Overview Paper: Fairies in the Elizabethan times
The history of fairies, though debatable, is rich and magical. Fairies were a source of fascination, fear, evil, superstition, and mystery among the people of the 16th century. Fairy belief was important to the day to day lives and goings on of the common people. The beliefs and portrayal of fairies has been greatly changed through the years most notoriously by William Shakespeare. The fairy world Shakespeare created differed greatly from the fairy world that existed before and during his time. His work helped to begin changing people’s perceptions of fairies during the 16th century from creatures of ill-will and evil doings to more amiable, good-willed creatures.
The origins and existence of fairies is greatly debated among the history community. There are four main beliefs of the origins of fairies. One theory that is popular with the Scottish and Irish is that fairies are fallen angels that sided with Lucifer against God. When the fallen left heaven for hell, some were condemned by God to be part of the elements of the earth (Origins of Fairies). The second theory is that there are all sorts of spirits that inhabit the earth and fairies are just one of those natural spirits. The third theory is that fairies are the souls of the pagan dead. They are unbaptized pagans who were neither evil enough for the fire of hell nor good enough for the glory of heaven and destined to a life of undead on earth. The fourth theory of origin is that fairies are small human beings. There were short races of people that existed in Europe many centuries ago that kept to themselves, and they were believed to have slowly acquired the magical powers that the fairies are “known” to have in their later history (Silver 43). Depending on the country and beliefs of the people in those countries, the fairy theories vary. Each of the big theories reflects on the worries and fears of the people, and the theories had a hand in controlling some of the cultural and societal problems of the time. The fairy lore tends to originate mostly from Ireland and Scotland. Celtic influences within the British Isles were a large factor in bringing the fairies and their societal influences to England.
Through much of history fairies have been described as beautiful, evil/mischievous, music loving, bestower’s of favors. To the people of the 16th century, fairies were rarely described as small creatures except in unusual instances. On most occasions the fairy was described as having remarkable beauty. People were known to react with horror at “seeing” a fairy because of their supposed evil nature, but they were still struck by their beauty. Though they were supposedly beautiful in some peoples descriptions fairies were known to have worn masks. According to The Elizabethan Fairy, “The need for a mask is explicable, when you take into account that the fairies of the 16th century were of different complexions—black, gray, green, white, red, and sometimes blue” (Latham 83). The color most affected by the fairy was black. Black is the one color most often mentioned in regards to the fairy, usually because they were the “worst” (Walsh 85). The appearance of the fairy almost always came with music and dancing. That is one of the few consistencies in all of fairy lore; they sang, danced and played music wherever they were. The attributes of singing and dancing is in part responsible for fairy popularity in Shakespeare’s time because the dances that the fairies were known for, i.e., rounds, catches, and corantos, were all the fashion (Latham 96). The fairies also tend to be associated with the forest, water and warmer weather. There is no record of fairies appearances during winter (Latham 101). Though the forest was generally the supposed home of the fairies, hell was also named their dwelling place by poets.
The theories and beliefs about the fairy were the foundation of societal issues. The idea that they were human-like but less than human because they were isolated as well as the idea that the main color associated with the fairies was black was mirrored in the people’s minds with the worry about the discovery of new and alien races. The people also had the theory that the fairies were fallen angels, cohorts of Satan. Because the “races” they discovered were “uncivilized” and “less” than human there was anxiety about the impact these people would have on the English “civilized” culture. They were seen as bad or evil much like the fairies that they associated with Satan.
In their much earlier history fairies tended to carry a much darker connotation and be much more disturbing in appearance. To the common folks of England during the 16th century however, the fairies were common to them and they were generally considered the fairies inhabitants of the country with them instead of dwellers of hell. People lived side by side with these fairy creatures firmly believing in their existence, but lived in fear of offending them. Fairies were controlled by impulse and emotion often compared to children. The fairies relied on the humans for food and drink, and if the people did not leave bread or water for them, they would either steal from the people or exact revenge on them. The fairies have a passion for cleanliness and rewarded those that kept a clean home. If you were rewarded or punished by the fairies you were not to tell anyone to protect the privacy of the fairy. There were many rules the people of the 16th century followed to remain in the good graces of the fairy and keep from being punished (Latham 130-143).
Society was also worried about change and growth in their children. The idea that fairies would steal children and replace them with changelings so the fairy would walk among them with innate evil and mischievous souls terrified the people. This worry is mirrored by the changeling child because that child would be different from other children. Parents paid close attention to their children and any irregularities could be blamed on the fairies stealing their “normal” child. The idea that cleanliness is close to godliness was exemplified in the idea that if you were unclean or messy then you would be punished by the fairies. Children were told stories of fairy lore to have them be neat, clean and obedient. If they didn’t follow the rules of the “fairies” they would be punished. It was an effective way to keep kids in line, much like Santa is today. Much of fairy lore was passed on through oral tradition, mostly among woman: nurses, maids, nannies, etc., which is how fairy lore reached the most upper classes of England. Maids told the children of the aristocracy these tales to keep them behaving and not making messes (Lamb 41).
Fairies before Shakespeare were much different from the ones he created in his works of literature. The fairies of his work, especially A Midsummer Night’s Dream, were much less evil, demanding and scary. He created the foundation for how we perceive fairies today. The people of our time are not afraid of fairies but imagine them to be adorable funny creatures that sparkle. In his works Shakespeare creates fairies that are a bit mischievous but mean well. Shakespeare grew up in the country where Fairy lore was rampant and he was influenced by some of what he grew up around. The fairies in Shakespeare’s literature are not evil doing, retribution seeking creatures, but instead are musical lazy creatures that enjoy a good time while wreaking a little mischief when they can. After Shakespeare wrote about fairies in a different light the perception of them eventually changed into what we now describe as Tinkerbelle-like. His perception of fairies and subsequent writings on them began the change and fade of fairy belief and lore. He stuck very close to the powers of fairies and the fact that they were forest dwellers. However, he changed their group dynamics, fairies tended to be always in a group but in much of his work there are many fairies alone or with only one other fairy. He also changed the idea of innate evilness to simple mischievousness (Latham 170).
Though originally Celtic lore, fairies quickly became a source of fascination and concern for the English people of the 16th century. The supposed belief in fairies helped to control people in society for things like cleanliness, tidiness, willingness to give, and parenthood. It also helped people to put their worries about other races, change in culture, societal pressure and doubts of their spouses onto a non-existent entity to help put it in perspective. It also gave them someone to blame other than each other. Shakespeare’s reformation of the fairy was cause for change in their existence. It was extremely ironic that his writings and creations were one of the biggest causes of fairies slowly fading into non-existence as real creatures, since Shakespeare more than anyone in the Elizabethan era showed himself “More cognizant of the belief in their existence, and no one who featured more prominently their traditional power and activities” (Latham 177). He believed in their power and existence but because of his writings people slowly began to move past them and onto other things. Fairies have a rich and varied past, and still they manage to fascinate so much of the population. Even today there is a fascination with fairies and their magical possibilities, though today it’s more about having something magical to believe in other than the real world around us that is sometimes too much to bear. The Elizabethans were firm believers in these mystical creatures and their magical abilities though in part the belief stemmed from societal pressures.
Shakespeare and The Fairy 