fairies and indians

Well, go thy way; thou shalt not from this grove,

Till I torment thee for this injury.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream. II.i. 47-8

The epigraph from chapter four is taken from A Midsummer Night’s Dream where Oberon and Titania are arguing over the Indian boy Titania is taking care of since the child’s mother died while giving birth. Oberon is jealous of the affection Titania show’s the boy and tries to insist that she hand him over to Oberon so that he can use him as one of his servants. Titania denies Oberon his requests so he vows to get even with her. Oberon is furious and instructs Puck to put a potion on Tatiana’s eyelids that will have her fall in love with some sort of hideous creature. Oberon plans to humiliate Titania and says he will not give Titania the antidote for the potion until she hands over the Indian boy. There are some underlying issues regarding jealousy between Oberon and Titania that adds to this feud.

Chapter four in The last of the Mohicans is the point where Magua pretends to be taking the group to Fort William Henry via a short cut with underlying intentions to get the group off track. He then acts as tough he has lost his way and they all believe to be lost in the woods. Hawkeye comes upon them and is suspicious of Magua, as he believes it is unnatural for an Indian to be lost in the woods. Hawkeye then learns that Magua is a Huron and all his suspicions are confirmed, as he believes that the Huron are an untrustworthy tribe. They concoct a plan to capture Magua but their plain is foiled when Magua becomes suspicious and takes off into the woods.

The rage that Oberon is feeling when saying “thou shalt not from this grove” mirrors the rage of Hawkeye when he realizes the dirty tricks that Magua is up too. I believe the use of the epigraph in this chapter is not necessarily to replicate the motives that Oberon has but instead to use this chapter to set the tone for upcoming battles in the future.