OBERON         That very time I saw (but thou couldst not)

Flying between the cold moon and the earth

Cupid, all armed. A certain aim he took

At a fair vestal, thronèd by the west,

And loosed his love-shaft smartly from his bow

As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts.

But I might see young Cupid’s fiery shaft

Quenched in the chaste beams of the watery moon,

And the imperial votaress passed on

In maiden meditation, fancy free.    (2.1.155-164)

That very time I saw (but thou couldst not) flying between the cold moon and the earth Cupid, all armed. You couldn’t see him, but I did: Cupid was there, in mid flight, with his bow, and a certain aim he took at a fair vestal, thronèd by the west(yes this is Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen, at whom the pesky little love god is attempting to shoot his arrow) and he loosed his love-shaft smartly from his bow as it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts. It was a great shot, his arrow speeding with such force! But he MISSED! Cupid MISSED! But I might see young Cupid’s fiery shaft quenched in the chaste beams of the watery moon, as if moonlight itself put out the arrow’s flame (and the picture of sea and sky and moonlight, flight and flame, is an intoxicating one; don’t try to work out the angles or the scale) and the imperial votaress passed on in maiden meditation, fancy free. Gloriana was untouched! She continued on her virgin way, magnificently unaware and unconcerned.

The speech’s construction, framing Cupid’s flight and failed shot between the singing mermaid and the fair vestal, the imperial votaress creates a parallel between the two female figures, both awe-inspiring, other-worldly, moving in their own elements, sea and music, sky and moonlight, untouchable.