Magic in Three Shakespearean Plays

Paper Summary:

In a number of his plays, William Shakespeare uses magic as a driving force moving the action of the play forward. This paper discusses how this is certainly true in two of his famous comedies, "The Tempest" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and how, it is also true, in a somewhat different way in his greatest tragedy, "Hamlet".

From the Paper:

"A Midsummer Night's Dream (MSN in following citations) is also a play filled with magic. This play involves essentially three sets of characters: the Athenian workmen, the young lovers (Hermia, Helena, Lysander, and Demetrius), and the fairies. The fairies are, of course, magical beings, and their interaction with one another and with the various humans drives the play. Interestingly, for all their more-than-natural powers, the fairies are prey to a most human emotion, jealousy. Titania has quitted her marriage bed because Oberon has become too fond of a young boy he sought as a page of honor. (MSN, II, i, 118-21) Stung by Titania's jealousy, Oberon plots a mischievous revenge. "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Tucker Brooke & Jack Randall Crawford, eds. (New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1947).
• Shakespeare, William, A Midsummer Night's Dream,Willard Higley Durham, ed. (New Haven, Connecticut, 1918).
• Shakespeare, William, The Tempest, David Horne, ed. (New haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1955).

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