William Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream Essay

William Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream A Midsummer Night’s Dream could have easily been a light-hearted, whimsical comedy. Complete with a magic forest and a kingdom of fairies, it is an iconic setting for amorous escapades and scenes of lovers. But Shakespeare’s writing is never so shallow; through this romantic comedy, Shakespeare postulates an extremely cynical view of love. A Midsummer Night’s Dream becomes a commentary on the mystery of love, and lovers in general emerge shamed. Especially in the episodes among the four young Athenians, the lover is painted as a fickle creature, always changing his or her mind, and love as a passing phenomenon. Love is not an unfathomable, kind emotion, but it is ironically cruel,†¦show more content†¦Were love the unchanging wonder that the characters seem to believe it, the dramatic transformation in Lysander would not be possible. Yet such changes in love comprise the bulk of the plot. Another characteristic that is not generally applied to love, but which is inseparably connected to it in this play, is cruelty. Love is an agent of degradation. Helena abases herself in a pathetic attempt to renew Demetrius’s love for her, saying, â€Å"I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius, / The more you beat me, I will fawn on you. / Neglect me, lose me; only give me leave, / Unworthy as I am, to follow you† (2.1.204-207). It is love that brings her so low; it does the same to Hermia when she has lost Lysander’s love. Hermia is understandably bewildered by the sudden loss of her lover, and she says, Am not I Hermia? Are you not Lysander? I am as fair now as I was erewhile. Since night you lov’d me; yet since night you left me. Why, then you left me—O, the gods forbid!— In earnest, shall I say? (3.2.273-277). Hermia’s distress parallels that of Helena, and her words carry a desperation that has previously been seen in Helena. The scorned lover is weakened, and lovers are constantly scorned. The ways of love are brutal. The character of love has been thoroughly called into question by this play; by the end, Shakespeare also questions its very reality. Does love really exist? In A MidsummerShow MoreRelatedWilliam Shakespeares A Midsummer Night’s Dream1973 Words   |  8 PagesWilliam Shakespeares A Midsummer Night’s Dream The focus of this discussion will be upon the language and performance possibilities of this extract from the Dream[1], following brief consideration of the manner in which the extract relates to the rest of the play in terms of plot development and the reflection of certain of the play’s themes. Performance aspects are considered alongside the distinctive features of the language, as it is suggested that the natureRead More William Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream Essay1591 Words   |  7 PagesWilliam Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream 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 theRead MoreEssay William Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream974 Words   |  4 PagesWilliam Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream can be considered an archetypal comedy due in large part to the ill-defined characters. Part of what makes this play work so well is that rather than becoming too invested in any one character’s hopes and fears or desires and struggles, the audience is simply rooting for things to work out well in general. If the audience became too attached to any one character, they might lose sight of the bigger pictureRead MoreThe Supernatural in William Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream1550 Words   |  7 PagesSupernatural in William Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream Consider the presentation of the supernatural in A Midsummer Nights dream. In what way does it reveal Shakespeares moral and philosophical concerns? How does Shakespeares stagecraft (setting, Characterisation, language, verse form etc) facilitate the consideration of his concerns? and how do we as a modern audience respond to the play as a piece of theatre? The main themes of A Midsummers Night Dream areRead MoreWilliam Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream Essays3973 Words   |  16 PagesWilliam Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream In the following essay I am aiming to show how Lysanders claim that the course of true love never did run smooth is supported by other events in the play. A Midsummer Nights Dream was written by William Shakespeare. No one knows the exact date it was written but we know it was between 1589 and 1595. He combines romance with comedy to produce this popular story. When he was writing the play superstition aboutRead More Night in William Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream Essay1379 Words   |  6 PagesNight in William Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream One of the recurring themes throughout Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the time of day during which the play’s major action takes place: night. This being the case, there are certain words that are directly linked to this theme that appear numerous times throughout the script. Four such words are â€Å"moon,† â€Å"moonlight,† â€Å"moonshine,† and â€Å"lunatic.† Each comes from a feminine root that serves to identify the women in the play asRead MoreEssay on Women in William Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream780 Words   |  4 PagesWomen in William Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream A Midsummer Night’s Dream, by William Shakespeare, is a play that illustrates a good picture of woman’s lack of freedom. It is a story of several couples, among which there is a fairy king, Oberon, who proves his sovereignty over the queen of the fairies, Titania. The two have an ongoing conflict about who should keep the Indian boy, whose mother had recently died. Titania doesn’t want to give him up because she and the boy’s mother knewRead MoreEssay about William Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream1283 Words   |  6 PagesWilliam Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream Shakespeare, in his A Midsummer Night’s Dream, uses his characters to cast a sense of derision over the use of the imagination. â€Å"The lunatic, the lover and the poet† are thrown together all on one line, and it is implied that the latter two are as crazy as the first. (Midsummer Night’s Dream, V.1.7) Despite this seeming scorn for plays and their ilk, Shakespeare is implementing a strong irony. Characters who scorn the imagination are no moreRead MoreEssay about William Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream 1648 Words   |  7 PagesWilliam Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream  Ã‚  Ã‚   There are so many references to the eyes in A Midsummer Nights Dream that one would expect there to be a solid and consistent reason for their appearance. However, this does not seem to be the case. Indeed, the images associated with the eyes are so varied, and shift so frequently, that it is practically impossible to define what it is they represent. This difficulty reflects the problem of distinguishing between what is real and whatRead MoreTrue Love in William Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream1928 Words   |  8 PagesTrue Love in William Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream I have been studying A Midsummer Night’s Dream and exploring how the characters within this play deal with love and the consequences resulting from falling in love. I will be answering the question asked by providing quotes and examples of Shakespeare’s technique in showing that ‘The course of true love never did run smooth’ as well as providing answers as to why Shakespeare made this the case in the play