Oberon is a very powerful character, more so, even, than Titania. He shows his authority over his wife by applying the love juice to her eyes. This is very typical of the time when the play was written as husbands in Elizabethan times always had a very strong influence over their wives.
The Forest is a very mysterious and magical place. There is also contrast inside the mortal and immortal worlds themselves. Bottom the Weaver, for example, is a working class Athenian who speaks in coarse, rambling prose. The nobles tend to speak in romantic verse, showing their better education and stature.
In the immortal world Titania is a very elegant character with a poetic outlook. She speaks in verse and refers a lot to nature. Puck, Oberon's servant, is very mischievous and more than a little sinister. He speaks in verse but conjures up completely different images of trouble, tricks and sometimes death.
"Troop home to the churchyards. Damned spirits all,
That in crossways and floods have burial,
Already to their wormy beds have gone." (Act 3, scene 2, lines 382-384)
I decided to focus on Act 3, scene 1. Here, the Mechanicals gather in the wood to rehearse their play. Puck gives Bottom an ass' head and the others flee in alarm. Titania wakes up, sees Bottom and falls instantly in love.
The love of Titania and Bottom is full of contrast between the two worlds, mortal and immortal. The language they use shows this. Bottom uses simple, rambling prose:
"That same cowardly, giant-like ox-beef hath devoured many a gentleman in your house. I promise you, your kindred hath made my eyes water ere now." (Lines 169-172)
An exception is when he sings a song, but even then he sings about familiar, homely birds.
"The finch, the sparrow, and the lark,
The plainsong cuckoo grey…" (Lines 108-109)
The short, rhyming verse make it seem unsophisticated. This is in direct contrast to Titania who speaks in smooth, rhyming verse and iambic pentameter.
"Out of this wood do not desire to go:
Thou shalt remain here, whether wilt or no.
I am a spirit of no common rate;
The summer still doth tend upon my state." (Lines 126-129)
Also, she refers to exotic fruit and delicacies.
"Feed him with apricocks and dewberries,
With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries;
The honey-bags steal from the humble-bees…" (Lines 144-146)
When the actor who plays Bottom sings the song in lines 103-111 he should sing it in a raucous, braying voice that reflects the humour of him having an ass' head without realising. As a costume I do not think Bottom should have a prop for an ass' head. He should have additional facial hair and large, furry ears. I think they presented Bottom very well in the film production. Similarly, I would have Bottom wear a cream-coloured suit as it showed him apart from the grey-suited Mechanicals.
The actress who plays Titania should deliver her lines mellifluously, emphasising the contrast with Bottom's harsh voice. Titania's costume should be very natural - not as glitzy as the dress she wore in the film. A dress made completely out of autumn leaves would reflect how close she is with nature. Her hair would fall in long waves down to her waist with red roses wound in, conveying her romantic outlook. Whenever the camera is on her the shot should be a little blurred. That and her shimmery make-up would make her look like an ethereal creature beyond the boundaries of mortal concerns, in direct contrast to Hippolyta.
The sense of scale in this scene also highlights the difference between the mortal and immortal worlds. Titania tells her fairies:
"Hop in his walks and gambol in his eyes…" (Line 143)
This line tells us that the fairies must be very tiny if they could "gambol" in Bottom's eyes.
"And they shall fetch thee jewels from the deep…" (Line 132)
"From the deep" suggests that the fairies could travel great distances over a short space of time, unlike the mortal Bottom of whom Titania says:
"And I will purge thy mortal grossness so…" (Line 134)
Early on in Act 3, scene 1 Puck watches the Mechanicals practice their play unnoticed. For this to be obvious to the audience I would sit Puck on an over-hanging tree branch, just visible to the audience through the foliage. In the film Puck was portrayed very well. I would also dress him in trousers covered with leaves and ivy, reflecting his relationship with nature. It would almost be as if the leaves were part of him.
Puck sometimes speaks in blank verse.
"What hempen homespuns have we swaggering here
So near the cradle of the Fairy Queen?
What, a play toward? I'll be an auditor,
An actor too perhaps, if I see cause." (Lines 60-63)
The "hempen homespuns" alliteration refers to the Mechanicals being dressed in rough, homemade clothes that largely differ to the immortal world's clothing. Puck is also looking down on them, perhaps the only characters he can feel securely superior to.
"Lord, what fools these mortals be!" (Act 3, scene 2, line 115)
Here, he expresses his feelings towards bumbling mortal beings. However, most of the time Puck speaks in rhyming verse.
"I'll follow you: I'll lead you about a round,
Through bog, through bush, through brake, through briar;
Sometime a horse I'll be, sometime a hound,
A hog, a headless bear, sometime a fire…" (Lines 88-91)
Again, he uses alliteration that is not poetic, flowing verse like Titania, but still shows off his status compared to the mortal beings like the Athenian workmen. It sounds like a magical chant or spell. The actor playing Puck should deliver these lines excitedly, even a little maniacally, finishing with a cackle. They are showing Puck's dangerously mischievous character.
The Mechanicals (dressed in rough, homemade clothes) speak in prose, which reflects their lower class, poorly educated, mortal lives. This is in direct contrast to Puck who is of higher status, wiser and an immortal being.
In conclusion, the mortal world differs greatly to the immortal world. The mortal world and characters reflect duty, law and order, while, in direct contrast, the immortal world and characters reflect dreams, mystery, disorder and magic. I chose four characters to convey this idea - Titania, Bottom, Puck and the Mechanicals (constituting as a single collective character because of the way they seem to work as a team). The 1999 film production of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' conveyed the contrast very well and established a very prominent distinction between the immortal and mortal worlds.