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how is magic used in the play a midsummer nights dream
critical analysis of a midsummer Night's Dream
how is magic used in the play a midsummer nights dream
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William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Nights Dream and L. Frank Baum's The Wizard Of Oz
L. Frank Baum is the author of one of the most magical fairy tales
ever brought to our screens. A series of books were written and in
1939 created into a film. It was a masterpiece that was to be one of
the biggest films ever made, enjoyed by children and adults all over
the world. There are many reasons why this film has the element of
magic, one of the reasons I found when researching was that this film
did not only have one director, but several, Victor Fleming was the
main director but for personal reasons other directors were bought in,
Richard Thorpe and King Vidor. With the three imaginations of these
geniuses a classic was born. The story of 'The Wizard Of Oz' is a
story of a young girl whose imagination creates a world 'Somewhere
over the Rainbow.' Choosing to take L. Franks Baum's ideas and do the
Wizard of Oz for out Children's theater was an easy choice as all of
us had grown up watching the film and singing the songs. We wanted to
create a magic that the kids would become enchanted by, for this magic
we turned to 'A Midsummer Nights Dream'.
'A Midsummer Nights Dream was written in 1595 by William Shakespeare.
William Shakespeare's legendary status as a man of the theatre has
crossed time and place. Respected as an artist of considerable merit
in his own time, his reputation has expanded in the more than four
hundred years since his birth to classify him as one of the greatest
writers who has ever lived.So it should be no surprise that although
it isn't a story read by children, (because of the Shakespearean
language used.) we turned to M...
... middle of paper ...
...r the Lion, two emotions that the film its self
conjures up.
There is a main theme that connects a play that was written during a
time of war and killing and a play that was written over 400 hundred
years ago, dreams. Things have changed, year after year, since The
Wizard Of Oz was made into a movie things have dramatically changed
but one thing that remains, is that we all dream, no matter how old,
young, childish or mature we are. Our imaginations are let lose as we
are sleeping, this is why everyone can identify in someway between a
midsummer nights dream and The wizard of oz. Another common theme
comes at the end of both plays, was it a dream or was it a reality? A
question that is never answered in either plays, this gives children a
chance to make up there own minds, leaving the stories with them for
years.
Shakespeare has a way of creating his characters so the audience can relate to them in a way. In his villains we see the negative characteristics that are in ourselves and others around us; things that often define the “natural man” such as greed or jealousy. With the entire terrible and treacherous thing that Shakespeare makes his villains do, he always manages to make them human in a way. As if he is meaning to display that no matter how twisted a person can be, they are still a person. In Shakespeare’s plays Othello, Hamlet, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the villains share the characteristics of greed, clever and conniving ways, and recklessness; however, they all bring their own features to the table.
Hermia , Lysander , Helena and Demetrius represent young love in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream . They are potrayed as foolish and fickle , acting like children and requiring a parental figure to guide them . The parental figures are Hermia’s father , Egeus , and figuratively Theseus , the mortal ruler , and Oberon , the mystical ruler.
The novel The One Who Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest written by Ken Kesey and The Crucible play written by Arthur Miller are both strong texts which represent a lot of important discourses. This essay will compare and contrast both texts by analysing the main discourses relevant to both texts. The One Who Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest was written in 1959 and published in 1962. It is set in a mental institution which investigates the process and the human mind. The novel constantly raises concern for the authorities that control individuals through subtle and forced methods. The Crucible is set in a notional society, in which the church and the community are seen as one and religion is a strict passage which controls one’s life. In the Crucible, there is no room for deviation from social norms, since any individual whose life doesn’t imitate to the established laws, represents a great threat to the public and to the rules of true religion according to god. This Consequently results in great punishment and shame on the culprits identity. Both texts display strong discourses such as disempowerment/empowerment, woman’s status in society and authority. These discourses are portrayed through characters in both texts which will be compared and contrasted throughout this essay.
The films Young Frankenstein and One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest can be viewed as a critical analysis of society’s issues and dysfunctions in the form of satire and parody using humor. While Young Frankenstein, Mel Brooks cinematic version of the gothic novel, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, uses parody in the form of Horatian satire, which is achieved through gentle ridicule and using a tone that is indulgent, tolerant, amused and witty. The film One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the adaptation of the Ken Kesey novel, uses a form of satire called Juvenalian satire which is demonstrated in the form of attacks on vice and error with contempt and indignation. Horatian satire will produce a humor response from the reader instead of anger or indignation as Juvenalian satire. Juvenalian satire, in its realism and its harshness, is in strong contrast to Horatian satire (Kent and Drury).
In 1939, Victor Fleming made a film version of L. Frank Baum’s novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.” However, both the novel and the film focuses or touches on the same moral, it features the protagonist Dorothy who resides in Kansas the farm, along with her aunt Em and uncle Henry as well as her dog Toto. Both Baum’s novel and Fleming’s 1939 film adaptation the setting is in Kansas which is described as a small farm which Dorothy lives in which in Baum’s novel is picturized as gloomy, grey and dull. Throughout Fleming’s adaptation of Baum’s “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” there are a number of differences which presents itself in a direct manner on screen as well as similarities. The variety of changes in the film’s adaptation tends to take away from the meaning of L. Frank Baum’s depiction in his novel to a certain level and extent.
In the plays A Midsummer Night’s Dream, by William Shakespeare, and A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams, love is what makes a person irrational. Throughout both plays, the idea of love constantly plagues the characters thoughts, and is the idea behind their actions.
In the road of life, the right path may not always be where the road signs lead. The road to self-discovery is found by following one’s heart and mind and to wherever they may lead them. Within the plays Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, and Our Town by Thornton Wilder, parallel pathways and contrary connections can be established between the characters coinciding in both. In Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman is the portrait of a sixty year old man reflecting upon his past, one of lies and hopelessness. Upon coming about his past, he finally and fatally, discovers himself at the end of his life. Mr. Webb from Our Town plays the figure of an editor of Grover’s Corner Sentinel and loving father of Emily. Early in the play, he displays knowledge over his own self-discovery, which he hopes to tell others. The self-discovered Mr. Webb raised Emily coherently as a woman who in the end recognized the value of life. Married to George Gibbs, her life was very much comparable to Linda Loman, married to Willy Loman. Linda Loman was a woman dedicated to the needs of her spouse, but also therefore blind to the real needs that Willy desired. In the end, she still was left wondering why or what had gone wrong. Interlocked by protruding parallel traits of progressive self-awareness, these characters promoted the two plays to a higher level of understanding.
Shakespeare's comedies A Midsummers Night's Dream and Much Ado About Nothing have many parallels while Measure for Measure is a problem play with a completely different tone. Comparing and contrasting these three plays provides insights into the views of Shakespeare concerning comedy.
In the play Othello by William Shakespeare, the character Othello is portrayed as a fairly good man. By some, he may be known as a bad person but he has become greatly beneficial to the growth of Venice and the state of Cyprus. Othello is a good man even if he committed murder to his wife because he is a great war general and contributed to Cyprus in time of need.
Throughout history literature has changed into many different forms and styles, it has also stayed the same in many different ways, literary techniques and elements are key to a good piece of writing, a perfect example that shows us just this is in, A Midsummer Nights Dream, where we will further explore the different literary elements that were used most notably the plot. The plot of a story lays out the foundation and the background for the entire play to come, we'll compare and contrast this element and look at the different sub elements which are produced. We will define similarities and difference in these elements form both the play o the film. Taking a look at things such as climax, play incidents, and the conflict will all give us a better understanding of how it affects the similarities and difference of the film versus the play.
The reader’s first impression that this play revolves around a recurring theme of dreams is from the title. As the title suggests, dreams are going to and do, essentially play a very important role in this production because major events that occur within the play are all centered on and around the characters’ dreams. A second clue regarding the role of dreams is found in ...
Shakespeare wrote his acclaimed comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream more than a thousand years after Apuleius’ Roman novel, The Golden Ass. Although separated by thousands of years and different in terms of plot and setting, these works share the common theme of a confused and vulnerable man finding direction by relying on a supernatural female. One of A Midsummer Night’s Dream’s many subplots is the story of Bottom, a comical figure determined to be taken seriously in his production of a Pyramus and Thisbe. As Bottom becomes caught up in a quarrel between the king and queen of the fairies, the commanders of the enchanted forest where Bottom and his players practice, the “shrewd and knavish sprite” Puck transforms his head into an ass’ s and leads him to be enthralled in a one night stand with the queen, Titania. (2.1.33) Apuleius’s protagonist Lucius endures a similar transformation, after his mistress’s slave girl accidentally bewitches him into a donkey, leaving him even without the ability to speak. Although Lucius’ transformation lasts longer and is more severe, he and Bottom both undergo similar experiences resulting from their animal forms. Lucius’ suffering ultimately leads him to salvation through devotion the cult of Isis, and Bottom’s affair with Titania grants him clarity and a glimpse into similar divine beauty. Ultimately, both asinine characters are saved through their surrender to the goddesses.
Though Shakespeares’ Hamlet and Sophocles’ Oedipus the King were written in two different eras, echoes of the latter can be found in the former. The common theme of Hamlet and Oedipus the King is regicide. Also, like in Oedipus the King, there is a direct relationship between the state of the state and the state of their kings. Furthermore, there is also a relationship between Oedipus’ armed entrance into the bedroom in which Jocasta hanged herself, and Hamlet’s confrontation of Gertrude in her bedroom. Both plays share the emphasis on a tragic irony in the chain of events that lead up to ritual of catharsis, but the plot of Hamlet makes a much more complicated character than that of the classic Greek tragedy of Oedipus the King.
William Shakespeare often compares imagination and reality in his plays. He explores this comparison through the role and purpose of the forests in Midsummer Night's Dream and As You Like It. Midsummer Night's Dream focuses on imagination and escape, while As You like It focuses on reality and self discovery.
Shakespeare's comedies can be recognized in terms of plot, structure and characters. We can see that Shakespearean comedies follow the same structural pattern, a basic plot on which the play is based. For example, a key feature of all comedies is that they depend upon the resolution of their plots. However, Shakespeare's comedies are distinguishable, as some are classed as comic dramas and others as romantic comedies. In comic drama, there is usually a motif of a place where reality and the unreal merge, the roles of characters are reversed and identities are mistaken or lost. This place may take on the form of a feast or celebration, or it may be presented as a place segregated from the normal society, such as the wood in A Midsummer Night's Dream. When scenes are set in this place, the ordinary rules of life and society do not apply. There is always an experience of chaos, which must be resolved in order for the play to become a true comedy.