Shadow Play

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“Correct. The piece was painted around 300 years after Shakespeare wrote the play in the 1500s, so the imagery was impacted by the techniques and customs popular during Paton’s era. Nudity on a canvas would not have been tolerated in decent society, which meant his Faeries had to have wings to differentiate them from humans so as not to be seen as risqué. “His work had a strong following and is unusual in its combination of a number of style elements from Rococo, to Romanticism, to Victorian landscapes. Oddly enough, he painted The Reconciliation of Oberon and Titania before he painted The Quarrel and perhaps the first painting set the stage for the second to garner the vast recognition that it did. “You can see by the Faeries swarming the owl at the top of the painting, and in the more grotesque appearances of some of the characters in his depiction, that the Faeries were not entirely benevolent. This was thought to be representative of the violence occurring at the time in the Scottish Highlands.” As his summary came to a close, we both stood deep in concentration, taking in the many details of the painting. My mind raced with questions—were Titania and Oberon the current king and queen of Faery? Was there any truth to the Shakespearean tale or was it merely fanciful imaginings? If it had been real, how would Shakespeare have known about the Fae? I made plans to see what I could dig up on Titania and Oberon when I got home, adding the names to my mental list of possible characters in this new world I was discovering. Back at my apartment, that evening, I included Ash in my research endeavors as she was an excellent source for all things Fae. Plus, I was pretty sure hiding in my room to research alone was not going to go over well. After we ate, I described the Quarrel painting to her and the background Fergus had imparted on me. She was familiar with the original literary work that was the inspiration of the painting, but like me, had not studied the play for its historical accuracy. I brought my laptop to the couch to see what I could uncover. “Let’s start with Titania, she sounds as good a place as any.” I googled her name and we gathered what information we could. It appeared that it was a common occurrence to give a Fae queen the name 'Titania' as there were any number of references in books, games, and comic books. There were even a number of sites that were dedicated fan pages for online games using Titania as a character but those seemed to have little historical lore and were more tied to the game storyline. “Check this one out,” Ash said pointing to a site farther down the page. As I opened it, she read aloud. “Queen Titania ruled over the Summer Court, also known as the Shining Throne.” It went on to describe her minion Spriggan, and her possible ties to the Greek Goddess Hera. “Good Lord, please don't tell me we are dealing with gods here as well. There's only so much I can take,” I said in exasperation. “You've got to stop relying on your old constructs. This is our new reality, and anything is possible.” Her comment was made casually as she perused the site, but the truth of it was profound. I realized that even when I kept telling myself to keep an open mind, I was still trying to use the labels and facts from the world as I knew it before. We briefly read about Hera, the majorly jealous wife of Zeus, but there was certainly no affirmative evidence that she was in any way related to Titania. Although there was a noteworthy theory that Shakespeare had acquired the name 'Titania' from a Roman poet who had given the same name to the descendants of the Greek Titans. There seemed to be some attenuated ties but no way to tell if it was purely artistic imaginings behind the references or if they were founded in fact. “Do you think there could be some connection between the Fae and the Greek gods?” “Well, if there were Fae running around back then, it wouldn’t surprise me if people believed they were gods. The links between the legends about gods and those about the Fae are definitely intriguing.” I voiced my agreement and resumed reading, but after several dead ends we moved on to Oberon. “Oberon seems to have a more diverse origin. There’s historical references to him not only from England but also from France and Germany.” “Guess he got around—you think more references to him makes for a higher chance he’s real?” she asked. “Seems like it to me. Not to say Titania isn’t real, but she seemed to keep to herself aside from Shakespeare’s writings.” “Unfortunately, not only does he have more historical references, but his name is also used in a ridiculous amount of games, books, and movies. Hell, there is even a current television show who had an Oberon character for a while,” I said in frustration as I scrolled through all the google pages. We then gave ourselves a cursory review of A Midsummer Night’s Dream to refresh our memories on the tale. The story had always seemed imaginative and far-fetched, but now, I wondered just how much of the writing could have been based in fact. What could Faeries do? What powers did they have? Could they really turn a man's head into that of a donkey? How on earth had I gotten to a place where this was a legitimate question to raise? “Okay, I think I’ve had enough for tonight.” I said as I closed the laptop. “I totally get you, it’s a lot for the brain to handle. Plus, my pain meds have kicked in so I’m heading to bed.” “Sounds good. I’m going to give my Mom a quick call to check in and then I’ll be up.” We said our goodnights and Ash headed upstairs. I pulled out my phone and dialed my parents’ number and waited. After half a dozen rings, it went to the answering machine but not long after I’d hung up, my phone began to buzz with their number on caller ID. “Hey Mom!” “Hey sweetie! I’m surprised to hear from you again so quickly, everything okay?” Her mother's intuition was kicking into overdrive. “Yeah, just had something kind of odd happen. I’ve started having that dream again, about the shadow man, and I was wondering what was in the incense you used to burn in my room as a kid. I thought maybe I could have some made here or try to whip some up myself.” She was quiet for a moment. “Has something happened to trigger the dream?”