Category: Comedy
Date of First Performance: 1595-1596 (?)
Synopsis:
One of the most beloved works of Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a frothy confection of a play that
interweaves three distinct storylines, and entangles many lovers within its plot.
Theseus, the Duke of Athens, is set to marry his beloved – Hippolyta, the Queen
of the Amazons. A group of amateur actors prepare themselves to regale the
royal couple with an astonishingly bad theatrical performance.
Egeus, a subject of
Theseus, pleads with him to compel his daughter, Hermia to marry the suitor of
his choice – Demetrius. Though Theseus counsels Hermia to abide by her father’s
wishes, Hermia and her lover – Lysander - decide to elope, and rather unwisely,
reveal their plans to Helena, Hermia’s best friend. Helena, who is herself
languishing in unrequited love for Demetrius, spills the beans to the latter
for reasons that make little sense. Subsequently, this love quadrangle finds itself
in the woods where the Fairy Queen and King have their own feud to settle. The King,
Oberon, is pestering the Queen to hand over her little human charge. His
motives can only strike the modern reader as sinister. When she refuses, he
decides to extract spiteful magical revenge by having her become helplessly
infatuated with the first fool that she sets eyes on.
As chance would have
it, the man to fit the bill is Nick Bottom, a malapropism-prone amateur actor.
Meanwhile, Oberon also takes it upon himself to run interference for the Athenian
lovers; except his plans go awry. With a little more magic, the complications
are cleared up – either everybody gets what they wanted, or they end up liking
what they get.
That’s some speech!
The course of true love never did
run smooth…
(Act I. Sc. I)
Hermia and Lysander
bemoan their situation, but console each other that it is the universal lot of lovers.
Famous Phrases
“Lord, what fools these mortals be!”
(Act III. Sc. II)
The wrong man’s eyes have
been anointed with the love potion, and mischief-loving Puck anticipates the
ensuing mayhem.
While we’re on the subject…
“This is the silliest stuff that ever
I heard.” (Hippolyta)
“The best in this kind are but
shadows, and the worst are no worse, if imagination amend them.” (Theseus)
(Act V. Sc. I)
Hippolyta’s criticism
of ‘Pyramus and Thisbe’ echoes 17th. Century diarist, Samuel Pepys’
opinion of AMND: “the most insipid, ridiculous play that ever I saw”
I’m guessing that the
Bard knew that he had written fluff this time around, and in Theseus’ words,
craves the audience’s indulgence.
The play might seem
lightweight in comparison with some of his other works, but there are very
respectable reasons for its endurance. Consider the juxtaposition of contrasts –
the gracious, mature relationship of Theseus and Hippolyta versus the bickering
Fairy King and Queen, or the love-addled younger couples. The restrained
elegance and order of Athens’s law-abiding society is a stark contradiction to
the unruly chaos of the enchanted forest. While the lovers may speak in
hyperbole, the speech of the fairy-folk is pure poetry.
“Cupid is a knavish lad
Thus to make poor females mad.”
(Act III. Sc. II)
Lysander and Demetrius,
under the influence of the potion, display a dizzying change from ardent swain
to despicable swine. Shakespeare, like Puck, seems to sympathize with Hermia
and Helena, the bewildered objects of their transitory affections and loutish
behavior.
“Lovers and madmen have such seething
brains,
Such shaping fantasies that
apprehend
More than cool reason ever
comprehends
The lunatic, the lover, and the
poet
Are of imagination all compact.”
(Act V. Sc. I)
Love is inspired
insanity.
“I have had a most rare vision…”
(Bottom)
(Act IV. Sc. I)
Zhuangzi said it in
lovelier words:
I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I
was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man.
Bottom, the befuddled
weaver, may not have had the eloquence of the Chinese philosopher, but he probably
would have understood what he meant. This much we can say about Bottom in
comparison to many of the other characters in the play – at least he didn’t
make a complete ass of himself.
Fun Fact
AMND was the bard’s
follow-up act to Romeo and Juliet. He
might have continued the theme of star-crossed lovers, but gave it a happy
ending.
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