Midsummer Night’s Dream

Romantic Comedy

Comedy begins in adversity and ends in

prosperity. It is funny, but centers on the

romantic interests of the four lovers and

the fairies.

Setting: Begins in the Athens, Greece at

Theseus’ palace. This is also where it ends.

Everything else occurs in the forest outside

Athens.

Athens

◦ The adult world

◦ Everything orderly and sensible

Forest

◦ Lovers and Fairies

◦ There is no sense of order, things are confused and out of place

Four Plots

Theseus and Hippolyta

The Lovers (Hermia and Lysander, Helena

and Demetrius)

The Tradesmen, craftsmen and their play

The Fairies (Oberon and Titania’s quarrel)

Plot

Puck

Titania & Oberon

The Craftsmen

Helena, Lysander & Demetrius

Hermia alone

Bottom and Titania

Craftsmen Flee- play ruined

Helena & Demetrius

Hermia & Lysander

Characters

Helena

◦ Pitiful, desperate, conniving, immature; a weak individual. She cannot rationally except that Demetrius does not love her.

Hermia

◦ Appears to be a stronger individual when faced with a problem. She seems to tackle it rather than just whine about it.

Interestingly, once in the forest, the girls appear to switch places and it is difficult to tell one from the other.

Lysander

◦ Constant, and loyal. His feelings do not change without the help of magic.

Demetrius

◦ Flippant, inconsistent, ungentlemanly, cruel, immature and has little respect for women.

Theseus

◦ Highly respected ruler of Athens. He does not get involved completely, by offering time and options.

◦ Hippolyta Queen of the Amazons, fierce women warriors, captured by the Athenians. She is to wed Theseus.

Characters

Puck

◦ He is the catalyst for the action in the play. He creates the problems, encourages the problems, finds humour in them and eventually fixes them. He is like the fairies with his magical abilities, yet he has all the roughness of the tradesmen. He is good but also bad.

Oberon

◦ King of the fairies. Sees a problems and is more than willing to involve himself in solving it the way he sees fit.

Characters

Bottom

Would like to think he is grand, intelligent and

a superb actor, however he is truly an “ass”.

He is gullible, arrogant and somewhat of an

idiot which creates much of the humour in the

play.

Titania

Queen of the Fairies. Beautiful, graceful,

married to Oberon. Tries to exert herself but

is easily manipulated by him.

Symbols

Play within a Play

Common technique used in Shakespeare’s plays.

Used to show the difference between nature and

reality.

Pyramus and Thisbe

◦ Tragedy. This is what could have happened had

things not worked out as they did in the end.

Comic Relief

◦ This play is a tragedy, yet to see the players do it,

it is hilarious. Has the complete opposite affect.

Symbols

Dreams (Common Motif)◦ Hermia’s dream parallels what has happened in real

life. Lysander did leave her and gave his heart to another.

◦ The lovers believing they shared the one dream.

◦ Bottom’s dream seems horrible because he was an ass, yet it was good because of the attentions of the fairy queen. Ironic as he sees himself for what he is.

◦ Titania’s dream shows love’s ability to blind people.

◦ Puck’s ending says that the whole play has been nothing more than a dream. It was not real, but a figment of “our” imaginations.

◦ Creates a sense of illusion and also allows for the passage of time. Transition.

Symbols

Love Potion

◦ Used by the fairies to manipulate/humiliate

others. In some sense it is very much like the

effect love has on some people; irrational,

fickle and excessive behaviour. It speaks to

the uncontrollable nature of love.

Contrast

Titania

Beautiful & graceful

Bottom

Gross & base

Contrasts

Helena

Tall, fair,weak

Hermia

Short, dark complexion ,

strong

Contrasts

Puck

Plays pranks

Bottom

Butt of the pranks

Contrasts

Fairies

Graceful & Magical

Craftsmen

Clumsy & Rough

Thematic Subjects

Relationships

Jealousy/betrayal

Misunderstandings

Illusion versus reality

Blindness

Dreams

Love

Relationships

Parent and Child

◦ Egeus and Hermia

Boyfriend and Girlfriend

◦ Hermia and Lysander

◦ Helena and Demetrius

Husband and Wife

◦ Titania and Oberon

◦ Theseus and Hippolyta

Lords and Commoners

◦ Theseus and Bottom’s Men

Possible Thematic Statements

Love and reason do not keep company.

Love can cause a person to act irrationally.

The course of true love never did run smooth.

Love makes fools of us all.

Jealousy can lead to destructive behaviour.

Jealousy can turn people against each other.