A Midsummer Nights Dream by William Shakespeare

1039 Words3 Pages

A Midsummer Nights Dream by William Shakespeare

'It is the most insipid, ridiculous Play that I ever saw in my life'

(Samuel Pepys 1662)

I cannot say that I would agree with the above statement made by

Samuel Pepys in 1662. When I read the play I didn't quite understand

why Shakespeare had written it. After I done some research I realized

that Shakespeare wrote this play so that it could be performed for

weddings.

The story of A Midsummer Night's Dream was that of love. Throughout

the play, Shakespeare tried to show that love is unpredictable,

unreasonable, and at times is blind. The primary focus in this play

was love and its relation to marriage.

I think that this play would have been most entertaining for those

watching it especially in that era as they had limited entertainment

and it would have been what they were accustomed to. Even today in the

21st Century, I think that it would still be found entertaining even

though in today's times there is a variety of entertainment such as,

cinemas, Theatres, Play houses, Home video's and DVD's. Just as how I

found it enjoyable there are others like myself who would also find it

entertaining.

If we look very closely we will see that the love is a not just

between the 4 lovers: Hermia, Lysander, Helena and Demetrius. But it

is also between a fairy and a mechanical; however, the only one case

is where Titania falls in love with Bottom. This is the only time we

see the two worlds interact as one. By this I mean the fairies are not

hidden from the mechanicals they are clearly seen.

In the 17th Century we see that the way things were done was very

different to now. We know this from the fact that Egeus was allowed to

decide who Hermia would marry even if she didn't love that person. The

father's role played a very big part in those times.

'To you father should as a god,'

The penalty for not listening to her father would be that she would

Open Document