Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that encompasses three worlds: the romantic world of the aristocratic lovers, the workday world of the rude mechanicals, and the fairy world of Titania and Oberon. And while all three worlds tangle and intertwine during the course of the play, it is the fairy world that has the greatest impact, for both the lovers and the mechanicals are changed by their brush with the "children of Pan."
For those whose job it is to bring these worlds to life in the theatre -- directors, designers, actors -- the first questions that must be answered are: just what do the fairies look like, and how is their world different from ours? As our world has grown increasingly scientific, technological, and separated from nature, artists' answers to those two questions have changed considerably.
As cities have engulfed our landscape, and the "unreality of moonlight" has been washed out by the very real glare of streetlights; as the "whisperings of the leaves, sighing of the winds, and the low, sad moan of the waves" gradually have been replaced by the sound of traffic and small weapons fire, the gentle voices of the fairies have been drowned out by the cacophony of the metropolis. In this brave new world of concrete and glass, Shakespeare's "children of Pan" have come more and more to resemble the "children of Man" than ever before.
One hundred and fifty years ago, however, it was very different: the world of the fairies was an idealized version of our own, filled with unearthly splendor and wonder. Directors and designers reveled in the opportunity to create scenes of unparalleled beauty and magnificence. In a lavish production created by Madame Vestris a...
... middle of paper ...
...atural. To emphasize this, Longworth sets the play in the Victorian era with its rigid social codes, which served to cut the human soul off from any emotion or thought that hinted at a lack of reason and control; and with its confidence that Man could dominate nature and convert it to human purposes. The fairies, of course, are proof that humans are deeply deluded in both regards. And though by the end of the play the lovers still cannot see the fairies, they are nonetheless beginning to sense their presence a bit more.
In our noisy, frantic world, full of sound and fury which all too often seems to signify nothing, Longworth's fairies seem to encourage us to listen once again, to seek out the mysteries of "another type of life akin but distinct from [our] own," and to once again hear the voices of the children of Pan as they whisper the secrets of their world.
In this essay, the author
Analyzes how a midsummer night's dream encompasses three worlds: the romantic, the workday, and the fairy world of titania and oberon.
Explains that as our world has grown increasingly scientific, technological, and separated from nature, artists' answers to those two questions have changed considerably.
Analyzes how shakespeare's "children of pan" has come more and more to resemble the children of man in this brave new world of concrete and glass.
Explains that the world of the fairies was an idealized version of our own. directors and designers reveled in the opportunity to create scenes of unparalleled beauty and magnificence.
Analyzes how charles kean extended the scenic grandeur even further in his production, where elaborate scenery, mechanical effects, and music abounded.
Narrates herbert beerbohm tree's production of 1900, in which "joyful fairies, wearing the colours of nature, green or brown silk or flower petals, appeared from behind bulrushes or shrubs."
Analyzes how the fairy kingdom was presented as an idyllic place of gentle mischief and unearthly beauty during the 19th and early 20th centuries. the 1970 production changed the face of a midsummer night's dream forever.
Analyzes how brook stripped away all of the elaborate embroideries that had gradually become attached to the play and set it in a bare, brilliantly-lit white room.
Analyzes how brook's production caused controversy and released an extraordinary amount of energy in the theatre world. imaginations were piqued and creativity unleashed.
Analyzes how kott dynamited the traditions of the past century with his essay on a midsummer night's dream.
Explains that the fairy world was no longer an ideal projection of the lover's romantic fantasies, but rather the dark alter ego of daytime world, mr. hyde to the lovers' dr. jekyll.
Analyzes how alvin epstein's 1975 production at the yale repertory theatre set the tone for many productions to follow.
Analyzes how epstein's "love" is a love built on earthy sexuality. if the lovers' hearts are in their heads, then the fairies'
Analyzes how hard-edged, erotic versions of a midsummer night's dream dominated the stages of the '70s and 1980s, reflecting the concerns of a society obsessed with and anxious about all matters sexual.
Analyzes how the illinois shakespeare festival production of a midsummer night's dream, directed by bruce longworth, with costume designs by dottie marshall and set design by wes peters, reflects society’s relatively new concern with ecology.
Analyzes how a midsummer night's dream reminds us of the voices that have been drowned out by our "civilization." victorian lovers are deaf to these magical sounds and blind to the fairies who create them.
Analyzes how the british playwright and teacher keith johnstone, in his book impro, tells the story of a psychotic girl that seemed relatively normal when she was with him.
Analyzes how longworth's fairies are a metaphor for the almost total alienation the mortals in this production have from all things natural.
Analyzes how longworth's fairies encourage us to listen again, to seek out the mysteries of "another type of life akin but distinct from [our] own," and to hear the voices of the children of pan whispering the secrets of their world.
Fairy tales have been an essential part of history since the dawn of time. Many people remember reading them as a child, or hearing them told by a parent. They have been written as books and created as movies and tv shows for humanity to enjoy. What do we know about where fairy tales originate? In this essay, we will dig deep into the history of fairy tales, and see what we can discover. Fairy Tales written many years ago are still famous today. They create a world of imagination for children and gives them a brief break from day to day realities.
In this essay, the author
Explains that fairy tales have been an essential part of history since the dawn of time. they were written as books and created as movies and tv shows for humanity to enjoy.
Explains that fairy tales can be traced back to biblical time. many people believe that the bible is a vast collection of 66 individual books.
Explains that many people believe that the bible is a fairy tale and that multiple people wrote their tales and it was combined into one large story.
Explains that chinese folklore is influenced by buddhism, taoism, and confucianism. myths and reality were mixed to create many stories.
Explains that french fairy tales were passed orally through generations by women, peasants, slaves, and outcast groups such as the gypsies before the 17th century.
Explains that fairy tales are filled with things such as knights and princesses. they are written to make children feel safe and happy.
Explains that cinderella's step-sisters cut off their toes to fit into glass slippers, while snow white died when she was forced to dance in shoes that were red iron hot.
Explains that evil mothers are an essential part of fairy tales. in hansel and gretel, the wife gets her husband to abandon the children in the woods due to a lack of food for the family.
Explains that jacob and wilhelm grimm's fairy tales existed long before they were born. they interviewed many people collecting them and published their first volume in 1812.
Explains that charles perrault was the father of fairy tales. he wrote sleeping beauty, little red riding hood, and cinderella.
Explains that there are more than 800 versions of cinderella's story worldwide. the irish version is named ashey pelt, and is a magical black ewe.
Describes walt disney as the modern-day brothers grimm. he has taken versions of fairy tales he has heard and made modern adaptations into film.
Explains that fairy tales have embedded themselves into modern times. little girls are dressing up as princesses, and little boys as princes. children are turned into heroes and taught moral, social, or political lessons.
Bettelheim, Bruno. The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. New York: Vintage, 2010. Print.
In this essay, the author
Analyzes how edmund's subversion of set standards is the cause of a great deal of the troubles the pevensies face in narnia.
Analyzes how bettelheim's statement hinges on the child reading the novel identifying with the character and not necessarily what will always happen.
Analyzes how edmund proves that he is not nearly as bad as his immediate impression may seem. the witch is about to turn the party of creatures into stone, and edmund realizes what she does is wrong and unjust.
Analyzes how chesterton commented on the disjunctive good or evil, black or white, quality of ethical judgment in children’s literature. children are innocent and love justice, while most of us are wicked and naturally prefer mercy.
Analyzes how edmund is not "wicked" because he shows his innate knowledge of justice when they stumble upon the christmas celebration.
Analyzes how peter refers to edmund as "perfectly beastly" and calls him "a little beast." edmund is a "beast" who needs to learn the way to being fully human.
Analyzes how edmund's conversion back into the boy he was before the white witch got her hold on him begins with a meeting with aslan.
Analyzes how lewis has avoided saying exactly what aslan needed to tell edmund to fix his mind, but it is significant because "edmund never forgot" the conversation. edmund learns the truth about narnia which brings him back to his goodness.
Explains that she found him looking better than she had seen him look—oh, for ages; in fact since his first term at that horrid school where he had begun to go wrong.
Analyzes how lewis eschews the possibility that edmund could have had any innate evil in him, being a child, due to the schools and the witch's enchantments.
Analyzes how lewis does not allow edmund to remain imperfect in order to show the possibility that children can be reformed. his reformation brings edmund back to the vision of the romantic child who is an innocent.
Analysis A Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare
The story of A Midsummer Night's Dream was mainly about love and its abnormal dealings. In the play, Shakespeare tried to show that love is unpredictable, unreasonable, and at times is blind. The theme of love was constantly used during the play and basically everything that was said and done was related to the concept of love and its unpredictable ness. Shakespeare made all of the characters interact their lives to be based on each other’s. At first, everything was very confusing, and the characters were faced with many different problems.
In this essay, the author
Analyzes a midsummer night's dream, a play about love and its abnormal dealings. the theme of love was constantly used during the play.
Analyzes how hermia, the daughter of egeus, was in love with lysander from the beginning of the play, but her father wanted her to marry demetrius.
Analyzes how egeus found hermia's choice of a husband unacceptable and took her in front of theseus, the duke of athens.
Narrates how hermia's love for lysander was deep, but she was not comfortable sleeping directly next to him. when she saw that her true love was missing, she quickly went to find him
Analyzes how lysander was unable to hold on to his love for hermia during the time in the woods. he was forced by the spell to forget about her and instead he wanted her friend helena.
Explains that lysander was not the same as in the beginning of the play. he used to sing to hermia and read her poems, but he couldn't even look at her or talk to her.
Analyzes how demetrius was tied to this love circle from the start of the play. he was supposed to receive hermia as his wife, but his love for her did not appear solid.
Analyzes how demetrius was successful in finding hermia and he restated his love for her. she accused him of murdering lysander, leaving him heart broken and depressed again.
Analyzes how helena had the most problems out of the four young lovers. she followed demetrius into the woods as he tried to find lysander and hermia.
Narrates how helena ran into demetrius, who was also put under a spell, and suddenly he was in love with her. when hermia entered in the midst of this, her anger was heightened.
Analyzes how the four lovers returned to athens, uncertain of whether the night's events were real or only dream. the fairies played them all against each other and in the end they each were reunited with the lover of their choice.
Analyzes how the play ended with two couples getting married at the wedding of theseus and hippolyta. the three couples waited for a night of entertainment before they went to sleep.
The Role of Magic
Literature has been used for centuries to express cultural dissatisfaction, or concern about the current state of affairs in a governed area. Authors often added some level of history or historical references within their work. Whether it is the use of other famous literature or current events, it allowed the reader to relate to the literature easier. A Midsummers Night dream is no different.
In this essay, the author
Explains that magic and symbolism have been used for centuries to express cultural dissatisfaction, or concern about the current state of affairs in a governed area. shakespeare's a midsummers night dream expresses political, religious, sexual, and gender norms.
Analyzes how a midsummers night dream displays the movement from classical athens to early modern england.
Analyzes how the "wild forrest" from the book three of the faerie queene is referenced within shakespeare's play a midnight summers dream.
Analyzes how bottom uses a story similar to corinthians to express his erotic experiences, which echoes paul’s letter describing the holy spirit.
Explains that paul's letters to the corinthians and bottoms explanation of his experience are similar in that they are both describing something more than a normal human experience.
Analyzes how shakespeare used magic and symbolism in a midsummers night dream to express the views about political, religious, sexual, and gender norms within society.
Of all the examples of magical realism, the characteristic which enhances the utmost dramatic effect are the mirror reversals. The primary main character is Edward Bloom, from a litt...
In this essay, the author
Analyzes how the mirror reversals enhance the utmost dramatic effect. the primary character is edward bloom, from a little town, who felt that he was destined for bigger events.
Analyzes how magical realism is illustrated in the scene where edward bloom becomes the fish from his stories.
Opines that big fish, dir. tim burton, perf. ewan mcgregor, s gold, the entertainment network, 2003. dvd.
Analyzes how big fish is an amazing fantasy created by tim burton, which transports the viewer to another dimension by means of the main character's experiences and adventures.
Love can be quite chaotic at times. As much as poets and songwriters promote the idea of idyllic romantic love, the experience in reality is often fraught with emotional turmoil. When people are in love, they tend to make poor decisions, from disobeying authority figures to making rash, poorly thought-out choices. In the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare uses various motifs to illustrate how love, irrationality, and disobedience are thematically linked to disorder.
In this essay, the author
Analyzes how shakespeare uses various motifs to illustrate how love, irrationality, and disobedience are thematically linked to disorder.
Analyzes how shakespeare uses the motif of the seasons to solidify the connection between love gone awry and chaos.
Analyzes how shakespeare uses the motif of the moon to illustrate the connection between irrationality and disobedience in love.
Analyzes how shakespeare uses the motif of dreams to show how irrationality and love are connected.
Bettelheim, Bruno. “Fantasy, Recovery, Escape, and Consolation. “The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. New York: Vintage Books, 1976.
In this essay, the author
Explains that fairytales are short stories consisting of fantasy people, places, and objects. the most common characters in a fairy tale are prince and princess.
Opines that stories are a necessity for humans since they help them communicate and teach lessons.
Explains the difference between an "i-search" paper and the dreaded research paper.
Explains that fairytales are about events in life that revolve around castles, royalty, and magic. the grimm brothers created gruesome tales to educate children and provide entertainment.
Explains that fairytales by the grimm brothers are gruesome and have a common characteristic of having evil characters or villains that are played by women.
Analyzes how fairytales instill a mindset in children that they are expected to have loved ones and rule their own household.
Opines that fairytales instill a positive psychological attitude in children which stays with them throughout their lives.
Opines that fairytales are an excellent way to teach children morals, and that they help children develop and grow as an individual.
Explains bettelheim, bruno, bottigheimer, ruth b. encyclopedia of children and childhood in history and society. "fairy tales and fables."
Rohrick, Lutz. Introduction. Fairytales and Society: Illusion, Allusion and Paradigm. Ed. R.B. Bottingheimer. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1986. 1-9.
In this essay, the author
Explains how fairytales help to the upbringing of gender stereotypes, the gender ideology formation, and the patriarchal values reification.
Analyzes how the book dispels all doubts regarding the argument that children's literature offers feminine youngster’s with more physical traits and as to male youths’ boys active roles happen to be more.
Explains that the only powerful fairy tales women are very ugly and most times they are evil. some communities involve their girls to take position of their elderly when they die.
Explains how culture in media taking fairytales as vital of which many see it as of no importance or irrelevant.
Explains how fairytales mould the characters of young boys and girls, mainly because of the originality by groups of men and women.
Explains baker-sperry, lori, and grauerholz's the pervasiveness and persistence of the feminine beauty ideal in childrens fairy tales.
In Our Town, much of the setting is created by verbal narration, as opposed to being physically present, constructing an added level of connection between the audience and play. The narrator begins the first act by avidly describing the surroundings of the town Grover’s Corners with many gestures and descriptive words. In this way, Wilder creates a new level of audience interaction. This interaction is formed directly from the lack of physical scenery because it forces each audience member to imagine an individual image of Grover’s Corners. By utilizing minimal scenery, Wilder begins to show how Grover’s Corners is really an allegorical representation of the typical human experience. This implies the physical aspect of the universal experience is vastly unimportant compared to things that can’t be seen, such as relationships, impacts, and family ties, despite the fact that most people tend to feel “like they have to have scenery” (7). By focusing on the emotional aspects, Wilder forms a representation of the universal human experience, as well as prompts the audience to add their own experiences to the play as well. Even though Wilder only uses minimal props to allow the watcher to create relations, he utilizes many symbols throughout his writings to emphasize key points about his beliefs.
In this essay, the author
Analyzes how thornton wilder's play our town follows the everyday lives of seemingly common characters who evolve individually and demonstrate important concepts during each of the three acts.
Analyzes how wilder creates an added level of audience interaction in our town by using verbal narration instead of being physically present.
Analyzes how the town's sentinel newspaper and a church hymn, "blessed be the tie that binds," convey basic ideas about the human experience.
Analyzes how wilder employs simple and common events to create a new level of relation between the audience and the characters on stage.
Analyzes how emily presents the blindness wilder is trying to make the audience understand. ignorance is bliss.
Introduction: The concept of the change and longevity of the fairy tale (or myth) is well illustrated in the story “Yellow Woman” by Leslie Silko. Not only is the story a modern explanation of a traditional Native American myth, but the style that Silko uses to tell it evokes and adapts the oral communication style that those old myths were passed down with. The story is also very self-consciously aware of its place as a modern revision of a myth, and makes many internal references to this aspect of itself. “Yellow Woman” becomes, in effect, the modern version of a Native American myth or legend, and therefore is a perfect example of the way in which old tales are made new.
In this essay, the author
Introduces leslie silko's "yellow woman" as a modern interpretation of traditional native american myths.
Analyzes how silko was attempting to explore the origins of these myths and what they mean in a modern context. the narrator talks about how her grandfather used to tell her stories of the ka’tsina and yellow woman.
Analyzes how the narrator is aware of the formation and evolution of new myths out of old ones.
Analyzes how the narrator is constantly thinking about what it means if she is a new yellow woman, and thinks about how her situation might be similar to the women in the old stories.
Analyzes how "yellow woman" is an example of an old myth or tale reconstructed and adapted for a modern audience.