Jeana Jago Theater History J. Robideau October,1st 2015 A Midsummer Night’s Dream In a Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare story about romantic desire. Theseus and Hippolyta, are about to be married; both of them are wonderful figures from classical mythology. (Greek Mythology) Theseus is a great warrior, a kinsman of Hercules; Hippolyta is an Amazon warrior-woman, defeated in battle by Theseus. (Theseus and Hippolyta) He was longing for the wedding day, and this is what opens the play and closing the play with their exit marriage bed. (Theseus and Hippolyta). Within the world of Athens, two young men and two young woman. They sort themselves out into marriageable couples, but only after one triangle, with Hermia ate the peak, and …show more content…
Bottom came into the woods with his companions to rehearse a play for Theseus and Hippolyta wedding. Bottom was turned into a donkey by Oberon’s companion Puck.(Sky minds) The love experience of Titania and Bottom is playing out of power, so that when the drops of magic have hit Titania eyes, when she wakes up she will fall in love with the first person that she sees, which ends up being Bottom. Finally, there is the tragic love story of “Pyramus and Thisbe,” that was written and staged by Bottom and his working companions. In this story love leads to suicide. (Sky minds) In this story there are two different worlds, Athens and the magical forest more known as the woods. Athens is where the story is set, the wood are what I like to call the farrie world. The wood is what is surrounding Athens. Athens is the real world where, they had a civilized government, because they had certain laws that you had to abide by. The woman didn’t have much control most of the woman stayed at home. Woman also didn’t always marry the man that they have fallen in love with. This is because Theseus had a say in who everyone married. (Athens) They had social classes, from who had money and who didn’t. Athenian society was broken into four main social classes - slaves, metics (non-citizen freepersons), women, and citizens, but within each of these broad classes were several sub-classes. (Social classes) The forest is a place for fun. To me it’s a place of power,
True love is shown in various places in the play. One of the earliest couples that demonstrate this is Theseus and Hippolyta. They stay true and loyal to each other, showing their desires and passion for each other. The way Theseus has portray his love to Hippolyta is by his eagerness to be wedded to her, “Another moon – but O methinks, how slow this old moon wanes!” By the end of the play, they are happily married.
Throughout A Midsummer Night’s Dream, while the story involving Lysander, Demetrius, Hermia, Helena, Oberon and Titania is developing, the rustic gentlemen (Bottom and his friends) are shown rehearsing for a play that they will perform in honor of the upcoming wedding of Theseus (the Duke of Athens) and Hippolyta. The play, “Pyramus and Thisby,” is based on a story that was told by the ancient Roman writer Ovid and retold by Chaucer. The “Pyramus and Thisby” play is not performed until the fifth and final act of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. By then, as Barton points out, the major problems of Lysander, Demetrius and the rest have all been neatly resolved. As such, the “Pyramus and Thisby” play-within-a-play “seems, in effect, to take place beyond the normal, plot-defined boundaries of comedy” (Barton 110).
Exposition: The story is set in Athens, Greece. Theseus and Hippolyta are both noble and wealthy and they were planning their wedding in 4 days. Hermia and Lysander were in love, but another guy named Demetrius was also in love with Hermia. Helena loves Demetrius but is all alone, because he does not love her. Egeus who is Hermia’s father is not happy about her relationship with Lysander, he wants her to marry Demetrius. Hermia and Lysander plan to run away to another city to be married. Helena tell Demetrius the plan hoping that he will forget Hermia and fall in love with her.
Hermia’s speech in Act 2, Scene 2, of Shakespeare 's A Midsummer Night’s Dream, contains an abundance of dream imagery. She has awoken from a terrible dream after falling asleep in the forest with Lysander. They were lost and tired so they decided to rest. Lysander wanted to sleep beside her but, she refused since they are not yet married and while they slept Puck applied a love potion on Lysander’s eyes thinking he was Demetrius. Lysander wakes and is repulsed by the sight of Hermia and never wants to see her again because he is now in love with Helena. Hermia awakes from her terrible dream and retells it thinking that Lysander is nearby listening. Then she realizes that he is not there and she does not see him anywhere. Hermia expresses the sentiment that she will find Lysander or she will surely die. She stated,
A “ Midsummer Night’s Dream” is a classical play written by William Shakespeare. It is one of his more eccentric piece of work. The play is about the struggle of love between four essential characters: Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius , and Helena. However, it is not quite that simple. The play is quite confusing. In “Midsummer Night’s dream” the play take place in two realms fairy realm and human realm, two of the three main settings. Another one of the settings take place inside the cottage of a carpenter Peter Quince. At one point during the play the realms converge Making it difficult for the audience to distinguish the difference between reality and illusion within the play. This is one of the many reasons the play is interesting or appealing. Also to add on, the symbolism of the tile and moon, and comedic elements within the play serves engage and intrigue.
The biggest obstacle in this play occurs when the power of love is challenged by authority. The play starts with Theseus, duke of Athens, being eager to marry Hippolyta, who he wooed with his sword in combat. Although Theseus promises Hippolyta that he will wed her “with pomp, with triumph, with reveling,” true love between them is questionable. By starting the play with Theseus and Hippolyta, Shakespeare hints the audience of the authority involved in their marriage and leaves the audience wonder if they actually love each other. The focus is then shifted to the four lovers: Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius and Helena - by establishing the story of Hermia being forced by her father, Egeus, to marry Demetrius, when the person she actually wants to marry is Lysander. However, Egeus
The hilarious play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, by William Shakespeare, tells the twisted love story of four Athenians who are caught between love and lust. The main characters: Hermia, Helena, Lysander, and Demetrius are in a ‘love square’. Hermia and Lysander are true love enthusiasts, and love each other greatly. Demetrius is in love with Hermia, and Helena, Hermia’s best friend, is deeply and madly in love with Demetrius. Hermia and Lysander try to elope in the woods because Egeus, Hermia’s father, disapproves of Lysander. Helena, hearing about their plans, tells Demetrius, and all four of them end up in the woods where Lysander’s quotation, “The course of true love never did run smooth”(28), becomes extremely evident due to several
Throughout the saga of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Shakespeare uses many sources and examples of irony. This play tells the convoluted story of many lovers and how their love changes. The beginning of the play starts with the story of two sworn lovers Lysander and Hermia, who are banned from marrying each other. Hermia’s father, Egeus arranges Hermia to marry Demetrius, even while Hermia’s love is claimed to Lysander. However, Hermia’s friend Helena is madly in love with Demetrius, but he disregards her completely.
A very popular comedy written by William Shakespeare, an English poet, playwright, and actor, is the play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. The play is a story of confusion and challenges faced by young lovers who are thwarted by people and circumstances who are determined to destroy their relationship. The play’s focus is on Hermia and Lysander. Two people who deliriously in love. Yet the course of true love does not run smoothly for these two.
Midsummer Night’s Dream is full of love triangles and circles, people falling in and out of love with each other. The play begins with Hippolyta and Theseus preparing for their wedding, a couple whose union is representative of our more violent sides of desires- the violence that links them in love is constantly brought up. There is also Egeus who wants Hermia to marry Demetrius, the law on his side. Egeus is in charge of Hermia’s path, a conflict of love versus law arrises, as Hermia does not wish to abide by her father’s plan for her. Demetrius loves Hermia, but Hermia is in love with Lysander and refuses to marry Demetrius, planning to run away with Lysander and get married outside of Athens (a secret which they disclose to Helena, Hermia’s friend who is in love with Demetrius). Helena, who dreams that Demetrius will fall in love with her all over again, tells Demetrius of Hermia and Lysander’s plans to run away and get married. Demetrius, now knowing this information, follows Hermia and Lysander into the woods, Helena not far behind. Helena 's is met with indifference, as the more she does to show her love to Demetrius, the more he hates her.
There are a couple different couples in this play that are in love which each other. There are Hermia and Lysander, who are in love which each other and there is Theseus and Hippolyta. “Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour, Draws on apace. Four happy days bring in, Another moon”(Act 1, Scene 1). In this quote Theseus is talking about their wedding day and how excited he is for it.
The Riverside Shakespeare’s section on A Midsummer Night’s Dream, probably one of the best-known works of Shakespeare himself, goes further still to enhance one’s own understanding of even a time-honored tale such as this. The introduction, despite containing no visuals, is still largely effective in its comprehensive presentation of such a wide range of fascinating topics. These include the progression of Shakespeare’s own comic form, the madcap and complex interweaving of different story threads contained therein, and even some deeper level thematic analysis. This arguably provides just enough for beginners to build a foundational understanding themselves, while those who are perhaps more experienced may reconsider some of their own thoughts
Quince, Bottom, and the other actors are the next characters to meander near Titania's bower. As they rehearse "Pyramus and Thisbe," Puck secretly listens, appalled by their awful acting. Deciding Bottom is the worst in the bunch, Puck gives him an ass-head. When Bottom saunters
Within the Athenian forest, besides the royal wedding being just days away, there are four young lovers wanting a happy future together. Hermia [Lucy Honigman] and Lysander [Gareth Reeves] are infatuated with one another. Meanwhile Helena [Nikki Shiels] adores Demetrius [Johnny Carr] but Demetrius loves Hermia and has her father on his side. Wanting a life together Lysander and Hermia make plans to elope in the forest, following is Demetrius who is chased by Helena, and little do they know they are not alone in the forest. Nick Bottom and his mechanicals are rehearsing to perform at the royal wedding. And beyond the humans a group of mischievous fairies. In Evans’ shortened, 90-minute version of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, an 8
Big stories going on around Athens this week. At Theseus’s palace, Theseus and Hippolyta will have their wedding, which will be held in four days. Egeus, a citizen of Athens, will force his daughter Hermia to marry Demetrius instead of her true love Lysander. A group of common laborers meets at the house of Peter Quince to rehearse a play that the men hope to perform for the grand celebration preceding the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta. Will the wedding go as planned? Will the Hermia get who she wants? Will Peter Quince and his actors get to perform at the wedding? Find out now on Midsummer's weekly.