A Midsummer Nights Dream by William Shakespeare
'It is the most insipid, ridiculous Play that I ever saw in my life'
(Samuel Pepys 1662)
I cannot say that I would agree with the above statement made by
Samuel Pepys in 1662. When I read the play I didn't quite understand
why Shakespeare had written it. After I done some research I realized
that Shakespeare wrote this play so that it could be performed for
weddings.
The story of A Midsummer Night's Dream was that of love. Throughout
the play, Shakespeare tried to show that love is unpredictable,
unreasonable, and at times is blind. The primary focus in this play
was love and its relation to marriage.
I think that this play would have been most entertaining for those
watching it especially in that era as they had limited entertainment
and it would have been what they were accustomed to. Even today in the
21st Century, I think that it would still be found entertaining even
though in today's times there is a variety of entertainment such as,
cinemas, Theatres, Play houses, Home video's and DVD's. Just as how I
found it enjoyable there are others like myself who would also find it
entertaining.
If we look very closely we will see that the love is a not just
between the 4 lovers: Hermia, Lysander, Helena and Demetrius. But it
is also between a fairy and a mechanical; however, the only one case
is where Titania falls in love with Bottom. This is the only time we
see the two worlds interact as one. By this I mean the fairies are not
hidden from the mechanicals they are clearly seen.
In the 17th Century we see that the way things were done was very
different to now. We know this from the fact that Egeus was allowed to
decide who Hermia would marry even if she didn't love that person. The
father's role played a very big part in those times.
'To you father should as a god,'
The penalty for not listening to her father would be that she would
Many times the love that a person is looking for is the one that a person doesn't realize.
Love comes in so many shapes and forms. Nowlan presents a good view of love being
Love and affection is an indispensable part of human life. In different culture love may appear differently. In the poem “My god my lotus” lovers responded to each other differently than in the poem “Fishhawk”. Likewise, the presentation of female sexuality, gender disparity and presentation of love were shown inversely in these two poems. Some may argue that love in the past was not as same as love in present. However, we can still find some lovers who are staying with their partners just to maintain the relationship. We may also find some lovers having relationship only because of self-interest. However, a love relationship should always be out of self-interest and must be based on mutual interest. A love usually obtains its perfectness when it develops from both partners equally and with same affection.
Shakespeare has a way of creating his characters so the audience can relate to them in a way. In his villains we see the negative characteristics that are in ourselves and others around us; things that often define the “natural man” such as greed or jealousy. With the entire terrible and treacherous thing that Shakespeare makes his villains do, he always manages to make them human in a way. As if he is meaning to display that no matter how twisted a person can be, they are still a person. In Shakespeare’s plays Othello, Hamlet, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the villains share the characteristics of greed, clever and conniving ways, and recklessness; however, they all bring their own features to the table.
Love in A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare In midsummer night, dream love is portrait in different ways. Many of the characters fall in and out of love with each other. The term lovers is used in the play to mean the four lovers Demetrius, Hermia. Helena and Lysander.
One of Shakespeare¹s better plays, ³A Midsummer¹s Night Dream² incorporates 4 plots in one. It intertwines these four plots without mixing the characters or the themes. They come out of the blue with all different themes that somehow lead to the forest every time. The forest is enchanted with a sense of lawlessness and and it all traces back to Adam and Eve.
Hermia , Lysander , Helena and Demetrius represent young love in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream . They are potrayed as foolish and fickle , acting like children and requiring a parental figure to guide them . The parental figures are Hermia’s father , Egeus , and figuratively Theseus , the mortal ruler , and Oberon , the mystical ruler.
Demetrius, the more you beat me, I will fawn on you. Use me but as
Iago’s deceit and manipulation in Othello Iago is widely credited, in the words of Agatha Christie, as “the greatest villain of all time”. He is a manipulative character who “weaves a web of deceit” by exploiting even the tiniest faults in others. By maintaining a facade of comedy and boyishness he uses his honesty and twisted truth to play others “like a virtuoso” and “drive... them to madness”. In the play Othello, Act 2 Scene 1 is perhaps the most enlightening scene with regards to the truly manipulative character of Iago.
he exposition of the story is when Hermia and Lysander are in love and want to be married, but Hermia's father, Egeus, wants her to marry Demetrius. Egeus goes to Theseus to force Hermia and Demetrius marriage, and Theseus warns Hermia to follow his orders. Hermia and Lysander run away to be married, despite Theseus’s warning. They plan to meet in the fairy woods. Helena, Hermia’s best friends, is in love with Demetrius, and tells Demetrius about Hermia and Lysander plan to runaway and get married. Demetrius follows them, while Helena follows Demetrius to try to get his love back. Oberon the king, and Titania the queen of the fairies are in a quarrel over a boy. The rising action is when, Oberon orders Puck, another fairy, to help in get revenge on Titanias by putting a love potion in Titanias' eyes that’ll cause her to fall in love with the first thing she sees after
In lines 159-163, act IV,scene 1 of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Demetrius says.“Was betrothed ere I saw Hermia. But like in sickness, I loathe this food. . . .And for evermore be true.” A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a play which is focused on the love between four young lovers. A theme that could represent this play is that love is not always easy. Throughout the play, Shakespeare shows this theme. He shows this theme by having constant fighting for love between characters, the constant switches in love interests, and the manipulation of love.
The play As You Like It by William Shakespeare starts with an opening, revealing all the conflicts that the characters would have to face sooner or later one after another right from the start. Nevertheless, like the other plays before this one, they have a number of similarities explained by Helen Gardner in the critical article “As You Like It: A Comedy of Discovery.” A pattern as described appeared to compare with one of Shakespeare’s previous plays “Midsummer-Night’s Dream,” the beginning of the plays start with troubles and adversities then end in joy. Gardner certainly gives a feeling of the format of the play, however, what the focus will be is that whether or not “retreating from life in civilizations the only way people can reach self-actualization.” The conflicts set into place in the beginning of the play will come with its number of problems to deal with physically and mentally.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare is about a comical love entanglement. The play sets off with the first couple of Theseus and Hippolyta who are awaiting marriage through the course of the storyline. Subsequently, a maiden by the name of Hermia is being forced into marriage with Demetrius although she is in love with Lysander. Hermia’s best friend, Helena is in love with Demetrius, but he is insistent on marrying Hermia. After this, the royal fairy couple of Oberon and Titania are in a quarrel about who gets to keep the adopted child. Oberon grows frustrated with Titania’s views and employs Puck to take a magical juice that will make someone fall in love with whomever they see first, and spray it on the eyelids of Titania and Demetrius.
1. Based on the title, my initial impression was that it was going to be a romance play about two lovers that meet at night.
William Shakespeare’s characters act like fools very often in the play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Many times they would come across an easy problem and make a big deal about it, or choose to make a decision that doesn’t even make sense for them to consider. The most foolish characters in the play are Bottom, Puck, Helena, and Egeus. Shakespeare wrote about the foolish behavior of humans to show how silly people can be in a way that makes people laugh, but is actually pretty accurate.