Belsey, Catherine. “Love as Trompe-l’oeil: Taxonomies of Desire in Venus and Adonis.” Shakespeare Quarterly, vol. 46, no. 3, Oxford University Press, 1995, pp. 257–76, doi:10.2307/2871118.  Belsey compares Venus and Adonis to a Trompe-l'oeil, a work of art so dedicated to realism that it can momentarily trick viewers into believing it real.  An effective Trompe-l'oiel provokes in its viewers a sense of lack, that artistic trick somehow hides something real and unattainable.  Belsey argues that Venus and Adonis is an example of a literary Trompe-l'oeil because the love that Venus presents Adonis can never truly be "real" since it goes unrequited (258).  Belsey analyzes how Venus controls love and declares it chaotic at the poem's end, arguing that Venus's declaration represents her "nature" as the goddess of love (261).  I will use this text to demonstrate how Venus behaves naturally in the poem.

 

Billing, Valerie. “The Queer Erotics of Size in Shakespeare’s Venus and Adonis.” Shakespeare Studies, vol. 45, Rosemont Publishing & Printing Corporation, 2017, pp. 131–36, http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=125366275&site=ehost-live&scope=site.  Billing queers Venus and Adonis by analyzing Venus's enormous body and arguing how that body can provide pleasure to Adonis in a non-heteronormative way.  Venus has immense strength and can carry Adonis like a toy.  Billing notes one example of Venus's size in her "park" metaphor, but the "park" metaphor is not one of sexual procreation but one of sexual pleasure; Adonis has sexual options with Venus not exclusive to penetration.  Importantly, in this article, Billing separates sex for purpose and sex for pleasure, which I can use to argue how Adonis's ascetic denial of sex denies both purpose and pleasure, that purpose and pleasure are linked, are both "natural," and should not be denied.

 

Fletcher, Loraine. “Animal Rites: A Reading of Venus and Adonis.” Critical Survey, vol. 17, no. 3, 2005, pp. 1–14, http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mzh&AN=2005630703&site=ehost-live&scope=site.  Fletcher examines how Shakespeare depicts animals in Venus and Adonis to argue how Adonis's refusal to pursue Venus and insistence to hunt the boar represents his death drive and leads to his demise.  Fletcher shows how Shakespeare blurs the lines between humans and animals by attributing them with similar traits: for example, emotion, lust, and spectacle.  Specifically, Fletcher examines horses and how Adonis's horse pursues the mare.  According to Fletcher Venus and the narrator argue that Adonis's behaves naturally and, through its embrace of nature, transcends nature into art.  Adonis, though, sees the horse only for sport.  A contradiciton exists here; Adonis's ascetisism should promote transcendence, but it does not; it kills him.

 

Garrard, Greg. Ecocriticism. 2^nd ed., Routledge, 2011.  Garrard explores pollution to argue how modern environmentalism has risen.  He argues that environmentalism occurs both in a scientific and sociological sense, in issues of ecology and ecological issues.  Then, he explains the major schools of ecocritical though: cornucopia, environmentalism, deep ecology, ecofeminisim, social ecology/eco-Marxism, and Heideggerian ecophilosophy.  He explains how deep ecology promotes that humans sacrifice themselves for nature, even if that sacrifice does not lead to human prosperity.  I will use Garrard's explanation of deep ecology in my ecological approach, as I argue that Venus and Adonis promotes a deep ecological reading by murdering Adonis.

 

Kahn, Coppélia. “Self and Eros in ‘Venus and Adonis.’” The Centennial Review, vol. 20, no. 4, Michigan State University Press, 1976, pp. 351–71, http://www.jstor.org.ccsu.idm.oclc.org/stable/23740336.  Kahn argues that Adonis is a narcissist too self-obsessed to recognize the instincts and impulses he needs to survive.  The terms nature and natural appear many times in Kahn's article, as she intimates that the instinct and impluses that Adonis denies are inherently natural.  Therefore, Adonis's narcissim depicts him as a character conflicting with his nature as a human being and with the natural world itself.  Kahn argues that, ultimately, Venus and Adonis both dominate each other, as Adonis denies Venus's love but she possesses his flower-form at the poem's end.

 

Menon, Madhavi. “Spurning Teleology in Venus and Adonis.” GLQ : A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies., vol. 11, no. 4, 2005, pp. 491–519.  Menon also approaches Venus and Adonis queerly, but Menon critcizes sex as teleology—that is, sex as existing only for reproductive purposes.  Menon demonstrates how much of Renaissance literature depicts when sex functions successfully as teleology but Venus and Adonis depicts a failure in sex as teleology; Adonis refuses to have sex with Venus.  Menon analyzes Venus's various pleas for Adonis to have sex with her and notes Venus's telelogical approach.  Adonis's denial then represets a "swerving from the course of nature," for better or worse (502).  I aim to use this source when I analyze Venus's teleological arguments for Adonis to have sex with her, arguments that show a poem arguing for a man to succumb to nature—presenting a deep ecological approach.

 

Merchant, Carolyn. “Nature as Female.” Ecocriticism: The Essential Reader, edited by Ken Hiltner, Routledge, 2015, pp. 10–34.  Merchant explores the female gendering of nature historically and argues how nature is usually depicted as a "nurturing mother."  Acts like mining conflict with this female depiction of nature, as someone would not mine their mother's body like miners mine the earth.  This female depiction of nature comes a collection of normative practices affecting how writers write about nature.  I seek to use Merchant's essay as part of my ecological approach arguing how Venus behaves naturally; this essay also leads into and provides a theoretical basis for Rebhorn's article.

 

Nietzsche, Friedrich. “What is the Meaning of Ascetic Ideals?” The Genealogy of Morals, translated by Horace B. Samuel, Boni and Liveright, 1921, https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Genealogy_of_Morals/Third_Essay.  Nietzsche introduces the "ascetic ideal" and argues that ascetism contains inherent contradictions.  Whereas asceticism should promote suffering and death, it can actually lead to empowerment, self-actualization, and transcendence.  In this philosophy, Nietzsche's views align with ascetic principles in traditional Eastern and Western religions.  I aim to use this source to argue how Adonis's ascetic denial of sex does not constitute true asceticism because Adonis does not deny his desire to hunt and neither seeks nor achieves transcendence.

 

Rebhorn, Wayne A. “Mother Venus: Temptation in Shakespeare’s Venus and Adonis.” Shakespeare Studies, vol. 11, Rosemont Publishing & Printing Corporation, Jan. 1978, p. 1–19, http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=7168312&site=ehost-live&scope=site. Rebhorn argues that Venus has a maternal quality, which aligns with Merchant's concept of female nature.  Rebhorn analyzes passages like Venus's park metaphor to show how her impulses are not just sexual but maternally protective.  According to Rebhorn, Adonis's fear of sex with Venus results from this maternal quality, as much of men's fear of women in the Renaissance results from the same maternal quality.  Rebhorn also argues that Adonis's speech is unintentionally sexual just as Venus's speech is unintentionally maternal.  I can use this source, then, to continue my argument that Adonis behaves unnaturally by denying sex.

 

Williams, Gordon. “The Coming of Age of Shakespeare's Adonis.” Modern Language Review, vol. 78, no. 4, Modern Humanities Research Association, Oct. 1983, pp. 769–76, doi:10.0.9.3/3729488.  Williams argues that Venus and Adonis contains many complexities and ambiguities that ultimately indicate Adonis having a death drive, his death at the tusks of the boar consummating this drive.  While making this argument, Williams claims that both Venus and Adonis have a nature: to have sex and to hunt, respectively.  I can use this claim about nature to argue that the "nature" Williams perceives in Adonis conflicts with the nature that Venus and the poem claim a man should have.

 

Cavanaugh, Sheila T. “Nightmares of Desire: Evil Women in ‘The Faerie Queene.” Studies in Philology, vol. 91, no. 2, 1994, pp. 313-338. JSTOR

Cavanaugh discusses the female creatures in The Faerie Queene, claiming based on etymology, most of the female creatures in the poem represent nightmares and are therefore considered evil creatures. Nightmarish women, she argues, seduce men away from their virtue, using sex as a weapon. Acrasia and the other female creatures, she claims, are fertile, but also have an appetite for sensuality, and Acrasia’s sensuality cannot be restrained, not even by Spenser himself. Guyon’s rage, she continues, can be explained as a reaction to Acrasia replicating the natural realm and making it appear more like art. Because she is deluding his senses, she is disrupting nature and the Christian world itself, and must be destroyed.

 

 

Craig, Joanne. “‘All Flesh Doth Frailtie Breed’: Mothers and Children in the Faene Queene.” Texas Studies in Literature and Language, vol. 42, no. 1, Of Mice and Men, 2000, pp. 16-32. JSTOR.

 

Craig asserts that in this epic poem, Spenser writes the female creatures as possessors of an ominous power. By looking specifically at Excesse and Acrasia, Craig writes that rather being nurturing in their literal sense the female creatures expose individuals, like Guyon, to a deceptive form of nature. All of their flowery imagery masks their deceptive sexuality, and Spenser’s anxiety is revealed in this imagery. His anxiety, she argues, is specifically concerned with female sexuality and how intemperance can destroy men.

 

 

Durling, Robert M. “The Bower of Bliss and Armida’s Palace.” Comparative Literature, vol. 6, no. 4, 1954, pp. 335-347. JSTOR.

 

Durling focused on three principle topics: structure, the treatment of sensuality and its cutre, and the theme of art versus nature in the poem. In his lengthier section about sensuality, Durling looks directly to the female creatures, writing that because of their outward and inappropriate sexuality, the Bower itself is defenseless and is tempting for anyone who enters it. The women, he writes, specifically Excess and Acrasia, are “lascivious” and powerful. The Bower itself, is nature imitated by art, but he argues that Acrasia is not responsible for this distinction. Rather, the nature versus art dichotomy present in the poem is determined from human intellect. Therefore, seeing the Bower as art rather than nature is human error, and should not be blamed on the female creatures.

 

 

Gohlke, Madelon S. “Embattled Allegory: Book II of ‘The Faerie Queene.” English Literary Renaissance, vol. 8, no. 2, 1978, pp. 123-140. JSTOR.

Gohlke specifically examines the notions of “Mother Earth” in her article, claiming that nature in Book II is one of two things: a mother whose womb is a tomb, or a sexual woman who lures men with their bodies. Gohlke writes that sexuality is a disease in the poem, casting a cloud over the male characters and readers, therefore showing how weak the flesh can be. She asserts that the Bower of Bliss represents sexual nature and claims that this form of nature is a trap that will lead to death. According to Gohlke, Guyon’s rejection of the Bower of Bliss, therefore, attests to his attraction to female sexuality. It also, she concludes displays his own inability to admit his particular attraction to the unnatural world. Rather than accept it, he destroys it altogether, knowing that it is wrong.  

 

 

Hyman, Wendy Beth. “Seizing Flowers in Spenser’s Bower and Garden.” English Literary Renaissance, vol. 37, no. 2, 2007, pp. 193-214. JSTOR

Hyman examines the role that flowers played in the Bower of Bliss. She specifically critiques the “rose song” and how the poem’s message to seize the day is a moot point in the poem. She claims that Guyon’s climatic violence to destroy the Bower ultimately ruins any claim he had on temperance. First appearances can be misleading, and the imagery that Spenser uses to describe the flowers and gardens tricks Guyon. With the help of these “false melodies,” Guyon knows what his true path is, but in order to fully avoid temptation, his only choice is to symbolically “deflower” the Bower of Bliss and Acrasia all at once.

 

 

Merchant, Carolyn. “Nature as Female.” Ecocriticism: The Essential Reader. By Ken Hitlner. London. Routledge, 2015. 10-34. Print.

Merchant argues that for centuries, human beings have yearned to discover how to identify with nature. Nature, she claims, is seen as a living organism, and a common identifier of nature is perceiving “nature as female.” With “nature as female,” human beings have asserted that nature is controlling and dominant but can also be disruptive and disorderly. “Nature as female” can be considered chaos but also nurturing and timid. Merchant examines the number of ways that “nature as female” has been used in literature and asserts that it has been portrayed in many ways, including unified, utopian, calm, bountiful, passive, subservient, and motherly. “Nature as female” she claims, is broad, and is used in many forms.

 

Okerlund, Arlene N. “Spenser’s Wanton Maidens: Reader Psychology and the Bower of Bliss.” PMLA, vol. 88, no. 1, 1973, pp. 62-68. JSTOR

Okerlund is entranced by the sensuous beauty that the Bower of Bliss and Spenser’s poetry itself presents in the poem. So much, she demonstrates, that Guyon is not the only individual who almost forgets their quest. The amount of lusciousness that the Bower contains is overwhelming, but Okerlund argues that the beauts is repulsive and appealing all at once. The women, she writes, also has that affect, and Spenser presents a vivid picture of evil in order to instruct his readers what to avoid: false, contaminated beauty. Everything in the Bower, she argues, is artful--from its flowers to its women. The point of Canto XII, she asserts, is to change readers from passive to active and applaud Guyon as he destroys the Bower and the temptations that lie within it.

 

Woodhouse, A.S.P. “Nature and Grace in the Faerie Queene.” ELH, vol. 16, no. 3, 1949, pp. 194-228. JSTOR.

 

Woodhouse appreciates the natural order and writes that nature and grace are two key pillars in society. Men believed to have denizen over the natural work, inanimate and animate, and Guyon himself experiences a different kind of nature in the poem. Woodhouse argues that Guyon experiences a new contrast in nature where nature is true, and nature is false. This false nature is portrayed through Acrasia’s Bower of Bliss. He claims that nature is prostituted to sensual pleasure by the female creatures, and there is no spirit of nature in the Bower. Instead, there is only misrule and false art that deceives and misdirects men from the truth and true nature.

 

Pollock, Zailig. “Concupiscence and Intemperance in the Bower of Bliss.” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, vol. 20, no. 1, The English Renaissance, 1980, pp. 43-58. JSTOR.

Pollock examines Acrasia specifically, arguing that she represents intemperance in relation to concupiscence, which means sexuality. Acrasia, representing concupiscible impulse, is paired up with Guyon, who must remain resist temptation. Guyon’s character, he writes, is Spenser’s way of demonstrating how men wrestle with sexual impulses; Guyon is a representation of what a man should do. Pollock argues that in his imagery, Spenser uses art and nature as metaphors for the irascible and concupiscible impulses. Nature is given to man to enjoy, but art is created by man. Pollock writes that Spenser is aware of this contrast and uses his poem and the destruction of the Bower to instruct that men should not go beyond nature for enjoyment.

 

Zajac, Paul Joseph. “Reading through the Fog: Perception, the Passions, and Poetry in Spenser’s Bower of Bliss.” English Literary Renaissance, vol. 43, no. 2, 2013, pp. 211-238. JSTOR.

Zajac argues that the female creatures, specifically Acrasia, put a metaphorical and physical fog over the senses of the male characters. He goes even further, claiming that these female powers also fog the reader’s senses as well. With her powers and sensuality, Acrasia manipulates perception, recognition, and judgement. However, Guyon is an exception. Zajac claims that Spenser has Guyon destroy the Bower of Bliss to illustrate the allures and dangers that an artistic world can bring. There is a complex relationship between art and nature, and the Bower of Bliss dominates that relationship. Art and passion go hand in hand in this poem, Zajac claims, and the female creatures are representations of both. Guyon, therefore, is a hero because he puts a stop at art and embraces nature in its true form.

 

Arons, Wendy. “Queer Ecology/ Contemporary Plays.” Theatre Journal , vol. 64, no. 4, Dec. 2012, pp. 565–582. Queer Research In Performance.

 

In her article, “Queer Ecology/ Contemporary Plays,” Wendy Arons asserts that looking at theatre through a queer ecological standpoint is accessible and quite easy to achieve. She begins her argument by defining what Queer Ecology means to her argument and discusses how her focus for argument is on how nature is inherently queer and the only reason we do not read literature with this lens is due to our heteronormative influence on the non-human aspects of life. Being that we are a society focused on heteronormativity, this influence has permeated into not just the human world, but the natural world as well. Arons goes on to argue that we treat the idea of the “other” as different from what we expect as individuals in society, but the “other” is incapable of distinction and categorization. This “other” represents the queerness of ecology and the presentation of all things as boundaryless. This idea supports my own argument as the natural elements in Shakespeare present as the “other” from societal norms and yet they are the epitome of a queer existence in nature that men are trying to stunt. Therefore, plays must be viewed through the lens of queer ecology with an embraced attitude towards the “other” and what that means for societal norms.

 

Buckingham, Susan. “Ecofeminism in the Twenty-First Century.” The Geographical Journal , vol. 170, no. 2, June 2004, pp. 146–154.

 

Susan Buckingham presents an interesting argument in “Ecofeminism in the Twenty-First Century”. Her ideas are grounded in the fact that women have faced inequality in all aspects of life when considering the advantages of men. This has not only translated to social aspects of life, but also to environmental aspects. Buckingham asserts that the environment is a highly female entitiy, especially in the twenty-first century, and the utilization of environmental resources should be considered with this mindset. Buckingham notes that policy is influenced by the perception of women and the necessity that women hold in social life. This also influences how policy impacts the environment and the status of women. Buckingham uses ecofeminism and the ecofeminist movement to prove that women are ignored when it comes to policies that target the environment and yet women are the most connected to the natural world and to the environment. Buckingham’s standpoint is that there needs to be gender equality in the way we perceive the natural world and the policies surrounding the natural world and society.

 

Cuomo, Chris. “On Ecofeminist Philosophy .” Ethics and the Environment , vol. 7, no. 2, 2002, pp. 1–11.

 

Chris Cuomo argues that we are all composed of “physical and conceptual connections and relationships” in his article “On Ecofeminist Philosophy”. What Cuomo means by this idea is that all beings have indentical composition and this composition extends to the natural world including animals and the non-living. He stresses that currently, ecological and social relationships are morally troubling when it comes to the way that “we” as a society interact with the natural world and our treatment of the natural world. He argues that ecology is the most important aspect of societal construct, and this should be the basis of all conversation, policy, and gender treatment. Cuomo notes that there is a web of “domination and oppression” that stems from refusing to look at ecology and society through an eco-feminist lens, one that acknowledges the need for acceptance in nature. This idea can be applied to the queer-ecology lens when thinking about whom is dominated the narrative and through what metaphors does the narrative of male versus female come through.

 

Estok, Simon C. “Theory from the Fringes: Animals, Ecocriticism, Shakespeare.” Mosaic: An Interdisciplinary Critical Journal, vol. 40, no. 1, Mar. 2007, pp. 61–78.

 

In his article, “Theory from the Fringes: Animals, Ecocriticism, Shakespeare,” Simon Estok argues that much of Shakespeare’s writing is focused on animals as symbolic or metaphoric; he stresses that there is little writing about the ecological perspective and presentation of the animals. This lack of ecological writing and presentation of animals as a significant part of ecological theory led Estok to look further into the presentation of animals and non-animals in Shakespeare’s writing as influential on the status of society and the natural world. However, Estok focuses primarily on the idea that animals are frequently not included in eco-criticism because they are just thought of as “natural” and yet, the non-inclusion of animals seems to represent the idea that animals do not have a significant role in the natural world. Estok argues that animals must not be eaten or utilized if they are truly of the natural world and are to be preserved. This same idea is presented in queer-ecology in whivh animals are presented as beneficial to the natural world. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the argument Estok makes is noted through the transformation of human to animals and the acceptance of this transformation as natural.

 

Gaard, Greta. “Green, Pink, and Lavender: Banishing Ecophobia through Queer Ecologies, Review of Queer Ecologies: Sex, Nature, Politics, Desire, Catriona Mortimer-Sandilands and Bruce Erickson, Eds.” Ethics and the Environment , vol. 16, no. 2, 2011, pp. 115–126.

 

In this essay, Greta Gaard argues that the feeling of having to choose between ecology and sexuality must no longer exist. Gaard argument revolves around looking at the “queering” of ecology and how ecology is inherently queer when looking at species boundaries and how animals and the natural world tend to interact. She argues that heterocentrism charges queer sexualities with being “against nature” and this led to her assertion that the heteronormativity is actually the only relationship that is technically “against” nature if looking at literature and the environment through a purely sexual lens. Gaard’s argument is focused on the sex and animals. Her research and argument proves that animals do not follow the typical pattern of sexuality that we always expect, and yet this is still viewed as natural. Therefore, animals represent the queer-ecology and no longer the heteronormative view of sexuality. This translates directly to humans and their relationship to the natural world. Sexuality in the natural world does not need to link to humans only expressing themselves through their hetero counterpart because the nature of animals is to express through raw emotion and feeling rather than societal construct or expectation.

 

 

Hackett, Helen. "Varieties of Love, Variations of Genre." Shakespearean Criticism, edited by Elisabeth Gellert, vol. 58, Gale, 2001. Literature Criticism Online, Accessed 4 Apr. 2019. Originally published in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Northcote House Publishers Ltd, 1997, pp. 32-46.

 

 

In this article, Hackett asserts that A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a play that follows a typical Shakespearean idea of marriage for “love” but goes against that idea and shows marriage that is really about power and power over another individual. Hackett supports her argument by using specific instances of imagery, specifically eyes, to show how the love that the characters feel for one another is superficial and promoted by the idea of power gained through a relationship. Hackett stresses that the men are the dominant members of this power play, and she uses the relationship between Theseus and Hippolyta to prove this point. I agree with the ideas presented by Hackett, especially when it comes to reading through the lens of queer ecology. The power structures within the play are fought against by nature, and her evidence proves that there is a superficiality that requires shifting.

 

 

Morton, Timothy. “Guest Column: Queer Ecology .” Modern Language Association , vol. 125, no. 2, Mar. 2010, pp. 273–282.

 

In his Guest Colum, Queer Ecology, Timothy Morton argues what it means to look at nature from a queer perspective. Morton highlights the idea that nature is inherently queer and that there are no proclivities towards heteronormative behavior. We attempt to put heteronormativity into the natural world, but the natural world is only an existence of queer ecology. The natural world does not implement boundaries into its categories of existence, and this idea must apply to those that seek intimacy and lust in plays and literature. I plan to use this article in my writing to begin the foundation for my research. Since I am arguing about how the patriarchal roles in society are fundamentally stunting the queer roles and expression that the natural world is trying to influence and foster, I will use Morton’s ideas about nature as inherently queer to inform my argument.

 

 

Morton, Timothy, and Ken Hiltner. “Imagining Ecology Without Nature.” Ecocriticism: The Essential Reader, Routledge Literature Readers, pp. 237–258.

 

In “Imagining Ecology Without Nature,” Timothy Morton argues that the environment became a problem for society to deal with from the very first establishment of the environment. Morton argues through a variety of topics and all seem to have the same basic idea, that the essence of things is inseparable from the visual presentation. Morton argues that nothing is simple, single, dependent or solid and therefore he writes about “deep ecology” and the need for us to look at the Earth as something that provides but is not utilized, something that should not be taken from and should not be used as a resource for the human will. Morton discusses the idea behind dualism and monism and how this impacts the way that we perceive nature and the ecology. All-natural elements and ideas have a juxtaposition and the use of specific natural elements lead us to believe that there is more detail behind literature than initially led to believe. The natural world cannot be separated from ecology and this is seen in the literature and poems that Morton dissects through his work. The wording, punctuation, and conventions of each piece of literature prove that the natural elements and the ecological perspectives are telling the story and creating the identity that the reader must feel. It is dangerous to dismiss nature writing as it is the essence of existence and the beginning of life and societal structures that we follow.

 

Sanchez, Melissa. “Use Me But as Your Spaniel: Feminism, Queer Theory, and Early Modern Sexualities.” Modern Language Association , vol. 127, no. 3, May 2012, pp. 493–511.

 

In this article, Melissa Sanchez argues that early modern literature presented queer theory as a way for females to deal with and understand their own sexuality and therefore move into the feminist movement. While this article does not deal with queer ecology, the ideas presented by Sanchez and queer theory and its impact on gender identification and the significance of this identification are highly important to my research. Sanchez focuses on A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Spenser’s Faerie Queene through her research to prove that homonormativity was common in early modern literature, but it was used as a pathway to heteronormativity and the definition of love and lust for women. Sanchez argues that women are presented as submissive to their male counterparts because what feels good to a woman, naturally, can only be given and supplied by a man. This idea is pervasive throughout early modern literature, but Sanchez challenges it by looking at the different relationships that are presented in this literature and how they invoke a certain identity and feeling for women. She looks at the different functioning of relationships to prove that the idea of sexuality presented in these works of literature were primarily leaning towards the queer, boundaryless norms, but needed to be categorized for the sake of the audience. This ties back into the natural idea of women embracing their identity and the struggles to express themselves in the natural world and in their relationships.

 

Thompson, Charis. “Back to Nature .” Isis, vol. 97, no. 3, Sept. 2006, pp. 505–512.

 

Charis Thompson argues that the work of Carolyn Merchant was the most pivotal piece of writing when it comes to the ecofeminist movement and looking at nature as something taken back from the patriarchy. In “Back to Nature” Thompson highlights the need for reading literature through a lens that favors the female perspective, as this branches the power struggle between male and female. Thompson works through Merchant’s work in order to “resurrect” some of the forgotten strengths that ecofeminism hold when reading early modern literature and the influential literature that is so often taught in schools. Not only in literature, but Thompson touches on the impact that viewing nature through the female lens has on policy and politics in the world. Thompson focuses on the idea that science, intelligence, and gender come together to create the critical lens that all literature must be viewed through. The natural world is an embodiment of the female form and this is a direct way to combat the male patriarchy that wishes to change and utilize this form. Thompson argues that women do not necessarily only represent nature, but they have taken on the direct link to the natural world through the historical categorization of women as the “nurturing” being. This is easy to connect and combat with queer-ecology, stressing that all individuals and entities are the natural and nurturing being without regard to specific gender roles.

 

 

Buccola, Regina. "The Story Shall Be Changed: The Fairy Feminism of a Midsummer Night's Dream." Shakespearean Criticism, edited by Michelle Lee, vol. 139, Gale, 2011. Literature Criticism Online, http://link.galegroup.com.ccsu.idm.oclc.org/apps/doc/JKFVQD408621294/GLS?u=a30cc&sid=GLS&xid=6b7602fa. Accessed 17 Apr. 2019. Originally published in Fairies, Fractious Women, and the Old Faith: Fairy Lore in Early Modern British Drama and Culture, Susquehanna University Press, 2006, pp. 58-82.  Buccola argues that in Fairyland, everything is inverted (power is female) women are allowed to pursue masculine roles without penalty. Women, because they recognize the fairy power when the men do not, have power the men will never have.

 

Calderwood, James L. “A Midsummer Night's Dream: Anamorphism and Theseus' Dream.” Shakespeare Quarterly, vol. 42, no. 4, 1991, pp. 409–430. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2870461.

Calderwood argues that this play is like an anamorphism, a painting that looks different depending on where one stands to look at it. By having Theseus and Oberon played by the same actor and Titania and Hippolyta played by the same actor, it gives the effect of an anamorphism and allows the parallels to address Theseus’ fears and the loss of female comradery through Titania/Hippolyta parallel.

 

Clayton, Tom. "So Quick Bright Things Come to Confusion: Or, What Else Was a Midsummer Night's Dream About?" Shakespearean Criticism, edited by Lynn M. Zott, vol. 70, Gale, 2003. Literature Criticism Online, http://link.galegroup.com.ccsu.idm.oclc.org/apps/doc/LPBZJR524094806/GLS?u=a30cc&sid=GLS&xid=24534e4f. Accessed 18 Apr. 2019. Originally published in ¹ In Shakespeare: Text and Theater, edited by Lois Potter and Arthur F. Kinney, University of Delaware Press, 1999, pp. 62-91. Clayton argues, unlike Calder, that doubling Theseus and Hippolyta with their fairy counterparts is entirely the wrong interpretation. Theseus and Hippolyta argue for noblese oblige in their treatment of those socially beneath them; and that they are complimentary characters throughout. He further argues that Tatiana is in the wrong because the boy is now of an age to leave the women and join the men, as would be custom in Greek culture.  In the end, Tatiana and Oberon also extend noblese oblige after things are restored to their proper order; fairies and humans agreeing on proper and civil behavior.

 

Diamond, Catherine. “Four Women in the Woods: An Ecofeminist Look at the Forest as Home.” Comparative Drama, vol. 51, no. 1, 2017, pp. 71–100. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mzh&AN=2017441943&site=ehost-live&scope=site. Diamond argues that Western insistence that the forest be seen as other and not as important and individualized as it should be, this takes away from the power and the necessity of appreciating nature. Where women in the forest become equal to men in these plays, the forest itself remains lessor. Women like Tatiana are open and caring of the forest and its inhabitants but this is not the way it is portrayed on the stage, and it should be. Only this way can we give back to nature the importance we have taken from it.

 

Frosch, Thomas R. "The Missing Child in a Midsummer Night's Dream." Shakespearean Criticism, edited by Michelle Lee, vol. 121, Gale, 2009. Literature Criticism Online, http://link.galegroup.com.ccsu.idm.oclc.org/apps/doc/HDUPHP031409489/GLS?u=a30cc&sid=GLS&xid=3ad17096. Accessed 17 Apr. 2019. Originally published in American Imago, vol. 64, no. 4, 2008, pp. 485-511.  This article discusses male and female roles, the role of the father and mother and their relationships with each other and their parents and progeny. Frosch argues that the men need to be morphed into good fathers and the women into wives, properly submissive and centered on husband and wife relationship, more than parent child.

 

Herman, Peter C. “Equity and the Problem of Theseus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Or, the Ancient Constitution in Ancient Athens.” Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies, vol. 14, no. 1, 2014, pp. 4–31. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/jearlmodcultstud.14.1.4.

 

Hunt, Maurice. “Individuation in ‘A Midsummer Night's Dream.’” South Central Review, vol. 3, no. 2, 1986, pp. 1–13. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3189362.

Hunt argues that one must be recognized as an individual before one can properly become an adult who is ready for marriage. The bonds between the same sex friends must be broken so that each member of the pair can become a distinct entity who can then pair with his/her complement (marriage mate). These complementing pairs then combine to form new individuals, procreating the next generation as they should for life to continue.

 

Montrose, Louis Adrian. "Shaping Fantasies: Figurations of Gender and Power in Elizabethan Culture." Shakespearean Criticism, edited by Michael Magoulias and Marie Lazzari, vol. 29, Gale, 1996. Literature Criticism Online, http://link.galegroup.com.ccsu.idm.oclc.org/apps/doc/JKIWJJ571474935/GLS?u=a30cc&sid=GLS&xid=3349a279. Accessed 17 Apr. 2019. Originally published in Representations, vol. 1, no. 2, Spring 1983, pp. 61-86.

Montrose argues family and social constructs are natural and reinforced by the parallel couples, however, he has to account for Queen Elizabeth, a woman that men had to obey. He fits Queen Elizabeth in as Hippolyta, Titania and other females who frustrate and aggravate a patriarchal society, leaving the men to protest and plot but the power of the “cult of virginity” firmly still in Elizabeth’s hands.

 

Sagar, Keith. “A Midsummer Night's Dream: a Marriage of Heaven and Hell.” Critical Survey, vol. 7, no. 1, 1995, pp. 34–43. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41555882.

Sagar argues that Shakespeare is deliberately making fun of Puritans throughout this play, especially in leaving all the “blessings” to the pagan fairies. It is also a way of poking fun at the Puritans that it is not logic and reasoning and the Christian God who brings happiness but a night in the (evil) woods, in the realm of the pagan spirits, that brings the necessary healing of relationships that patriarchy and logic brought about.

 

Walters, Lisa. “Monstrous Births and Imaginations: Authorship and Folklore in Shakespeare's ‘A Midsummer Night's Dream.’” Renaissance and Reformation / Renaissance Et Réforme, vol. 39, no. 1, 2016, pp. 115–146., www.jstor.org/stable/43918984.

Walters argues that the blessing of the fairies is an anathema to the usual behavior of fairies and what Shakespeare is really doing is equating theater and imagination with the traditional folk elements. Shakespeare’s fairies are a kinder gentler version than those found in traditional folklore, though not altogether harmless. This idea of a changeling calls into question paternity and gives another reason for birth defects of all kinds. Women were more imaginative than men and through this imaginative force disrupts the power of the patriarchy and introduces changelings (in the form of her imagination shaping the child, if not in the form of cuckoldry). Actors, like fairies, may “hope not to offend” but they may sew discord and introduce protest through the art of the theater.