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Fairy Queen edit
For other uses, see Fairy Queen (disambiguation). Prince Arthur and the Fairy Queen by Johann Heinrich Füssli, c. 1788
The Fairy Queen or Queen of the Fairies is a figure from Irish and British folklore, believed to rule the fairies. There are many names used in reference to the Fairy Queen including Titania, Gloriana[1], Clarion, and Queen Mab[2]. Her physical description is also varied. Shakespeare calls her "no bigger than an agate stone on the forefinger of an alderman" in Romeo and Juliet however Shelley in his poem "Queen Mab" describes her as wonderous, beautiful, bright, fair and as a wild shape[3].
Contents edit
- 1Folklore
- 2Literature and media
- 3Neopaganism
- 4References
Folklore edit
In Irish folklore, the last High Queen of the Daoine Sidhe - and wife of the High King Finvarra - was named Una (or Oonagh, or Oona, or Uonaidh etc.)[citation needed] In the ballad tradition of Northern England and Lowland Scotland, she was called the Queen of Elphame.
The character is also associated with the name Morgan (as with the Arthurian character of Morgan le Fey, or Morgan of the Fairies), or a variant of Mab. In the Child Ballads Tam Lin (Child 39) and Thomas the Rhymer (Child 37), she is represented as both beautiful and seductive, and also as terrible and deadly. The Fairy Queen is said to pay a tithe to Hell every seven years, and her mortal lovers often provide this sacrifice. In Tam Lin, the title character tells his mortal lover:
- At the end of seven years
- She pays a tithe to Hell
- I so fair and full of flesh
- I fear it be myself
Literature and Media edit
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Both Edmund Spenser and William Shakespeare used folklore concerning the Fairy Queen to create characters and poetry, Spenser in The Faerie Queene and Shakespeare in A Midsummer Night's Dream as well as in Romeo and Juliet. In The Faerie Queene, Spenser's fairy queen is named Gloriana, and is also referred to as Tanaquill, which "appears to be an epithet for Gloriana, Queen of Faeries" derived from the name of the wife of Tarquinius Priscus. In A Midsummer Night's Dream she is married to Oberon and called Titania, a name derived from Ovid as an epithet of the Roman goddess Diana. Diana was regularly portrayed as the ruler of the fairy kingdom in demonological literature, such as King James VI of Scotland's Daemonologie, which says that she belongs to "the fourth kind of spirits, which by the Gentiles [non-Jews] was called Diana and her wandering court, and amongst us is called Fairy (as I told you) or our good neighbours". After A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare again discusses the Fairy Queen under the name of Queen Mab in Romeo and Juliet. Here he gives a minor physical description of her and her chariot as told by Mercutio, as well as several of the things she may be known to do such as being a mid-wife for fairies and bringer of dreams to mortal men.
20th century edit
In one of the earliest of the Peter Pan novels, The Little White Bird, author J. M. Barrie also identifies Queen Mab as the name of the fairy queen, although the character is entirely benign and helpful. In Disney's series of films based on Tinker Bell, a fairy character originating in Barrie's novels, the fairies are shown to be ruled by a Queen Clarion. In Brandon Mull's Fablehaven series, the Fairy Queen is an essential part of the plot. The character Erza Scarlet from Hiro Mashima's Fairy Tail earned the alias "Titania" due to her power.[citation needed]
In Foxglove Summer, part of the Rivers of London series, the protagonist Peter Grant is captured by the Fairy Queen and taken off to her Kingdom (an alternative reality or Otherworld where Britain is still covered with a massive unbroken primeval forest, with no sign of the familiar towns and villages).
Neopaganism edit
The concept of a Dianic queen of spirits influenced the neopagan cultures developed from Charles Godfrey Leland's concept of Aradia "Queen of the Witches". The Faerie faith developed from the same source as the McFarland Dianic tradition.
References edit
Andrew Zurcher, Edmund Spenser's the Faerie Queene: A Reading Guide, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2011, p.18.
Purkis, Diane, "losing Babies, Losing Stories" in Culture and Change: Attending to Early Modern Women, University of Delaware Press, 2003, p.147.
- ^ Spenser, Edmund,?-1599 (1978). The faerie queene. Thomas P. Roche, C. Patrick O'Donnell. Harmondsworth: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-042207-2. OCLC 4464036.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Shakespeare, William (2003). Romeo and Juliet. John Crowther. New York. ISBN 1-58663-845-9. OCLC 51878254.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Alexander, Skye (2014). Fairies : the myths, legends, and lore. Avon, Massachusetts. ISBN 978-1-4405-7305-7. OCLC 863044168.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)