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| Neil Gaiman just gets Shakespeare. |
However, as I explored supplemental reading in preparation for class, I was alarmed and frustrated with how often the women-are-property argument was used. While Shakespeare's complex handling of gender dynamics evolved over his career, Shakespeare rarely is so overtly general with his gender roles. I feel that if anything the chaos of switching affections and supernatural machinations take the power of sexuality away from either gender and emphasizes its uncontrollable nature. The temperamental elements of the fairy world parallel nature more than they parallel the social construction of human society. Shakespeare makes a strong case for attraction being beyond human control. I mean, how else do you account for Helena's irrational love of Demetrius? There is none.
Over simplifying this conflict guts the implications of Ass-Bottom and Titania's fling. By using a natural element--a flower--Oberon and Puck bend the rules of society, nature, and choice (specifically the idea of love being a choice) to topple Titania's resolve against her union with the fair king.
Neil Gaiman takes this conflict a step further in his Sandman comic when he draws Oberon's court into the human realm to enjoy a performance of the play. Dream, the primary character, mediates the encounter, bridging the staunch humanism of the actors and the more animalistic nature of the fairies. They dynamics leap off of the page and add an interesting context to the original source material.
(Also, this is a really interesting combination of a staged adaptation accompanied by the original text.)
