Yuta Horii

Period 6

Literary Analysis Prompt #8

You might think that a typical ruler that appears in stories and folktales are self centered and abuses their power for themselves. Oberon is not so off from that. He is a major
character that appears in the play A Midsummer Nights Dream. He is the king of the faeries and
have 1 underling which is Puck, a mischievous creature that enjoys trouble and comedy.
Throughout the play, Oberon is in a major fight with Titania, which causes him to grow many of
his characteristic. As the story progresses, it is revealed that Oberon is self serving and one of
those rulers that are out for themselves. He continually uses his power for himself and doesn't
show much compassion to other people.
One characteristic of Oberon is the fact that he is ruthless. As mentioned in the play,
Oberon and Titania are fighting over the changeling boy. They have been fighting over the boy
so strong that it affected the seasons and crops. However, why is Oberon so motivated and
attached to this changeling boy to become his servant? As many as you know, Titania does not
let go of the changeling boy because his mother was a close traveling buddy to her, and she
thought that it was her responsibility to take care of him. However, this led to Oberon becoming
jealous. He was jealous because of how Titania only looks after the boy and not for him. Titania
spends all her time on the boy and ignores Oberon. Oberon even goes to the extent of putting
love potion in Titanias eyes so he can take the boy away from her. As a result, Titania fell under
a illusionary love with an Ass.He humiliated and tricked her wife just so that he can get what he
wanted. This shows that Oberon is ruthless when it comes to having it his way.
Another characteristic of Oberon is that he is compassionate. This is first shown in Act 2,
Scene 2 when Oberon states, A sweet Athenian lady is in love With a disdainful youth. Anoint
his eyes, But do it when the next thing he espies May be the lady. This shows that Oberon felt
sorry for Helena who was getting rejected and thrown off by Demetrius. He feels compassion for
Helena which causes him to use magic to help her become with Demetrius. It is even revealed
that he uses magic to bless their marriage bed so they dont have ugly childs. He also made
sure that the Athenian lover is paired up with a suitable partner. Oberon pitied the Athenian lady
causing him to make these decisions. Also, later on in the play he even feels pity for Titania
when he was the one who put her in that position. This shows that Oberon is actually a good
natured fellow at heart because he is willing to restore someone when he was the one who
caused it. Generally, if you were the cause to something, you would want to just leave it or half
heartedly put it back to how it was. However, in Oberons case, he just decided to restore Titania
just because he felt pity and felt that he should take responsibility and fix the problem. This
shows that Oberon can be compassionate and sympathetic.
Last but not least, he is commanding. In almost every scene where Puck and Oberon
appears, it is shown that Oberon is ordering around Puck to do his bidding. As I have mentioned
before, Oberon ordered Puck to drop the love potion into the eyes of Titania and Demetrius.
With leaden legs and batty wings doth creep. Then crush this herb into Lysanders eye,... This

is another example of Oberon commanding Puck. After he notices that Puck made a grave
mistake, Oberon orders him to put the flower droplet into Lysander to negate the love potion.
Oberon is abusing his power to dominate Titania and the lovers to make it go his way. As a king,
commanding people must be a natural thing for him. He continues to order and boss around
Puck throughout the whole story. He expresses his authority on Puck throughout the play. using
him to make things go easier for him .Not only does ordering and bossing around his subject
makes him commanding, it is expressed through his position and authority. He uses Puck to
trick Titania so he can grab the changeling boy while she is distracted. He uses his authority as
a king to use others making him have the characteristic of commanding.
In conclusion, Oberon is a ruler that sometimes abuses his power to get what he wants.
However, at times, he can feel compassionate towards others. In Helenas case, he tried to help
her so she can be happy and satisfied. Oberon becomes ruthless and abuses his power to
make things go his way. Everyone can relate to that. Many people would want to use what they
have to make something more easier and pleasant for them. Oberon did just the same. He used
Puck to do his bidding and he used everything he had to make it go what he wanted. In
conclusion, Oberon is a ruler that uses everything he have to make things easier for him. I
believe that Oberon should be viewed as somewhat of an tyrant that only shows his soft side to
people he acknowledges.