Comic Techniques in Act 5 Scene 1 of A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare

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Comic Techniques in Act 5 Scene 1 of A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare This scene is the last of the play but by this time the actual plot is finished. This scene is an extra part added on to make the play more humorous. It is also the only scene with all the characters in it. They are all drawn together in one place. Shakespeare did this to make sure the ending is happy and humorous. It also shows the audience that everything turns out alright in the end. It would look strange on stage as Shakespeare is mimicking his own audience. It is a play within a play. This is how the theatre may have look: [IMAGE] The people in purple would have been the actors on the stage and the people in red would have been the audience. The 'rich People' would have been the people who paid extra to sit actually on the stage with the actors. In the play, this is The Lovers; Theseus and Hippolyta, Demetrius and Helena, and Lysander and Hermia. They would have been close to the actors (The Mechanicals), and they would have jeered, shouted and made witty comments to interrupt the play. In Shakespeare's time, this would have been normal as the audiences where allowed to shout things out to the actors. It would have been like out modern day pantomimes. This behaviour is imitated in the play. Shakespeare seems to be laughing and taking the micky out of plays that he has written. The play, Pyramus and Thisbe, is from a Greek myth, but it is also a mixed up, slapstick version of Romeo and Juliet. The storylines are similar and so is the prologue. The story of Pyramus and Thisbe is also like Hermia and Lysander. They are a... ... middle of paper ... ...e dresses a man as a woman, again confusing reality and fantasy, but also making it humorous, like a pantomime dame. A modern director would have more opportunities than a director in Shakespeare's time. Shakespeare's theatre only had one entrance to the stage, limited props and scenery and the audience would have been right in the actor's faces, making it impossible to cover up mistakes. The director would have to make sure that the play went perfectly as the audience were not afraid to shout out if they didn't like something. A modern director also has the choice about what time period to set it in, whereas a Shakespearean director would not have this option. Shakespeare was deliberately mimicking his own audience but the modern audiences are not set out in the same way so it may not have the same effect.

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