Abstract The purpose of this paper is to understand what Shakespeare meant by the title "A MidsummerNight's Dream" following the clues in key speeches. It also looks at the theme of the title, midsummer madness and supernatural elements.
From the Paper "The themes embodied in Shakespeare's comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream recall the line that questions whether all that we see or seem is merely a dream within a dream. Unlike his other plays the title of Shakespeare's fantastic..."
Abstract This paper discusses Shakespeare's play; "A MidsummerNight's Dream" and analyzes how it satisfies the functions of literature, raising a heightened sensitivity of the complexities of life. The paper also discusses plot devices.
From the Paper "A Midsummer Night's Dream: One of the functions of literature is to force the reader to question the things he has taken for granted; another is to heighten his sensitivity to the complexities of life and individuals. Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" fulfills both functions masterfully. Shakespeare's play creates an intricate juxtaposition of plot and characters that reduces even the careful reader to a state of confusion."
Tags: A MidsummerNight's Dream, Shakespeare, literature
Abstract An analysis of the idea of desire in the play MidsummerNightsDream, and how the characters of Shakespeare's play portray this in the text. By analyzing how love and relationships play into this theme, we can see relate how madness plays a part in their demise.
Abstract This paper analyzes Puck, one of the main characters in "A MidsummerNight's Dream", and explains how the character of Puck is central to the play, in spite of the fact that Shakespeare did not develop Puck's character more fully.
From the Paper "Shakespeare is notorious for creating memorable characters and perhaps one of his most famous characters is Puck from his play, A Midsummer Night's Dream. While Puck is critical to the development of the play, his character remains essentially flat throughout the course of the play. Puck is poetic, playful, innocent, and enjoys laughing at those who become the victims of his antics. However, we do not witness Puck's development as a character. In a sense, he never grows up and we never see any depth of his character."
Abstract This paper discusses "MidsummerNight's Dream" as the author believes Shakespeare intended the play to be - as a delightful, fun frolic, and contrasts it to Moshinsky's film version which emphasizes the darker elements of the script and loses much of the comic elements of the story.
From the Paper "This sentence would be a perfect introduction to Elijah Moshinsky's film adaptation of Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream", since it is not delightful, but instead stresses the tragic elements of the play. Shakespeare's language, rich of colourful images, creates a flower-scent and magical atmosphere. ?The descriptions breathe a sweetness like odours thrown from beds of flowers.? Though Moshinsky adapts Shakespeare's original text, the language loses nevertheless a part of its imaginative power. He focuses rather on the tragic elements of the play and renders it thus more serious and less bland."
"?We do not come, as minding to content you, our true intent is. All for your delight, we are not here. That you should here repent you, the actors are at hand; and, by their show you shall know all, that you are like to know (p.57).?
This sentence would be a perfect introduction to Elijah Moshinsky's film adaptation of Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream", since it is not delightful, but instead stresses the tragic elements of the play.
Shakespeare's language, rich of colourful images, creates a flower-scent and magical atmosphere. ?The descriptions breathe a sweetness like odours thrown from beds of flowers.? Though Moshinsky adapts Shakespeare's original text, the language loses nevertheless a part of its imaginative power. He focuses rather on the tragic elements of the play and renders it thus more serious and less bland."
Abstract A MidsummerNight's Dream, is a play which revolves around the idea of love as an opportunity for foolishness. Puck takes great delight in manipulating the loves of the humans who have unwittingly stumbled into his kingdom. Lovers, particularly those in this play, expose themselves to danger as a result of love from the very beginning. Love simply makes us more so. This play demonstrates that only through humor can we survive the changes in love and life that we experience.
Abstract This report looks at Shakespeare's play "A MidsummerNight's Dream" from the perspective of how the author uses comedy in the play to achieve plot and character development. It primarily looks at Shakespeare's ironic references but also considers more serious themes in the play. For example, when Shakespeare refers to the players as asses in the work, this highlights the ridiculousness and humorous aspects of the scene. The paper concentrates on such scenes, around the general theory that Shakespeare used comedy to further some contrast to the serious scenes in the play.
From the Paper "In the first scene of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's
Dream, the character Helena, after the other characters have gone offstage, continues to speak to the audience about her conception of love. She seems to contradict herself, first saying that love is born of the mind and then stating its blindness and irrationality. This
is showing some humor already in that there is a willful contradiction for the audience. More seriously, her idea of love is one that is mixed up in power and revenge, and these themes come into play later on in the work, when Oberon and Titania have their own schemes of power and revenge in the forest."
Abstract The writer of this article studies various acts of Shakespeare's play "A MidsummerNight's Dream". The paper provides a view of one of Shakespeare's most famous and most loved works. In particular, the paper looks at how an all-male cast affects three pivotal scenes and explains how this staging tactic demands that audiences respond in a particular way. The writer explains that using only men in all the roles would have been common in Shakespeare's time, but today, it seems to take away from the impact and humor of the play.
From the Paper "Clearly, the implications and consequences of the play are different when all the cast members are one gender. Some of the passion goes out of the play, and some of the scenes may even seem ridiculous or far-fetched. Personally, the play is funny and emotional, and some of that might just seem like farce to the audience when the cast was all male. It might seem more like "The Bird Cage" or other gay films. Giving hints of femaleness may work with some of the cast, but in other scenes, giving hints may simply take away the dramatic effect and lessen the impact of the play. The femaleness of the female characters is very important to the play, but it can be overcome with actors who believe in what they are doing and deliver their lines with conviction. Tongue-in-cheek lines will ruin the entire meaning and impact of the play."
Abstract This paper analyzes one of William Shakespeare's most celebrated comedic plays, "A MidsummerNight's Dream". The author examines how the throughout the play the characters attempt to find a way to understand the mechanism of love in a rational way and experience self-alterations that they believe to be a dream in the end. The paper also looks at how the recurring reference to the ever-changing moon parallels the transformation of the characters in "A MidsummerNight's Dream".
From the Paper:
"A MidsummerNight's Dream" brilliantly expresses the profound human uncertainty about love. Dream world and reality merge undetectably so that the characters are not sure themselves in which sphere they move, nor whether what they have experienced has been imagination or truth. What seems to be a fantasy or a dream for the characters in "A MidsummerNight's Dream" is actually reality. However, the dreamlike atmosphere of the play accentuates the fact that the lovers appear to be quite removed from any criteria applicable to reality."
Abstract In this article, the writer first looks at the artist William Shakespeare and then studies his work "A MidsummerNight's Dream". The writer discusses the play and notes that while the situations portrayed in 'A MidsummerNight's Dream' are hilarious to the point of being absurd, ultimately the play serves a higher purpose - that is, to affirm the value of love and pleasure in an often hostile universe. The writer concludes that whatever way one chooses to interpret 'A MidsummerNight's Dream', the play's goofy characters, outrageous situations, and rich language have ensured the play's status as a classic work of English literature.
Outline:
William Shakespeare the Artist
A MidsummerNight's Dream
From the Paper "A Midsummer Night's Dream is one of Shakespeare's most beloved romantic comedies. It consists of three plots that are chaotically interwoven in order to elicit an atmosphere of magic and the absurd, as well as love and the unknown. Throughout the course of the play, people from all different class backgrounds interact, and against the setting of a magical night forest, they come into contact with a band of mischievous fairies whose pranks will temporarily transform some of the characters, while making others' dreams come true.
"At the center of A Midsummer Night's Dream is the wedding of Duke Theseus of Athens to the Amazonian Queen Hippolyta. Egeus has chosen Demetrius to marry his daughter Hermia - and Hermia is unhappy with the decision. To rebel, she runs away from Athens into the magical forests surrounding the city alongside her lover Lysander, with whom she hopes to elope. Hermia tells her best friend Helena of her plans."
Abstract Specifically, this paper presents a thesis that magic and imagination drive the events of the story in "A MidsummerNight's Dream" more than in any other Shakespearean play, thus making "A MidsummerNight's Dream" Shakespeare's only play of pure fantasy.
Abstract This paper analyzes the use of love and magic in William Shakespeare's "A MidsummerNight's Dream". The paper looks at how magic is used to bring the effects of love to light and how the magical setting of the play is emphasized by the language of the play, which also stresses the parallelism between love and magic. The paper concludes that, in this play, Shakespeare wonderfully uses magic to emphasize the power of love in A MidsummerNight's Dream, a love which he is describing as a magical force.
From the Paper "The powers of love are not only shown in language, but also in the transformations that the characters are enduring in the play. Magic and love are closely linked by the symbol of the love flower, "Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound" (2.1.167) because of Cupid's mistake. The flower has endured the power of both magic and love, and is now carrying its transformation on to the ones on which its juice is applied. This is what happens to Titania, the queen of the fairies when she wakes up under the influence of the love potion in front of Bottom. The transformation of Bottom into an ass is an important magical change in the play. It has the effect of revealing Bottom's true nature, since, as Quince says, "[he is] translated" (3.1. 113). Titania's falling in love with Bottom, namely with an ass-head creature, makes us realize how love is not logical. Shakespeare thus says that love does not follow logic in any way, and can even fool a queen. Consequently, magic, under the form of the love flower, is used to emphasize the illogical nature of love."
Abstract Dreaming and what happens during the period of slumber are two important themes that emerge from the Shakespearean comedy ?A MidsummerNight's Dream?. This paper discusses the difference between actual dreams and the surreal situation in order to grasp the meaning and significance of ?dreaming? in the play.
From the Paper "A Midsummer Night's dream, as the name suggest, is full of instances of fantasy and illusion which makes it on the one hand, a beautiful magical tale while on the other a comic story where surrealism outweighs every other force. While many would think that love is the dominant theme of the play, the playwright it appears had another theme in mind when he created this story. Shakespeare has given dreams a more dominant role to play in the plot because it is during the period of slumber that magical things happen to the characters, which completely change the course of the play."
Tags: slumber, love-potion, fantasy, fairies, love
Abstract William Shakespeare's play, "A MidsummerNight's Dream", creates a dream world fused with reality. Shakespeare successfully makes the world of Puck and other sprites realistic by employing powerful, vivid text in the play. The paper explains that, through his creative use of language, Shakespeare creates a world of illusion where things are not what they seem, and imagination pushes the limits of fact. The result of powerful language aided by our own imagination allows this enchanted world to appear real in the moonlit forest. It examines how the text of the play is constructed in such a way that we not only visualize the setting of the play, but we also come to know each character.
From the Paper "The interplay between Puck, Lysander, and Demetrius demonstrates the contrast between mortals and fairies. Puck successfully misguides the two men until they become confused and lose their sense of direction. Puck has an added measure of fun when he tells Demetrius to follow his voice. While Lysander tries to follow that voice, he describes Pucks? nature almost perfectly. He states that the villain is "much lighter-heeled" Shakespeare (III.ii.416) than he is and though he followed the voice fast, "faster he did fly" (III.ii.417). Similarly, Demetrius encounters the same type of confusion with Puck."
Abstract The paper discusses how both the film and the original version of William Shakespeare's romantic comedy "A Midsummer's NightDream" use the same words to tell a tale of temporarily thwarted young love. Yet, there are many differences the paper illustrates. The paper explains that because the film uses visual images to illustrate the words of the Shakespearean play and makes use of selective cutting to emphasize certain scenes over others, the film offers a more selective view of dreams and dreaming as opposed to the play that is viewed in its complete and uncut form.
From the Paper "The nature of cinema allows the director of "A Midsummer's Night Dream" to make the fairies, such as Titania, Oberon, and Puck seem much more fantastical in contrast to the earth-bound mortals. The fairies float; strange, beautiful lights surround them. Yet in this rendition, they lose some of the earthier, humorous, and more interesting mortal qualities in contrast to the warring fairy characters in the play."
