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Critical analysis of Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare
Influence of the modern era Shakespeare
Critical analysis of Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare
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A Midsummer Night’s Dream Characters, and Their Comparisons to Real Life By Zoe Kinvig May 24, 2018
In Shakespeare’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream” there are a few themes, love, humour, drama, and fantasy. Shakespeare wrote this play to produce a message to the people in his time. He went against some things, like the monarchy and certain political views, and he put out a very different voice and perspective for the general public. The great thing about literature and history is how different things are, but at the same time how similar it actually is to now. Yes, the things that happen to these characters is completely comical and unrealistic.
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Maybe your parents or old family friends? Well, that's Titania and Oberon. These two have been together for the longest time as fairy king and queen, but they always quarrel. This time, they are fighting over a young boy who she took in as her own. Her friend had a child but she died so Titania claimed him to honour her memory. Oberon wants the boy for himself but she will not give him up. I have two connections for this. The first connection is like I said before, an old married couple. They pick fights with each other over little things, but they still love each other and always make up. Another connection I have with this scenario would be a modern-day custody battle. Kids can make or break a relationship, so if you have to fight for your child, it can get very messy. Luckily, Titania and Oberon eventually got over their rough patch and made …show more content…
Oberon was very mad so he devised a plan. He would get his fairy servant Puck to put a love potion on her eyes when she is sleeping. When she wakes up the first thing she sees she would fall in love with. Oberon wanted her to fall in love with a monstrous thing as revenge. A poor man who was acting in a play came near Titania in the woods. Puck decided to take matters into his own hands and use his fairy magic to give Bottom the head of a donkey. All of his friends were disgusted with him and ran off. Then, suddenly Titania woke up and saw him. Instantly she was infatuated. She gave him everything he wanted and catered to his every desire. That relationship would truly be considered horrible, as they were a royal and a commoner together which was not allowed, and he had the head of a donkey! When Oberon saw them he pitied Titania and reversed the spell. She was disgusted and Bottom wrote it off as a dream. Their relationship resembles maybe a modern-day gold digger situation. Bottom was very confused about her love for him but he went along with it anyway and let her pamper him. He even started to order around her servants. Obviously, their relationship was not meant to
When Oberon ordered Puck to anoint Demetrius, he anointed Lysander, therefore causing chaos among the lovers! Puck was the one making his own choices based on his knowledge. Secondly, when Titania ordered the fairies to serve Bottom, she was under the love potion. Since she madly pursued Bottom, she didn’t truly know what she was doing, which caused chaos!. Though it may seem like Bottom and Oberon were controlling, they are both at the
The four lovers run away to the woods outside of Athens. In the woods, a world of fairies dwell. The fairy king, Oberon, stumbles across Demetrius and Helena while Helena is begging Demetrius to love her. Since Oberon is having some problems with love on his own, he tries to help Helena with her unfortunate situation. He sends his jester, Puck, to use a flower that, if its juice is dropped onto someone who’s sleeping’s eyes, will make the person fall madly in love with the first person they lie their eyes on. “Take thou some of it, and seek through this grove; A sweet Athenian lady is in love with a disdainful youth; anoint his eyes; but do it when the next thing he espies may be the lady. Thou shalt know the man by the Athenian garments he hath on.”(64) Puck, following Oberon’s orders, finds Lysander and Hermia instead of Demetrius and Helena. Anointing Lysander’s eyes, he leaves, thinking he did his bidding. Helena finds Lysander sleeping, and, wi...
Oberon said. Waking up and falling in love with a donkey showed that Titania is a whole new person. She gave up the Indian boy in a blink of an eye. All she cared about is the donkey (Bottom). Titania cared so much about the donkey, that she ordered her fairies to do favors for
Oberon is one of the most important characters in the play A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare and is the answer to the question of why there are so many problems in the play. Not only is Oberon the King of the Fairies but he is the husband of Titania and the master of Puck. Oberon’s character is multifaceted although it is evident that he will do anything for a good laugh. At times, Oberon is extraordinarily nice, generous, and compassionate. He felt sorry for Helena and tried to get Demetrius to fall in love with her. However, On the other hand, Oberon is cruel, jealous, and tyrannical. Resembling his mischievous servant Puck, Oberon finds no problem with playing with other people’s love. He swindled his own wife and laughed at the misfortunes of the four Athenians Helena, Hermia, Lysander, and Demetrius. Despite one’s view of Oberon, it is clear that he is the root of all the problems in the play because he starts a sequence of problems by making the love juice, orders the love juice to be used on Demetrius which in turn causes disarray for all four of the young lovers, and causes disgrace for Titania and creates obstacles for Bottom and the Rude Mechanicals when he uses the love juice on Titania in order to fulfill his own selfish desires.
Throughout A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, there are multiple analyses that one can follow in order to reach a conclusion about the overall meaning of the play. These conclusions are reached through analyzing the play’s setting, characterization, and tone. However, when one watches the production A Midsummer Night’s Dream directed by Michael Hoffman, a completely different approach is taken on these aspects, leading to a vastly different analysis of the work. Though there are many similarities between the original written play A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare and the on-screen production of the aforementioned play which was directed by Michael Hoffman, there are differences in setting and
Through observations and analysis a diagnosis can be formed about the character being studied. For this particular case, I use the Freudian method of psychological theory, which is centered on relationships between the parent and the child. These relationships are concentrated into a concept called the Oedipus-complex: A conflict which results from children of the male gender wishing to have the mother, and female children wanting to have the father. For females specifically, the conflict is referred to as the "Electra complex". The main issue is the other parent. The father already has the mother, and the mother already has the father, giving unwanted obstacles for the children. This roadblock manifests itself in the child as hostility towards the parent of the other gender (Mahony
When Puck mistakenly applies the love potion to Lysander’s eyelids. At this point, both male characters of the main plot have fallen in love with Helena, leaving Hermia out of balance. The struggle of the four lovers is one of the more complicated conflicts in the play. The conflict could have been avoided if Puck had not misused his magic. However, because Puck mistakenly used his magic on Lysander, conflict erupted.
However, the ideal relationships are not immune to experiencing unharmonious periods. Despite this, the ideal couples eventually found harmony which allowed them to experience a joyous ending. Lysander and Hermia have a harmonious relationship in that they display similar desires and mindsets. In the beginning, after declaring their love for one another Lysander and Hermia devise a plan to run away and elope (A Midsummer Night’s Dream 1.1.156-178). Even when they are not of the same mindset Hermia and Lysander find an amicable solution. After becoming lost in the forest, Lysander’s desire is for them to sleep together, Hermia refuses for fear of the disgrace that would be placed upon her if for some reason they did not become married. Even though Lysander is a reluctant he respects her wishes (A Midsummer Night’s Dream 2.1.47-67). On the other hand, the relationship between Oberon and Titania in spite of being plagued by dysfunction comes to a harmonious agreement. At the beginning Titania and Oberon are quarreling over the control of an Indian changeling boy (A Midsummer Night’s Dream 2.1.18-31). While under the influence of an enchantment that Oberon had placed on her Titania relinquishes the control of the changeling boy to Oberon (A Midsummer Night’s Dream 4.1.56-60). After the enchantment is removed from her Titania no longer has feelings of defiance toward Oberon (A Midsummer Night’s
Even when he did put the love juice into the right people's eyes, they still fell in love with the wrong people sometimes. The first example of this mistake of Puck's is where he puts the love juice in Lysander's eyes, mistaking him for Demetrius. Oberon tells Puck to put the love juice in the eyes of an Athenian man, Demetrius, and to make sure that the first thing he sees after this is the woman whom he hates, but who loves him so much, Helena. Puck ends up finding Lysander and Hermia, lovers, sleeping on the forest floor. He puts the love juice in Lysander's eyes and leaves.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a play of conflicted love. Thus semi-comedy displays the notion of, the spiritual and natural world working together. The play begins with a noble family discussing a planned marriage. Hermia is arranged to marry a man she does not love. In rebellion she and her lover (Lysander) flees to the woods so they can avoid Athenian law. Before leaving Hermia tells her sister about her plans to run away. In desire to gain revenge and find love herself Helena (Hermia’s sister) chases Hermia and her intended mate into the woods. The forest is where the spirits live, the fairy king, Oberon, is desperate to gain the affection of the fairy queen. He saw cupid shoot his love arrow, which landed on a flower. He is determined that,
... featured one last time in the epilogue to this scene, where he tells the audience that if they do not enjoy the play, they should think of it as nothing more than a dream. If the audience does enjoy the play, they should give Puck "their hands," or applaud. Thus Puck is cleaning up for more than the fairies problems in the last soliloquy, as he cleans up for the entire play as well. Both of the fools were necessary in this play. Puck's tricks and loyalty makes Oberon's goals and the happiness of the lovers possible. Bottom's foolishness provides for comedy for both the characters in the play and the audience, and it’s his transformation which enables Oberon to obtain the boy from Titania. Puck, Oberon's fool, and Bottom, the fool of the play, both provide comedy and some-what intelligent observations, which make them an important part of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Fairies, mortals, magic, love, and hate all intertwine to make A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare a very enchanting tale, that takes the reader on a truly dream-like adventure. The action takes place in Athens, Greece in ancient times, but has the atmosphere of a land of fantasy and illusion which could be anywhere. The mischievousness and the emotions exhibited by characters in the play, along with their attempts to double-cross destiny, not only make the tale entertaining, but also help solidify one of the play’s major themes; that true love and it’s cleverly disguised counterparts can drive beings to do seemingly irrational things.
While watching the film, A Midsummer Night's Dream, there were both many similarities and differences that I noticed between the film compared to Shakespeare's play in text form. Some similarities between the two include dialogue between the characters, characters personalities overall, and the general theme. The main differences between the film and text was the setting, characters attire, and also introduction of a wife for Bottom. Some of the similarities between the two mediums were the main characters, dialogue, and the theme. The film keeps the same main characters that were used in the text.
Magic affects both the plot and the environment of William Shakespeare’s play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” as it influences the thoughts and actions of the characters through most of the play. Through its power, magic confuses the characters and creates conflicts between them, but it also solves the conflicts. The character’s use and misuse of magic lead to some of the ridiculous moment of the play.
The concept of contrast plays an important role throughout Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Shakespeare provides many examples of contrast signifying it as a motif. He groups the ideas of contrast together into those of some of the most important roles in the play. Helena is portrayed as tall and Hermia is short. Titania is a beautiful fairy who falls in love with Bottom, who is portrayed as graceless. Moreover, the main sets of characters even have differences. Fairies are graceful and magical creatures, yet tradesmen are clumsy and mortal. Additionally, the tradesmen are always overjoyed while the lovers are always serious with their emotions. Contrast layers throughout the whole play, as examples are shown in nearly every scene. Contrast becomes a constant, important motif to Shakespeare’s playwrite.