A Midsummer Night's Dream - How do events in the play support Lysander's claim that
A Midsummer Night's Dream How do events in the play support Lysander's claim that "the course of true love never did run smooth"? In the following essay I am aiming to show how Lysander's claim that 'the course of true love never did run smooth' is supported by other events in the play. "A Midsummer Night's Dream" was written by William Shakespeare. No one knows the exact date it was written but we know it was between 1589 and 1595. He combines romance with comedy to produce this popular story. When he was writing the play superstition about nature and spirits played an important part in people's lives, therefore Shakespeare included these ideas in his play. It was believed that fairies lived in a kingdom of their own and came into people's houses where they then interfered with the household. The fairies play a major part in the play where we see a particular character trying to help out the couples, but end up making the situation worse. The play is about love and relationships. The different couples never seem to encounter love running smoothly and are or have gone through problems when in love. Shakespeare shows us what love can make you do but at the end we have a traditional 'fairy tale' ending where the audience eventually see the couples re-united and harmony restored. Love is the main theme and is portrayed by Shakespeare as a kind of 'madness'. Nowadays
What difficulties have you experienced in producing a modern version of the play and how have you gone about solving these?
A Midsummer Night's dream Nikki Cooper What difficulties have you experienced in producing a modern version of the play and how have you gone about solving these? A Midsummer Night's dream looks at many themes and issues surrounding love and magic. The play looks into love, relationships, magic and how men and women treat each other. The play starts off with two minor characters in the play that appear at the beginning and at the end, Duke Theseus of Athens and Hippolyta the Queen of the Amazon's discussing their forthcoming wedding. This part of the play creates images of weddings and romances. Recurrent images throughout the play appear here the moon, heaven and fate. There is a romantic tone and the language is also romantic as the Duke says 'she lingers my desires'. The theme is love. Egeus, Hermia's father enters angry with his daughter, and Lysander whom she is in love with. Egeus tries to threaten Hermia into marrying Demetrius. This is whom Egeus would like his daughter to be with, as he believes Demetrius can do no wrong and would care for Hermia unconditionally. Hermia is then given an ultimatum; she either marries Demetrius or dies. The language is full of hatred and 'full of vexation come I'. This gives imagery of fantasies. The theme is of stolen love and fantasy. The tone of the actors is harsh
How does Act V make a good ending to A Midsummer Night's Dream?
4th Year Coursework Essay - A Midsummer Night's Dream Q: How does Act V make a good ending to A Midsummer Night's Dream? A: The final act at first seems completely unnecessary to the overall plot of the play. After all, in Act Four we not only have the lovers intent on getting married, but there has been a happy resolution to the overall conflict. Thus, the immediate question which arises is why Shakespeare felt it necessary to include this act. The answer lies in part with the entrance of all the characters in the final scene (with the exception of Egeus); this acts as a sort of encore to resolve any unanswered questions the audience may have about any of the characters. In Act Five the play is resolved with a typical happy ending with Lysander and Hermia, Demetrius and Helena and Theseus and Hippolyta getting married, contrasting with some of the plays written by Shakespeare earlier and later in his life in which death and sorrow predominate. The lovers have the blessings of both Theseus and the fairies. The only character in the play that could have ruined the happy ending is Egeus as he was unhappy about his daughter Hermia marrying Lysander (see above). Shakespeare may have been trying to make a point by leaving Egeus out, not all happy endings end up with everyone happy. If we think about typical fairytales such as Snow White then we realise that unhappy characters
The final word on the imagination belongs to Theseus
The final word on the imagination, however, belongs to Theseus, who remarks about the confusion that has transpired in the woods to his queen Hippolyta at the start of Act V: More strange than true. I never may believe These antic fables, nor these fairy toys, Lovers and madmen have such seething brains, Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend More than cool reason ever comprehends. The lunatic, the lover, and the poet Are of imagination all compact. (V, i, l.2-7). Lovers, madman, and creative artists share the same force, the inspiration of imagination and its ability to reach into what cool reason cannot grasp. Shakespeare uses rhyme and imagery to recreate fairy world in the theatre and to show how important the use of the imagination is as would have few props. Shakespeare satirises other playwrites. The world of the woods has ended - iambic pentameter - and moves into prose as we return to society. seen as father's property = patriarchal power / society based on repression e.g. Theseus and Hippolyta- captured. Oberon orders Puck to fix the issue by applying the remedy to Lysander's eyes so that he will love Hermia again. Oberon is concerned enough about the situation to bother to fix it, he is still more interested in Titania, whom he will be tormenting while Puck is solving the humans' problems. Theseus, the hero who defeats the Minotaur in the labyrinth
What qualities would you look for in casting the actors playing Helena and Hermia and how would you direct the opening scene of the play to convey their differences to an audience? A Midsummer Night's Dream examines
What qualities would you look for in casting the actors playing Helena and Hermia and how would you direct the opening scene of the play to convey their differences to an audience? A Midsummer Night's Dream examines the theme of love in all its aspects. When Act one scene One opens we are at the court of Duke Theseus and he is swearing his undying love for Hippolyta so at the very start we are introduced to love and its deep emotional impact. The declaration of love between the Ducal pair is shortened by the arrival of Egeus with his disobedient daughter Hermia. The mood immediately changes and we discover that Hermia rather than being filled with filial love is determined to marry Lysander rather than her father's choice for her. And so the love theme is made more complex as we have the wrathful love of her father confronted by the love of her daughter for the man who is not her fathers' choice. The love theme is further complicated by the arrival of Helena. Here we see the platonic love of two friends. Undermined by sexual attraction when we discover that Helena is in love with Demetrius, the suitor that Egeus has chosen for his daughter Hermia to marry. All these complexities of the love theme I will have to reveal both as a director and in the performance of the two young women, Hermia and Helena. Hermias' costume is quite simplistic but very feminine. It is
The Nature of Power in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'.
The Nature of Power in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' The nature of power can be seen in many different forms in the this festive comedy set in patriarchal Athens, which are influenced in relation to the different environments in Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. The different environments bring out complimentary aspects of human nature, as demonstrated when the four lovers, Hermia, Lysander, Helena and Demetrius enter the woods for the reason that Hermia wishes to go against her father, Egeus, and spend the rest of her life with Lysander, whom she loves. The play makes social and historical comment. Theseus' stiff and rigid domain mirrors the image of Elizabethan society in the 17th Century. Love and marriage was a manner of duty; people were married not out of love, but to make social or economic relation between two families. Scene I demonstrates this as it introduces one of the major plot issues of the play. Ordinarily a love triangle like that of Hermia, Lysander, and Demetrius would cause a great deal of trouble just for the sake of love, but it is further complicated by Egeus' insistence that Hermia marry Demetrius, despite her love for Lysander. This conflict highlights a key issue in the amount of control a parent should have over their child. By Athenian law, Egeus has the right to decide whom his daughter will marry, and he is shocked and angered by his
Compare and contrast the writers presentation of love and hate in The End of the Affair, A Midsummer Night's Dream and the poems of Robert Browning
Compare and contrast the writers' presentation of love and hate in The End of the Affair, A Midsummer Night's Dream and the poems of Robert Browning The recurring themes of love and hate are prominent in Graham Greene's The End of the Affair, Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and the poems of Robert Browning, and are in many cases evidently the inspiration for the stories and characters that are created within these texts. In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare explores the contrasting emotions of love and hate by involving such impossibilities as magic and fairies in his tale, primarily as a device to bring out in his characters every feeling that is experienced whilst one is in Love or tormented by Hate, including jealousy, control and despair. It is an analysis, rather than just a story, of love and hate. The poems of Robert Browning - namely The Laboratory, My Last Duchess and The Light Woman - on the other hand, present scenarios in which the contrast of love and hate is present. These poems are not so much an analysis of love and hate as they are a presentation of the effect that these emotions can have on an individual. The End of the Affair is a comparatively more comprehensive examination of the effects of love on a man, and how love is able to create jealousy and insecurity, which can potentially transform into hate, obsession and a lust for control. This
How Language is used to convey comedy in the play of "Pyramus and Thisbe" as performed by the workers in Act 5 scene 1
How Language is used to convey comedy in the play of "Pyramus and Thisbe" as performed by the workers in Act 5 scene 1 The Background of Shakespeare William Shakespeare was a playwright and actor who was born in the 16th century. His profession was an actor and a playwright. He wrote plays to be performed on stage by actors like himself. He often used storylines which were already in existence like Pyramus and Thisbe. This was a story which originated in ancient Rome. All his storylines followed a similar pattern; this was that they all consisted of tragedy, history or comedy. He also wrote poems but was not as well known for this as for the plays he wrote. Background of A Midsummer Nights Dream A Midsummer Nights Dream was composed in 1595-1596. Many people believe this piece was written to be performed at weddings and cheerful celebrations. This same story line was later used to write Romeo and Juliet. The main plot of A Midsummer nights dream is complex which has many subplots. It involves two sets of couples named "Hermia and Lysander" and "Helena and Demetrius" it also involves the king and queen of the fairies "Oberon and Titania" the other set of characters are "the workers." The workers try to perform Pyramus and Thisbe to Theseus and Hippolyta and the young lovers since they have just got married and want something light and cheerful before bed. Pyramus and
What makes "A Midsummer Night's Dream" an Elizabethan comedy?
What makes "A Midsummer Night's Dream" an Elizabethan comedy? William Shakespeare wrote "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in 1595. The play written right before "A Midsummer Night's Dream" was "Romeo and Juliet", which also emphasized on romantic love and the complications it can cause. However, while "Romeo and Juliet" was written as a tragedy, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" develops to become a romantic comedy. The first scene presents evidence of a tragic story rather than a comedy. Hermia, in love with Lysander, is refusing to marry the man of her father's choice, Demetrius. Egeus, father of Hermia, is enraged by such disposition. "As she is mine, I may dispose of her : Which shall be either to this gentleman, Or to her death, according to our law." Egeus wants the law of Athens to be put into function; he wants Hermia to be put to death rather than marry against his wishes. This opening is effective in marking the play as an Elizabethan comedy. There has been order in the beginning with Theseus and Hippolyta talking of their marriage, but this is slowly beginning to tilt towards disorder and unhappiness. Owing to Egeus's anger and orthodoxy, the lovers elope into the woods, bringing us into the second phase of the play, the initiation of chaos. Hermia fleeing to the forest with Lysander has Helena feeling yet more subdued about Demetrius' hatred for her. Helena marks the
A Midsummer Night's Dream is an exploration of thematic opposites such as day/night, love/freedom and so on. What potential is there in this to examine the darker undertones of the comedy?
A Midsummer Night's Dream is an exploration of thematic opposites such as day/night, love/freedom and so on. What potential is there in this to examine the darker undertones of the comedy? Refer to imagery, language, character and plot as well as a range of productions and critics. Although there is a sinister, tragic potential it is important to remember that Shakespeare wrote A Midsummer Night's Dream as a comedy. If the darker themes gain emphasis, a production could be a successful black comedy. 1 A good example of this is the stage design of Michael Pavelka. Reviewer, Alan Bird describes Pavelka's work: 'Empty white chairs are suspended around the stage creating a multi-layered universe. Titania and Oberon are seated on high thrones, veiled from view until they choose to intervene, instantly telling you that it is they who ultimately govern the proceedings' The symbolism of this blurs what is real or not real, natural or supernatural. This consequently blurs the thematic opposites of the forest and Athens. Alan Bird observes that Oberon and Titania 'ultimately govern the proceedings'. Theseus and Hippolyta are the most evident figures of authority, but their influence in the forest is minimal. Oberon and Titania are the most powerful characters and often Oberon (also Puck) abuses their power for 'their own' amusement (more realistically for ours). The most obvious
