Unseen Third Party
Oberon's relationships with other fairies
THEME: WHEN AN UNSEEN THIRD PARTY GETS INVOLVED BEHIND THE SCENES, IT CAN TIP THE BALANCE.
TRACK ONE: "PUCK" BY EDVARD GRIEG
At the beginning, Robin says,
"What you say is true. That's me you're talking about, the playful wanderer of the night. I tell jokes to Oberon and make him smile. I'll trick a fat, well-fed horse into thinking that I'm a young female horse. Sometimes I hide at the bottom of an old woman's drink disguised as an apple. When she takes a sip, I bob up against her lips and make her spill the drink all over her withered old neck. Sometimes a wise old woman with a sad story to tell tries to sit down on me, thinking I'm a three-legged stool. But I slip from underneath her and she falls down, crying, "Ow, my butt!" and starts coughing, and then everyone laughs and has fun. But step aside, fairy! Here comes Oberon."
Apparently Oberon is mischievous like his servant Robin too, because Titania says that he snuck away from Fairyland and spent all day hanging out with his other girlfriend, and that he apparently likes the Amazon Hippolyta, when he's supposed to be married to Titania.
TRACK TWO: "I WAS A FOOL"
One of the lyrics is:
"Love like ours is never fixed"
When Oberon is angry at the beginning of the play, he uses Titania's love for bargaining, but at the end, after he got what he wanted, he calls Titania his "sweet queen" and wants her to love him again. If Oberon had just let it go, his anger wouldn't have been kindled, and the balance of love wouldn't have been tipped.
When they first argue at the beginning of the play, both claim that the other is unfaithful, while they themselves are faithful. In the song, it says:
"I stuck around, I did behave"
Both Oberon and Titania would probably claim this. This might be a small part of what made Oberon say to Robin to put the love flower's juice on Demetrius' eyes. If not, then it might have been because Oberon, like Robin, likes to cause trouble and complications.
TRACK THREE: "ANYTHING YOU CAN DO I CAN DO BETTER" BY DIONNE WARWICK
Although, at the beginning, Oberon and Titania are arguing over who gets to keep the stolen Indian boy, their argument has the same attitude. Oberon argues that Titania should give the boy to him because he is her "lord and master", while Titania counters the argument by saying that she is supposed to be Oberon's "lady and wife", whom Oberon should be faithful to. This leads to Oberon putting varied flowers' juices on the eyes of Titania, Lysander, and Demetrius, which basically turns into most of the play's plot.
TRACK FOUR: "BAD BOY" BY CASCADA
The song also says, "You once made this promise to stay by my side, But after some time you just pushed me aside, You never thought that a girl could be strong, Now I'll show you how to go on". This part is more fitting for Titania to say. When Oberon doesn't get his way, he leaves Titania's side and wants to make her obey him. But Titania is immovable, and instead of worrying about what Oberon's going to do, she doesn't really seem to care about their relationship either; she just moves on with her fairies.
If you took out the parts where the song says, "Be my week-end lover, But don't be my friend, You can be my bad boy", the bad boy could be referring to Oberon. Where it says, "But understand, That I don't need you again", this would be something that Oberon would say to Titania at the beginning when he is angry and seemingly only needs Titania's love to bargain with it.
Oberon would probably listen to this after his first argument with Titania.
TRACK FIVE: "GOODBYE, GOODBYE" BY TEGAN AND SARA
"You never really loved me Never really, never really loved me"
Both Oberon and Titania probably feel that way.
After Oberon and Titania depart, Oberon decides to sneak up on Titania while she's sleeping and put the love flower's juice on her eyes. He also tells Robin to go put some of the juice on Demetrius' eyes, but Robin puts it on Lysander's, which just messes everything up.
TRACK SIX: "ONE WAY OR ANOTHER" BY BLONDIE
Oberon says, "Well, go on your way, then. You won't leave this grove until I've paid you back for this insult." Then he actually puts the juice from a magical flower onto Titania's eyes so that the next thing she sees, be it bear, donkey, mouse or fox, she'll fall in love with it. A minute ago they were arguing about who's supposed to be faithful to the other, and the next minute Oberon doesn't seem to care about their relationship anymore, manipulating it just so he can have the Indian boy. One way or another, Oberon has got Titania to give him what he wants.
TRACK SEVEN: "CAN'T GIVE UP NOW" BY MARY MARY
"But victory or defeat, it's up to me to decide, But how can I expect to win if I never try." I think both Titania and Oberon have this same attitude: I can't give up now. I'm not budging; I've come this far, and although the road wouldn't be easy, I'm not going to give up.
But because Oberon and Titania both wouldn't give up, Oberon got angry and tried to change Titania's attitude by using the juice of a magical flower to make her fall in love with the first thing she sees. This way, he'll be able to almost "blackmail" her into giving him the child he wants.