A Dream Within A Dream

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A Dream Within A Dream

William Shakespeare presents his story of a midsummer night’s dream as a play. Within this play is another play named “Pyramus and Thisby“. The two similar stories share the same basic idea of how the course of true love never seems to run smoothly. Chaos seems to be normalcy in both of these stories, and although they seem vastly different, they share the same quality of blocked love and eventual serenity. These shared qualities of love show how the theme of “Pyramus and Thisby” relates to the main story of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

The main plot of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is comprised of the confident, real love of Thesius and Hippolyta as the right-minded duke and the soon to be duchess of Athens. The middle plots concern the young lovers Helena and Lysander, and Hermia and Demetrius in their pursuit of love. It also includes the relationship between King Oberon and Queen Titania of fairyland. A subplot takes place involving the fairy queen and Nick Bottom, a craftsman who performs in our sub-play. All of these plots combine to make up our main story. Hiding inside them is another story -“Pyramus and Thisby”- that also depicts the obstacles that love introduces.

Several aspects of the two plays shape the image of their mutual, yet contrasting themes. Looking at it from a literal perspective, the two seem unrelated. Actually, “Pyramus and Thisby” seems more like “Romeo and Juliet” than anything else, but the presentation of love’s trial is the common thread. The boundaries that love introduces into a relationship are challenged. Due to the nature of love, irrational as it may be, there is a need for harmony and contentment. The couples in the sub-play and the main play both thr...

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...in which activities take place. Since so many things are going on at the same time, the activities of one plot are merely dreams to the others.

“Love shall conquer all” is a familiar saying, and in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” it holds true. The trials of love are always present even after lovers have found one another. The relationship between the play, and the play it was in, is tightly bound not only by the actors, but also with the presence of love’s hardships. The course of true love doesn’t run smoothly, but it is up to lovers to make it work. Lunatics, lovers and poets make reality conform to their imaginations, yet order and clarity somehow prevail. We, like the rude mechanicals, don’t have fairies to help us out, but however miraculous the results may seem, eventual serenity will be achieved through the supernatural power of true love - Erik Wilhelm

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