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FAIRIES, PORTENTS, AND THE GREAT CHAIN:
PRETERNATURAL PHENOMENA AND ITS MEANING IN THREE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS
The Oxford English Dictionary gives us "preternatural" as having been coined by the great 13th century alchemist and theologian Albertus Magnus, one of whose students, Thomas Aquinas, went on to give us what has become the more contemporary form, "supernatural." The entry for the former term defines it as something "that is out of the ordinary course of nature; beyond, surpassing, or differing from what is natural." Aquinas's word, which has come to be thought of as synonymous with, even a replacement for, what is considered by some its more "arcane" antecedent is, in fact, far more limited in its scope: "That is above nature; belonging to a higher realm or system than that of nature." It is for this reason that I shall avoid using the latter term in this brief discourse, and defer wholly to the former, which is in its essence far more to the purpose in a discussion of the plays The Tempest, Julius Caesar, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. In addition, I shall be discussing the plays through three successive pairings, drawing distinctions and comparisons between each play and its significant others as relate to some aspect of the preternatural realm.
In any discussion of two Shakespeare plays, the issue of chronology deserves at least a passing nod. In the case of The Tempest and A Midsummer Night's Dream, knowledge of the chronology of the plays is of paramount importance in understanding the differences in tone, language, and the relationship dynamics between Oberon/Puck and Prospero/Ariel/Caliban. A Midsummer Night's Dream came out roughly 1594-5, The Tempest around 1611-12, some seventeen years later. The development of Shakespeare's imagination, as well as his powers as a playwright and poet, are certainly evident in The Tempest: The language is richer and more convoluted, the tone darker, more brooding, as are the characters (a...