The Forest

Salima EtokaHanna FischerEmily Moore

Period 2

A forest is an area with a high density of trees.

As an Archetype:    The Forest is often considered an unconscious part of the Hero or his/her inner self. It is a place where fears must be overcome alone and without the help of a mentor or motherly character. Significance:     The Forest is a magical place, filled with both creepy and helpful creatures.  The Forest is a necessary part of the Hero's quest because it allows the Hero to grow and become a more well rounded individual.

The Forest

Story Examples

• Red Riding Hood• Harry Potter• Robin Hood• Snow White• Lord of the Rings• Grimm's Fairy Tales• Hansel and Gretel• A Midsummer Night's Dream• The Chronicles of Narnia 

Little Red Riding Hood

    Poor Little Red Riding Hood goes to visit her grandma. While walking in the woods, she encounters a wolf that distracts her. The wolf then runs to the grandma's house and eats her whole. This entire time, Little Red believes that it's her grandma in bed. It's not until the end, that Little Red discovers the truth and gets a hunter to run the wolf off. Only in the woods did the wolf have courage to approach Little Red.

Snow White

    Snow White lives in a castle with her evil step-mother, who is the queen.  The queen asks a magic mirror who is the fairest in all the land.  The mirror replies that it is Snow White so the queen decides to have her killed.  The man who is supposed to kill her tells her to run away.  While running through the forest, she comes across a little house. Since she is so tired, she goes to sleep. She wakes to the sound of the dwarfs, wondering what to do with her. This little house becomes a shelter for her, until the queen once again asks the mirror who is the fairest of them all.  The mirror once again responds with Snow White.  So the queen disguises herself and gives Snow White a poisoned apple.  This causes Snow White to fall asleep making the dwarfs think she is dead. Then, Prince Charming wakes her and they live happily ever after.

Harry Potter

    In almost every Harry Potter book the Forbidden Forest is mentioned.  And in most of those cases Harry has to face the antagonist Lord Voldemort.   In the first book he and his arch-nemesis Draco Malfoy have to search for a beast that is killing the unicorns.  In the second book he goes in search of a giant spider.  In the fifth book he leads Professor Umbridge into the forest to distract her and manage then managed to escape.  In the last book he goes to face Voldemort and dies to protect the people in Hogwarts from Voldemort.  Every single time Harry put a foot inside the Forbidden Forest he grew and learned more about himself.

A Midsummer Night's DreamIn this book the forest plays a much less dark role than that of the previous stories. This story often has a very light, mystical, beautiful and enchanting forest. It is the realm of the fairies, and a place of love and magic. However, even though the forest is a much more friendly environment, the fairies are still tricksters and still do cause much conflict for the mortals who enter. For example, Bottom obtains a donkey head by a fairie's spell for much of the story. Also, there is great confusion between the four lovers, Demetrius, Lysander, Helena, and Hermia. The part in the forest ends with the four chasing after voices in the forest before falling asleep in exhaustion. The play itself does not contain many mentions of what the forest looks like, though it is specifically set in the wood. However, throughout the fairies use figurative language specific to flowers and trees and other things that are natural.

Midsummer Night's Dream Text Examples

But we are spirits of another sort:I with the morning's love have oft made sport,

And, like a forester, the groves may tread,Even till the eastern gate, all fiery-red,

Opening on Neptune with fair blessed beams,Turns into yellow gold his salt green streams.But, notwithstanding, haste; make no delay:

We may effect this business yet ere day. (Oberon) 

Fairies wander through the forest. The forest is a place of magic and beauty. Oberon refers to himself as a forester, a unique term that makes the fairies exclusive to the forest for the most part. Furthermore, the passage is filled with colors and descriptive language, reminding of the beauty and complexity of the forest.

Another Text ExampleFairy: Over hill, over dale,

 Thorough bush, thorough brier,Over park, over pale,

Thorough flood, thorough fire,I do wander everywhere,

Swifter than the moon's sphere;And I serve the fairy queen,

To dew her orbs upon the green.The cowslips tall her pensioners be:

In their gold coats spots you see;Those be rubies, fairy favours,

In those freckles live their savours:I must go seek some dewdrops here

And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.Farewell, thou lob of spirits; I'll be gone:

Our queen and all our elves come here anon.

 This passage is too is filled with words of nature, bush, brier, hill, dale, and dewdrops. It reminds of the fairies prescense in nature, specifically connected to the woods.

One Last Text Reference

Oberon: I pray thee, give it me.I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,

Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine:There sleeps Titania sometime of the night,

Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight;And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin,

Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in:And with the juice of this I'll streak her eyes,

And make her full of hateful fantasies.  

This passage is a great description of the woods, specifically listing off numerous flowers and beautiful nature. Most of these passages remind of the forests delicate nature. It's beauty and it's magic. This one is similar in that.

Conclusion on Midsummer Night's Dream

As said earlier, Midsummer provides a more picturesque view of the forest than previous stories perhaps have. However, the audience or reader must be reminded that the English like Shakespeare viewed the forest as scary. The fairies were enchanting and beautiful, but also full of trickery and evil. Many people believed that fairies stole children, and primarily caused mischief. And so, since the forest was the fairies most common place to linger, the forest too was not a place to stay. These enchanting creatures of Shakespeare are not too unlike The Sirens in Homer's Odyssey, although perhaps much less deadly. They appeared beautiful and enchanting, and yet were often mischevious and evil.

Puck: "I'll follow you, I'll lead you about a round,

Through bog, through bush, through brake, through brier".

Puck: "Then will two at once woo one;

That must needs be sport alone;And those things do best please

meThat befal preposterously"."

Titania & Puck

Works Consulted    Grimm, William and Jacob. Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales. 1993 edition. New        York City, New York: Barnes and Noble, Inc., 2008. Print.     Mr. Gorman’s English Classes.  Attleboro Public Schools, 2002. Web. 16 Sep             2010.     Professor Sibley. “Archetypes in Literature.”  www.mnstate.edu/...EECE%20441Archetypes%20in20Literature.doc.n.p.,n.d.Web.19 Sept.2010.      Rowling, J. K.. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. New York: Scholastic          Inc., 1997. Print.     Shakespeare, William. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare          Comprising his Plays and Poems. New York: World Syndicate Company,         Inc., 1927. Print    “The Disenchanted Forest.” www.orithofshi.com/images/timna_seligman.doc.  n.p., n.d. Web.  19 Sept. 2010.

    

Pictures Cited

• Lorienne, Adele. If wishes were…. 2003. Oregon, USA.

• Lorienne, Adele. Peace. 2004. Oregon, USA.

• Lorienne, Adele. The Butterfly Pool. 2006. Oregon, USA.