Transformations in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" Analytical Essay

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."