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Plot construction of the play Midsummer Night's Dream
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While reading and watching the play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” we were comparing and contrasting some things we found different in both the play and the movie. First we read the play then we watched part of the movie. While watching the movie i saw that there were quite some differences. First, what i saw that was different from the play and the movie was the setting. When reading the play the setting took place in Ancient Greece and while watching the movie the setting took place in Italy. That was one thing different, another difference was that in act one scene two the mechanicals first meet in Peter Quince's house to cast their play while in the movie they meet in a public area where bottom is humiliated by a set of children, his spirit
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.
The play delivers a more toned back version of the story, more calm and relaxed, while the movies delivery is a hard hitting, dramatic one. Scene the play is more complex than its movie counterpart, it can be harder to get a grasp on the story and fully understand everything that is happening, and which character is doing what. The movie offers a clearer view of what is going on. Being able to recognize characters and locations, plus all of the dialogue that was present in the play, the movie is much more simplified, which does not negatively affect the story, but rather simply helps the viewer understand the plot, and what is currently happening in the story.
The Overture: A Midsummer Night’s Dream was composed by Felix Mendelssohn in 1826 at 17 years of age. The piece was produced after Mendelssohn was inspired by the William Shakespeare play ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. Mendelssohn’s compositions consisted of romantic elements, but classical forms and techniques were also included, leading to the uniqueness of Mendelssohn’s compositions compared to the previous composers before him. Mendelssohn composition consisted of a full orchestra with the addition of the Ophicleide which is not a commonly used instrument.
In life most people have a rivalry with another person whether that just be a friendly competition or something of the opposite sort. Have you anyone in mind that could fit that descriptor? I bet you do. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the two rivals named Lysander and Demetrius fight over nearly everything that comes between the two’s interests. They may be rivals but there’s not only differences, but similarities as well. In the beginning of the play one of the first things we notice about the two are made clear to us through the quote, “Stand forth, Demetrius.--My noble lord, This man hath my consent to marry her.--Stand forth, Lysander.--Any my gracious duke, This man hath bewitched the bosom of my child.”(I,i,P.2).
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of Shakespeare’s most popular and frequently performed comical plays (Berardinelli). The play transformed into a cinematic production by Michael Hoffman has not changed in its basic plot and dialogue, but the setting and some character traits have. The play setting has been gracefully moved from 16th century Greece to 19th century Tuscany (Berardinelli). The addition of bicycles to the play affects the characters in that they no longer have to chase each other around the woods, but can take chase in a more efficient fashion. As far as characters are concerned, Demetrius is no longer the smug and somewhat rude character we find in act 1, scene 1 (Shakespeare pg. 6, line 91), but rather a seemingly indifferent gentleman placed in an unfortunate circumstance set to delay his wedding to Hermia. Perhaps the most noticeable change in the character set from stage to film occurs in the characters of Puck and Nick Bottom.
A fairy is a type of spiritual being living in the supernatural or mythical creature in European mythology. Shakespeare’s era influenced the perspective of fairies in his romantic comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream. “Shakespeare’s delineation of these little creatures is one of the most remarkable triumphs of his dramatic art” (Rolfe). The role of the fairies is to generate conflict as well as the resolution in the romantic comedy. They do this by twisting humans in the play while remaining distant from them. Based off their role we can look into the characters of Titania, Oberon, and Puck.
The freshman and sophomore classes did a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I attended the play on both nights. My family and my boyfriend also attended the play, my boyfriend to only the first night and my family to both nights. My favorite part was at the beginning, when Egeus, Lysander, Demetrius, Theseus, and Hermia are talking about who Hermia is to be with. I really love my Egeus monologue. The second night during that whole section was my favorite. Lysander (John) says in our scene something about how much he loves Hermia and why he should be with her instead of Demetrius. I felt so bad for Lysander. If I was really Egeus, at that moment I would have said, “Lysander you can be with Hermia! You are perfect for each other,” or something like that. Overall, the whole production was amazing.
Your eyelids are heavy and your mind is fogging, finally they close altogether with the weight of the eyelids and in a few minutes you have fallen into slumber. You wake up with a vivid image in your mind, but you have no inkling as to what it means. It was just a dream. Whether people can recall it or not, everyone dreams. A dream, some may argue is irrelevant; images assorted together creating nonsense. Others depict a dream as a message our mind is telling us about. Throughout the day, the mind subconsciously picks up pieces of our daily life, whether they are thoughts, emotions, ideas, or interactions. When we sleep, our brain organizes and analysis these thoughts and puts them together like a puzzle creating images we might have missed during our waking hours. The brain naturally resists chaos and is attuned to order and organization and therefore sees past the chaos and malfunctions, it begins to matrix things, such as images in the clouds. It is through dreaming that these images sort out all the chaos in the ordinary daily life and reveals a bizarre and unrealistic world, which is a reflection of the unstable reality that is actually lived in. Reality is considered unstable because it is constantly changing, moving and transforming into something else whether people are aging, dying or being born. It is a constantly changing factor that people refuse to accept and it is in our dreams that it is revealed. It is in this dream world where Shakespeare and Carroll use fantastical characters, such as fairies and the White Rabbit to exemplify the daily interactions one must make to seek the truth. It is in the court and woods, where everything is turned upside down and where what is right is wrong and what one knows, are no longe...
A Midsummer Night's Dream is, in a way, Romeo and Juliet turned inside out--a tragedy turned farcical. The tragedy both are based on is the story of "Pyramus and Thisbe." In one, Ovid's story is treated as a melodrama (in Romeo and Juliet) and in another, it is fodder for comedy (in A Midsummer Night's Dream).
the laws of man and kept in check by society's own norms. The human struggle to
“Hippolyta, I woo'd thee with my sword / And won thy love doing thee injuries /
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.
William Shakespeare, born in 1594, is one of the greatest writers in literature. He dies in 1616 after completing many sonnets and plays. One of which is "A Midsummer Night’s Dream." They say that this play is the most purely romantic of Shakespeare’s comedies. The themes of the play are dreams and reality, love and magic. This extraordinary play is a play-with-in-a-play, which master writers only write successfully. Shakespeare proves here to be a master writer. Critics find it a task to explain the intricateness of the play, audiences find it very pleasing to read and watch. "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" is a comedy combining elements of love, fairies, magic, and dreams. This play is a comedy about five couples who suffer through love’s strange games and the evil behind the devious tricks. This play begins as Theseus, the Duke, is preparing to marry Hippolyta. He woos her with his sword. Hermia is in love with Lysander. Egeus, Hermia’s father, forbids the relationship with Lysander and orders her to marry Demetrius. Demetrius loves Hermia, but she does not love him. On the other hand, Helena is in love with Demetrius. To settle the confusion, Theseus decides that Hermia must marry Demetrius or become a nun. In retaliation to her father’s command, Hermia and Lysander run away together. Amidst all the problems in the human world, Titania and Oberon, the fairy queen and king, continually argue about their various relationships that they have taken part in. (Scott 336) Titania leaves Oberon as a result of the arguments. Oberon is hurt and wants revenge on Titania. So he tells Puck, Oberon’s servant, to put a magic flower juice on her eyelids while she is sleeping. This potion causes the victim to desperately in love with the first creature that they see. Oberon’s plan is carried out, but the potion is also placed on Lysander’s eyes. Lysander awakes to see Helena, who is aimlessly walking through the woods, and instantly falls in love with her. She thinks that he is making fun of her being in love with Demetrius, so she leaves and Lysander follows. This leaves Hermia to wake up alone. Puck now has journeyed to the area where several actors are rehearsing. He uses his magic to turn one of them into a donkey, in hopes that Titania will awake to see it.
However, even though they depict the same content and the same idea, they are developed in rather different ways. The performance is more about the action and the flow of the events while the film is more about the memories and personal perception accomplished through the eyes of a witness and participant of the events. The movie is brighter and exposes over more means to depict the depth of the situation through the use of decorations and costumes. At the same time, the value of the play lies in the idea that the viewers are able to make own conclusions and see the characters with their own
Fools in A Midsummer Night's Dream In Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream the mortal teenage characters fall in love foolishly, and the character Bottom states, "O what fools these mortals be". They are foolish because they act like children. Although Lysander, Hermia, Demetrius, and Helena appear grown-up, when they are in love they act foolishly. Each of the lovers indicates that they are quite foolish: Demetrius, because he is unaware how his love changes, Helena, because she cahses Demetrius even though he does not love her, Lysander, because he persuades Hermia to run away with him, and Hermia, because she risks death for love Demetrius is a fool because he is unaware that his love changes through out the play. At the start of the play Demetrius does not love Helena.