"A Midsummer Night's Dream" by William Shakespeare develops at three stages simultaneously according to an intricate, yet very symmetrical structure. These three sub-plots are linked by certain common elements: one character, Puck, the place, the woods of Athens, the time, Midsummer Eve and a certain type of experience, the dream. The three sub-plots have three different resolutions, all of them contributing to the overall meaning of the play: the "reconciliation of opposites" , a theme very clear to Renaissance writers and of great impact in modern world as well.
In level one, written in verse, the author focuses the action in presenting the pupeteers: Oberon and Titania, king and queen of faires, who quarrel for power over a page. Oberon commands Puck to
use its magic flower "love in idleness" on Titania and therefore the next part in the structure of the play, the climax, presents us Titania in love with ass headed Bottom. Once the effect of the flower has passed, the charmed is removed and Titania gives up the page to Oberon.
Dream, another word for illusion and symbol of imagination is a keyword in the understanding of the play. The character, mesmerized by Puck, believes she had a dream and, at the end of the play, it is also him who tells the audience that it all might have been a dream. Titania herself has a dream within a dream, which creates the impression of a confused and mysterious atmosphere.
An example to emphasize the main theme of the play, which is that of the reconciliation of opposites is that of Oberon and Titania. At first they quarrel over the page but at the end, Titania, tired of the seven years of fights gives up the page to Oberon and, at the same time, a second opportunity to their love. In this case love is presented as something that brings people together.
Level two presents the love between Lysander and Hermia who run away to the woods because they are allowed to get married.
Level three presents the reharsel for the play they are going to perform at the Duke's wedding.
The play is mainly about the reconciliation of dream, life and talent which come together in an amazing entity that of art which is capable to distorse reality and give a new meaning to something that surrounds us.
A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare written by Herminne Tonita for FamousWhy.com
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A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare Image Source : kentwoodplayers.org
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by Herminne Tonita -