“Reason becomes the marshal to my will”
“Reason says you are the worthier maid”
Even later on in the play Titania falls in love with Bottom.
He besots her, which is absurd because he is merely an ass! As Bottom sings, she even compares his voice to that of an angel!
“What angel wakes me”
This is ridiculous because he is an ass, far from an angel.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is set in two different places, Athens and the woods.
Athens symbolises a world of sanity, reality and daylight. Whereas the woods symbolise fairyland, illusion, magic, mystery, and a place of darkness. This is the time where illusions happen, because dreams belong to the night.
Shakespeare makes sure that the contrast between the two worlds is clear by using an illusion of night and darkness when we are in fairyland.
“Behold the light”
“Lightning in the collied night”
“Moon shine that night”
In Act 2, Scene 1 Demetrius says
“Wood with in this wood”
By this he meant - insane, while actually in the woods. The woods are full of crazy activities, and this reinforces the setting. Shakespeare worded this cleverly, knowing that the Elizabethans were fond of puns.
In the woods, the two worlds collide. The events in the world of illusion seem to have a dramatic impact on the real world. When Titania and Oberon argue, the real world also gets mixed up. This shows the power that the fairies have over the humans. When things go wrong in the fairy world, things aren’t right in the real world.
“Contagious fogs”
“Angry winter change”
This tells us that the seasons are muddled up, and that things have changed. The fairies are not real, so they have the ability the spy on the humans, and the Artisans play.
Dreams and illusions often reveal truth, and reality. This is shown in Hermia’s dream, Act 2, Scene 2.
“Methought a serpent ate my heart”
Hermia dreamt that a serpent ate her heart, the serpent represents Lysander, and she had a premonition.
Bottom’s transformation into an ass was quite ironic. This is because Bottom actually acted like an ass/fool previously. And then he actually was one! He was egotistical and thought he was a brilliant actor, when in fact. He could hardly act at all!
“Let me play Thisbe too”
“Let me play the lion too”
He thinks he can handle more than one part - absurd!
“To make an ass of me”
This is ironic because he already is an ass.
What is also ironic is that Bottom speaks more sense when he is an ass than when he wasn’t one.
“Reason and love keep little company together”
By this he means that love has no reason, and that love often robs people of their senses. This is humorous, because once he has transformed into an ass, he is the only one speaking sense, and what he says is exactly true to A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Bottom comments on his experience in the wood.
“It hath no Bottom”
By saying this he means that it made no sense, which is ironic, because the whole play makes no sense. Bottom thinks his experience was a dream, and will not believe that it actually happened.
Bottom and the Artisans find it difficult to grasp the difference between appearance and reality. They are constantly using ridiculous things to make up for props that they do not have. The Artisans realise that they have no wall, so Bottom says that they can dress up one of them as a wall.
“Some man or other must present wall”
Quince also points out that they need ‘moonshine’, because Pyramus and Thisbe meet by moonlight. His solution is to dress a man up and give him a lantern to hold.
“With a bush of thorns and a lantern”
Bottom also steps out of character when he dies.
“Now die die die die die”
He says this as he is dying. The scene is exaggerated, and completely ridiculous.
The Artisans use of language consists of overdone alliteration and grossly exaggerated lines. Bottom describes the moon as
“Gracious, golden, glittering gleams”
This is overuse of alliteration, and sounds ridiculous. It spoils the dramatic image of the scene.
During another dramatic scene of the Artisans play, Bottom says
“O dainty duck”
This spoils the mood of the play at that moment because it just sounds silly.
Throughout the play, the lovers mock the Artisans, saying that what they are doing is ridiculous. This is ironic because not that long ago, they were in exactly the same situation.
The double illusion of A Midsummer Night’s Dream creates an obvious contrast between the two plays. The Artisans’ play is a play within a play, and in order to realise this we have to suspend reality. A Midsummer Night’s Dream creates illusion, whereas the Artisans play fails to create illusion.
Shakespeare’s use of language is very important to A Midsummer Night’s Dream because in Elizabethan times props were scarce. So elaborate language and description was vital to give people a sense of illusion.
At the beginning of Act 2, the fairies speak in rhymed verse.
“Over hill, over dale
Through bush, through briar
Over park, over pale
Through flood, through fire”
These fast and light verses give us a sense of what the fairies really are, which is fast and light.
There is a contrast to the Artisans in use of language because they speak in prose. They speak commonly, non-poetically, and in normal sentences.
“You were best to call them generally, man by man, according to the script”
The contrast clearly shows the differences between the fairies and the Artisans. The fairies are magical, and the Artisans are normal, just like their use of language.
Oberon’s chant is an important part of the language used in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It consists of seven lines, and in each line, seven syllables. This effect seems magical because in Elizabethan times the number seven was seen as magic. Oberon’s chant rhymes and sounds like a spell when it is read out loud.
“In thy eye that shall appear,
When though wak’st, it s thy dear”
Pucks rhyming couplets also give a similar effect.
“So, awake when I am gone;
For I must now to Oberon”
The rhyming couplets emphasise Pucks mischievous ways and distance him from the mortals.
Shakespeare’s use of rich vocabulary makes up for the lack of scenery,
“Those be rubies, fairy favours”
This elaborate description gives us a sense of the magical fairy world, a sense of fairyland.
Shakespeare conveys the scale of fairyland by commenting on the size of the fairies, saying they are smaller than cowslips.
“Tall cowslips”
This shows that the fairies are small and dainty.
Oberon describes a simple garden pansy, and gives the illusion that it is a magical, beautiful flower.
“Before, milk-white; now purple with love’s wound”
His elaborate use of language turns the pansy into something more beautiful that it is.
Lysander and Demetrius use wild and exaggerated language when they confess their love for Helena
“O Helen, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine!”
This makes Demetrius sound false/insincere.
“Fair Helena - who more engilds the night”
Lysander is saying that Helena is the light of his life. His language is dramatic, to go with the scene.
Later on in the play their language changes because the love juice has worn off, and they are no longer under the influence of the love juice. Their language is no longer as dramatic and overdone.
Demetrius says:
“These things seem small and indistinguishable,
Like far-off mountains turned into clouds”
By this he means that the mountains are reality, and the clouds are illusion, and they meet half way, getting muddled up. A lot like A Midsummer Night’s Dream in whole.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is only tragic in appearance because it is too comical to be taken seriously. We do not worry about it because we know that the conflicts will be resolved in the end.
Helena believes that the others are having a “sweet jest” against her in “sport”, and Puck enjoys watching the “sport” of the “fond pageant”. The word sport suggests that it is all a game, and that it cannot be taken seriously.
The audience is not threatened by A Midsummer Night’s Dream because it knows it is just a bit of fun. This enables the audience to enjoy the confusion and misunderstandings.
Pucks role at the end of the play is to explain to the audience about the play. He says that if you find A Midsummer Night’s Dream complicated, then treat it as a dream. Puck also has to break the illusion of the play.
“Give me your hands if we be friends”
This means to clap for them, and by doing this the illusion, and reality of the play will be broken, and everyone will return to the real world.