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Literary analysis on a midsummer nights dream
Interpreting the play a midsummer night's dream
Shakespeares theme of love
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A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare
"The Course Of True Love Never Did Run Smooth…"
Explain how Shakespeare demonstrates this concept of love in the play.
Shakespeare often used his plays to explore different feelings and
emotions. He has
written tragic plays, humorous plays and romances. Shakespeare often
uses love
as a theme within his plays, this is shown in plays such as "Romeo and
Juliet", "Much
Ado About Nothing", "Twelfth Night", and "A Midsummer Night's Dream".
He uses love repeatedly throughout his plays, as it is a universal
feeling to which all can relate. People on every social level find his
plays relevant and can often form an empathetic relationship with at
least one of the characters. This in particular is why Shakespeare's
play, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" revolves around four very different
groups of characters, the Lovers, the Fairies, the Mechanicals and the
Members of the Court. The different groups portray the experience of
love and relationships on several levels.
The play appeals to the groundlings who can laugh at the ridiculous
nature of upper class love; and it appeals to the gentry who can laugh
at the misinterpretation of the Mechanicals in trying to produce a
praiseworthy play. Thus Shakespeare demonstrates that people of
different status may well have different opinions about love.
The four groups within the play each have their own sub-plot. In the
Court we witness the preparations for the marriage of Theseus and
Hippolyta. With the Lovers we see Hermia and Lysander in love but
unable to marry, Demetrius infatuated with Hermia and Helena besotted
with Demetrius...
... middle of paper ...
... his
plays stimulating and applicable to their life styles.
Shakespeare demonstrates the quote "the course of true love never did
run smooth" very well in the play "A Midsummer Night's Dream".
However, rather ironically in this particular play, all ends well. It
is to this day almost seen as an error to leave a play with problems
so Puck is right to say "Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue we will
make amends ere long…Give me your hands, if we be friends, and Robin
shall restore amends". There is comfort in the knowledge that all
damage has been restored.
However, the complexity and calamity in Shakespeare's play is part of
what demonstrates the confusion of love; there is no one way of
achieving a smooth path but instead it is an exploration in which
there is no final or correct answer.
3508 words
There are many different types of love in this world, thus there are many different ways of expressing love. What revolves around that love, and the many different circumstances, trials, and tribulations that a love might face can greatly influence the outcomes of that love. These trials and tribulations can also be seen as different literary elements when used in plays. When looking at Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, he used many different themes and elements to provide complexity to the love story. Shakespeare cleverly takes the main theme of the play, love, and ties in other elements such as time, stage imagery, and language to pull the whole play together in a way that makes one think about the play on other levels.
In the play, the author uses the characters of Romeo and Juliet to
The theme of the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is entertainment. This is proven thought the play through use of comedy, drama, romance, and conflict. This style brought people of all ages, mindsets, and social classes to see the play since it used the mixture instead of just a single genre of entertainment. The result was Romeo and Juliet being very entertaining, profitable, and generally succeeding in its purpose.
In William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, there are endless images of water and the moon. Both images lend themselves to a feeling of femininity and calm. In classical mythology, the image of water is often linked with Aphrodite, goddess of passion and love. Born of the foam of the sea, Aphrodite was revered as an unfaithful wife to her husband Hephaestus (Grant 36). This may have a direct coloration to the unfaithful nature of the four lovers, Hermia, Helena, Lysander, and Demetrius, while in the woods. Perhaps more important, however, is Aphrodite’s link to the other Olympian maiden goddesses. As Aphrodite was attributed with love and beauty, Athena was the protector of war and arts, and finally, Artemis was the goddess of the woods and wild things (Hamilton 31). Artemis was brother of Apollo, god of the sun, and therefore she was the goddess of the moon. Through out literature it seems imagery of the moon and water can be used nearly interchangeably because they both imply feminine powers; water is representative of life and motion and the moon is representative of Artemis directly. Shakespeare seems to have been quite aware of the duties and powers of this ancient goddess.
In scene 1 Romeo's form of speech is already in contrast with the other characters in the play. For example at the start of the play Sampson and Gregory are boasting and laughing about how they wish to deal with the Montague women. " Tis true, and therefore women being the weaker vessels are ever thrust to the wall." This manner of speech contrasts with the way in which Romeo speaks about women, "She is too fair, too wise; wisely too fair, to merit bliss by making me despair. " This builds up the audiences love for young Romeo and when the audience likes a character they are likely to feel sympathy for that character if something tragic happens as is did in this play.
The play is one, which has universal themes such as love, forbidden love across cultures, hate, violence and the principle of fate and chance. ‘Romeo and Juliet’ portrays the chaos and passion of being in love combining images of violence, death and especially family values. For example the idea that men owned their women ‘you be mine and I’ll give you to my friend’
If we look very closely we will see that the love is a not just
There exists a kind of person who can be called by no other name than by “Magnificent Bastard”. They are masters of deception, bloody brilliant, unstoppable in achieving their goals even when it means grinding others into the dust, and yet they have such a flair, such a charming disposition, that they are often admired by even those who are wronged by them. Iago in Shakespeare’s play Othello is one such character. The audience may love or hate him, but either way they must admit that he commands the spot-light. In spite of this, the reason why Iago acts as he does is shrouded in mystery. Even when directly speaking to the audience about his motivations, Iago is not always truthful. In reality, while Iago derives great pleasure from manipulating others, his driving motivation throughout the entire play is his own jealousy; from being unrecognized for his greatness, to an impossible love for Desdemona, and of the virtuous characters all around him.
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.
black general is the hero. This would have been at a time when much of
Shakespeare wrote his acclaimed comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream more than a thousand years after Apuleius’ Roman novel, The Golden Ass. Although separated by thousands of years and different in terms of plot and setting, these works share the common theme of a confused and vulnerable man finding direction by relying on a supernatural female. One of A Midsummer Night’s Dream’s many subplots is the story of Bottom, a comical figure determined to be taken seriously in his production of a Pyramus and Thisbe. As Bottom becomes caught up in a quarrel between the king and queen of the fairies, the commanders of the enchanted forest where Bottom and his players practice, the “shrewd and knavish sprite” Puck transforms his head into an ass’ s and leads him to be enthralled in a one night stand with the queen, Titania. (2.1.33) Apuleius’s protagonist Lucius endures a similar transformation, after his mistress’s slave girl accidentally bewitches him into a donkey, leaving him even without the ability to speak. Although Lucius’ transformation lasts longer and is more severe, he and Bottom both undergo similar experiences resulting from their animal forms. Lucius’ suffering ultimately leads him to salvation through devotion the cult of Isis, and Bottom’s affair with Titania grants him clarity and a glimpse into similar divine beauty. Ultimately, both asinine characters are saved through their surrender to the goddesses.
Throughout history literature has changed into many different forms and styles, it has also stayed the same in many different ways, literary techniques and elements are key to a good piece of writing, a perfect example that shows us just this is in, A Midsummer Nights Dream, where we will further explore the different literary elements that were used most notably the plot. The plot of a story lays out the foundation and the background for the entire play to come, we'll compare and contrast this element and look at the different sub elements which are produced. We will define similarities and difference in these elements form both the play o the film. Taking a look at things such as climax, play incidents, and the conflict will all give us a better understanding of how it affects the similarities and difference of the film versus the play.
Through this, he satisfies the qualities of melodrama. Romeo and Juliet wrings a good cry out of audience members probably every time it is performed. That is because it is easy to identify with the "star-crossed lovers" and the fact they are kept from what they want most. Empathy plays a major role, as much as any of the characters. It almost makes the audience part of the play. The spectator is part of the action in essence, rooting for the good guys, for "us," and not "them," the bad guys.
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare The idea of courtly love based in Shakespeare's 'Twelfth night' involved a woman being put on a pedestal and worshipped from a distance like she was goddess who could not be attained. Only by very long devotion and lots of trials could a man get this kind of woman. The woman quite often appeared to be both cruel and fair. Courtly love was a sexless kind of love and was more idealised.
The fairies and the fairy realm have many responsibilities in this play. The most important of which is that they are the cause of much of the conflict and comedy within this story. They represent mischievousness and pleasantry which gives the play most of its emotion and feeling. They relate to humans because they make mistakes but differ in the fact that they do not understand the human world.