Allusions In A Midsummer Night's Dream Research Paper

Shakespeare’s Use of Allusions in A Midsummer Night’s Dream

“Love is blind,” says the old cliche. At the very least, that cliche is 400 years old, since it appears in William Shakespeare’s play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream when Helena says, “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind. And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind” (Shakespeare 1.1.234-235). These lines are also an allusion, which conveniently restate that old cliche of “love is blind.” It is just one of many allusions to Greek mythology in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. One could spend days explaining all the allusions in the play, but three of the most well-known are below. Many of the allusions in the play help the audience learn more about the characters or the plot by making

connections between Greek mythology and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
The first allusion in A Midsummer Night’s Dream appears right as the play opens, when the characters Theseus and Hippolyta are introduced.

The Greek myth of Theseus and Hippolyta tells of Theseus kidnapping Hippolyta in order to take her as his wife (“Theseus”). In the play, the character Theseus alludes (within the allusion) to these circumstances: “. . . I wooed thee with my sword and won thy love doing thee injuries. But I will wed thee . . . with pomp, with triumph, and with reveling” (Shakespeare 1.1.16-19). Interestingly, in the myth, Theseus never marries Hippolyta like he does in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Hippolyta instead escapes, and Theseus is forced to look elsewhere for love (Theseus). This might make one wonder why Shakespeare chose to change the story’s ending. Perhaps this change helps to foreshadow Hermia’s eventual escape from Demetrius’s

advances.
If allusions can foreshadow events later within the plot of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, then they can also serve to provide alternate endings. A second allusion to Greek mythology in A Midsummer Night’s Dream is in the play within the play, and the story of Pyramus and Thisbe. In the Greek myth of Pyramus and Thisbe, Pyramus and Thisbe are two young lovers that run away to elope (Shmoop), much like Hermia and Lysander. Pyramus and Thisbe, however, both die in the end (Shmoop), while in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hermia and Lysander end up together. This juxtaposition of endings, and this allusion to Pyramus and Thisbe, serve to show readers or viewers how easily Hermia and Lysander could have been met with disaster. Shakespeare’s comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, could have easily turned into a tragedy like Romeo and Juliet.
Allusions can also help Shakespeare to show readers more about his characters.

In Act V, Shakespeare includes an allusion that is also a malapropism (this mistaken use or mispronunciation of a word), when in the working men’s play, Bottom, playing Pyramus, alludes to a Greek myth. Pyramus says about his love to Thisbe, that “Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true” (Shakespeare 5.1.192). What Bottom is really referring to, though, is the myth of Cephalus and Procris. In this story, Cephalus accidentally murders his wife, Procris, when he mistakes her for a wild animal in the woods (“Cephalus”). Shakespeare’s use of allusion here serves to show the audience just how ignorant and incompetent the working men are, and to add comedic effect to the play within a play. The comparison between the two lovers, Pyramus and Thisbe, and the mythological characters of Cephalus and Procrus is misguided verging on ridiculous, and undermines Pyramus’s expression of love for his

Thisbe.
In conclusion, Shakespeare uses a variety of allusions to Greek mythology in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The allusions serve a variety of purposes. Sometimes, they foreshadow events that will take place later in the play, sometimes they give the audience glimpses of an alternate, tragic ending, and sometimes, they help to emphasize personality traits of the characters in the play. Whatever purpose each allusion serves, all of them add to the complexity and entertainment value of the play as a whole.