Oberon Old And New

Oberon () is a king of the fairies in medieval and Renaissance literature. He is best known as a character in William Shakespeare's play ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', in which he is King of the Fairies and spouse of Titania, Queen of the Fairies.

Etymology

Oberon is a variant spelling of Auberon, earlier Alberon, the origin of which is uncertain, though it may be connected with Alberich and Aubrey, or might else be derived from the Old High German elements adal 'noble' + ber(n) 'bear'.

French heroic song

Oberon is first attested as the name of a fairy king in the early 13th century entitled Les Prouesses et faitz du noble Huon de Bordeaux, wherein the eponymous hero encounters King Oberon of the fairies as he passes through a forest. Huon is forewarned by a hermit not to speak to Oberon, but his courtesy causes him to answer the fairy king's greetings and so wins his friendship and aid.

The fairy king is dwarfish in height, though very handsome. He explains that, at his birth, an offended fairy cursed him not to grow past three years of age (one of the earliest examples of the wicked fairy godmother folklore motif) but relented and gave him great beauty as compensation. In this story, he is said to be the child of Morgan le Fay and Julius Caesar.

A manuscript of the romance in the city of Turin contains a prologue to the story of ''Huon de Bordeaux'' in the shape of a separate romance of Auberon and four sequels and there are later French versions as well.

He is given some Celtic trappings, such as a magical cup (similar to the Holy Grail or the cornucopia) that is ever full. "The magic cup supplied their evening meal; for such was its virtue that it afforded not only wine, but more solid fare when desired", according to Thomas Bulfinch.

Shakespeare saw or heard of the French heroic song through the translation by John Bourchier, Lord Berners, called ''Huon of Burdeuxe''. In Philip Henslowe's diary, there is a note of a performance of a play ''Hewen of Burdoche'' on 28 December 1593.

''A Midsummer Night's Dream''

In William Shakespeare's ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', written in 1595/96, Oberon is the king of all of the fairies and is engaged in a dispute with his wife Titania, the fairy queen. They are arguing over custody of a child whom Oberon wants to raise to be his henchman. Titania wants to keep and raise the child for the sake of her mortal friend and follower who died giving birth to him.

Because Oberon and Titania are both powerful spirits connected to nature, their feuding disrupts the weather. Titania describes the consequences of their fighting:

Oberon tricks Titania into giving him back the child using the juice from a special flower that makes you "madly dote upon the next live thing that it sees". The flower was accidentally struck by Cupid's arrow when he attempted to shoot a young maiden in a field, instead infusing the flower with love. Oberon sends his servant, Puck, to fetch the flower, which he does successfully.

Furious that Titania will not give him the child, he puts juice from a magical flower into her eyes while she is asleep. The effect of the juice will cause Titania to fall in love with the first live thing she sees upon awakening. Titania awakens and finds herself madly in love with Bottom, an actor from the rude mechanicals whose head was just transformed into that of a donkey, thanks to a curse from Puck.

Meanwhile, two couples have entered the forest: lovers Hermia and Lysander are pursued by Demetrius, who also loves Hermia, and Helena, who loves Demetrius. Oberon witnesses Demetrius rejecting Helena, admires her amorous determination, and decides to help her. He sends Puck to put some of the juice in Demetrius's eyes, describing him as "a youth in Athenian clothing", to make him fall in love with Helena. Puck finds Lysander – who is also a youth wearing Athenian clothing – and puts the love potion on Lysander's eyes. When Lysander wakes, he sees Helena first and falls in love with her. Meanwhile, Demetrius has also been anointed with the flower and awakes to see Helena, pursued by Lysander, and a fight breaks out between the two young men. Oberon is furious with Puck and casts a sleeping spell on the forest, making Puck reverse the potion on Lysander, admonishing Puck to not reverse the effects on Demetrius. Both couples awake and begin the journey back to Athens.

Oberon now looks upon Titania and her lover, Bottom, and feels sorry for what he has done. He reverses the spell using a magic herb. When she wakes, she is confused, thinking that she had a dream. Oberon explains that the dream was real and the two reunite happily. They then return to Athens in the epilogue to bless the couples, becoming once again the benevolent fairy king and queen.

Other historical and cultural references

* Oberon is a character in ''The Scottish History of James IV'', a play written by Robert Greene.
* In 1610, Ben Jonson wrote a masque of ''Oberon, the Faery Prince''. It was performed by Henry Frederick Stuart, the Prince of Wales, at the English court on New Year's Day, 1611.
* Oberon is a main character in Michael Drayton's narrative poem ''Nimphidia'' (1627) about the fairy Pigwiggin's love for Queen Mab and the jealousy of King Oberon.
* In the anonymous book ''Robin Goodfellow, His Mad Pranks and Merry Jests'' (1628) Oberon is known as "Obreon" and is the father of the half-fairy Robin Goodfellow by a human woman.
* Christoph Martin Wieland first published his epic poem ''Oberon'' in 1780; it in turn became the basis (as indicated on the title page) for the German opera ''Huon and Amanda'' (''Hüon und Amande'' in German), later known as ''Oberon'', by Sophie Seyler. A plagiarized version of Seyler's opera called ''Oberon'' by Karl Ludwig Giesecke with music by Paul Wranitzky debuted in Vienna shortly afterwards. Both operas enjoyed popularity. After extensive performances of the Giesecke version at the coronation of Leopold II in Frankfurt in 1791, it was much performed in Europe until it was surpassed in popularity by Weber's opera ''Oberon''.
* Oberon and Titania are main characters in the 1789 Danish opera ''Holger Danske'', with music by F.L.Æ. Kunzen and libretto by Jens Baggesen.
* Johann Wolfgang Goethe included the figures from Shakespeare's work in Faust I. Oberon is married to Titania, and the couple are celebrating their golden wedding anniversary in Faust I.
* In 1826, Carl Maria von Weber's opera, ''Oberon'', (written after a poem by Christoph Martin Wieland translated to an English libretto by James Robinson Planche) debuted at Covent Garden in London, England.
* Oberon appears with Titania in Richard Dadd's unfinished painting, The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke, displayed in the Tate Museum.
*Two main characters in John Crowley’s Little, Big, a 1981 multi-generational novel about a family’s interaction with the fae, are named Auberon.

A fanciful etymology was given for the name ''Oberon'' by Charles Mackay in his book ''The Gaelic Etymology of the Languages of Western Europe'' along with many other theories on words found in the English language that have not found mainstream acceptance.

In popular culture

* In 1830, botanist John Lindley named a flowering plant in the family Orchidaceae, ''Oberonia'' after the fairy king.
* In the manga and anime ''The Ancient Magus' Bride'', which aired from October 2017 to March 2018, the King of the Fairies is named Oberon and his wife, the Queen of the Fairies, is named Titania.

References

External links

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''The Gaelic Etymology of Western Europe'', Charles McKay LL.D. 1877: "Oberon"

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Fictional characters introduced in the 13th century
Characters in A Midsummer Night's Dream
Fairy royalty
Fictional kings
Male Shakespearean characters
Matter of France
Supernatural legends