night's Dream, the role is reversed where Titania has a lover who has been transformed into an animal in the case of Bottom and the— the asses head.
AMANDA: Huh.
JULIA: Which is kind of fun, kind of exciting. Like, I like that for Shakespeare. He's like, what if I took this story, and I said, but no, no, he was the lover after he turned into an animal. Interesting.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: And like of course away from Greek mythology. The fairy queen trope predated Shakespeare by a lot. There's a lot of Irish folklore that always features numerous fairy kings and queens. So it wasn't like Shakespeare was pulling this stuff out of his ass or creating any sort of folklore whole cloth, besides the name of Titania, who, which we can credit Shakespeare with.
AMANDA: Pretty cool, pretty cool.
JULIA: And that leads us into a nice segue for our final mythological figure of the show Puck aka Robin Goodfellow.
AMANDA: Yay!
JULIA: Our hot trickster that Amanda love.
AMANDA: Hey!
JULIA: Pucks an interesting character because he fills the role of that trickster spirit in the play. He pranks, he enchants, he misleads the characters throughout the entire show, both under the direction of Oberon and for his own amusement. And Puck is somewhat unlike his king and queen directly taken from mythology along with both of his names. Most likely the name Puck came from the Celtic Puca, who were spirits that were considered like bringers of both good and bad fortune, were shapeshifters. And often when they were in human form, had some sort of animal feature like animal ears or a tail, which I think is really cute. And again, like, I think you see a lot of stage productions kind of give him that as well.
AMANDA: Yes.
JULIA: What's your favorite Puck costume that you saw Amanda in a stage production? Because I feel like they usually just dress him in like a bunch of leaves, and you're like, yeah, that's my boy.
AMANDA: So the thing I love most about staging A Midsummer Night's Dream is that sort of switch between the city and the forest. And especially choosing—
JULIA: Yes.
AMANDA: — Athens which was the center of like, order and you know, human progress and learning and logic, and then going into the forest where nothing is as it seems, and all rules are broken and fairy Queens live with asses and all kinds of stuff. That is really powerful. But back at the Royal Shakespeare Company production that I saw in the early 2010s, they really like transformed their city, Athenian clothes into the forest. And so the further on the show got, the more like torn and dirty and sort of the forest, the clothing got. And Puck had almost a traditional like Messenger's uniform that had been totally like overtaken by the forest. So like mossy, ragged hems, glitter makeup, and a bag that was like made like a normal kind of satchel, but filled with like leaves and potions. So it's— it's that kind of representation of you know, has walked in main society, but has been sort of like overtaken and transformed by the forest that I loved the most.
JULIA: That's incredible. I love that vibe of like, yeah, he's a messenger, but also like, much like seeing like an abandoned building getting taken over by nature again—
AMANDA: Exactly right.
JULIA: —that kind of vibe that he has. Oh, that's awesome, I love that. Thank you so much for sharing it.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: The Puca's much like puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream love mischief. And we're basically given all due respect and deference or else a person might meet bad luck because they weren't being respectful. Now the English Puck or Robin Goodfellow were also sometimes seen as a domestic spirit similar to a brownie who may be called upon to assist with minor housework, like churning butter or like stitches and stuff like that, but would have to be appeased or else like tricks would be done in the household, right? Yep. and we've talked about this in many fairy-related episodes. But like the payment was typically bread and milk and that would appease the Puck, right? Scholars believe that while the Puck character kind of predates Shakespeare, it was actually Shakespeare featuring him in his work that revitalize the interest and belief in the folkloric character. So like Shakespeare took this character that was like, very minor, not super well known. And by putting him in the play, like now he's featured in so many like modern works and fantasy and stuff like that. And even like, more stuff that was just after Shakespeare's time as well. One of my favorites Amanda, is a 17th-century broadside ballad called the Mad Merry Pranks of Robin Goodfellow, in which he is as in A Midsummer an emissary of Oberon, who plays tricks at night on unsuspecting women.
AMANDA: Incredible. I have not heard that ballad, but I have got to get there.
JULIA: Oh my god. Yes, it's— it's very funny. The lyrics are very amusing, his shenanigans are also very amusing. He like gives old ladies bad dreams, but then he's like, ah, you know when you step on the floor, when you're leaving your bed and it gets all cold that was me.
AMANDA: Robin.
JULIA: Robin, I don't want chilly floors. Gosh, darn it.
AMANDA: Oh, Robin.
JULIA: So Amanda, of course. Midsummer is not Shakespeare's only play that draws heavily from mythology and folklore. But if people liked this episode and they want to hear more about the other mythological origins of Shakespeare's stories, let us know that one you liked this episode and two, what other plays you would like to see featured.
AMANDA: I for one loved this episode Julia, and thank you for putting it together for me like a little present left under my pillow.
JULIA: Little present for Amanda and a fun game in the middle.
AMANDA: I love it. Well, folks, let us know what you thought were at Spirits Podcast of course on social or you can get in touch with us at spiritspodcast.com. But in the meantime, if you too are in a love parallelogram and find yourself lost in the woods, just remember—
JULIA: Stay creepy.
AMANDA: Stay cool.
[theme]
AMANDA: Spirits was created by Amanda McLoughlin, Julia Schifini, and Eric Schneider with music by Kevin MacLeod and visual design by Alison Wakeman.
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JULIA: Thanks for listening to Spirits. We'll see you next week.
AMANDA: Bye!