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 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 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 The paper analyzes the treatment of kinship in Sophocles' "Oedipus the King" and Shakespeare's "MidsummerNight's Dream" and considers why family relationships are such a frequent subject in these genres. The paper shows how kinship is treated in relationship to its role in patriarchal societies in both of these two plays. The paper explains how kinship is a powerful plot driver in both plays, due to the fact that kinship, as epitomized in the paternal bond, lies at the heart of patriarchy.
From the Paper "It is not surprising to find family relationships to be such a frequent subject in these genres - after all, these are the deepest ties that bind, and thus offer a rich source to be mined for both comedy and tragedy. In both of these plays, kinship is crucially important because it sets up the problems that are key drivers of the plots. In Midsummer Night's Dream, the problem consists in the fact that a father is attempting to invoke paternal authority to thwart the romantic wishes of two of the principal players. Egeus, an Athenian nobleman, is pleading with Theseus, Duke of Athens, to force his (Egeus's) daughter Hermia to marry the man Egeus has picked for her: Demetrius. Hermia is insisting she would rather marry the man she loves, Lysander."
Tags: family, relationships, patriarchy, paternal, bond
Abstract This paper introduces, discusses, and analyzes the plays "King Lear" and "A MidsummerNight's Dream" by William Shakespeare. Specifically it compares and contrasts the character of "Puck," the mischievous fairy, with "Fool," King Lear's professional court jester. The author argues that although both are minor characters in the plays, they are quite important to the overall impact and import of the works.
From the Paper "Puck, whose real name is Robin Goodfellow, plays the jester to his fairy king in "A Midsummer Night's Dream." He is the head fairy in this delightful work, and some critics call him the central character or the most important part in the play. Much of the play's action revolves around him or something he has done. He is comical, infuriating, and is part of the reason this play is so magical and still popular today. The "Fool" is also a jester but he is a more serious type of character, who often chides Lear or guides him with his seemingly nonsensical words, such as, "The codpiece that will house / Before the head has any, / The head and he shall louse; / So beggars marry many. / The man that makes his toe / What he his heart should make, / Shall of a corn cry woe, / And turn his sleep to wake" ("Lear," 1993, 3.2.25-32). Fool actually speaks wisely but clouds his wise words with nonsense. Puck, in contrast, is often nonsensical and witty. His part plays for laughs, while Fool may gain laughter but his real purpose is to advise and influence his king. In addition, Fool is hired for his jesting and advice, while Puck serves freely and without pay or responsibility."
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 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 This paper discusses the whirling relationships between the four lovers in Shakespeare's comedy "MidsummerNight's Dream". It illustrates the theme of rash love's delusions versus mature, realistic love. The author explores the impact of midsummer madness on behavior.
From the Paper "In Shakespeare's, "Midsummer's Night Dream" the pivotal word is dream-in the sense of illusion and irrational behavior. The enchanting comedy seems like a romp of intoxicated imagination in which deluded lovers end up in ..."
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."
Abstract The paper discusses "A MidsummerNight's Dream" by William Shakespeare. The paper notes that the play weaves together the three subject themes: a reality in Athens, a dream-state in the woods, and the play-within-the play. The paper discusses that it is a tale of three romances, of love triangles, of jealousy and hilarity. The paper also states that Shakespeare's play is therefore structured to ask its readers and viewing audiences to contemplate the meaning of fiction and its impact on human consciousness.
From the Paper "They share characters and situations. For example, all four of the play's central human characters fall asleep in the woods and enter its dreamlike world. Hermia, Helena, Demetrius and Lysander all appear in the city and in the woods and have equally significant roles in both worlds. Likewise, Bottom and the rest of the craftsmen troop practice "Pyramus and Thisbe" in the woods but perform it to the king and queen-to-be in Athens. The woods therefore serves as the place in which dreams are created, crafted, and nurtured. Those dreams then impact the daily lives of those living in the concrete world of the city, just as Shakespeare's play impacts the daily lives of those who read and watch them."
