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All Site ContentMidsummer Night's DreamAct 2Scene 1
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"contagious fogs"
Cultural Context
Act 2,
Scene 1
Lines 81-100

An explanation of the phrase “Contagious fogs” in Act 2, Scene 1 of myShakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Titania

These are the forgeries of jealousy.
And never since the middle summer's spring
Met we on hill, in dale, forest, or mead,
By pavèd fountain or by rushy brook,
Or in the beachèd margent of the sea
To dance our ringlets to the whistling wind,
But with thy brawls thou hast disturbed our sport.
Therefore the winds, piping to us in vain,
As in revenge have sucked up from the sea
Contagious fogs, which, falling in the land,
Hath every pelting river made so proud
That they have overborne their continents.
The ox hath therefore stretched his yoke in vain,
The ploughman lost his sweat, and the green corn
Hath rotted ere his youth attained a beard.
The fold stands empty in the drownèd field,
And crows are fatted with the murrain flock.
The nine men's morris is filled up with mud,
And the quaint mazes in the wanton green
For lack of tread are undistinguishable.

In Shakespeare’s day, people believed that diseases were caused by unhealthy air such as fog — which is something London has plenty of.