A Midsummer Night's Dream. The play is mainly about the madness, lawlessness and laughableness of love. Discuss.
The play is mainly about the madness, lawlessness and laughableness of love. Discuss. A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare shows many different kinds of love. However, despite the mature and rational love of Theseus and Hippolyta , the more frantic, passionate and unstable love of the young people ultimately reflects the madness, lawlessness and laughableness of love in the play. Madness of love is the theme that ties together various sections of the play, from Demetrius' transfer of affection from Helena to Hermia and then back to Helena, to Titania's temporary love for Bottom. It is this madness that often cause the lovers to seem lack of senses and judgment. Love is a kind of madness, in which the victim may be intellectually aware of his illusion but is unable to resist it. Love in the play has no basis of reality. Though they are entirely devoid of judgment, the victims of love are ironically under the delusion that their choice is full of reason. The parental love Egeus has for Hermia seems to consist madness too. His strong sense of patriarchy overrules his love for Hermia, so much so that he 'beg the ancient privilege of Athens. As she is mine, I may dispose of her Which shall be either to this gentleman Or to her death'. It seems ridiculous and unbelievable that a father would rather let his daughter die than allow her to marry the man she loves. Indeed,
How does Shakespeare establish complications in relationships in Act 1 Scene 1 of a Midsummer Nights Dream through language, theme and character?
A Midsummer Nights Dream How does Shakespeare establish complications in relationships in Act 1 Scene 1 of a "Midsummer Nights Dream" through language, theme and character? A Midsummer Nights Dream is a play by William Shakespeare. It is one of his greatest plays that he has written. It is a love comedy about four main characters who are Hermia, Helena, Lysander and Demetrius. Who are all struggling to work their way through their relationships. It is about the different emotions when in love and some parts of the play are about obedience and expectations. In this play Shakespeare also makes us think that when we are in love do we take harsh and wrong decisions or do we think and take the right decisions. Shakespeare also makes us think about the way we behave and act when we are in love. The play is set in two worlds one is Athens where the humans live and represents order and the rules of the Duke Theseus who rules it. The Duke is a wise, powerful and popular man who's getting married to Hippolyta. She used to be the strong and powerful Queen of the amazons. Every man feared her until she became won over by the Dukes love. The other world in the play is the forest also known as the woods this is where the fairies live it represents chaos, mystery and magic. The word `wood` in Shakespeare's time also meant mad. Just like how the fairies are shown in the woods as a load of
How does Shakespeare make Act III scene I of A Midsummer Night(TM)s Dream dramatically effective?
How does Shakespeare make Act III scene I of A Midsummer Night's Dream dramatically effective? Introduction This scene is very important to the play as it is the point at which the two completely separate groups (the mortals and the fairies) are brought together. Before they had nothing to do with each other and were unaware of each others existence. This turns out to be a huge mistake that they come together, everything is turned upside down, mainly thanks to Puck. After this scene, everything is different: the groups have come together and the characters' situations change. The Actors Rehearse The play is not going as well as the actors thought it would. Quince seems to be in charge and directing the play but Bottom is not happy with this at all. He wants to direct himself. He butts in and wants to play every part 'let it be written in eight and eight' and he is not content with the way Quince is doing things so makes it as hard as he can for him. In Shakespeare's time the theatre was very different to nowadays. The stage was bare and they used very little scenery, with all performances taking place in the afternoon and in open air. This meant that the audience had to use their minds and imagine everything. The effectiveness of the whole play had to be portrayed through the language and the acting which was a lot harder than today as we have scenery, props and music
Response to Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Nights Dream’
The Kingstone School (36101) GCSE English/English Literature Response to Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Nights Dream' In Shakespearean times, the late 1500's, the belief of magic and mystical going-ons was thought to be reality. In Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' Shakespeare plays upon the audiences power of mind as he intertwines love and the surreal fairy world with comedy. These are the main themes in the play and Shakespeare tries to show just how powerful both love and imagination can be. In this play Shakespeare uses three groups of characters to try and illustrate the power of true love and illusion. These three groups of characters are the lovers, the fairies and the mechanicals. The lovers illustrate the power of true love, the fairies represent the theme of illusion and the mechanicals shows the audience the power of dreaming which is presented in a comical fashion by Shakespeare through these characters. Shakespeare tries to make this play run like a dream and therefore reality and illusion soon become one in the minds of the audience. As I mentioned earlier most of the characters in this play can be placed into three groups either the lovers, the fairies or the mechanicals. The lovers consist of four characters, Helena, Hermia, Lysander and Demetrius all of which are trapped inside a love circle. They are the first group of characters that Shakespeare
Key Qualities of Youth in a Midsummer Night's Dream
Key Qualities of Youth in A Midsummer Night's Dream The key qualities of youth differ on the time of age they are in because children of different ages behave in different ways. However, in Shakespeare's play, A Midsummer Night's Dream, the youth are shown to only care about their personal lives, which usually have a positive or negative effect in every situation they are in. The youth's most evident characteristics are honesty and recklessness. An analysis of Lysander, Hermia, Helena and Demetrius' actions displays the fact that they always tell the truth, but tend to go over the line of wisdom, with an indifference to the rules. Youth is a term that refers to adolescents. Adolescents are children or teenagers who have not reached full maturity. Honesty is a quality or trait which means to be truthful, frank and sincere. Recklessness, on the other hand, involves being daring, hasty and thoughtless. To be reckless means to be unconcerned about the consequences of any action. One of the key qualities of youth is honesty because the youth in A Midsummer Night's Dream never lie, and are often straight to the point with a disregard of other people's feelings. An example of Lysander being honest occurs when he is under the flower's spell, in the woods, and bluntly tells Hermia that he is in love with Helena with an indifference to Hermia's feelings. Ay, by my life; And never
To what extent is the mechanicals’ performance of Pyramus and Thisby a success?
Cerys Speakman, 10K To what extent is the mechanicals' performance of Pyramus and Thisby a success? 'A Midsummer Nights Dream' is a play about love, magic and comedy. At the start of the play, there are four days until the Duke Theseus and his lady Hippolyta get married. At the court, there are four young people; Hermia, Demetrius, Helena and Lysander. Hermia and Lysander love each other, Demetrius loves Hermia, and Helena loves Demetrius. Titania and Oberon are the King and Queen of the fairies. Oberon decides to play a trick on Titania because they are having an argument over a slave boy. Oberon gets his trusty slave Puck to use a "Love in Idleness" flower to make Demetrius love Helena. Puck gets confused and mixes up the people. Oberon uses the "Love in Idleness" flower on Titania, hoping that she will fall in love with something monstrous. When she wakes up she sees Bottom, who Puck had mischievously given an Asses head. She falls in love with Bottom. Oberon tells Puck to correct his mistakes, but he doesn't quite get it right. Now, Hermia loves Lysander who loves Helena. Demetrius also loves Helena. Helena doesn't love anyone and isn't happy because she feels that everyone is making a mockery of her. Oberon uses the love flower to make Titania love him again. Puck sorts out the mess and makes it so that Hermia and Lysander love each other and Demetrius and Helena
How does Shakespeare introduce the play's key themes of love, comedy and magic in A Midsummer Night's Dream?
A Midsummer Night's Dream How does Shakespeare introduce the play's key themes of love, comedy and magic? Section 1: Love In Act 1 scene 1, Shakespeare introduces the theme of love through his characters and the situations that he points them in. Scene 1 deals with many different types of love, including true love, unrequited and jealous love, royal love and false love. These different types of love are shown through the characterisation and the words they say. The characters who represent true love are Hermia and Lysander. Lysander tells Egeus that "I am belov'd of beauteous Hermia", even though he knows that Egeus wants his daughter to marry Demetrius. In these words he is open about his emotions for her. His first words to Hermia in the play are "How now my love? Why is your cheek so pale? How chance the roses there do fade so fast?" He uses the actual words "my love", and speaks to her gently, like he cares for her, noticing how she looks and how she has changed and worrying about her. Later he calls her "gentle Hermia" and tells her he has plans for them to marry. Hermia shows an equal love for Lysander. They are both focussed on each other. When Theseus tells her that if she will not marry Demetrius, she will have to spend her life in a nunnery, she says: "So will I grow, so live, so die my Lord, Ere I will yield my virgin patent up Unto his Lordship".
A Midsummer Night's Dream - How might the staging of Act IV Scene I emphasize the influence of the spirit world on the human world?
A Midsummer Night's Dream How might the staging of Act IV Scene I emphasize the influence of the spirit world on the human world? Note: My essay is going to explore the ways of staging this scene in the Globe, London. At the start of this scene, the conflict between Titania and Oberon over the Indian child has made Oberon embarrass Titania by magically making her fall in love with bottom. Puck had earlier turned Bottom into an ass to make an even bigger fool of Titania. For this scene I will drape brown and green cloth down the rear of the stage to create an image of a forest. I will also have two very tall and wide wooden pillars. These will be painted to look like trees and decorated with similar, but glittering, cloth towards the top. These will be the platforms for some of the fairies later in the scene. I will launch the scene with Bottom sitting at the front-right of the stage with Titania and the other fairies around him. Puck, who cast the spell on Titania and Bottom, is up on the right pillar looking down on them. The flower he used should be prominently displayed on stage when characters under its spell are performing. On stage, Titania should be dressed in a long shimmering dress, possibly in shades of purple and red to portray her as a regal but magical character. She should, in addition to this, be acting at a higher level than the fairies to
A mid-summer nights dream by William Shakespeare - Discuss Demetrius' treatment of Helena in act 2 Sc 1.
GCSE English course work A mid-summer nights dream by William Shakespeare Discuss Demetrius' treatment of Helena in act 2 Sc 1 A mid-summer nights dream is a comedy by William Shakespeare who was a play write during the Elizabethan period. He was a play write for many years and this play was probably written between 1593 and 1596. The main theme of the play is love and the struggle for power. The father (Egeus) is trying to make his daughter (hermia) marry someone she doesn't love (Demetrius). It is the struggle of young and old. Lysander who is in love with Hermia and is the reason Hermia and Demetius don't get married. And Egeus who is an old man with old beliefs about woman obeying their father or men and do what they say. The play is based around a love story between 4 people, a donkey and 2 fairies. Oberon (fairy) trys to make things right between Demetius and Helena but instead his servant Puck makes Lysander fall in love with Helena. He also makes the queen of the fairies fall in love with bottom who gets turned in to a donkey by Oberon and Puck. The roles of woman during Shakespeare's time was totally different to today foe example they couldn't vote, couldn't work and had to do everything men told them to do. They had no say what so ever. Men's roles were to be the dominant sex. Since they did all the work and told women and told women what to do and they
Comment on the different kinds if dramatic speech in this extract - Act 3 Scene 2 (413-463) A Midsummer Nights Dream.
Comment on the different kinds if dramatic speech in this extract. Act 3 Scene 2 (413-463) In Act 3 Scene 2, there is a confrontation between the four lovers Helena, Hermia, Lysander and Demetrius. Towards the end of the scene, Puck leads the lovers in the wood through 'drooping fog' to sleep in order to restore their proper vision. Puck does this by imitating the voices of Lysander and Demetrius which Shakespeare uses as a speech rather than a conversation. Shakespeare uses many different techniques in this extract such as, repetition, rhyming couplets, quatrians and dramatic irony . Lysander's language reflects his feelings of revenge and as he seeks Demetrius to fight a duel, he is very competitive, 'I follow'd fast, but faster he did fly'. 'He goes before me, and still hares me on;' This shows that Lysander is immature and selfish as his character is presented through his words of revenge and competitiveness. Lysander's last line in his speech further emphasises the obsession with revenge, 'I'll find Demetrius and revenge this spite'. The character of Demetrius is also presented in a manly macho way where all his thoughts involve revenge on Lysander, 'Nay then, thou mock'st me. Thou shalt buy this dear'. Demetrius is also competitive and this emphasises his macho behaviour. Demetrius is presented in the same light as Lysander in which he is obsessed with revenge and