Tag: Oberon

Resource: Cupid & Psyche (PDF)

Cupid and Psyche is a story within-a-story comes from the only surviging Roman novel, The Golden Ass. It’s a novel that Shakespeare read, so it’s obviously a source for MND (and Sleeping Beauty, actually).

This is a good translation of the the three chapters in which the Cupid and Psyche story take place. Really, you only need to read the first of the chapters. I included the other two in case you wondered what happens with them

In the story, a mortal woman named Psyche (Greek for “soul”) angers Venus. Venus sends her son, Cupid, to make Psyche fall in love the most horrible man he can find (sound familiar?). Cupid bungles it, falls in love, and Venus gets vengeance.

Resource: Race in MND (Podcast)

Shakespeare: Love Across the Racial Divide [Podcast, 15 min.]– Short podcast from the BBC in which host Yasmin Alibhai-Brown explores MND through the lens of race. The episode focuses on love in the human and fairy worlds, touches on the plays historical context and how the play has been adapted abroad recently.

This is a great podcast that’s good if you’re interested in the relationship between Oberon and Titania, the exoticism of the Indian boy, and the relationship between Titania and Bottom.