Hadassah McGill English 2100: Writing About Literature Spring 2013 Instructor: Jessica Camargo Annotated Bibliography

Buccola, Regina. Fairies, Fractious Women, and the Old Faith: Fairy Lore in Early Modern British Drama and Culture. Selinsgrove: Susquehanna University Press, 2006. Print.

Regina Buccola is an Associate Professor of English at Roosevelt University in Chicago, where she specializes in Shakespeare, non-Shakespearean Early Modern Drama, and Women's and Gender Studies. Buccola uses a feminist approach to analyze the ways in which Shakespeares drama, A Midsummer Nights Dream, represents fairies and women in a way that breaks down the socially constructed norms in which society expected women to be by using what she calls the fairy defense. She expresses that Fairyland is a space free from sociocultural strictures, which were most confining for women and the servant classes. We see an example of this in the relationship of Hippolyta and Theseus, where Hippolyta is a queen, but she is a conquered and captured one. She was not able to choose who to marry instead her attitude toward her fianc clearly defines her feelings toward him and the constructed order of her life. This displays the way women used to be represented. When Helena is attempting to defy her fathers wishes in marrying her off to a man of greater stature, Shakespeare displays women who have rebelled against social norms. Helena first laments the Athenian social order, which mandates that women cannot fight for love, as men may do (II.i.241). In fairy land, it is the drugs that take precedence in the will for defiance. Wives and female rulers could have such puissance that they need to be incapacitated with drugs before their will can successfully be defied. The article is useful in showing that when acting in accordance with the fairies and drugs that create magical spells, the women of Athens are able to live in a free zone.

Callaghan, Dympna. A Feminist Companion to Shakespeare. Malden, Mass: Blackwell Publishers, 2000. Print. Dympna Callaghan is Dean's Professor in the Humanities and works on early modern English Literature. She edited A Feminist Companion to Shakespeare. One segment of the book analyzes the postcolonialist approach to literature. She introduces The great Indian vanishing trick: colonialism, property, and the family found in A midsummer night's dream. There is a small segment in this book that distinguishes the implication of postcolonialism with the example being the stolen Indian boy called a Changeling in the play. This young boy is an example of territorial or property confliction when the King and Queen of the fairies are seen fighting over the young boy. This is a metaphor for the times of colonialism, expansion, acquisition, and the like. The young boy was stolen from his home and two fairies contend over which will have them for themselves for various reasons. The fairy king drugs the fairy queen because she does not willingly give up the boy. The great Indian vanishing trick is seen here twice; once when the boy is taken from his own home and again when he is taken from the fairy queen Titania. The woman is seen as a symbol for the role that she plays in a mans life. Most of them are seen as inferior creatures to easily be controlled and taken advantage of. This example has been used to contradict the normal order in the colonial era and to explore the way in which postcolonialism in literature can be used by placing value not on land or territory but instead on a human child.

Clayton, Thomas, Susan rock, and icente For s. Shakespeare and the Mediterranean: The Selected Proceedings of the International Shakespeare Association World Congress, Valencia, 2001. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 2004. Print. In this example of a Midsummer Nights Dream, the authors take a look into psychological criticism through the use of examining the disappearing wall in the play-within-the-play. It is obvious that there is no true disappearing wall, and the authors help to critique this analysis with providing the conclusion that it is supposed to be seen as a psychological faction. Within the play, the disappearing wall is supposed to represent the barriers between two lovers and the order of which they are forced to communicate. It vanishes to represent the breaking down of such barriers. The idea is for the audience to think psychologically about the existence of such a wall throughout the play-within-the-play. They use specific examples throughout the text to critically analyze the ways in which psychological criticism can be implored. The fact that the characters actually believe that an imaginary wall is restraining them from each other is an aspect of criticism all on its own. This segment of the book is useful in the determination of barriers and their significance and also the idea that one must think outside of the box to find the true representation.

Reflection In my research, I adapted the resource tool on the library homepage of the UNCC website. I incorporated three different styles of criticism: feminism, post-colonialism, and psychological. I wanted to be able to examine A Midsummer Nights Dream in each of these three ways. Initially, I had a tough time searching for sources and locating exactly what I needed to represent these three criticisms. The online catalog proved to be both a success and a failure to me and I ultimately worked with the best sources I could find. I thought the method I went about searching for my sources went well, but I was not a big fan of weeding through a bunch of stuff that didnt work for my argument. I believe I am still a bit uncomfortable finding secondary sources and that was my major setback with this project. I do not know what the correct and incorrect source to use is, but I feel that if I keep practicing to master at least one of the programs on the librarys online catalog, that I will eventually develop the skills necessary to succeed throughout the remainder of my college career.