Comedy in A Midsummer Night's Dream
"why do they run away? This is a knavery of them to make me afeard."(3.1.99) This is a quote from the Shakespearean play "A Midsummer Night's Dream." In this quote, the speaker, Bottom, is wondering why everyone is afraid of him. He doesn't realize that as a practical joke, a trickster Puck, has put an ass head on his shoulders. This makes all of his companions afraid of him so that they run away. This is an example of the comedy involved in this play. This essay will show you that A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that is mainly composed of comedy.
The funniest part of this play seems to be when Puck, the trickster, keeps mixing up the people who he is assigned to put the love juice on. Even when he did put the love juice into the right people's eyes, they still fell in love with the wrong people sometimes. The first example of this mistake of Puck's is where he puts the love juice in Lysander's eyes, mistaking him for Demetrius. Oberon tells Puck to put the love juice in the eyes of an Athenian man, Demetrius, and to make sure that the first thing he sees after this is the woman whom he hates, but who loves him so much, Helena. Puck ends up finding Lysander and Hermia, lovers, sleeping on the forest floor. He puts the love juice in Lysander's eyes and leaves. Then along come Helena and Demetrius to this spot. They are still arguing and Demetrius leaves her with the sleeping Lysander and Hermia. Helena notices them there and tries to wake Lysander. Lysander wakes and the first thing he sees is Helena. "And run through fire for thy sweat sake. Transparent Helena! Nature shows art, That through thy bosom makes me see thy heart."(2.2.103). This is what Demetrius says to Helena when he sees her. He has fallen in love with her. This is where the comedy of this love mix up begins. Now Helena is confused and thinks that Lysander is playing a trick on her so she runs away. This is a most particularly funny part of the play and these mix ups with whom loves who seem to be the funniest pieces of the play.
Another funny section in this play is where Puck puts an ass head on the shoulders of Bottom.
The system of crime and law enforcement had hardly changed in Britain since the medieval times. Justices of the Peace or JPs were appointed by the Crown since 1361. Before the night watchmen and parish constables were introduced a primitive police force was introduced and the JPs were assisted by constables who only worked part time and were very unreliable as the pay was really bad. The early stages of the force consisted of a night watchmen and parish constables, who were prior to the creation of the main police force. Watchmen were groups of men, usually authorised by a state, government, or society, to deter criminal activity and provide law enforcement. Constables were required to apprehend anyone accused of a felony and bring criminals to a justice of the peace. They also had a general responsibility to keep the peace. There was no expectation that they would investigate and prosecute crimes because of limited responsibility and training. Night watchmen patrolled the streets between 9 or 10pm until sunrise and were expected to examine all suspicious characters. In the City of London, the City Marshall and the Beadles (Parish wardens) conducted daytime patrols. Similar to the night watchmen, primary responsibilities were to patrol and deter, drunkenness, beggars, vagrants and prostitutes and to act as a deterrent against more serious offences. Over the course of this period, the arrangements by which men served as constables and watchmen changed significantly, to incorporate how felons were detected and apprehended.
To begin with their jobs were not only the sort of jobs that we would
Law and Order in London in the Late 19th Century At the beginning of the nineteenth century 60% of Britain's population lived in the countryside, this meant there wasn't any need for police officers as people were living far apart and away from shops and financial areas. Crime was minimal, apart from small crimes like petty thieving and crimes over land etc. But as technology developed the Industrial Revolution began, steam powered factories were built all over the country, a new industrial development. The factories were mainly built in urbanized areas like London, Birmingham and Glasgow, but for the factories to be run effectively workers were needed.
Love, lust and infatuation all beguile the senses of the characters in this dreamy and whimsical work of Shakespeare, and leads them to act in outlandish ways, which throughly amuses the reader. True love does prevail in the end for Hermia and Lysander, and the initial charm of infatuation ends up proving to have happy consequence for Helena and Demetrius as well. Even when at first the reader thinks that, in theory, the effects the potion will wear off and Lysander will once again reject Helena, Oberon places a blessings on all the couples that they should live happily ever after.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, written by William Shakespeare, is a tale of when trickery interferes with love, causing lots of twist and turns in the romantic relationships of the characters Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius, and Helena. Within the first 100 lines, preliminary stressors are revealed. Hermia’s father, Egeus, has spoken his complaints to King Oberon about his trepidation regarding the love triangle Hermia has put herself into with Lysander, her lover, and Demetrius, Egeus’ choice. Even though Demetrius is aware of the love Lysander and Hermia have, this does not discourage him from continuing to pursue her. Furthermore, another Athenian woman, Helena, repeatedly professes her love to Demetrius just to be ridiculed
The entire play is constructed around groups of opposites and doubles, leaving two opposing staging traditions to debate over the dramatic qualities of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, being either l...
Vickers, Brian. "A Midsummer Night’s Dream." The Review of English Studies May 1998: 215. http://web7.searchbank.com(12 Nov. 1998).
Demetrius is a fool because he is unaware that his love changes through out the play. We learn from Demetrius that he has loved Helena before bestowing his affections on Hermia ( 1.1 106-107 , 242-243 ). It is not for nothing that he is termed “spotted and inconstant man'; ( 1.1 110 ). Athough at the start of the play Demetrius no longer loves Helena. ( 2.1 195 ) Demetrius says, “I love thee not , therefore pursue me not.'; ( 2.1 201 ) “Hence , get thee gone , and follow me no more.'; In Act 3 Scene 2 , Demetrius after being juiced begins to love Helena. ( 3.2 172-176 ) Demetrius says , “Lysander , keep thy Hermia; I will none. If e’er I loved her , all that love is gone. My heart to her but as guest – wise sojourned , And not to helen is it home returned , there to reamain.'; This proves how fickle he is , for he is not aware of his changing love once for Helena then for Hermia then returning to Helena with the help of the mystical father Oberon.
referred to as a gangster smile. He has a gun in his hand, which shows
Helena is the kind of woman who has no self-esteem. This is because she does everything to be loved back by a man that doesn’t love her and that is Demetrius. Helena represents a character of a woman that is desperate of having love. In other words, Helena is different from Hermia because she’s an insecure woman full of jealousy. Helena tries to do everything to get Lysander away from her old best friend Hermia.
Do you like magical and fictional characters? One of the most Magical stories is A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This play is a contrast of the real world and a world inhabited by fairies and other magical sources and elements. This play takes place during Elizabethan time period. The Play was performed at The Globe Theatre. The play was written in 1590.
When Puck mistakenly applies the love potion to Lysander’s eyelids. At this point, both male characters of the main plot have fallen in love with Helena, leaving Hermia out of balance. The struggle of the four lovers is one of the more complicated conflicts in the play. The conflict could have been avoided if Puck had not misused his magic. However, because Puck mistakenly used his magic on Lysander, conflict erupted.
would find a stream, now it is a mystery whether it is true or not but
The principal proficient policemen, in England, known as 'Peelers' or 'Bobbies', were set up in London in 1829 by Robert Peel, the then Home Secretary, after 'The Metropolitan Police Act' of 1829. It was the begin of a battle to enhance open law. As indicated by ("The History of Modern Policing") article During the early history of policing, singular subjects were to a great extent in charge of keeping up lawfulness among themselves. The individuals who filled in as constables and judges of the peace did as such intentionally and were not regularly paid for their administrations. Shire reeves, or sheriffs,
William Shakespeare successfully used two contrasting places to emphasize the meaning of the story. The meaning of the story is that the course of love never runs smooth, but you if you really love somebody you will find your way to them. Using contrasting places represents opposing forces or point of views, allows the reader to get a better idea of what the theme of the story is. In William Shakespeare’s, A Midsummer Night’s Dream the two contrasting places used were the City of Athens and a enchanted Forest located on the outskirts of the city. In the City of Athens there are laws, organization, everything is governed well. In the Forest there are no laws, nothing is organized, or governed. The Forest stands chaos and the hardships of love in the story, and the city stands for laws and strict living. The Forest shows us what nature or self-government can offer compared to the harsh laws of living in this case Athens.