During the course of Shakespeare?s A Midsummer Night?s Dream, the rise of two leaders emerge. Theseus, the leader of Athens and of ?reality?, and Oberon, the leader of the fairies and of ?dreams?. Shakespeare makes it evident that these leaders are two of a completely different nature. As the play progresses it?s clear that Oberon is the better leader of the two.
When dealt with the pressures of being a leader of people, the most essential aspect of this duty is communication. In the play, usually done by speeches, each leader targets a different are of human physiology. In the line, ?I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows;
Quite overcanopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk roses, and with eglantine.
There sleeps Titania sometime of the night,
Lulled in these flowers with dances and delight.
And there the snake throws her enameled skin,
Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in.
And with the juice of this I'll streak her eyes,
And make her full of hateful fantasies,? (ActII, Sc2. 259-267)
Oberon stresses the use of emotion to understand what he is saying. On the other hand, Theseus accentuates the use of logic, best portrayed in this line, ?I never may believe these antique fables, nor these fairy toys...?(ActV, Sc1. 4-5)
Another necessary trait of a good leader is courage, in which Theseus has little of. Theseus possesses an ?if-then? complex. Oberon on the other hand reacts without consideration of consequence. This may seem like a weakness to most people, but in the heat of the moment there is no time for decision making but a good leader must act acutely.
In choosing modern leaders, one can take a lesson from the Greeks in how a person’s character can affect his leadership abilities and his constituents. Even positive traits without self-control can lead to devastating ends. Hesiod’s words hold true through the ages,
In the classic poem and plays Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, Oedipus the King by Sophocles, and The Odyssey by Homer, the main characters are leaders with differing successes. Julius Caesar gets killed by his own "friends", Oedipus gouges out his eyes, and Odysseus faced many setbacks, but managed to get home. All of these classical heroes had one thing in common. This was that they tried to lead by dominance. In Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, Oedipus the King by Sophocles, and The Odyssey by Homer, all of
Lately, it would be difficult to find a person who speaks in the elaborate way that nearly all of Shakespeare’s characters do; we do not describe “fortune” as “outrageous” or describe our obstacles as “slings and arrows,” neither in an outward soliloquy or even in our heads. Lately, people do not declare their goals in the grandiose fashion that members of royal family of Thebes proclaim their opposing intentions: Antigone’s to honor her brother and Kreon’s to uphold his decree. Lately, people do not all speak in one unified dialect, especially not one that belongs specifically to the British upper class; Jack and Algernon’s dialogue is virtually identical, excepting content. Unlike the indistinguishably grandiose, elaborate, fancy way characters speak in Shakespeare’s plays, Antigone, The Importance of Being Earnest, and other plays written before the turn of the twentieth century, more recently written plays contain dialogue that is more unique to its speaker. This unique dialogue indicates a change in the sort of characters which drama focuses on which came with a newly developed openness to those who are different from us. Moving away from recounting tales of nobility, royalty or deities brought the lives of a common, heterogeneous populace to the stage and, with these everyday stories, more varied speech patterns.
Oberon, King of the fairies, has the honor of delivering lines 32 through 52 (5.2) known as “The Song” (244n4) in Stephen Greenblatts publication in The Norton Shakespeare of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Although Oberon was not always given these lines, the speech that it forms is quite becoming of the character and fits his place, both in society and the story. This speech gives Oberon a chance to make amends for the mischief he has created, by blessing them and their marital beds. The song lulls the audience into a slight slumber like state where Puck will give the final speech stating that this was all a dream. The melodic tune of rhyming couplets does not flow as easily for Oberon as does prose, creating a general lack of figures of speech.
Throughout A Midsummer Night’s Dream the theme of conflict with authority is apparent and is the cause of the problems that befall the characters. It also is used to set the mood of the play. The passage below spoken by Theseus in the opening of the play clearly states this theme.
Imagine being a woman in sixteenth century Europe. Females were raised to believe that they were subservient and that men knew better on any subject. Basically, women had no rights. They were considered property, first “owned” by their fathers and then control was “transferred” to the husband chosen for them. Marriage was not about love, but in most cases, it was a business deal that was mutually beneficial to both families – an interesting fact is that like young women, most young men had no choice in the selection of their future betrothed. These traditions and the gender roles assumed by men and women at that time had an impact on Shakespeare’s writing and performances and a great example of this is evident in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
(65) Philostrate: The play is only 10 words long but by 10 words it is too long
the next live creature that it sees. II.... ... middle of paper ... ... Now, my Titania; wake you, my sweet queen.
Courage – Leaders are willing to take risks and have the perseverance to accomplish goals, no matter how difficult or stressful the situations become.
... "A Midsummers Night's Dream" Egeus was the cultural figure law. As Egeus states when talking with Theseus,
In Hamlet’s speech, Shakespeare’s efforts to target his Elizabethan audience develop the theme of the frailty of man. Shakespeare conveys this underlying theme of the play by subt...
In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the King of the Fairies is a powerful man named Oberon. Oberon is married to Titania, Queen of the Fairies, who received an Indian boy from her dear friend who passed away. Oberon desperately wants the Indian boy to be one of his followers, but the boy is one of Titania followers and she will not give him up. This is when Oberon decides to use magic, in an attempt to win the Indian boy. Oberon uses the magic of a flower, to make his wife, Titania fall in love with the next creature she sees. Oberon says, “Fetch me that flower; the herb I shew'd thee once: / The juice of it on sleeping eye-lids laid / Will make or man or woman madly dote / Upon the next live creature that it sees” (2.1.175-178). Oberon then black mails Titania and tells her that she will love the donkey forever unless she gives over the Indian boy. Although many would consider this bad, Oberon uses his magic because he can and he feels he needs to.
... happy outcome, while Shakespeare is not. INSERT SECONDARY SOURCE HERE. The characters may be happy or unhappy as the play demands, and as writer Shakespeare shows no apparent preference for one outcome over the other. In a comedy such as A Midsummer Night's Dream the lovers indeed marry in the end, but in a tragedy they can just as easily die. Everything turns out the way Oberon wants it to. He has orchestrated everything, or so he thinks: "There shall the pairs of faithful lovers be / Wedded, with Theseus, all in jollity" (4.1.88-89). INSERT SECONDARY SOURCE HERE. But although Oberon is godlike and enjoys magical control over others, Shakespeare ultimately uses Oberon to ensure the play's resolution. If Oberon is a King, then Shakespeare is a God.
This play shows the importance of the staging, gestures, and props making the atmosphere of a play. Without the development of these things through directions from the author, the whole point of the play will be missed. The dialog in this play only complements the unspoken. Words definitely do not tell the whole story.
William Shakespeare’s writings are famous for containing timeless, universal themes. A particular theme that is explored frequently in his writings is the relationship between men and women. A Midsummer Night’s Dream contains a multitude of couplings, which are often attributed to the fairies in the play. Each of these pairings has positive and negative aspects, however, some relationships are more ideal than others. From A Midsummer Night’s Dream the optimal pairings are Lysander and Hermia, Demetrius and Helena, and Oberon and Titania; while the less desirable pairings are Theseus and Hippolyta, Hermia and Demetrius, Lysander and Helena, and Titania and Bottom. Throughout A Midsummer