The Use of Insult Comedy
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a play written by William Shakespeare. The play portrays many different types of comedy. Insult comedy is a genre where offensive things are said to someone to make the audience laugh. For example, in Act III, Scene 2, Lysander is insulting Hermia on her size. He says,
“Get you gone, dwarf; You minimus, of hindering knot-grass made; / You bead, you acorn” (3.2.342-344).
Demetrius is trying to insult Hermia by making fun of how short she is. The audience recognizes this as a comedy because Demetrius is being over dramatic and comparing Hermia to the size of an acorn. Hermia cannot possibly be the size of a little acorn. Therefore, this moment portrays insult comedy. An additional example
Shakespeare’s use of situational irony shows the humor side of appearance versus reality arguing that it can create ideas of what people believe and think. A humorous moment supporting the play’s meaning was when Don Pedro, Leonato, and Claudio all tricked Benedick into thinking Beatrice loved him. Knowing Benedick is listening they say, “‘By my
Titania is uncertain whether her vision is a dream or reality, because dreams are soon
In a Midsummer Night’s Dream, Oberon is a fairy that has an extremely testy relationship with his wife Titania. At one point Oberon even wishes her dead, “Wake when some vile thing is near” (2.2.23). While at yet another time he pities her for falling in love with a mortal and reverses the spell that he put there in the first place. Most times you can’t even tell that they are married their actions are so bizarre towards each other.. So yes, you could say that Oberon loves Titania in his own extremely wacky and potentially dangerous way, but it is love nonetheless.
true love, it cannot be made with a magic potion. In order to get true love you have
Mandy Conway Mrs. Guynes English 12 16 March 2000 A Critical Analysis of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" 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
A feminist approach is an analysis of the nature of gender inequality. For example, Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream can be analyzed from this standpoint to reveal the application and absence of gender stereotypes. In particular, Hermia, Helena, and Titania chase love and claim independence while simultaneously being oppressed by male dominance. Although, analyzed from a feminist approach, Helena, Hermia, and Titania portray biological inequality, they also illustrate gender stereotype defiance. Using feminist analysis, it is evident that Helena, Hermia, and Titania are subjected to gender stereotypes.
Love is a term used daily in one’s life. Many categorize love in many forms. These forms differ from one-another such as the difference between love for food and love for one’s spouse. However, in the play; “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, love takes different forms than the ones experienced in reality. One can classify the different types of love used in this play into three different categories; true love, love produced by cupid’s flower, and the state of lust.
In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, one of the most poignant similes occurs when Theseus advises Hermia that she should yield to her father’s wishes because she is his creation, a figure in wax, and he has the power to command her, mold her, or destroy her at will (MND I.I.49-51). In Athenian society, a woman is expected to yield control of her life to men and to allow them to mold her affections to their will. The simile of a woman as a wax figure suggest that the only resolution to conflict is for the woman to yield and mold to meet the man’s expectations. The play overall, however, suggests that the better resolution to conflict, and the better path to a happy ending, comes in the form of a man conforming to the wishes of the woman, like a moldable wax figure.
The supernatural world is rather distinct to that of the human world entrenched in societal standards and boundaries. Shakespeare’s play, ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, explores this concept, particularly through the use of Puck. In agreement to Harold Bloom’s statement, the following essay will analyse how Puck is significant because, by being so disparate, he is able to show the limitations of the human. This will be done through, first, exploring a definition of the human in relation to the supernatural. Subsequently, the essay will use a Freudian lense to analyse the morality of Puck and, lastly, the essay will focus on Puck’s physical characteristics as well as his ability to span across boundaries in the play and the metatheatrical realm.
I will show how love and marriage is viewed in William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” The Elizabethan views on love and marriage are different. Some of these ideas are reflected in William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Romantic relationships make up a big part of the play. There are several themes that deserve to be explored, in more detail.
In “A Midsummer Night's Dream” is a play with light comedy. Traces the romantic getaways of four young Athenian lovers; Lysander, Demetrius, Hermia, and Helena who were in the woods trying to escape from the life they didn’t want. Theseus, Duke of Athens, is preparing for his marriage to Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, a four-day festival and entertainment to everybody in the palace. Egeus a nobleman, walks into Theseus’s court with his daughter, Hermia, and two men, Demetrius and Lysander. Egeus wants her daughter to marry Demetrius even tough Hermia is in love with Lysander.
The play, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by William Shakespeare, is about four lovers and their "dreamlike" adventure through a fairy ruled forest. There are many different characters in this play and they each play their own individual role in how the play is performed and read. Three main characters that showed great characteristics are: Puck, Tom Bottom, and Helena. The play, "A Midsummer Nights Dream" by William Shakespeare, uses characters and their conflicts to give meaning to this piece of literature.
So, basically, Helena is encouraged by Demetrius’s insults and threats. This example proves how her thoughts and actions are irrational in every way, but can be quite humorous to Shakespeare’s audience.
Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a play that utilises comedy to convey complex ideas that are seen throughout the play, concepts like the jealousy Helena has towards Hermia, Egeus’s strong hostility towards Hermia and Lysander’s relationship and unrequited love. He uses comical tools like unconscious irony and hyperbole to turn rather difficult topics into humorous representations of them. Events like how Puck thinks Titania had fallen in love with him, not knowing he was bearing the head of an ass, are portrayed in a humorous way so the viewer understands the meaning, but sees it as a light- hearted narrative. Shakespeare carefully uses comedy that does not overpower the meaning of the play, but puts a completely different perspective on some of the themes.
If there was no such thing as sympathy, empathy, or love in our world, it would be a hard place to live. If there was no hard law or reason in our world, it would be a crazy place to live. Neither of these worlds would be anybody’s first choice as a home - it's just common sense take away either of these two fundamental aspects of life, and everything is immediately chaos. In fact, it is only in a world such as ours, where legal and human emotion work together, that we are happy. In William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare recognizes this truth and uses the two settings to represent the city of Athens as law, order, civility, and judgment, while the woods represent chaos, incivility, dreams, and love.