Character Sketch of Oberon
Oberon is the king of Fairyland. He is a commanding individual who expects obedience from his subordinates. He asserts that nobody in the realm has more authority than him. When he witnesses his wife Titania’s devotion to the Indian boy she is parenting, he becomes envious and demands that Titania give up the boy so he can make him his servant. Titania’s refusal to give up the boy provokes a conflict between her and Oberon, which results in the turmoil that dominates Act III, Scene 1. (ii). At the beginning of Act III, Scene (ii), Oberon is contemplating the outcome of his plan to sprinkle a love potion on his wife’s eyelids so that she falls in love with the first person she sees and he may steal the Indian boy from her. Even the fact that she falls in love with a man with a donkey’s head does not deter him; he finds it pretty amusing. This reveals Oberon’s vindictive nature, since he will not even spare his wife if she disobeys him. In order to display his mastery, he instructs Puck to collect the love potion so that he might deliver a lesson to his wife.
Eventually, he frees Titania from the spell, but only after stealing the Indian kid from her. As proven by his response to Demetrius’ cold treatment of Helena in the forest, Oberon has a loving and sensitive side while being terrible to his wife. Unhappy with how Demetrius has treated Helena, he intends to make Demetrius fall in love with her. He desires Helena’s love to be returned, making him the polar opposite of what the audience has seen thus far. Even after Oberon realises that Puck erroneously poured the elixir on the wrong person, he decides to make amends. His efforts to ensure that real loves end up together demonstrate that he is a romantic who places love above all else. Oberon’s activities throughout the play make him an ambiguous character who cannot be categorised as either good or bad.
