A Midsummer Night s Dream By William Shakespeare

In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the audience is never truly privy to any of the characters’ dreams; however, Shakespeare portrays reality as a sort of dream. The forest symbolizes a realm where anything can happen, with no regard for time or logic, much like in a dream. Therefore, when the lovers come out of the forest, without explanation for their actions, they believe it to be a dream, even though it had real-life consequences. By having the characters talk about their dreams and believe their realities to be dreams, the play explores the idea that dreams demonstrate reality, in that they show fears and desires, but it also explores the idea that reality can be affected by dreams. While Hoffman’s movie adaptation recognizes this in some aspects, it does not explore it in entirely the same manner. In the very first scene, the audience learns that Hermia’s father does not approve of her relationship with Lysander. Although she never says it out loud, Hermia fears that something will tear her and Lysander apart, something that shows in her nightmare in the forest. In the play, when she awakes from her slumber, she exclaims, â€Å"Help me, Lysander, help me! Do thy best to pluck this crawling serpent from my breast! Ay me, for pity. What a dream was here? ... Methought a serpent ate my heart away, and you sat smiling at his cruel prey (2.2, 151-156).† This line is cut short in the movie, leaving out Hermia’s recounting of her dream, instead she mentions she had a dream andShow MoreRelatedWilliam Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream1339 Words   |  6 PagesHonors For A Midsummer Night s Dream By William Shakespeare 1. Title of the book - The title of the book is called A Midsummer Night s Dream by William Shakespeare. 2. Author s name - The author of the book A Midsummer Night s Dream is William Shakespeare. 3. The year the piece was written - A Midsummer Night s Dream by William Shakespeare was believed to have been written between 1590-1596. 4. Major Characters - There are three major characters in the book A Midsummer Night s Dream by WilliamRead MoreA Midsummer Night s Dream By William Shakespeare1882 Words   |  8 PagesWritten during the Elizabethan era where gender roles played an important part in society and relationships, A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare portrays the interaction between both sexes, and the women’s response to the expectation of such norms. Although the characters: Hippolyta, Hermia, Helena, and Titania, are portrayed as objects (both sexual and material) contingent upon their male lovers, they are also given empowerment. During the Elizabethan Era, and present throughout MNDRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream1474 Words   |  6 Pagesinstance, one could look at the movies A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Shakespeare in Love. The latter follows the life of William Shakespeare himself, everything from his love affair with Viola de Lesseps to his creation of Romeo and Juliet. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, is one of the most famous plays of Shakespeare’s, revolving around the tumultuous relationships of four lovers, aided, and sometimes thwarted by the mischief of fairies. Although Shakespeare in Love outlines a few of the characteristicsRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream1548 Words   |  7 Pagesspoken by Helena in Act 1 Scene 1 line 234, explains that it matters not what the eyes see but what the mind thinks it sees. In the play, A Midsummer Night s Dream, written by William Shakespeare, there are several instances where the act of seeing is being portrayed. The definition of vision is the ability to see, something you imagine or something you dream. This proves that even though one has the ability to see; the mind tends to interfere and sometimes presents a different picture. VariousRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream867 Words   |  4 Pagesspecifically how they will benefit that other person, you’re in love.† In A Midsummer Night s Dream, William Shakespeare intertwined each individual characters. Through the concept of true love and presented to the audiences a twisted yet romantic love story. The love stories of Renaissance are richly colorful, so Shakespeare used multiple literary techniques to present to the readers a vivid image of true love. Shakespeare applied metaphor in the lines of Lysander. In Act 1, scene 1, Lysander saysRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream990 Words   |  4 PagesSymbols in William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream Symbols help to play an important part in giving a deeper meaning to a story. William Shakespeare uses a variety of symbols in his play A Midsummer Night’s Dream and by using these symbols he offers some insight onto why certain events take place in the play. Symbols are sometimes hard to decipher but as the reader continues to read the symbol’s meaning might become more clear. Shakespeare uses a variety of symbols in A Midsummer Night’s DreamRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream1397 Words   |  6 PagesShakespeare’s comedies, like those of most Renaissance playwrights, involve love and its obstacles. Much of the comedy in A Midsummer Night’s Dream derives from the attempt of Lysander and Hermia to remain together while overcoming the adult authority figure who attempts to hinder the love of a young couple. The overcoming of an obstacle functions as a common motif in Renaissance comedy. The audience must wonder, however, whether Lysander and Hermia, as well as Demetrius and Helena, actually loveRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream1207 Words   |  5 PagesWilliam Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream has been categorized as a comedy play because of all the characters being passionately in love to the point of being foolish. It’s a play all about love, and the characters that are in love are only young adults, so they are still naive when it comes to love. Their naivety and foolishness regarding love is what allows them to be taken advantage of by mischievous fairies when they all run away into the woods. By critiquing the love affairs and numerousRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream1277 Words   |  6 Pagestogether. Nor will love ever be a controllable compulsion. Maybe we are fools for going into the perilous, eccentric universe of love; yet what fun would life be without it? William Shakespeare s play A Midsummer Night s Dream investigates the unconventional, unreasonable and unpredictable nature of love during his time. Shakespeare conveys this through the main plot of the play, which is composed of the relationships between three couples. The three couples show examples of three different types ofRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream1442 Words   |  6 Pages William Shakespeare is estimated to have lived from 1564 to about 1616. He is often recognized as great English poet, actor, and playwright, and paved the way for many on all of those categories. Over that span he wrote many pieces that are still relevant today such as Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and Macbeth. I would like to take a deeper look into one on his pieces â€Å"A Midsummers Night’s Dream.† This piece is estimated to have first been preformed in about 1595 and then later published in 1600. Many A Midsummer Night s Dream By William Shakespeare Written during the Elizabethan era where gender roles played an important part in society and relationships, A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare portrays the interaction between both sexes, and the women’s response to the expectation of such norms. Although the characters: Hippolyta, Hermia, Helena, and Titania, are portrayed as objects (both sexual and material) contingent upon their male lovers, they are also given empowerment. During the Elizabethan Era, and present throughout MND, both men and women were expected to act according to the roles set upon them by their society. Men were dominant and superior in society, politics and intellect (Master’s). They often held high positions of authority in both domestic and social†¦show more content†¦He is referring to the war against her people, the Amazons, and taking her as a trophy in honor of his victory. She is now objectified as his possession and must marry the man that slaughtered her people without questioning or going against his wishes, for his authority in both society and law prohibit her to do so. The domineering relationship between subjugate and submission is a governing factor within the comedic realm of Athens. The theme of â€Å"Erotic desire and martial conquest are collapsed into one another in the Duke s language.†(Rieger 73). However, Shakespeare gives her character sly control over her husband when she reinforces tha t Theseus await their marriage celebration (even though he has the authority to change the date of the wedding). Female objectification is not only present in their relationships with a partner but with their parents as well. During Elizabethan Era it was customary for a women’s parents to arrange her marriage with an adequate suitor in order to uphold the family’s riches and social status. As seen in Hermia’s case, her father, Ageus, promises her to Demetrious. However, upon her refusal Egeus brings her before Theseus, duke of Athens, and demands that she comply to his wishes or answer to Athenian law stating that â€Å"†¦she is mine, [and] I may dispose of her,†(I.i.42), she is his possession for he created her and therefore owns her. Although she rejects his commands, Egeus has no regards for his daughter’s decisions because he â€Å"†¦cannot A Midsummer Night s Dream By William Shakespeare Before the birth of William Shakespeare as a playwright, no craftsman could skillfully create a world composed of contradictions so shocking, yet profoundly insightful to the human condition. Shakespeare accomplishes the impossible by bringing many contradictory elements into his play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a comedy on the verge of tragedy. In this play, many of his characters allude to the moon through the use of repetitive metaphors. Shakespeare specifically compares the moon to time as a means to juxtapose various elements of his play: eagerness and reluctance, chastity and fertility, as well as tragedy and comedy. In the opening lines of the play, Theseus, the Duke of Athens, refers to the moon as he awaits his forthcoming wedding: Another moon; but O, methinks, how slow This old moon wanes! She lingers in my desires, Like to a stepdame or dowager Long withering out a young man’s revenue. (MND 1.1.3-6) This metaphorical personification of the moon demonstrates Theseus’ eagerness for his wedding night with Hippolyta, his wife to be. During Shakespeare’s time, the moon often symbolized time, and in this case, it is used as a metaphor for the passage of time. Theseus also compares the moon to an elderly stepmother or widow taking far too long to pass away, preventing him from receiving an inheritance sooner. This creates a very harsh image for the reader, and it demonstrates that Theseus is impatient, opportunistic and aggressive. On the other hand,Show MoreRelatedWilliam Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream1339 Words   |  6 PagesHonors For A Midsummer Night s Dream By William Shakespeare 1. Title of the book - The title of the book is called A Midsummer Night s Dream by William Shakespeare. 2. Author s name - The author of the book A Midsummer Night s Dream is William Shakespeare. 3. The year the piece was written - A Midsummer Night s Dream by William Shakespeare was believed to have been written between 1590-1596. 4. Major Characters - There are three major characters in the book A Midsummer Night s Dream by WilliamRead MoreA Midsummer Night s Dream By William Shakespeare1882 Words   |  8 PagesWritten during the Elizabethan era where gender roles played an important part in society and relationships, A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare portrays the interaction between both sexes, and the women’s response to the expectation of such norms. Although the characters: Hippolyta, Hermia, Helena, and Titania, are portrayed as objects (both sexual and material) contingent upon their male lovers, they are also given empowerment. During the Elizabethan Era, and present throughout MNDRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream1474 Words   |  6 Pagesinstance, one could look at the movies A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Shakespeare in Love. The latter follows the life of William Shakespeare himself, everything from his love affair with Viola de Lesseps to his creation of Romeo and Juliet. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, is one of the most famous plays of Shakespeare’s, revolving around the tumultuous relationships of four lovers, aided, and sometimes thwarted by the mischief of fairies. Although Shakespeare in Love outlines a few of the characteristicsRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream1548 Words   |  7 Pagesspoken by Helena in Act 1 Scene 1 line 234, explains that it matters not what the eyes see but what the mind thinks it sees. In the play, A Midsummer Night s Dream, written by William Shakespeare, there are several instances where the act of seeing is being portrayed. The definition of vision is the ability to see, something you imagine or something you dream. This proves that even though one has the ability to see; the mind tends to interfere and sometimes presents a different picture. VariousRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream867 Words   |  4 Pagesspecifically how they will benefit that other person, you’re in love.† In A Midsummer Night s Dream, William Shakespeare intertwined each individual characters. Through the concept of true love and presented to the audiences a twisted yet romantic love story. The love stories of Renaissance are richly colorful, so Shakespeare used multiple literary techniques to present to the readers a vivid image of true love. Shakespeare applied metaphor in the lines of Lysander. In Act 1, scene 1, Lysander saysRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream990 Words   |  4 PagesSymbols in William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream Symbols help to play an important part in giving a deeper meaning to a story. William Shakespeare uses a variety of symbols in his play A Midsummer Night’s Dream and by using these symbols he offers some insight onto why certain events take place in the play. Symbols are sometimes hard to decipher but as the reader continues to read the symbol’s meaning might become more clear. Shakespeare uses a variety of symbols in A Midsummer Night’s DreamRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream1397 Words   |  6 PagesShakespeare’s comedies, like those of most Renaissance playwrights, involve love and its obstacles. Much of the comedy in A Midsummer Night’s Dream derives from the attempt of Lysander and Hermia to remain together while overcoming the adult authority figure who attempts to hinder the love of a young couple. The overcoming of an obstacle functions as a common motif in Renaissance comedy. The audience must wonder, however, whether Lysander and Hermia, as well as Demetrius and Helena, actually loveRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream1207 Words   |  5 PagesWilliam Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream has been categorized as a comedy play because of all the characters being passionately in love to the point of being foolish. It’s a play all about love, and the characters that are in love are only young adults, so they are still naive when it comes to love. Their naivety and foolishness regarding love is what allows them to be taken advantage of by mischievous fairies when they all run away into the woods. By critiquing the love affairs and numerousRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream1277 Words   |  6 Pagestogether. Nor will love ever be a controllable compulsion. Maybe we are fools for going into the perilous, eccentric universe of love; yet what fun would life be without it? William Shakespeare s play A Midsummer Night s Dream investigates the unconventional, unreasonable and unpredictable nature of love during his time. Shakespeare conveys this through the main plot of the play, which is composed of the relationships between three couples. The three couples show examples of three different types ofRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream1442 Words   |  6 Pages William Shakespeare is estimated to have lived from 1564 to about 1616. He is often recognized as great English poet, actor, and playwright, and paved the way for many on all of those categories. Over that span he wrote many pieces that are still relevant today such as Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and Macbeth. I would like to take a deeper look into one on his pieces â€Å"A Midsummers Night’s Dream.† This piece is estimated to have first been preformed in about 1595 and then later published in 1600. Many A Midsummer Night s Dream By William Shakespeare A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a comedy written by the notorious playwright Shakespeare. This story is filled with illusion and misconception, leaving the characters in a daze. Pertinent to the title of the play is this illusion in which everyone determines to be a dream. In addition to the origin of the dream is the midsummer night when it occurs. Though the story begins and concludes in Theseus’s castle in Athens, it mainly takes place in the woods at night. Hitherto, the story ensues on a midsummer night where the characters are met with a peculiar situation. Though everyone holds a different reason as to why they end up in the woods, their stories become intertwined. The play revolves around deception, but one that provides laughter†¦show more content†¦This juice is applied to be applied to her eyelids when she is sleeping, and the moment she awakes she will fall in love with the first creature she sees. At the same time that this is occurring, their is anot her subplot that has to do with two young women and two young men. Hermia and Lysander are in love, yet Demetrius is in love with Hermia. On the outside of this love triangle is Helena, who is in love with Demetrius. The flower comes into effect again when Oberon tells Goodfellow to put the juice of the flower onto Demetrius’ eyes to make him love Helena. This leads to a misunderstanding where Lysander is given the juice and falls in love with Helena, â€Å"Not Hermia but Helena I love† (II.II. line 120). Then Demetrius is touched by the juice and falls in love with Helena, reversing the love triangle. Furthermore, these subplots tie into the main plot that pertains to the union of Theseus and Hippolyta. In the first scene of Act I, Theseus says, Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour draws on apace† (I.I. line 1-2), further marking the main plot that holds all others. There are six major characters present in this play, with the rest of them being supporting role s. Fairy King Oberon is the protagonist of the story, manipulating each character in order to get what he wants. His main goal is to obtain Titania’s Indian boy, â€Å"I do but beg a little changeling boy, To be my henchman†