Abstract
This paper describes William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream as preposterous, and arsy-versy. The author points out that, by using the rude mechanicals, Shakespeare seems to be arguing that arsy-versy can turn even the most lamentable tragedy into a roaring comedy. The paper relates that an example of arsy-versy of one of the rude mechanicals is called Snug the Joiner, whose rhetoric is so slow and disjointed that he asks for his lines written in advance. The author also then discusses Titania as an example of preposterousnous, explaining that she is the fairy goddess who falls deeply in love with Bottom despite his having an ass for a head of which he is unaware. The paper concludes that the backwards reaction to the events of the play-within-the-play points to Shakespeare's message that people are insensitive to their own follies and yet are very perceptive of the same follies found in others.

From the Paper
"As the play begins, the preposterousness of the presentation is immediately shown in the prologue, which the rude mechanicals took great care to write so as not to offend the court. Peter Quince's delivery of the prologue presents a message opposite from the intended one. "If we offend, it is with our good will," he says, unfortunately telling the court that his intent is to offend. "All for your delight," he later says, "we are not here". The players then continue to present their play in a rather backwards manner; by making it crystal clear to the court that what they see in front of them isn't real."

Tags:preposterous arsy-versy, rude mechanicals, follies insensitive

Abstract
This paper is based around characters that are featured in Shakespeare's play "A Midsummer Night's Dream". The paper first relates that, amid this complicated play, there is the tale of the six mechanicals or craftsmen. The paper then explains how Shakespeare differentiates between them and the other members of his play by use of different language and style.

From the Paper
"The mechanics have retreated to the woods outside Athens to rehearse the play that they intend to present at the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta. The play is the classical story of Pyramus and Thisbe. These were two young lovers, living in houses that shared a common wall, whose parents had forbidden them to marry. Their only means of communication was through a crack in the wall of their adjoining houses. Eventually, they were unable to stand separation any longer, and agreed to elope, meeting in the nearby woods. On the appointed night, and taking advantage of the darkness, they slipped out of their respective houses. Thisbe arrived first at the appointed place by a mulberry tree, to find a lioness, her mouth bloody from a recent kill. Terrified, Thisbe fled, dropping her veil as she ran. The lioness then mauled the veil, leaving it torn and covered with blood. Coming on the scene and finding only the torn bloody veil, Pyramus assumed that the lioness had killed Thisbe. In his wild grief, he stabbed himself. Thisbe, emerging safe from her hiding place, and finding Pyramus dead, killed herself. In commemoration of this tragedy, the mulberry tree beside which the lovers took their lives now bears purple berries, instead of the white it had originally grown. (Rivers)"

Tags:Athens, performance, characters

Abstract
This paper analyzes one of William Shakespeare's most celebrated comedic plays, "A Midsummer Night'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 Midsummer Night's Dream".

From the Paper:

"A Midsummer Night'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 Midsummer Night'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."

Tags:Shakespeare, theseus, hippolyta, bottom, titania, moon, puck, helena, oberon

Abstract
This paper analyzes the mechanicals within the play "A Midsummer Night's Dream," focusing on the play-within-the-play. The paper afinds that the play itself is a comical distortion of the Pyramus and Thisbe story that the mechanicals will act out. It also finds tht the players show aspects which the other characters do not, including an awareness on at least some level that they are dealing with emotions that can lead to ends that are tragic rather than comical.

From the Paper
"In A Midsummer Night's Dream, William Shakespeare presents a remarkably complicated plot. It involves stories of four couples: Theseus and Hippolyta, Athenian nobles; Lysander and Hermia, and Helena and Demetrius, upper class Athenians; and Oberon and Titania, the fairy king and queen. Caught amid them is the tale of the mechanicals or craftsmen. The mechanics have retreated to the woods outside Athens to rehearse the play that they intend to present at the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta. The play is the classical story of Pyramus and Thisbe. These were two young lovers, living in houses that shared a common wall, whose parents ..."

Tags:Ovid, Oberon, Titania, Theseus, Greek

Abstract
This paper delves deep into the circles of characters and the roles that they play within themselves and in relation to each other in William Shakespeare's comedy, "A Midsummer Night's Dream". The paper shows that the innermost circle includes the mechanicals (the clowns with Bottom as the focal point); the next circle consists of the lovers; another circle belongs to Theseus and Hippolyta and the final circle belongs to the fairies.

From the Paper
"The clowns and Bottom make up the first circle. Bottom is virtually unaware of all of the events happening around him, and he unfortunately becomes the punch line of a cruel joke when Oberon, the fairy king, decides to play a joke on his wife, Titania, by making her develop a passionate infatuation with Bottom through the use of magic. The audience cannot help but feel sympathetic towards him because much of the humor derived from him rests upon his lack of awareness coupled with the sense of confidence with which he moves through the play. The clowns serve as a backdrop against which he operates."

Tags:oberon, titania

Abstract
In this article, the writer studies Act III Scene 1 of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by William Shakespeare. The writer focuses on Sir Philip Sydney's defense of poetry in the play.

From the Paper
"This paper discusses Act III Scene 1 in the light of Sir Philip Sydney's contention in his "A Defence of Poetry" that "Poesie therefore, is an Art of Imitation: for so Aristotle termeth it in the word mimesis (24), that is to say, a representing, counterfeiting, or figuring forth to speak Metaphorically. A speaking Picture, with this end to teach and delight." Act III begins when the craftmen bumble in to set up their attempt at drama. Puck asks ironically, "What hempen ..."

Tags:midsummer, night's, dream

Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to understand what Shakespeare meant by the title "A Midsummer Night'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..."

Tags:Shakespeare, Midsummer Night's Dream, Dreams

Abstract
The paper discusses the sinister undercurrents in William Shakespeare's comedy, "A Midsummer Night's Dream".

From the Paper
"Although Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is regarded by critics as a comedy, at times there are more sinister undercurrents in the play that suggest it has a darker side. This essay will examine specific elements of the play to argue that Shakespeare balanced his comedic intent with a desire to explicate the aspects of human nature that are less than perfect and benevolent. Several characters i.e. Theseus, Egeus, Demetrius and Titania are each capable of using their..."

Tags:Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream

Abstract
In this paper, the theme of love relationships in A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare are analyzed. By understanding the often unpredictable nature of love that arises within these characters, the two main love relationships between Hermia and Lysander and that of Helena and Demetrius are analyzed, revealing their very similar changes of loyalty and devotion that occur throughout the play. The writer discusses that without a stable sense of love that is often provide through forced marriages and through fairy world intervention, the lovers eventually sort out their differences, but without a great deal of betrayal and desire driven factors that simply cannot be controlled.

Tags:love, midsummer