Essay William Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream

William Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream can be considered an archetypal comedy due in large part to the ill-defined characters. Part of what makes this play work so well is that rather than becoming too invested in any one character’s hopes and fears or desires and struggles, the audience is simply rooting for things to work out well in general. If the audience became too attached to any one character, they might lose sight of the bigger picture in their concern over, for example, Demetrius remaining drugged at the end of the play, or the disturbing repercussions of Helena marrying a man who only a few acts earlier she had urged to â€Å"Use me but as your spaniel†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (2.i.212). The†¦show more content†¦Once Demetrius and Lysander are bewitched with the love potion, their love for Hermia is entirely tossed aside in favor of singing Helena’s praises. Yes, they are under a spell, but it is worth noting that at no point in the play do es any character make reference to any distinguishing features other than the difference in height between the two girls and perhaps a slight difference in their complexions. Their beauty is made much of, but really nothing beyond that is ever referred to. Also notable is that, as little distinction as there seems to be between the women, there is even less between the men. Both are equally determined to have Hermia when the play starts, and both men speak with equal venom to whichever girl happens to be in their way at the time. When Helena pursues Demetrius while he is pursuing Hermia, she meets with threats and retorts very similar to those that Hermia hears from the enchanted Lysander when he is pursuing Helena. These characters have not come very far at all from the stock characters of Commedia dell’Arte, the innamorati on which they were based. In his book Commedia dell’Arte: An Actor’s Handbook, John Rudlin describes the speech of the lovers as, â€Å"flamboyant, hyperbolical, full of amorous rhetoric.† (108). These characters were differentiated by little other than their names and their relationships to other characters (often, a plot would revolve around a rich old man refusing to allow hisShow MoreRelatedWilliam Shakespeares A Midsummer Night’s Dream1973 Words   |  8 PagesWilliam Shakespeares A Midsummer Night’s Dream The focus of this discussion will be upon the language and performance possibilities of this extract from the Dream[1], following brief consideration of the manner in which the extract relates to the rest of the play in terms of plot development and the reflection of certain of the play’s themes. 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Titania doesn’t want to give him up because she and the boy’s mother knewRead MoreEssay about William Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream1283 Words   |  6 PagesWilliam Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream Shakespeare, in his A Midsummer Night’s Dream, uses his characters to cast a sense of derision over the use of the imagination. â€Å"The lunatic, the lover and the poet† are thrown together all on one line, and it is implied that the latter two are as crazy as the first. (Midsummer Night’s Dream, V.1.7) Despite this seeming scorn for plays and their ilk, Shakespeare is implementing a strong irony. Characters who scorn the imagination are no moreRead MoreEssay about William Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream 1648 Words   |  7 PagesWilliam Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream  Ã‚  Ã‚   There are so many references to the eyes in A Midsummer Nights Dream that one would expect there to be a solid and consistent reason for their appearance. However, this does not seem to be the case. Indeed, the images associated with the eyes are so varied, and shift so frequently, that it is practically impossible to define what it is they represent. This difficulty reflects the problem of distinguishing between what is real and whatRead MoreTrue Love in William Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream1928 Words   |  8 PagesTrue Love in William Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream I have been studying A Midsummer Night’s Dream and exploring how the characters within this play deal with love and the consequences resulting from falling in love. I will be answering the question asked by providing quotes and examples of Shakespeare’s technique in showing that ‘The course of true love never did run smooth’ as well as providing answers as to why Shakespeare made this the case in the play