本文旨在引述莎學專家學者之獨到見解，以說明莎士比亞在《仲夏夜之夢》故事中所強調的，事實上是隱藏在造夢精靈們可愛甚或是慈善的外表之後的殘忍及獸性。藉由給予隱形的精靈王國具體的外形與地點，以及藉由給予精靈們的本質，工作，行為及舉動一個生命中心，莎士比亞值得荷馬所受到的讚譽。就像在希臘神話中的原始森林一樣，莎士比亞的仲夏夜林有著一個恐怖的黑暗面，醜陋且殘忍，汙穢且兇猛。而就像神話故事中的眾神一樣，莎士比亞的精靈們是危險而力量強力的。在他們令人神魂顛倒的美貌的另外一面，他們是危險及惡毒的，對人類具有一種致命並且毀滅性的影響力。他們對人類的慈悲純屬意外；相反地，他們經常出於純粹的惡意對人類施加處罰。他們是夢的無益處的製造者。他們的必要工作便是帶夢給凡人，而他們對人心智的影響則是徹底物質的—他們濺在人眼瞼上的愛的花汁不僅會導致受害者的心理錯亂，而且有做他們遭受生理傷害的危險。

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the original insight of Shakespearean specialists and scholars to show that in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare is actually stressing the cruelty and bestiality behind the dream-bringing fairies’ pleasing or even benevolent appearance. By giving the invisible fairy kingdom embodied form and place, and by giving the fairies a living center to their nature, office, behavior and doings, Shakespeare deserves the merit attributed to Homer. Like the primeval forest in the Greek mythology, Shakespeare’ midsummer night wood has a horrifying dark picture, ugly and brutal, filthy and fierce. And like the gods in the mythological stories, Shakespeare’s fairies are menacing and powerful. On the other side of their surpassing beauty, they are treacherous and malicious, exerting a deadly and destructive power over men. Their benevolence towards men comes merely by chance; on the contrary, they often inflict punishment on men out of sheer malice. They are idle producers of dreams. Their essential office is to send and bring dreams to mortals, and their influence over the mind is throughout material the love-juice they splash upon their victims’ eyelids not only cause mental confusion in them, but also threaten them with physical injury.