Magical Manipulation

Nevertheless, again, everything is restored back before the play comes to an end. Puck uses the supernatural powers to make Lysander fall for Hermia again as Demetrius remains in love with Helena. 3. From Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, we can conclude that magic creates both conflicts and their solutions through the fairies and their use of supernatural to manipulate people. The use and misuse of magic have a significant role in the play as it creates humor, conflict, resolution, and balance in the

In A Midsummer Night’s Dream the interference of the fairies problems intertwines with the plot of that of the majority of the characters. Their different roles in the story play out the... ... middle of paper ... ...and A Midsummer Night’s Dream both combine magic and mystery within their plots. Yet the way that they use magic is different throughout the stories. Their themes of love convey the meaning that everyone can choose what future they want and only you have the power to make it. In a sense they both have the same outcomes, but they are both respectable in their own ways.

One example of this is the character Robin Goodfellow, also known as Puck. As he runs about creating havoc for the couples of Athens, there is an air of childlike innocence that suggests that the world of the fairies is about being true to yourself, and the world does not put pressure on the couples to be proper or act in a certain way. Shakespeare also includes the use of a magic potion to kick start the actual plot line of the “star-crossed lovers” scenario that he is so famous for creating. The potion is first introduced by Oberon, the King of the fairy world, who gives an order to Puck to anoint the eyes of the young Athenian man, essentially ending the feud the two young Ath... ... middle of paper ... ... (Shakespeare). By including supernatural powers, Shakespeare adds elements of comedy, while also creating a whimsical scenery.

Alas, love can be a great source of confusion and sorrow, but it is nevertheless probably the most powerful feeling a human being can experience. In Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Lysander says that “the course of true love never did run smooth” (Shakespeare 1.1.134), which is seen in the quarrels between the couples throughout the play. Shakespeare makes use chiefly of the fairies’ supernatural powers to settle the love conflicts and portrays the irrationality in love of the characters, thereby creating numerous comic situations and leading to the unification of the couples towards the end of the play. First, one of Shakespeare’s techniques to bring about the comedic climax is the use of fairies whose supernatural powers create conflicts and settle the disputes that arise in the different couples. In other words, “[t]he fairies and their magic are the engine of the plot” (LitCharts), and that is because their interference in the lives of Helena, Hermia, Demetrius, and Lysander changes the course of the lovers’ lives.

Lenny Cohen Early Shakespeare Dr. Zysk 2-18-14 Shakespeare’s Dream Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream offers itself as a metaphor which both reflects and critiques the theatre. The word “dream” is used as a catalyst for action and a tool to pose questions about the nature of reality versus the stage. Shakespeare achieves this metaphorical critique in part through the deviance of Oberon and Puck, who become the plays second “sub- playwrights” by using potion and the power of dreams to create an additional narrative within the play. The play rely’s heavily on contrast to enforce this metaphorical comparison. Helena is tall while Hermia is short, the fairies are graceful and magical while the mechanicals are clumsy and bumbling.

More specifically, Oberon’s magic affects his own life, the lives of other characters, and all the characters in the story experience his magic differently. We will see that even the person who has power to use the magic can become surprised by it. Magic, the ultimate supernatural power, is often unpredictable and inexplicable. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the King of the Fairies is a powerful man named Oberon. Oberon is married to Titania, Queen of the Fairies, who received an Indian boy from her dear friend who passed away.

What is the real definition of love? Many people have different interpretations of the small yet powerful word. However, in William Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream the definition becomes rather twisted. Pure and real love does exist within the characters but is all of the love at the end of this play authentic? Love exists in A Midsummer Night’s dream before Oberon and Puck sets magic upon others which then causes some of the true love to instantly disappear.

In A Midsummer's Night Dream there is a great deal of mirth and whimsy and the supernatural elements are more of a mischievous variety than any kind of sinister entities. For example, in keeping with the humorous order of the day within the play, Shakespeare gives us elements of the supernatural that add to the mood and theme of the piece. For instance, we see supernatural forces in characters like Oberon, "a spirit of another sort", lord of the Realm of Dreams who represents the "white light of dawn" (Lucy  8). Queen Mab and a host of faeries also inhabit this realm of mortals who would be fools. The overall effect o... ... middle of paper ... ...nopsis.htm  Dec. 20, 1998:  1.

2 (1992): 218-38. Web. Apr 2014. Miller, Ronald F. “A Midsummer Night's Dream: The fairies, Bottom, and the mystery of things”. Shakespeare Quarterly 26.3 (1975): 254-68.

Prospero’s Magic in Shakespeare's The Tempest In order to understand the full effect the character of Prospero, in Shakespeare's The Tempest, would have had on the audience, it is important to understand how magic was regarded during the time. During the Tudor and early Stuart periods, interest in magic ran high, and attitudes toward magic were varied and complex. For instance, magic was to be avoided by God-fearing men, but "God permitted magic partly to demonstrate, by its overthrow, his own miraculous powers, and partly as one of the pitfalls that appeared in the world as a result of original sin" (Traister 3). Also, many scholars and philosophers were magicians, and it was difficult to draw a line between magic and science since medicine and astronomy were often associated with magic. So, people sought to clarify the ambiguities by distinguishing demonic magic from natural magic, or black magic from white magic.