Puck, Pan, Robin Goodfellow
Text 1 for information:
Origins and comparative folklore
The Old English puca[1] is a kind of half-tamed woodland spirit, leading folk astray with echoes and lights in
nighttime woodlands (like the German and Dutch "Weisse Frauen" and "Witte Wieven" and the French "Dames
Blanches," all "White Ladies"), or coming into the farmstead and souring milk in the churn. According to the
Oxford English Dictionary, the etymology of the name Puck is "unsettled"; it is compared to Old Norse puki
(Old Swedish puke, Icelandic puki, Frisian Puk). Celtic origins (based on Welsh pwca, Cornish Bucca and Irish
púca) have also been proposed,[2] but as the Old English and Old Norse attestations are considerably older than
the Celtic ones, loan from Germanic to Celtic seems more probable. The etymology of Puck is examined by
Katharine Mary Briggs, Anatomy of Puck (New York: Arno) 1977.[clarification needed] The term pixie is in origin a
diminutive of puck (compared to Swedish word "pyske" meaning "small fairy").
Puck's euphemistic "disguised" name is "Robin Goodfellow" or "Hobgoblin", in which "Hob" may substitute
for "Rob" or may simply refer to the "goblin of the hearth" or hob. The name Robin is Middle English in origin,
deriving from Old French Robin, the pet form for the name Robert. The earliest reference to "Robin
Goodfellow" cited by the Oxford English Dictionary is from 1531. After Meyerbeer's successful opera Robert le
Diable (1831), neo-medievalists and occultists began to apply the name Robin Goodfellow to the Devil, with
appropriately extravagant imagery
Characteristics
If you had the knack, Puck might do minor housework for you, quick fine needlework or butter-churning, which
could be undone in a moment by his knavish tricks if you fell out of favour with him. He may also do work for
you if you leave him small gifts, such as a glass of milk or other such treats, otherwise he may do the opposite
by "make[ing] the drink[beer] to bear no barm" and other such fiendish acts. Pucks are also known to be
inherently lonely creatures, and often share the goal of acquiring friends. "Those that Hob-goblin call you, and
sweet Puck, / You do their work, and they shall have good luck" said one of William Shakespeare's fairies.
Shakespeare's characterization of "shrewd and knavish" Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream may have revived
flagging interest in Puck.[3]
According to Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898):
[Robin Goodfellow is a] "drudging fiend", and merry domestic fairy, famous for mischievous pranks and
practical jokes. At night-time he will sometimes do little services for the family over which he presides. The
Scots call this domestic spirit a brownie; the Germans, kobold or Knecht Ruprecht. Scandinavians called it
Nissë God-dreng. Puck, the jester of Fairy-court, is the same.
In English literature
Main article: Puck (A Midsummer Night's Dream)
Puck, also known as Robin Goodfellow, is a character in William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's
Dream, whose nature has been so clearly fixed in the English-speaking imagination that, as Katherine Briggs
has remarked,[4] "it no longer seems natural to talk as Robert Burton does in the Anatomie of Melancholy of a
puck instead of 'Puck'". The audience is introduced to Puck in Act II Scene I when Puck encounters one of
Titania's fairies. She recognizes Puck for
that shrewd and knavish sprite
Call'd Robin Goodfellow: are not you he
That frights the maidens of the villagery;
Skim milk, and sometimes labour in the quern
And bootless make the breathless housewife churn;
And sometime make the drink to bear no barm;
Mislead night-wanderers, laughing at their harm?
Those that Hobgoblin call you and sweet Puck,
You do their work, and they shall have good luck:
Are not you he?
It is Puck's mischievous and sometimes mistaken doings that provide the convolutions of the plot.
Aside from Shakespeare's famous use of Puck, many other writers have referred to the spirit as well. An early
17th century broadside ballad, "The Mad Merry Pranks of Robin Goodfellow"—which is so deft and literate it
has been taken for the work of Ben Jonson—describes Puck/Robin Goodfellow as the emissary of Oberon, the
Fairy King, inspiring night-terrors in old women but also carding their wool while they sleep, leading travelers
astray, taking the shape of animals, blowing out the candles to kiss the girls in the darkness, twitching off their
bedclothes, or making them fall out of bed on the cold floor, tattling secrets, and changing babes in cradles with
elflings. All his work is done by moonlight, and his mocking, echoing laugh is "Ho ho ho!"
Text 2 for information:
PAN was the god of shepherds and flocks, of mountain wilds, hunting and rustic music. He wandered the hills
and mountains of Arkadia playing his pan-pipes and chasing Nymphs. His unseen presence aroused feelings of
panic in men passing through the remote, lonely places of the wilds.
The god was a lover of nymphs, who commonly fled from his advances. Syrinx ran and was transformed into a
clump of reeds, out of which the god crafted his famous pan-pipes. Pitys escaped and was turned into a
mountain fir, the god's sacred tree. Ekho spurned his advances and fading away left behind only her voice to
repeat forever the mountain cries of the god.
Pan was depicted as a man with the horns, legs and tail of a goat, and with thick beard, snub nose and pointed
ears. He was often appears in the retinue of Dionysos alongside the other rustic gods. Greeks in the classical age
associated his name with the word pan meaning "all". However, it true origin lies in an old Arkadian word for
rustic.
Pan was frequently identified with other similar rustic gods such as Aristaios, the shepherd-god of northern
Greece, who like Pan was titled both Agreus (the hunter) and Nomios (the shepherd); as well as with the pipeplaying Phrygian satyr Marsyas; and Aigipan, the goat-fish god of the constellation Capricorn. Sometimes Pan
was multiplied into a host of Panes, or a triad named Agreus, Nomios, and Phorbas.
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He was the son of Hermes and Penelope (later married to Odysseus) in some myths and the son of Zeus and the
nymph Callisto in others. He was the god of flocks and shepherds. He is the god of goatherds and
shepherds. He is mostly human in appearnce but, with goat horns and goat feet. He is an excellent
musician and plays the pipes. He is merry and playful frequently seen dancing with woodland
nymphs. He is at home in any wild place but, is favorite is Arcady, where he was born. He is
always in pursuit of one of the nymphs but, always rejected because he is ugly.
His name is the basis for the word "panic". There are two differing explanations for this. The first is
that he was present when Zeus defeated the Titans and claimed that it has his yelling that caused
the Titans to flee. However, this seems at odds with his being Hermes son. The second is that he
created the noises in the woods at night the scared travelers.
Text 4 for information:
The Good-Time God: Pan
Half-goat, half-god, Pan—sometimes called Aegipan (although some storytellers insist these two were distinct
characters)—was a god of shepherds, forests, wildlife, and fertility. Pan was the son of Hermes and a fair-haired
daughter of Dryops, one of Apollo's sons. (Some storytellers, however, claim that his father was Zeus and his
mother was either a nymph or a goat.)
When she first saw that her baby had the horns, ears, tail, and legs of a goat, Pan's mother was horrified.
Although even as a newborn Pan was laughing and full of life, both his mother and his nurse ran away to escape
his monstrous appearance. Hermes, however, could not have been happier. Filled with joy at the birth of his
son, Hermes whisked his baby to Olympus and proudly introduced him to the other immortals.
A mountain dweller, Pan roamed the ranges in the company of nymphs. He hunted mountain wildlife and
pursued quite a wild life himself: Pan lived to dance, sing, play his pipes, and chase after nymphs (playful god
though he was, Pan could also be lewd and lecherous).
Once while hunting, Pan spotted a beautiful nymph named Syrinx. When he attempted to seduce her, she ran
away, for she admired and emulated Artemis, the virgin huntress. In her flight, she came to a river and found
herself unable to cross. So Syrinx begged the river nymphs to change her into marsh reeds—and they gladly
accommodated her.
Just then, Pan caught up with her, but as he reached out to embrace her, he saw and felt nothing but reeds. His
sigh of disappointment was echoed by a breeze blowing through the reeds. The sound enchanted Pan, who
quickly tied several of the reeds together to fashion his first syrinx, or Pan pipes.
Hemi-Demi-Semi-Deities
Not quite deities, but not quite human either, were the creatures that inhabited the natural worlds of the forests,
mountains, and waters of Greece. These included the satyrs, the silens, and the nymphs.
Woodland spirits who took the form of men, the satyrs had decidedly animalistic features as well. Most looked
similar to Pan—with a goat's legs, a horse's tail, and horns or pointed ears. In addition, most satyrs sported
exceedingly large genitals.
Like Pan, the satyrs were revelers who sang, danced, got drunk, and ran after nymphs and other females.
Frequent followers of Dionysus (see Eat, Drink, and Be Merry: Dionysus), the satyrs represent the untamable
fertility of the forests
Puck (a.k.a. Robin Goodfellow)
Character Analysis
Puck is the mischievous sprite who serves Oberon, the Fairy King.
In Elizabethan folklore, Puck (a.k.a. Robin Goodfellow) is a household sprite who, depending on his mood,
plays annoying tricks on people or helps them out with their chores. This explains why Shakespeare's Puck
brags to us about all the times he's been a pest to local villagers by sabotaging vats of ale and ruining the
batches of butter that housewives spent all morning churning.
Character Analysis – Puck, 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' By Lee
Jamieson
Puck is one of Shakespeare’s most enjoyable characters. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream Puck is a mischievous
sprite and Oberon’s servant and jester.
He is perhaps the play’s most adorable character and stands out from the other fairies that drift through the play.
But Puck is not as ethereal as the play’s other fairies; rather, he is courser, prone to misadventure and goblinlike. Indeed, one of the fairies describes Puck as a “hobgoblin” in Act 2, Scene 1.
As his “hobgoblin” reputation suggests, Puck is fun-loving and quick-witted – and thanks to this mischievous
nature, he triggers many of the play’s most memorable events.
Puck – Use (and Misuse) of Magic
Puck uses magic for comic effect – most notably when he transforms Bottom’s head into that of an ass! This is
the most memorable image of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and demonstrates that whilst Puck is harmless, he
is capable of cruel tricks for the sake of enjoyment.
Oberon sends Puck to fetch a love potion use it on the Athenian lovers to stop them bickering. However, Puck is
prone to unfortunate mistakes and smears the love potion on Lysander’s eyelids instead of Demetrius’s.
Puck never really accepts responsibility for the mistake and continues to blame the lovers behavior on their own
foolishness! In Act 3, Scene 2 he says:
Captain of our fairy band,
Helena is here at hand;
And the youth, mistook by me,
Pleading for a lover's fee.
Shall we their fond pageant see?
Lord, what fools these mortals be!
Later in the play, Oberon sends Puck out to fix his mistake. The forest is magically plunged into darkness and
Puck imitates the voices of the lovers to lead them astray. This time he successfully smears the love potion on
Lysander's eyes and he falls back in love with Hermia.
The lovers are made to believe that the entire affair was a dream, and in the final passage of the play, Puck
encourages the audience to think the same:
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber'd here
While these visions did appear.