Viewing My Work After It Had Already Been Initiated, and for This I Am Grateful
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Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6” x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North ZeebRoad. Ann Arbor. Ml 48106-1346USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 THE RISE AND DECLINE OF THE FAIRY APOTHEOSIS IN RENAISSANCE LITERATURE DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Jennifer Eva Puin, B.A., M.A. The Ohio State University 1996 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Phoebe S. Spinrad, Adviser Patrick B. Mullen Adviser David 0. Frantz Department of English UMI Number: 9639328 UMI Microform 9639328 Copyright 1996, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microfonn edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 ABSTRACT A popular Disney character always has been Tinkerbell, but fairies once had a central role in the culture of our ancestors far beyond the movie screen. The figure of the fairy has significantly influenced English literature and folk culture. Although writers of every period have demonstrated interest in fairy folk, the years from approximately 1575 to 1625 mark the golden age of the fairy figure in English literature. Without Queen Elizabeth there might not have been a literary fairy vogue: her reign popularized the image of the fairy monarch while her regality and political expertise were the inspiration behind England's greatest fairy works. Owing to the implicit resemblance Elizabeth bore to the fairy queen, this figure of Renaissance folk belief became an image that could serve simultaneously to praise Elizabeth and to advance the writer's own agenda. The sponsors of Elizabeth's progress pageants primarily made use of the fairy tradition they had inherited and utilized the fairy queen figure to negotiate for themselves a more favorable relationship with their sovereign. Spenser, on the other hand, reworks fairy mythology into an image that is at once Protestant, patriotic, and political. Although ii Gloriana is used by the poet to offer indirect criticism of Elizabeth, the Faerie Queene is also an image that encompasses and unites the other exemplary female representations of Elizabeth in the poem. Of all his immediate predecessors, Shakespeare's alteration of the fairy queen most directly challenges Elizabeth's authority as virgin queen and mythic being. King James did not desire to associate himself with the otherworld, but owing to Jonson's diverse use of the fairy world's denizens and belief in the moral purpose of poetry, the fairy folk continued to play a major role in court masques. Under Charles I, however, fairies became the plaything of poets. The dying out of the tradition in which fairies serve as symbols for the glory of the monarch and the court, and the changes the literary fairies undergo in nature and size during the Caroline period, are central factors in the debasement and subsequent decline of the literary fairy vogue. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to acknowledge here the patience and thoughtfulness of my dissertation advisers, who have overseen my studies in this area for more quarters than they might care to count. Phoebe Spinrad, who chaired my dissertation committee, has been unfailingly attentive to the details of my work. She supported me personally, guided this work intellectually, and has seen me through to the end with always an encouraging word. Pat Mullen enlightened me to the fact that the study of folklore is more intensive and important than some literary scholars may believe. He grounded me when I made over generalizations about the fairy as a figure of folklore and stressed the close connection between his specialty and the main currents of literary thought. Equally important, his presence was always a calming influence. David Frantz accepted the responsibility for reviewing my work after it had already been initiated, and for this I am grateful. His detail-oriented practicality and knowledgeable reflections have left their mark on my study, and I have appreciated his personal interest in my progress. Also, I would like to acknowledge the important assistance of Christopher Highley, whose approach to critical theory gave me much to think about as I completed this work. iv Finally, I would like to thank the library staffs at The Ohio State University, Case Western Reserve University, and John Carroll University, who retrieved many a dusty book from the back of the stacks. And of course, I could not complete these acknowledgments without a word of thanks to my family, who provided the space where I worked and the inspiration that fueled my effort. v VITA 1989 Master of Arts English, GPA 4.00 John Carroll University, University Heights, OH 1989 Bachelor of Arts French and English, GPA 4.00 John Carroll University, University Heights, OH 9/89 - 6/95 Teaching Associate/Instructor The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio Courses Taught: - Introduction to Shakespeare - Selected Works of British Literature: Medieval through 1800 - Composition and Literature - Informative Writing - Composition with Computers (Macintosh and IBM) -• First-Year English Composition FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: English Studies in: Renaissance literature (Phoebe S. Spinrad) Old and Middle English literature (Lisa J. Kiser) American literature to 1900 (Thomas W. Cooley) Folklore (Patrick B. Mullen) vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract................................................... ii Acknowledgments ........................................ iv V i t a .......................................................vi Preface ................................................ 1 Chapters: 1. Introduction: The Fairy Phenomenon in Renaissance Superstition and Literature .... 4 2. A Quest for Legitimacy: The Fairy Queen in Elizabeth's Progress Pageants . 35 3. The Two "Famous Auncestries" of Queen Elizabeth: Spenser's Mythic Vision of British History in The Faerie Q u e e n e ...............................71 4. Tarnishing Elizabeth's Mythic Aura: Shakespeare's Comic Revision of Fairyland..........109 5. Festive Diplomacy: Fairies in Stuart Court Masques ................ 143 6. The Decline of the Fairy A p o t h e o s i s .............. 179 Bibliography ............................................ 216 vii PREFACE Poltergeists, bigfoot, the abominable snowman, the Loch Ness monster, alien visitors, witches, ghosts and goblins: our popular culture is imbued with images derived from superstition and pagan culture. A popular Disney character always has been Tinkerbell, but fairies once had a central role in the culture of our ancestors far beyond the movie screen. The figure of the fairy has significantly influenced English literature and folk culture. Although writers of every period have demonstrated interest in fairy folk, the years from approximately 1575 to 1625 mark the golden age of the fairy figure in English literature. Spenser's Gloriana and Shakespeare's Titania are the two most famous of these creatures, but lesser manifestations are studied as well in this work. Focusing on why and on how poets and dramatists use fairies during this period, I survey some causes for the popularity of fairy literature in the English Renaissance and offer some explanations for why the literary fairy vogue was altered and to a large extent debased during the Caroline period. Other scholars have developed comprehensive theories explaining the prevalence of the fairy in the Renaissance. For example, in The Erotic World of Faerv (1972), Maureen 1 Duffy believes the fairy is a subconscious expression of the repressed eroticism of the period. In Shakespeare's Festive Comedy (1963), C. L. Barber sees the figure as an expression of a pastoral ideal, like Shakespeare's rustics. New historicists see the fairy as providing telling insights into contemporary tensions between poets and politicians. See, for example, Susan Frye's discussion.of the Kenilworth pageant in Elizabeth I: The Competition for Representation (1993) and Louis Montrose's seminal article on A Midsummer Night's Dream. "'Shaping Fantasies': Figurations of Gender and Power in Elizabethan Culture" (1988) . This work does not attempt to elaborate any overarching theory of the meaning of the