“Thou, thou, Lysander, thou hast given her rhymes
And interchanged love-tokens with my child”
Demetruis’s name on the other hand, sounds strong and very manly. All of the lovers names, although not real Greek names, sound Greek to remind the audience where it is set. All the Mechanicals names sound English and very plain to show that they are the common characters. Their profession is used as part of their name to let the audience again know that are the common people with jobs.
At the beginning of Act 1 Theseus and Hippolyta are speaking in blank verse this is to let the audience know straight away that they are important people in society. Prose also sounds more romantic. From when Egeus interrupts at line 20 they are all again speaking in blank verse. This again shows that all the newly introduced characters are also important. Blank verse is spoken until Helena enters at line 180, then it changes to rhyming verse
“God speed fair Helena, whither away?
Call you me fair? That fair again unsay.”
This is to show the closeness of Helena’s and Hermia’s relationship. Also this shows that the scene is coming to an end so the audience known that the next scene takes place somewhere else. In scene 2 all the mechanicals speak in prose this is to show that they are the common characters, they speak all the way through this scene. In the beginning of act 2 scene 1 when Puck and the fairy meet Puck speaks in rhyming verse. When the fairy says her first speech she speaks in alternate rhyme but when she is having almost a conversation with Puck she then speaks in rhyming verse as well. When Titania and Oberon enter it would be expected for them to speak in rhyming couplets to show their closeness. Instead they speak in blank verse to show that they are angry with each other. Once Titania has left Puck and Oberon again speak to each other in blank verse. Demetrius and Helena enter speaking blank verse to show their importance but it is blank verse to show that they are not close. At the end of the scene Oberon speaks in rhyming couplets to again let the audience know that the scene is coming to an end.
The beginning of scene 1 is about Theseus and Hippolyta discussing their upcoming wedding. Theseus wants the day to come quicker
“Another moon. But, o, methinks how slow
This old moon wanes, she lingers my desires,”
The main part of act 1 is about the Hermia, Lysander and Demetrius love triangle. Egeus wants Hermia to marry Demetrius but Hermia wants to marry Lysander. Egeus is prepared to have his daughter killed if she does not do what he wants. Near the end of the scene you hear Lysander and Hermia talking and realise that they really love each other, you then hear how they plan to run away.
“There, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee;
And to that place the sharp Athenian Law
Cannot pursue us”
This again shows that their love for each other is strong. Helena is infatuated with Demetrius so when Hermia tells of her and Lysander’s plan to run away. Helena tells Demetrius hoping that he will thank her
“If I have thanks, it is a dear expense”
Showing that her infatuation with Demetrius is stronger than her friendship with Hermia. Scene 2 is all about the mechanicals rehearsing for the play which they are going to perform on the wedding day. In the beginning of act 2 scene 1 we learn all about Puck and how he is a mischievous sprite and very proud of it
“When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile,
Neighing in likeness of a filly foal;”
Lines 60-145 are all about Titania’s and Oberon’s arguments about a little changeling boy and how it affecting the rest of the world. From line 146 it is about Oberon plotting his revenge on Titania. He knows of a flower that when put in person’s eye will make that person fall in love with the first living thing they see. He sends Puck off to fetch this flower. While Puck is gone he’s sees Demetrius ignoring Helena, he feels sorry for Helena and tells Puck to put the juice in Demetruis’s eyes. He tells Puck that
“.Thou shalt know the man
By the Athenian garments he hath on.”
This has repercussions later in the play.
‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ is comedy but the first scene is quite a tragic. It shows that not only does a father want her daughter killed or for her to marry a man she doesn’t love but the daughter is willing to die. None of this is comical. The obvious humour in this play comes from the mechanicals which appear in act 2. This has the mechanicals trying to appear clever by calling their play “The most lamentable comedy, and most cruel death of Pyramus and Thisby”. Lamentable means woeful or sad and the thought that you could have a woeful or sad comedy is funny. The next piece of humour comes when Quince is giving out the parts and asks flute to play Thisby, and Flute says “Nay faith, let not me play a women, I have a beard coming” this is funny because Flutes part would have been played by a young boy, there would be no chance of a beard. More comedy comes when after giving out each part Bottom explains how he could play each part better than the rest “let me play the lion too”. It is also funny when Snug is told he is playing the part of the lion he asks for the lions part to be written down as he is a slow of study. This is funny because a lion only roars and does not speak. The mechanicals also use vulgar prose this would appeal to the less educated people at the front. Act 2 scene 1 is comical when Puck is explaining all the tricks he has played on the village people, but the scene soon turns tragic when Oberon and Titania discuss all the discord they have caused in the world. Ironic comedy is set up at the end of this scene. The audience know that there are two men in Athenian garments in the wood that night with a women but Puck does not.
As there was a major lack of scenery in Shakespeare time he had to let the audience know the setting by using imagery. Theseus and Hippolyta let the audience know it is night time at the very beginning of the play. They regularly refer to the moon
“And then the moon, like to a silver bow”
At the beginning of act 2 a whole speech by the fairy is dedicated to imagery
“Over hill, over dale
Thorough bush, thorough brier
Over park, over pale
Thorough flood, thorough fire;”
This is to describe to the audience the woodland. Titania and Oberon make many references to nature to perhaps show their strong connections with it. At the end of act 2 scene 1 Oberon describes where Titania sleeps so the audience can again imagine it even though they can not see it.
“Quite over- canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine.
There sleeps Titania sometime of the night”
In the first three scenes of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ Shakespeare differentiates between the characters by the names they have, whether they speak in poetry or prose what they talk about in each scene and whether what they discuss is light and jovial or tragic and important.
