nature in mnd

Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night’s Dream sets up the contrast between civilized society and nature. Certain characters are introduced in the city, while others are introduced within the forest. A Midsummer Night’s Dream uses the characters aligned with either the natural or unnatural in order to create an image of nature that is freer and more wild than civilization, but is not necessarily worse or better.
The first appearance of the characters aligned with nature is in the first scene of act II. The first parallel is shown in the direction setting the scene. The scene takes place in a forest near Athens (Midsummer Night’s Dream 2.1). This marker aligns and connects the forest with Athens, but also denotes it as different. So, the characters to appear in the coming scene are somehow related to Athens, but are definitely not of Athens. This feeling of difference is accentuated by the fact that the entire first act took place within the city. By juxtaposing the scenes within Athens and within the forest, the play will naturally point out the differences between the two settings. The total lack of man-made artifacts within a place like a forest would be especially noticeable when it is compared to a city, so the importance of the natural elements of the forest are obvious, instead of it functioning as just any old setting.
Since the setting of the forest is already identified as being tied to nature, any characters to make their first appearance within the forest would probably be labeled as natural. However, the characters we do see show up there did not really need any help. From the first lines of he act, the characters make it clear that they are not human (2.1 8). Aside from talking about whom they serve, one is initially name...

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...e bizarre love square the way it was, and, since he is a supernatural being, it presumably would not have affected him negatively to do so. Instead, he makes sure that the whole thing is sorted out before he leaves, trying to make everyone involved happy, despite the hoops Puck must go through to do so (3.2 400-453). In this way, Oberon is shown to be an impulsive individual, but not a thoughtless one.
In all of these ways, A Midsummer Night’s Dream sets up contrasts between the unnatural world of Athens and the natural world of the fairies in the forest. The fairies are shown to be wild and careless, but also kind and thoughtful. They bicker and fight, but are also egalitarian in a way totally foreign to Athens. In all, the play sets up nature as a freer, more wild counterpart to civilization without making it seem objectively better or worse than the human world.