More than Fools The Roles the Mechanicals Play in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” Charlie Diep English 110 Ms.Agra Baroti- Gheorghe December 16, 2014 What do you imagine when you think of a fool? You may think of clowns, or a court jester of ancient times. They only exist to entertain us by way of self-deprecation and slapstick humor. You may also assume that the mechanicals in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” are fools as well. However, this is not the case. The Mechanicals help relieve tension, builds plot and elaborates on the main theme. All of these reasons helped contribute to their practicality, at least in Shakespeare’s eyes. Shakespeare had other ideas in mind for the Rude Mechanicals, like providing The use of a love-potion to complicate things in the play might have been a representation of intense love, and the fact that one would immediately fall in love with the first thing one lays their eyes on, With that in mind, Titania being in love with a donkey-headed Bottom while under the effects of the potion simplifies the theme. In addition, Shakespeare may have decided to use Bottom and Titania as the principal characters of this portion since they contrast greatly. As a result, it would strengthen the theme even more, as it demonstrates the theme with a ludicrous example. The craftsmen’s play is another display of such an example. In “Pyramus and Thisbe”, the climax occurs when Pyramus, finds Thisbe’s bloodied cloak and kills himself out of despair, only to have Thisbe return and kill herself as well after discovering his corpse. “...Since you have shore With shears his thread of silk. Tongue, not a word: Come trusty sword; Come, blade, my breast imbue.” Not only does this epitomize A Midsummer Night’s Dream’s theme, it also serves a comedic role, as one would not normally destroy oneself in
Color, for writers through the ages, has been a telling element. A Midsummer Night’s Dream should be no exception to this element. The characters of the story tell a tale of magic; complete with fairies, potions, and a donkey’s head. Each of these effects brings enchantment to the story, charm that can not necessarily be employed naturally on a Middle English stage. The play, itself, talks on the magic that is A Midsummer Night’s Dream,
Exerting the type of power that is influenced by malicious intentions can cause one to make decisions that are not beneficial to others. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is written within a time period and setting that favors men instead of woman. In other words, men have all the authority to control the events that occur in their own lives as well as the lives of others whom are considered insignificant. The plot displays the catalysts that ignite many characters’ desire for control that is misused by higher status people. Shakespeare’s use of characterization demonstrates how the wanting of control causes the characters to act irrationally through the misuse of power. Shakespeare’s use of setting, plot and characterization causes the ordeals that the characters ultimately face. In turn, the deceitful choices of a few individuals with status impacts whether the lives of lower status people are enhanced.
Fairies, mortals, magic, love, and hate all intertwine to make A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare a very enchanting tale, that takes the reader on a truly dream-like adventure. The action takes place in Athens, Greece in ancient times, but has the atmosphere of a land of fantasy and illusion which could be anywhere. The mischievousness and the emotions exhibited by characters in the play, along with their attempts to double-cross destiny, not only make the tale entertaining, but also help solidify one of the play’s major themes; that true love and it’s cleverly disguised counterparts can drive beings to do seemingly irrational things.
Depending on one’s viewpoint, fantasy and reality can be uncovered in different ways in “A Midsummer’s Night Dream”. Bottom is first seen unifying reality and fantasy by being the one who holds the “Mechanical Play” together within the play as a whole. Bottom is selected for the lead role of the play because of his rather flattering attributes that best are fitting to the role of Pyramus, which according to
A Midsummer Night's Dream was an amazing story. THe movie was incredible to watch. All of the actors in the play was adequate. The text educated us in various of ways. There isn't a better or more enjoyable movie than A Midsummer Night's Dream.
The play that I went and saw was Midsummer Night’s Dream at the University Theatre. This play was set in a proscenium venue because the audience was in front of the stage facing the actors. The playwright of this play is William Shakespeare and it was directed by Kirsten Brandt. This play centered around a bunch of lovers who get trapped in an absurd love triangle that is caused by the use of a love potion.
In conclusion, in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare effectively uses the motifs of the seasons, the moon, and dreams to show that love, irrationality, and disobedience directly cause chaos. By calling to mind the seasons in unnatural order, describing the moon behaving strangely, and discussing the dualistic, irrational nature of dreams, Shakespeare effectively evokes a sense of chaos and disorder. Linking each of these motifs to the themes of love, irrationality, and disobedience allows Shakespeare to illustrate the disarray that is bound to result from any romance.
In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare decides to have a few of the characters act out the story of Pyramus and Thisbe for four other personages. What is curious is that, rather than simply having them quickly act out the short skit, Shakespeare has the characters from A Midsummer Night’s Dream who are watching comment on the playlet as it is being presented by Bottom and his friends, in turn affecting the way it is demonstrated by influencing the ‘characters’. Shakespeare has the audience (Theseus, Demetrius, Hippolyta, and Lysander) bring attention to and complement the moon, wall, and lion, despite the fact that Pyramus and Thisbe are supposed to be the main focus and play the most important roles. Additionally, he has both the comments and the acting de-romanticize Pyramus and Thisbe, who are known for their tragic yet romantic story of love and death. These elements make a mockery of the so-called ‘romantic’ tale of Pyramus and Thisbe, in a way de-romanticizing it by
Throughout A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, there are multiple analyses that one can follow in order to reach a conclusion about the overall meaning of the play. These conclusions are reached through analyzing the play’s setting, characterization, and tone. However, when one watches the production A Midsummer Night’s Dream directed by Michael Hoffman, a completely different approach is taken on these aspects, leading to a vastly different analysis of the work. Though there are many similarities between the original written play A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare and the on-screen production of the aforementioned play which was directed by Michael Hoffman, there are differences in setting and
A Midsummer Night’s Dream portrays magic through many places in the text. Magic is a key component to the plot of the story. Magic can make a problem disappear, or it can intensify the problem. There are many reasons magic is powerful, but one of the main ones is because not everyone understands it. Magic in one way or another affects everyone in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but the perspective with which each character views magic is different. The power of magic is something that is hard to understand, even those who use magic often cannot fully understand magic because in many ways it is irrational and inexplicable.
The use and misuse of magic has an important role in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. As a recurring theme, Puck’s use of magic creates humor, conflict and balance in the play. The magic of Puck changes the head of Bottom into that of a donkey. Puck’s own use of magic adds more humor to the already comical and over-confident character of Bottom. Puck’s magic also creates a great deal of humor in the dealings of Bottom and Titania.
In Elizabethan times, the role of a fool, or court jester, was to professionally entertain others, specifically the king. In essence, fools were hired to make mistakes. Fools may have been mentally retarded youths kept for the court’s amusement, or more often they were singing, dancing stand up comedians. In William Shakespeare’s King Lear the fool plays many important roles. When Cordelia, Lear’s only well-intentioned daughter, is banished from the kingdom Fool immediately assumes her role as Lear’s protector. The fool is the king’s advocate, honest and loyal and through his use of irony sarcasm and humour he is able to point out Lear’s faults. Functioning much as a chorus would in a Greek tragedy, the fool comments on events in the play, the king’s actions and acts as Lear’s conscience. As he is the only character who is able to confront Lear directly without risk of punishment, he is able to moderate the king’s behaviour.
Ask any student, and they remember middle and high school assignments to decipher William Shakespeare’s plays, whether it was Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, or other plays. Often a teacher would create a lesson plan where the students would act out the play, learning from the direct interaction. Likewise, many Shakespearean rewrites read by students inevitably contained dialogue decoders, which allowed the readers the ability to interpret a Shakespearean word or phrase into modern diction. However, many of these lesson plans are routinely used with subsequent grade levels, and therefore can become monotonous for a reader, boring the student who has to read and decipher the text.
play. The play rely’s heavily on contrast to enforce this metaphorical comparison. Helena is tall
Considered to be the greatest playwright to ever have lived, William Shakespeare’s works continue to fascinate and entrance audiences around the world. Imbued with imagery, his comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream is perhaps one of his more fantastic but none the less intricate plays. Presiding over the proceedings, the moon is the uniting feature of the play. With its multi-layered symbolism it is the thread that connects the different characters and weaves the tale together.