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The supernatural theme in a midsummer nights dream
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Out of all of his thirty-eight plays he wrote between the years 1589 and 1613, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is believed to be one of his only works to be so diverse in genre. This play is considered a comedy, with a fantastical twist, making it one of a kind, yet not generally accepted in the time of its publication (Midsummer 34). By integrating supernatural beings and the use of their powers into the piece, Shakespeare adds a feeling of whim and fantasy that none of his other works exude. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, William Shakespeare includes the use of supernatural powers in every act and scene to change the way the audience perceives the play.
The fairy world in A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the center of the supernatural powers in this piece. By including this world between the city of Athens and the outer forest, the personalities of the characters are drastically changed. By separating the two worlds, the expectations of the young couples melt away. In the fairy realm, the couples are not expected to be anything other than young. One example of this is the character Robin Goodfellow, also known as Puck. As he runs about creating havoc for the couples of Athens, there is an air of childlike innocence that suggests that the world of the fairies is about being true to yourself, and the world does not put pressure on the couples to be proper or act in a certain way.
Shakespeare also includes the use of a magic potion to kick start the actual plot line of the “star-crossed lovers” scenario that he is so famous for creating. The potion is first introduced by Oberon, the King of the fairy world, who gives an order to Puck to anoint the eyes of the young Athenian man, essentially ending the feud the two young Ath...
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By including supernatural powers, Shakespeare adds elements of comedy, while also creating a whimsical scenery. Throughout the play, Shakespeare includes powers that the audience can only equate to supernatural, but they can also relate. These powers, although absurd and definitely fictional, remind the audience of their childlike side, just like the one Robin Goodfellow seems to portray (Midsummer 35). A Midsummer Night’s Dream draws on the fantasies and daydreams of the audience to truly enhance the experience the viewers have during the play.
Works Cited
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Errant Eros and the Bottomless Dream”. William Shakespeare: The Comedies. 1992. Gale Virtual Reference Library. 12 Nov. 2013.
Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Night's Dream. 2nd Revised Ed. New York: Signet Classics, 1998. Print.
In Shakespeare’s Midsummer’s Night Dream he entices the reader using character development, imagery, and symbolism. These tools help make it a wonderful play for teens, teaching them what a well-written comedy looks like. As well as taking them into a story they won’t soon forget.
Exerting the type of power that is influenced by malicious intentions can cause one to make decisions that are not beneficial to others. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is written within a time period and setting that favors men instead of woman. In other words, men have all the authority to control the events that occur in their own lives as well as the lives of others whom are considered insignificant. The plot displays the catalysts that ignite many characters’ desire for control that is misused by higher status people. Shakespeare’s use of characterization demonstrates how the wanting of control causes the characters to act irrationally through the misuse of power. Shakespeare’s use of setting, plot and characterization causes the ordeals that the characters ultimately face. In turn, the deceitful choices of a few individuals with status impacts whether the lives of lower status people are enhanced.
Color, for writers through the ages, has been a telling element. A Midsummer Night’s Dream should be no exception to this element. The characters of the story tell a tale of magic; complete with fairies, potions, and a donkey’s head. Each of these effects brings enchantment to the story, charm that can not necessarily be employed naturally on a Middle English stage. The play, itself, talks on the magic that is A Midsummer Night’s Dream,
In conclusion, in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare effectively uses the motifs of the seasons, the moon, and dreams to show that love, irrationality, and disobedience directly cause chaos. By calling to mind the seasons in unnatural order, describing the moon behaving strangely, and discussing the dualistic, irrational nature of dreams, Shakespeare effectively evokes a sense of chaos and disorder. Linking each of these motifs to the themes of love, irrationality, and disobedience allows Shakespeare to illustrate the disarray that is bound to result from any romance.
The use and misuse of magic has an important role in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. As a reoccurring theme, Puck’s use of magic creates humor, conflict and balance in the play.
The fairy world then comes into contact with the world of the young lovers. Mischievous Puck causes further complications when he uses magic to anoint a young Athenian male’s eyes, who is in fact the wrong Athenian that Oberon assigned Puck. Puck misuses magic when he plays a silly prank on Bottom who is one of the Mechanicals, by giving Bottom a head of an ass. Strangely Titania falls in love with the creature that Puck has created. This results in Oberon becoming extreamly fu...
William Shakespeare’s writings are famous for containing timeless, universal themes. A particular theme that is explored frequently in his writings is the relationship between men and women. A Midsummer Night’s Dream contains a multitude of couplings, which are often attributed to the fairies in the play. Each of these pairings has positive and negative aspects, however, some relationships are more ideal than others. From A Midsummer Night’s Dream the optimal pairings are Lysander and Hermia, Demetrius and Helena, and Oberon and Titania; while the less desirable pairings are Theseus and Hippolyta, Hermia and Demetrius, Lysander and Helena, and Titania and Bottom. Throughout A Midsummer
Love is a powerful emotion, capable of turning reasonable people into fools. Out of love, ridiculous emotions arise, like jealousy and desperation. Love can shield us from the truth, narrowing a perspective to solely what the lover wants to see. Though beautiful and inspiring when requited, a love unreturned can be devastating and maddening. In his play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, William Shakespeare comically explores the flaws and suffering of lovers. Four young Athenians: Demetrius, Lysander, Hermia, and Helena, are confronted by love’s challenge, one that becomes increasingly difficult with the interference of the fairy world. Through specific word choice and word order, a struggle between lovers is revealed throughout the play. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare uses descriptive diction to emphasize the impact love has on reality and one’s own rationality, and how society’s desperate pursuit to find love can turn even strong individuals into fools.
William Shakespeare is one of the most well-known authors in history. His works of literature have been studied for years. Shakespeare’s comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, is one of seventeen. Shakespeare knew he was a fantastic author whose work would be admired much after he passed away. He used creative literary devices to add suspense and interest to his writings. One of those includes using a play within a play. Shakespeare uses a play within a play in A Midsummer Night’s Dream to add depth and elaboration to the comedy’s theme.
Considered to be the greatest playwright to ever have lived, William Shakespeare’s works continue to fascinate and entrance audiences around the world. Imbued with imagery, his comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream is perhaps one of his more fantastic but none the less intricate plays. Presiding over the proceedings, the moon is the uniting feature of the play. With its multi-layered symbolism it is the thread that connects the different characters and weaves the tale together.
Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Night's Dream. The Norton Shakespeare: Greenblatt, Stephen, editor. New York: W W Norton & Company, 1997.
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.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream portrays magic through many places in the text. Magic is a key component to the plot of the story. Magic can make a problem disappear, or it can intensify the problem. There are many reasons magic is powerful, but one of the main ones is because not everyone understands it. Magic in one way or another affects everyone in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but the perspective with which each character views magic is different. The power of magic is something that is hard to understand, even those who use magic often cannot fully understand magic because in many ways it is irrational and inexplicable.
A very old Shakespeare’s play “A Midsummers Night Dream” believed to be written in 1590 and 1596 was a classical idea of fantasy. It portrays the journey of four young lovers and their interactions with fairies. They story takes place in a mythical city called Athens with an enchanted forest, where a fairy king misguides the star-crossed lovers and plays tricks on his fairy queen by transforming a poor actor into a half-donkey. This work focuses on human interactions with falling in love.
The first interpretation of the title of the play that comes to my mind was the magical dream-like night in the woods, when Robin Goodfellow and Oberon, the king of the fairies, used several kinds of love potions, and messed everything up. When the lovers awoke in the morning they thought all of the ridiculous things that had happened or been said the night before had just all been a dream. However, if Oberon had been more specific in his directions to Robin, "a sweet Athenian lady is in love with a disdainful youth. Anoint his eyes... thou shalt know the man by the Athenian garments he hath on," all of this could have been avoided and everything would have been fine (page 53). This gives insight to the thematic nature of the work by setting a magical like atmosphere for the lovers to be in.