[Yates discusses the origins of Shakespeare's fairy world. arguing that the "Elizabethan fairies are not. . . manifestations of folk or popular tradition. " According to this critic, the characters inhabiting the dream world of Shakespeare's play stem from either Arthurian legend or the Christian variant of Cabala. a Jewish interpretation of the Scriptures based on the mystical value of words. In her further discussion of A Midsummer Night's Dream Yates focuses on the "imperial theme," explaining that the poet's references to an "imperial votaries" who resists Cupid's arrows should be viewed in the context of a cult of Queen Elizabeth I. According to Yates, Shakespeare pictures Elizabeth as a Vestal Virgin whose triumph over Cupid affirms her exalted status.]

Shakespearean fairies are related to the Fairy Queen [in Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queen] through their loyalty and through their fervent defence of chastity. . . . They are defenders of chastity. of...