midsummer night’s dream - odelia caulodeliacaul.ca/notes/a midsummer night's dream...
TRANSCRIPT
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.
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