Titania

Titania is the Fairy Queen and was created by William Shakespeare in his  play A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Since Shakespeare’s creation, Titania has been used as a name for Fairy Queens in other fiction.

In traditional folklore, the fairy queen has no name. Shakespeare took the name “Titania” from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, where it is an appellation given to the daughters of Titans.

Shakespeare’s Titania is a very proud creature and as much of a force to contend with as her husband Oberon. She and Oberon are engaged in a marital quarrel over which of them should have the keeping of an Indian changeling boy. This quarrel is the engine that drives the mix ups and confusion of the other characters in the play. Due to an enchantment cast by Oberon’s servant Puck, Titania magically falls in love with a “rude mechanical” (a labourer), Nick Bottom the weaver, has been given the head of a donkey by Puck, who feels it is better suited to his character. It has been argued that this incident is an inversion of the Circe story. In this case the tables are turned on the character, and rather than the sorceress turning her lovers into animals, she is made to love a donkey after Bottom has been transformed. Reference: Wikipedia

Titania has often been depicted in works of art as well as fiction. Below are some examples of art works and items which portray Titania as the Fairy Queen.