A Midsummer Night's Dream - William Shakespeare > Reviews > A Midsummer Nights Dream ~*~

Author's product rating:   

Would you read it again?	Yes
Story	Good
Characters	Outstanding
Readability	Fairly tough

Advantages:	Very Funny and Entertaining
Disadvantages:	Confusing at times

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

“…the most insipid and ridiculous play that I ever saw in my life.”
Samuel Pepys (1662)

Is this comment about ‘A Midsummer Nights Dream’ an accurate judgement on the reaction of the audience to the play, or do you believe its themes and characters are relevant and important?

The play ‘A Midsummer Nights Dream’ involves four lovers running into the woods to escape an overpowering father and the duke of Athens. It also features a group of men named “the mechanicals” who are constructing a play named “Pyramus and Thisbe” which will be performed at the wedding of the duke of Athens’s, Theseus and his bride, Hippolyta, once Queen of the Amazons. All of these events are followed by the fairies, in the mysterious woods outside Athens.

The play ‘A Midsummer Nights Dream’ uses three main interweaving plots to keep the audiences attention and deliver the themes of the novel. For instance the theme of love is very prominent in this play. The play often gives a ‘dream’ like effect frequently leaving the audience thinking “why” or “how” which may be seen as flavourless or silly, as it gives no definite answers to questions of love and disguise. Alternatively, it could be seen as a commentary of the nature of love, in Shakespeare’s time and today.

This play leaves outs answers for instance when the lovers return from the words and no explanation is even asked, they just carry on their lives. For example the explanation Demitrius gives is seen in the words “That we are awake? It seems to me that yet we sleep, we dream, do you not think. It would be argued that this does not satisfy the audience’s hunger for an explanation making it arguably ridiculous. The fact mythical creatures exist such as a man with an ass’s head and fairies adds to the insipid nature of the play. The play frequently mentions fairies and fairies often have lines of speech for example “Not for thy fairy kingdom, fairies away” spoken by Titania, queen of the fairies.

However, it is possible to see serious and even threatening elements to the play, making it far from insipid and ridiculous. Theseus’s uses dramatic and sometimes threatening use of language, for example “Either to die the death, or to adjure for ever the society of men.” This is threatening Hermia not to follow her heart but instead to follow her fathers desire to marry Demetrius rather than Lysander and if she chooses not to she will either be killed or become a nun. This harsh and threatening language makes the play exciting and reveals how women were regarded as possessions and inferior to men. Equally Pucks speedy rhyming language makes the play exciting. For example “Thou speakest aright, I am the merry wanderer of the night, I jest to Oberon and make him smile”. The contrast of these two different styles brings the play to life and helps the audience establish what character traits lie in each character. This gives added flavour making the play less insipid.

Another way Shakespeare makes his play not insipid is how he conveys women’s power. Queen Elizabeth on the throne could be a reflection of that strong nature. However a man overrules each woman in the play. While Hermia is strong and defiant, this is seen in the words, “In the same place thou hast appointed me tomorrow truly I will meet thee,” spoken to Lysander telling him he will run away with him if his father does not allow her to marry Lysander. The ultimate power, however still lies with Theseus, the strong overbearing duke of Athens, who in the end decides to let Hermia marry Lysander. And while Titanya is Queen of the fairies, Oberon is king and when the two conflict over a small Indian child that Oberon wishes Titanya to give up in the end Oberon gets his own way and Titanya gives up the child, with Oberon humiliating her, for instance putting love juice on her eyes which makes her fall in love with the next living thing she sees, which happens to be a man with an ass’s head.

The mechanicals, a group of actors preparing a play for the marriage of Theseus and Hippolita, are arguably the most ridiculous characters in the play, however they are far from insipid and engage the audience’s attention throughout Shakespeare’s plays on the idea of their play inside a play. Their preparation of the play proves is clever and exciting. Without the mechanicals the play would have had considerably less appeal. Their performance at the marriages in Act V reminds us this is a comedy, although their subject matter of ‘Pyramus and Thisbe’ reinforces the tragic potential of this play.

Comedy, which essentially carries the play, is added to the play through the use of Bottom’s oxymorons. For example he talks of Pyramus and Thisbe as “Merry And Tragical,” and “Tedious and brief.” He also adds bombastic language to the play not entirely successfully used. This is seen in the words “The raging rocks and shivering shocks shall break the locks of the prison gates.” Bottoms idiocy delivers yet another layer of ridiculous yet successful comedy, and shows Shakespeare’s skill with language.

At the time of the play the plague was rife and society could be. Comedy can easily be seen as escapism from the cruel world. Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Nights Dream’ delivers messages about the dangerous power of love, the power of women, the power of doing what you believe in, not what others tell you to do, no matter your sex, race or background. These messages are conveyed extremely effectively through Hermia’s disobedience to Egeus, her father. The play starts off with a hint of tragedy, which casts a dark shadow through its course.

Pepy’s criticism of the ‘insipid’ and ridiculous side of the play is conveyed through unanswered storylines but the fact is, ‘A Midsummer Nights Dream’ is a comedy. Its purpose is to make people laugh, and sometimes to think. Ridiculous plots and unanswered storylines both make the audience laugh and think. When ridiculousness is used in a comedy it often gives the play power and I feel this happens very strongly in the play. This turns Samuel Peppys’s quote into somewhat of an oxymoron describing something as flavourless yet full of ridiculous humour.

However, it is undeniable that the plays’ ending is far from satisfactory. Demetrius, who is still under the fairies love spell marries Helena, who is truly in love with him. But a fairy spell cannot be strong enough to hold off true feels forever, as Demetrius hated Helena. This is seen in the words “I am sick when I look on thee.” In many ways this could be seen as a tragic ending, and echoes the tragic nature of plays like ‘Romeo and Juliet’, which Shakespeare wrote around the time.

However the play is never without threat, whether it comes from Theseus language or even the non-tragic plots. For example Hermia’s pursuit of love leaders her into the forest and away from her best friend without a second thought.

At the end of the play, Puck apologises. He speaks the words “If we shadows have offended, think but this, and all is mended. That you have but slumber’d here, while these visions did appear; and this weak and idle theme, no more yielding than a dream.” Then he ends with “Give me your hands, if we be friends, and Robin shall restore amends.” This apology seems to be completely genuine, and an apology not for Pyramus and Thisbe but for A Midsummer Nights Dream. He seems to be genuinely apologetic and is possibly asking for forgiveness because of the insipid and ridiculous nature of the play. However this self-conscious theatre challenges and engages the audience, making it clear that our response to such a play is an intensely personal experience.

This book is hilarious, if you apreciete shakespeares sense of humour. I definatly recomend it.

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