Fantasy vs. Reality in a Midsummer Night's Dream Essay

A Misummer Night’s Dream is a comedy play written by William Shakespeare. In this play there are multiple themes however the most evident theme is love. Why is love an evident theme? It is an evident theme because the play commences with two Greek mythology characters─ the Duke of Athens, Theseus and Amazon queen Hippolita planning their marriage. However as Theseus plans his marriage he has to help Egeus persuade his daughter Hermia to marry Demetrius. Unfortunately both the Duke and Egeus failed to persuade Hermia into marrying Demetrius so the fairies (another set of characters. The fairies in this play consisted of goddess of chastity and Queen of fairies, Titania and King of fairies Oberon and his assistance Robin Goodfellow) decide

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.

In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare makes heavy use of hyperbole, the twisting of reality into something greater than what it actually is, in both the dialogue and the ridiculous, larger-than-life nature of the situations that occur to provide a basis for the conflict between reality and illusion, blurring the line that separates the two concepts.

In many of Shakespeare’s literary works one can find multiple themes that reflect or question our reality. He accomplishes this by using figurative language such as metaphors and similes. Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream encompasses many themes and apply them to certain characters or through communication between multiple characters. Helena portrays themes of love, betrayal, jealousy, and gender norms in Midsummer Night’s Dream presenting them through her speech and behavior. She depicts the challenges of a woman and also the flaws of human nature. In Act 2 scene 1 and Act 3 scene 2 Helena uses a metaphor twice which emulates these themes presenting us a broader understanding of her representation within the play and the play as a whole. Following are lines from Helena.

Comparing a play to its movie adaptation is something that is hard to do since there is no tangible way a person can capture the original then change it to make the movie version of it up to par to the original. From the original play of A Midsummer’s Night Dream that was created by Shakespeare in the movie version of it created by Michael Hoffman, there are many similarities and differences that are in the movie some are very stark while others are very subtle differences.

A Midsummer’s Night Dream by William Shakespeare demonstrates that imagination is an amazing thing, as it allows the audience to think differently and be unique and form new ideas, concepts and images. Shakespeare’s play uses an immense amount of imagination to help develop the story create conflicts and complications to engage the audience. Imagination is also used in the way Shakespeare presents the play to the audience and in the way the characters are presented.

The fairy king and queen live in a type of parallel universe to their human counterparts. The forest that they live in represents a break from reality, or at least the reality initially presented. Despite their supernatural abilities, Oberon and Titania endure arguments like any couple, which instantly creates a blurring of reality and fantasy in the play. It is from an argument regarding the young Indian prince that propels Oberon to be at odds with his wife, which compels him to create chaos through magic. He is driven by the love for his wife, and love is also a prevalent theme throughout the play. It is love that drives all the characters, and not always rationally. As Robert Dent writes in his article, “Imagination in A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, “love sees with that part of the mind that has no taste of judgment (177)”, which is clearly displayed by the couples in the play. Interestingly, the blurring of reality and illusion originates with a lover’s spat, highlighting the impact that love can have on reality.

William Shakespeare is the author of the comedy play ‘A Midsummer Nights Dream’. This play was written around 1595. In this essay I will be answering the question how does Shakespeare creates humour in act 5 scene 1. There are many reasons as to how the play was humorous; one of the main reasons was the staging you would have the real audience, the court on the stage and on the original stage you would have the mechanicals perform. The other reasons on how Shakespeare creates humour are with the characters (fairies, court and mechanicals) and the repetitive incorrect use of language and errors. An example of this could be when in act 5 scene 1

In his comedic play, A Midsummers Night Dream (1595), William Shakespeare utilizes the enchanting adventures of young Athenian lovers and a group of low-class rudimentary actors and their shared experiences with supernatural creatures to portray the opportunity of being in command of their destiny. By presenting conflicts to these three diverse realms, Shakespeare allows these characters to connect despite their hierarchical distinctions to reveal their determination to conquer their adversity. He uses dramatic irony, metaphor, and symbolism to heighten the audience's awareness of their self-determination and their firm control on their future. Shakespeare inspires the public by instilling in them that despite their challenging circumstances, they can still be masters of their own fate, bestowing a feeling of newfound hope and freewill.

Oprah Winfrey once said, “The best thing about dreams is that fleeting moment, when you are between asleep and awake, when you don't know the difference between reality and fantasy, when for just that one moment you feel with your entire soul that the dream is reality, and it really happened.” But, what actually is a dream and what do dreams really have to do with one’s everyday life? In essence, a dream is a series of mental images and emotions occurring during slumber. Dreams can also deal with one’s personal aspirations, goals, ambitions, and even one’s emotions, such as love and hardship. However, dreams can also give rise to uneasy and terrible emotions; these dreams are essentially known as nightmares. In today’s society, the concept

Shakespeare’s epilogue at the end of A Midsummer Night’s Dream has haunted many critics and resulted in numerous interpretations. Through Robin, he clearly gives the audience a message, but

Shakespeare plays with the boundaries between fantasy and reality. Like the reality and illusion and the mirrored world of fair and human. He looks at into man’s conflict with characteristics of human behavior. A Midsummer Night’s Dream contains many supernatural elements for example magic and transformation. Oberon is one of the characters that abuse the power of magic. Oberon is the King of the Fairies, his magic affects his own life, and the lives of other characters and everyone experience his magic differently. Oberon is married to Titania, Queen of the Fairies, who got an Indian boy from her friend who passed away. Oberon desperately wants the Indian boy to be one of his followers, but the boy is one of Titania followers and she will not give him up. This is when Oberon decides to use magic so he could win the Indian boy. Oberon uses the magic of a flower to make his wife, Titania fall in love with the creature she sees. Oberon says, “Fetch me that flower; the herd I shew’d thee once: / The juice of it in sleeping eye-lids laid / Will make or man or woman madly dote

The two locations of Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' are essential to the development of the plot, although their presentation relies wholly on the characters we meet there, their adventures and their descriptions of these places. Athens is not an accidental choice of location: although much of the detail of the play is quintessentially English, the classical setting enables Shakespeare to introduce the notable lawgiver, who has had his own problems in love; it makes plausible the reference to the severe law, and it allows Oberon to refer seriously to Cupid and Diana without the play's seeming blasphemous.

The Theme of Appearance vs. Reality in William Shakespeare's Works Characters within one of William Shakespeare's greatest tragic plays,

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.