"A Midsummer's Night Dream" By William Shakespeare.
Recently I have been studying a Play by William Shakespeare called "A Midsummer's Night Dream". The genre of the book is a comedy. Samuel Pepys said, after watching the play being performed in 1662, " It is the most insipid, ridiculous play that I ever saw in my life- I could disagree with Samuel Pepys.
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a festive comedy. The play takes place in June and this is a bewitched time. In the spring the custom is to celebrate the return of fertility to the earth. During this time the young people spend the night in the woods to celebrate. The play begins in the city, moves out to the country and then back to the city. Being in the country makes things better because there is tranquility, freedom and people can become uncivilized versus when they are in the city and have to follow customs and laws and behave rationally. Comedies contain blocking figures and in this play it is Egeus. If he was not in the way, Hermia could marry Lysander. Since he is causing problems in his daughter's life by trying to make her marry Demetrius, this begins the journey into the woods. Egeus threatened Hermia with death if she were to marry Lysander so she thinks the only way they can be together is to run away. One strange element is why Egeus was so set on Hermia marrying Demetrius. Lysander came from as good a family as Demetrius. Both were well possessed with property and money so Egeus's power is made to seem senseless. The play moves into the woods which is haunted by fairies who are there to bless the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta. The quarreling between Oberon and Titania over the changeling boy leads to the king wanting to embarrass Titania with the love juice by making her fall in love with a monster. The first person she sees is Bottom and she falls violently in love with him. Oberon is making a spectacle of Titania and Bottom.
Such tricks hath strong imagination , that if it would but apprehend some joy, it comprehends some bringer of that joy; or in the night, imagining some fear, how easy is a bush suppos"d a bear!" Theseus (5.1.2-22) In the concluding act of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Theseus refers to the madness of love through his discussion of the relationship between lovers, poets, and madmen. ...
A Midsummer Night's Dream is one of Shakespeare's early "festive comedies,"" written around 1595-6. Despite the many thematic references to "dreams- and the fantastic setting of the Athenian forest, the play also contains a fair amount of commentary on Shakespeare's contemporary English world. The play's title, for instance, refers to an English holiday custom: on "Midsummer Eve,"" or the night of the summer solstice on June 23, English men and women would spend the night outdoors around bonfires, telling supernatural tales of fairies and witchcraft. ... By making the ...
McDonnell taught me to appreciate Shakespeare by using song to illustrate the meaning of love in A Midsummer Night's Dream. We not only engaged in discussion about the Greek or Chinese myths that we were currently studying, but also debated current affairs and scientific mysteries. ...
The preservation of a woman's virginity is a recurring theme in Shakespeare's plays; in A Midsummer Night's Dream, we see Helena make known her love for Demetrius, which of itself is a measure executed almost exclusively by men. ... In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Titania rules and governs the fairies, sometimes in complete independence. ... Furthermore, his skirting around the situation at hand, with magic, humour and other nonsense, instead of engaging in a stimulating and fair discussion on balancing control and power with his wife, goes to show his ineptitude in serious m...
Fredrik: "Yes, I wonder too" The humorous : Count Malcom discusses with his wife how he caught Fredrik Egerman with his mistress Desiree the night before. ... Like the seventh seal, regardless that many of the themes differ, Smile's of a Summer's Night also blends, sometimes seamlessly this hybrid of humour and misfortune. ... ESSAY DISCUSSION: Explore aspects of comedy and tragedy independently and as hybrids in different works dealing with similar themes. ... of comedy and tragedy, THE FATHER- How can a father know if he is really the father of his children ...
While "Dream" (my adaptation of "A Midsummer Night's Dream") was poorly staged, shabbily designed, and narratively messy, the production achieved something I have yet to achieve again. ... Each performance was sold out, with the majority of tickets being bought by members of my age group, and by closing night approximately one thousand people had seen the show. ... These younger audience members seemed amazed, and even shocked, by how much they had enjoyed "Dream". ... The reasons for the attraction to "Dream" for young, and less theatrically experienced, audience members are easily specu...
Research and Critical Reflection In 2010, OFSTED produced a report about creative approaches to teaching and learning with a focus on raising standards. They visited 44 schools, 19 of which were secondary schools that had received good or outstanding from their most recent inspection. Where creative...