What are Elizabethan fairies like?

Answer 1

according to old English Folklore Fairies, especially in Elizabethan times were meant to be wicked creatures. referred to as 'little devils' they would punish people and play nasty tricks on them. Seen with a Dark complexion to represent their wickedness, and dressed in Green to represent nature they are symbolized as human like the people of the time.

The only instance of the fairies having wings was in Shakespeare's play A midsummer Nights dream, where he describes them as 'small humans with wings'. After that the deputation of fairies was immortalized as fairies bearing wings and flight.

Fairies were seen around the home in Elizabethan times, and liked to see houses clean and clear from dirt. If the house was kept, fairies would reward the people dwelling there with food. If the house was dirty they would punish people with killing livestock and crops, souring milk and dairy, sickness or even death. A popular punishment from fairies was a 'pinching' where they would pinch all over the body till it was covered with bruises.

Fairies of the age needed humans to help them acquire meat and bread, they especially like dairy. If the humans failed to provide them with what they wanted they would sour milk and make butter not churn.

Elizabethan people believed that fairies were souls of the dead, or shadows that were not in heaven or hell, and from this they were believed to hold supernatural qualities and powers which could help them with what they wanted.

Although in Shakespeare's play he represents them as caring and king creatures, Elizabethan folk were horrified by their wrath. they feared them and their tricks and complied with what they wanted. \

Answer 2

For Elizabethan fairies consider Shakespeare's 'Midsummer's Night Dream': Aberon, Titania, Puck, Goldenrod etc etc etc. Before this time a fairy was pretty much the same as a goblin. After Elizabethan times, especially in Victorian times the fairies had undergone a considerable transformation into beautiful, mostly naked pre-adolescent females with wings.