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William Shakespeare 's A Midsummer Night 's Dream Essay

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Generally, the relationship between the sun and the moon is a metaphorical construct of the male and female gender. However, in William Shakespeare’s, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the author develops the traditional representation of a gendered sun and moon further, in order to symbolize the two celestial bodies, now, as masculine and feminine oppositions. More specifically, Shakespeare expands on the traditional idea of the sun and moon as a gender concept by identifying both as a union, and the relationships that solidify these bonds, in which he delineates the opposition of romance to the opposition of the sun and moon; in its destructive and regenerative aspect, the moon accompanies the resolution of the conflicts, that is, the infidelity between lovers, and shed its light over a return to individual and social order.
As a result, the function of moon imagery shift according to the lunar cycle (old and new phases), which subsequently, creates the play’s themes of dreamscape, female bodily change and chastity, and most importantly, the romance and infidelities experienced in a relationship. Psychologically, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, starts in the light of day, symbolizing consciousness, and descends into the depths of the unconscious, moonless night. Similarly, Shakespeare’s use of moon imagery assumes a new, or invisible, phase laying the foundation for the texts theme of dreamscape; consequently, the dreamscape theme and the imagery of the moon are reduced to

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