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In a reply to this thread, write about your ideas for Essay I. You are free to reply to another student’s comment if you’re writing on a the same theme–sometimes conversation is more helpful than simply waiting for your instructor to check in!
Some tips:
- The sooner you post, the sooner you’re likely to receive a response.
- The more detailed you can be about your ideas the more helpful folks can be. This is also the first opportunity to begin refining your ideas. If you wait until your really writing your rough draft, it will be more difficult.
- Try to articulate a clear theme that is sufficiently narrow and be able to define it (e.g. Instead of “magic” try to narrow it to a type of magic, or the situations to which it is most often applied).
- Try to establish a motive for your essay, or a way to explain why you’re writing about the theme you’ve chosen. What is it about the theme that is not only important for you, but for understanding the play? Why is the theme important to people living in the world now (or, why do people now care about what Shakespeare or people of Shakespeare’s time thought about the theme)? After all, if there’s nothing of value in it, let’s stop reading the play! This can be harder than it looks. Avoid hyperbolic language (e.g. Shakespeare is the greatest writer in the world, so we should care about his ideas regarding true love).
- Try to come up with at least three concrete examples you can use to discuss the theme. The more you have, the more you can throw out if they don’t work, later.
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The theme I am choosing for my essay is love, more specifically, the weakness of it. While the proposed idea of doubles/interchangeability is interesting, I want to specifically talk about how and why these couples are interchangeable. Since the couples in A Midsummer Night’s Dream since to be just as easily linked as they are broken, with records of apathy and tension amongst the couples, along with the premise of reusing actors for certain characters, showcase that the love depicted in this play is mostly lustful. Not in a sexual manner, but an emotional type of lust in which one clings to the immediate sensation and euphoria that comes of having one to pour your love in and feeling that reciprocation. There’s a clear contrast to these teenage-like love as well between Theseus and Hippolyta to Oberon and Titania, whose relationships are dry and seemingly forced for the sake of titles, despite the slight heartfelt scene with the fairy king and queen towards the end. This seems important to me, and distinguishes itself from the theme of interchangeability, since it portrays on two different contrasts how people fool themselves into believing a feeling of love and how it influnces people into maddening thoughts and actions. Especially when comparing this to a play like Romeo and Juliet, it makes one wonder how Shakespeare truly feels about the concept of love in general and what it truly means to be in love, since this play displays rather blunt cases of lacking love, while Romeo and Juliet has subtle signs (such as Romeo dropping Rosaline for Juliet without even talking to Juliet, and the reoccurring themes of lust in that play as well. In the overall world view, it seems like Shakespeare suggests that most loves are of lust, and tend to die, either literally or figuratively, before they can actually be seen to develop to mature love. But in a mature love as we see with Theseus and Hippolyta, clearly there’s a lack of genuineness and more of a concern of roles and holding the image of love rather than actually being in love.
The scenes I have in mind are Oberon and Titania’s in act 2.1, and the lovers quarrel going on in act 3.2. For 2.1, I would mostly draw the lines of accusations between the two fairy rulers. Lines 76-124 portray a great amount of distrust and lack of clarity amongst who tells the truth, yet leaving the audience to believe it possible for both fairy rulers to have cheated on the other. Lines 151-159 emphasize this by disconnecting the romance further to show Oberon’s desire to harass Titania simply out of spite. Alternatively, instead of this scene, I could use act 1.1 and detail the dryness between Hippolyta and Theseus, but I think the genuineness of Titania’s desire to raise the child and Oberon still continuing to tread on her shows a greater example of disparity.
In 3.2, the lines to use are lesser clear to me, since it initially feels like a 3v1 fight against Hermia till the fight between Demetrius and Lysander becomes more fleshed out. Lines 346-358 propose an interesting shift in concerns, as it’s here where Lysander himself admits Hermia’s loss of trust and interest while Demetrius shows a desire to protect Hermia before the two men go off in the woods to fight. The conflicted and contradicting interests along with the general fact that the love interests have been swapped work to bring forth the theme that their love is so substitutable, it is weak, easily mended and broken.
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You’ve got some good ideas here! Let’s see if I can’t help refine some and maybe drill in a bit deeper…
This essay is only about 4 pages, which means you have to keep your focus very narrow. There’s no need to mention any other plays. You’ve got enough to do with just this one.
Lust is always sexual desire, so if you want to discuss emotional excess, you’ll need another word. Maybe passion?
I wonder what you mean by the “weakness” of love. Whose love are you thinking about? Titania and Oberon are untrue to each other, but they prove to be loyal to each other in the end. They seem to always come back to each other. They even seem to always come back to their other lovers, Theseus and Hippolyta. While these types of polyamorous relationships are not common among us mortals, is there any reason to believe these arrangements are any less “strong”? If Oberon and Titania have agreed that sometimes they’ll have other lovers, does that have to be weak love? Oberon, after all, doesn’t seem particularly concerned with Titania getting with someone else (he sets her up)! So it’s something else that makes him jealous. His jealousy might be a sign of something, though.
When you’re considering the young lovers, try to nail down to whom they are equivalent. At no time in the story doe the women change their minds. Theseus changes his mind about punishing Hermia, Demetrius changes his mind about Helena (not by his choice, though), Lysander changes his mind about Helena (not by his choice), and Oberon changes his mind about Titania. I guess Titania changes her mind about Oberon and Bottom. So… she’s different.
So are the women exchangeable to the boys? Or are the boys exchangeable to the audience? Another way to think of it might be this: Who are more developed characters, one couple over another or one gender over another? Are we supposed to sympathize with a particular couple or with the boys or girls? Based on your answer, you may think differently about what the play says about “weak love”–I still think you can find something more specific (if for no other reason than “weak” is vagey comparative… weak compared to what?)
In the scenes you mention, it looks like you’re focusing on plot details. If you’re only explaining the literal meaning of the words, you’re not digging deep enough. Look for the images, allusions, references, and symbols which give depth to these literal plot details. What types of images and references does Titania mention in her speech? Is there a reason these images would have particular meaning for her as a speaker, or to understand the fight between her and Oberon? How does the rhythm and meter emphasize certain lines or phrases which even further meaning?
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Thank you for tackling at my ideas for a bit. When I referred to the idea of lust as an emotional excess, I mostly wanted to suggest the idea that lust is definitely a sexual desire as displayed in many of the plays we’ve watched and the lines that Lysander has towards Hermia, but also it is a “lust” that clings to the notion of being in love without it being genuine. That is understandably a stretch and probably won’t be appropriate for a short paper. When you mention that the fairy ruler’s untrueness to one another becomes whole again by the end of the play, it does display a high sense of maturity that was one of the things I did enjoy from the play. I’m still interested in the contrast between the fairy’s love compared to the young lover’s. It seems like Shakespeare suggests love is one that is stretchable across even people and things alike given how old the fairy rulers are. This does change the purpose of my theme then, maybe to focus less on the thought of “weak” love, since it is loosely defined and ultimately subjects love to a singular definition of what’s right. Maybe instead I can propose what Shakespeare seems to think mature love is, and draw contrasts between the fairy rulers to the young couples. It’s here where I would like to look more into how the characters build off of each other’s lines and how their lines build images and ideas that they see together, rather than any one character’s onesidedness in thoughts and the tendency for characters to cut another off as the class has discussed.
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The theme that I am choosing for my essay is the theme of metamorphosis. More specifically, I want to examine the metamorphosis of the hearts/minds of the different couples (Lysander/Hermia, Demetrius/Helena, Oberon/Titania). I want to take a look at how they change their attitudes and love towards each other in relation to the use of magic/the flower. Since each of them seem to have some sort of understanding of what love is, why is it that their love towards each other can be distorted so easily by some flower. As magic does not really exist, and this play uses the idea of a dream at large, could the metamorphosis of hearts and minds be speaking to how susceptible people are in real life to change how they feel towards other people, significant others or even life situations? Perhaps the justification of the flower and the idea of magic having affected them be symbolic of how often times, humans try to conjure up/make up some explanation to justify changing their minds about who they love or their life’s situations. In today’s culture, people are constantly quick to end up with new people or quick to put themselves in a new situation, almost as if it was something/someone they loved for quite a while now — perhaps even some dream they had. For example, Lysander demonstrated his love for Hermia early on, even willing to come up with a plan to run away from Athens with her, yet in a moment, he “loves” Helena, and “hates” Hermia. It’s written off as a result of the flower that Puck puts in his eyes, but was it really the flower, or perhaps somewhere in his mind, Lysander was uncertain of Hermia. This all happened after Hermia denied Lysander sex/sleeping with her, and immediately after that scene, he was placed under the spell of the flower. Humans have a tendency to be indecisive and unable to settle down on one person or idea, especially so with the younger crowd, and they try to create different reasons for themselves to justify their rash ideas or impulses. The scenes I have chosen to look at are Act 3 Scene 2 and Act 4 Scene 1. I want to examine the three couples, Lysander and Hermia, Demetrius and Helena, and Oberon and Titania. Each of which have a change of heart/mind in regards to each other. Even with Titania and Oberon, the changes seem to be quite exaggerated. The instant, Oberon removes the power of the flower from Titania, she is quick to jump into his arms, and they dance as if they’re madly in love with each other. This is interesting considering that prior to the use of the flower, the two of them were at odds with each other, at each other’s throats almost.
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Metamorphoses is an interesting idea, and I know there are some sites around that mention it as a key theme. The way you’re writing about it, it seems to hinge on the possibility that the flower is somehow not all powerful or, at the very least, artificial in some way. Can we come to that conclusion, however? The flower seems to get its power from the god of love himself, Cupid. Is that kind of love untrue? (if so, why do we put him all over our Valentine’s Day cards). I know we don’t live in a world in which we’d imagine this to be a kind of “true” love, but this is also a world with fairies and Amazonian queens… so I don’t know that we can discount it so quickly. Maybe magic is just that, magic (and perhaps symbolically represents the random aspect of circumstance).
If you’re going to move forward with this theme, I think you need to define better what changes. The boys’ hearts are changed by magic that seems pretty iron clad. Not even magical Titania can overcome it. So the reason for that change is perfectly explainable. If you are going to explore what symbolic meaning these changes might have, that’s a good direction. These scenes where the boys simply change their minds might not be the best scenes for that kind of exploration. If you’re trying to understand what Shakespeare thinks of love and transformation, look to some of the speeches about it that different characters have, perhaps.
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<span style=”font-weight: 400;”>There are many themes in midsummer night’s dream but some of the most recurring themes are transformations and metamorphoses. From the characters falling in and out of love, they also go through physical and emotional changes. A transformation that stuck out was in act 1 when Theseus thinks love has the power to change him from Hippolyta’s enemy to her lover and have her become a happy wife.</span>
<span style=”font-weight: 400;”>Dreams in transformations are a recurring subject. Dreams are connected with the unexplainable. Comparing the structure of the stanzas is a typical subject all through the play. It is driving force into enduring the dreams, not-withstanding how they are inconceivably insane. Accordingly, the subject of dreams changes the appearance of reality, and a picture of a move are massive all through the play.</span>
<span style=”font-weight: 400;”>In particular, dreams are an essential and unfaltering subject, all through the play. All events, happening all through exhibit four, are considered as dreams. Oberon is anxious to be teaching Puck, with the help of the mysterious bloom. According to Oberon, the darlings’ experiences are nothing more than dreams.</span>
<span style=”font-weight: 400;”>Not simply the possibility of the play we are seeing, yet what’s more the play of life. As the readers, We have a progressively broad perspective. Just as we are allowed to see through another point of convergence. We have a world that is by and large unique in relation to the one we live yet then in some way or another or another we see ourselves in the characters” (4.1. 54-56). Most importantly, dreams are a noteworthy and steady topic, all through the play. </span>
<span style=”font-weight: 400;”>As the crowd, we have a more extensive point of view. As though we are permitted to see through an alternate focal point. We possess a world that is altogether different from the one we live but then here and there we see ourselves in the characters. </span>
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Why Theseus thinks the “pomp” of a wedding will help Hippolyta get over the “injuries” he did to her is an interesting question. I don’t know that the play gives you a whole lot to answer it, though, so I’d be interested in how you plan to establish the answers. Framing it as “transformation” is interesting, but I also know that there are websites out there that really push this as a theme. There may be other ways to name what you’re discussing.
After you’ve given that thesis, though, your post spends most of the time discussing dreams. You mention in one paragraph that dreaming can be a transformative experience, but I’m not sure you show evidence from the text about that (although certainly there are some speeches that might speak to it). Generally, though, I don’t think you’ve articulated well why dreams are related to the themes of transformation or metamorphosis. So as you go to write your essay, you’ll either have to make the connection more clear or you’ll have decide only one of the ideas belong in the essay.
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The theme I chose to discuss in my essay is Gender. As in the present time, sexism and gender inequality is not acceptable in the society, however, In Shakespearean time, it was very common and acceptable to portray women as weak and for men to be in control. In the play MND, we see that the complex relationship between men and women goes beyond the human world and it is also indifferently present in the fairy magic world. This topic interests me the most because we can see that, as much as the plot expresses love and affection between men and women, it also reflects a constant urge for men to gain control of women. It’s very noticeable in the play that all of the female characters are dependent on some male authority. Also, all the women attempt to cross some kind of a boundary that men have created for them and trying to cross it won’t be tolerated. In terms of Hippolyta and Theseus’s relationship, it is almost clear that Hippolyta doesn’t want to be with Theseus, however, he doesn’t seem to be much bothered about her feelings, and wants to gain control of her through marriage as soon as possible. In the fairy world, Oberon tries to gain control of his wife Titania, through a love potion and by blackmailing her. Also, we see Egeus trying to gain control of Hermia’s life, by making her marry of his choice. And if not for him, she should accept death as her fate. Demetrius also constantly tries to gain control of Hermia’s love. This complexity between the sexes is displayed all throughout the play. It also shows that there are social expectations and boundaries for women which cannot be crossed.
The scenes I have in mind for my theme are Theseus and Hippolyta in Act 1, scene 1. In this scene Hippolyta seems unhappy about the wedding with theseus however Theseus ignores her emotions completely. Their battle was literally the battle of sexes, and he won her by defeating her with his sword. But he insures her that he will wed her with ceremonial display. He doesn’t seem to be emotional about Hippolyta at all, but the fact that he can own her after 4 days seems enough for him. Also in the same scene, Egeus comes to Theseus about his daughter Hermia being disobedient. Egeus demands her to obey him, as if she is her property, and if not, he demands her to be put to death. Theseus agrees with Egeus as at that time male dominance is common in society. Also, Act 2, scene 1, a fight between the two sexes in a different world, Oberon and Titania, where Oberon harasses Titania and accuses her of cheating. All because she didn’t want to give up the Indian prince to Oberon, therefore, he couldn’t tolerate her being disobedient to him. Oberon is not willing to listen to Titania because in the societal perspective women should be subservient to man. In Act 2, scene 1, Oberon plans to humiliate Titania by making her fall in love with a fool with a love potion. And eventually, she will beg him to remove the spell and obey him. In Act 2, scene 2, Lysander tries to sleep with Hermia in the forest, however Hermia refuses because premarital sex in such society can be a reason for her social ruin. Therefore, even though Hermia believed Lysander to be her true love, and ran away with him, she couldn’t bring herself to do something that is not overall socially accepted.
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“Gender” is pretty broad, but it looks like you narrow the theme a bit even in your post. Figuring out how exactly you want to articulate the way you’ll be analyzing gender will be key to writing a good introduction. You’re writing about boundary crossing, so maybe you can find away to define the type of boundary these women are crossing.
I wonder if you can frame this topic more meaningfully. Yes sexism still exists, but if that’s the case why does it matter that it’s in this play? We’d expect it in any play. So what’s a way you can make this have stakes for today. If this is a sexist play (as you suggest), then should we teach it in schools? Or if we do, should we give it a special warning? Reading it college, do you feel like it contributes to sexism? Perhaps you think that analyzing the sexism in the writing of the most quoted author in the English language shows how a part of our culture sexism is. Or do you think the sexism is benign (in which case, why draw attention to it with an essay?) Or do you think Shakespeare shows some kind of progressive outlook in his characters?
These are definitely questions to think about before you sit down to write!
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<span style=”font-weight: 400;”>The theme I plan on choosing for my first draft is love and how irrational it can make a person. Love can drive people do the most absurd things go as far as harming others lives for a significant other. For example, in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by William Shakespeare the whole plot of the play is about how lovers such as Lysander, Hermia, Helena, and Demetirus do the utmost ridiculous things to win over their lover. In this play Lyansder and Hermia truly love each other but Egeus (Hermia’s father) demands that Hermia marries Demetrius or he will not only disown her but go as far as killing her. This is a clear cut example of how love can make a person do the most absurd things and in this case it’s Egeus is willing to kill her daughter for wanting to marry the love of her life. It may seem like Egeus is a horrible father but he just wants the best for his daughter and he believes that Lysander does not really love Hermia and he seduced her with his sweet words and will eventually end up leaving her in the near future. Another example, of how love can cause people to be irrational is when Lysander and Hermia decides to run away and get married. It may seem like a good idea at the moment but it also could be considered an impulsive decision because running away puts both their lives in danger and to top it all off, they will be forced to start a new life from scratch. In other words running away would mean that they are abandoning their family in Athens and they will probably never see them again. Furthermore, another prime example of how love can cause you to be irrational is when Helena literally demotes herself just to win over Demetrius’s love. There is multiple times throughout the play where Demetrius insults her and Helena still wants to marry him. She clearly is desperate over Demetrius even though she does could easily find another spouse who appreciates her. </span>
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I think it’s important that you give this thesis some stakes. Why is it interesting that Shakespeare wants to depict the foolishness of love? Popularly, I think, most people associate Shakespeare with unwavering true love(I’m sure you can find good quotations from famous people to back this up). So if you’re arguing that the point of this play is that love foolish and maybe even bad… that sounds like a significant claim. But maybe there are other ways to frame the stakes for this essay and make it seem important.
You shouldn’t take yourself out of your criticism either. If Shakespeare play is an anti-love play, do you agree? Is there something essential that Shakespeare misses about love? Or even if there is, do you understand the argument Shakespeare perhaps was trying to make. Why would someone, like Shakespeare, want to put out in the world the idea that love is bad?
To play devil’s advocate for a moment: love is a feeling. It’s the very opposite of reason. In one sense, it’s irrational that I should unconditionally love someone I just happen to be related to (siblings… I’m looking at you!) It’s irrational why I’m attracted to one person over another much of the time. If it wasn’t, we’d all like the exact same people because it would be logically worked out. So why would love being irrational be bad?
I also wonder if the events you mention are good examples of irrational behavior. Is it so irrational to run away if your dad tries to kill you? They make a good case for why it’s a good choice and Hermia shows she’s aware of the risks (“stranger companies” and the broken vows line). Surely there are some situations in which children should escape their parents (this is why we have social workers).
I think you can be more nuanced thinking about Helena. Hermia also fights for her love when Lysander turns on her. Helena acknowledges love is irrational, but she makes her arguments on logical grounds (he used to only have eyes for her, she’s so pained by the situation she’d do anything to relieve it, if his power was gone she WOULD give it up). She’s telling you she can’t give it up and you’re saying “Well, you just should!” Is that how love works? Or does the play offer more subtlety?
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Out of the many occurring themes throughout the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the one I chose to focus on would be how each character individually expresses their specific way of viewing reality. The reoccuring dreams that different characters have corolate heavily with how they specifically feel.The different dreams are what allows us, the audience a greater inside look into the specific emotions and of view of a particular character. One example of how the play happens during a lot of dreaming would be during 4.1.135 Demetrius speaks to the other teenagers ( Hermia, Helena, Lysander) stating “Are you sure That we are awake? It seems to me that we yet sleep, we dream.” After not being aware if he is still dreaming or not he proceeds to say “… let [us] recount our dreams,” this is said by Demetrius because he wants to reassure himself that he Is indeed not dreaming and whatever happened throughout the night was just a mere dream. What we all know is that there is two types of dreams, one that is a sweet dream and the other would be not so pleasant, nightmare. A nightmare that happened in the pay would be when Robin, the mischievous fairy who puts love juice in one of the lover boys eyes and messes everything up. When the four lovers are arguing amongst each other because the two boys are now fond of Helena in contrary to Hermia. As the argument sense goes on between the pair of lovers this is where the perspective of each individual shines. Helena states on “Good Hermia, do not be so bitter with me.” This is where Helenas feelings come out being that she believes Hermia is showing off something that she has and Helena can not have. However Hermia had nothing to do with the boys falling for her, she stills feels as if she is doing this against her in a way. To summarize, the theme of alternative views of reality for each character is present throughout the play due to the dreams shining a light on the emotions on a particular character, rather than an overall ora that roams the air between characters.
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It strikes me as obvious that each character, like people, have different perceptions of reality. You and I probably have different ideas about whether or not this play is any good. Some authors use competing accounts of a story to attack narratives of objective truth (I’m thinking of a book like The Confidence-Man, but the device is common in film and TV, too). Are you arguing that Shakespeare makes different perspectives important to the play? If so, for what purpose? What was Shakespeare trying to say about multiple perspectives?
In the passage where Demetrius thinks he’s dreaming, he asks for everyone to tell their story so that they can tell if they’re dreaming. The idea is that through sharing, if their stories match up, then they know it’s not a dream. Hippolyta remarks in the next scene that their story must be true for this reason (even though Theseus ignores it). So if we’re shown the action on stage, and all four of them have the same memory of that action, then the only way any of it is a dream is if the whole play is a dream (which the title would suggest and which Puck’s speech at the end perhaps bolsters). If it’s all one person’s dream, then do all the characters actually have different perspectives? Aren’t they all just figments of someone’s else’s mind? (Maybe Bottom).
All of this mind-bending thought aside, I think you need to narrow down your thesis a bit and set up stakes for your argument. Why is the element you’re writing about worth someone’s time to read your essay?
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The theme that I am choosing for this essay is the theme of fools. More specifically, I want to explain the meaning behind when Puck famously says “what fools these mortals be”. Shakespeare proposes that people are changeable and irrational when it comes to love and Puck for instance is used for giving out love juice, that things might not go the way it was planned to be. Puck pulls his annoying tricks to make the young lovers go insane, yet he still blames the fact that the lovers are acting crazy on the fact that they’re humans. The search of love has the capacity to make irrationality and foolishness for us humans. The magic love juice that Puck uses causes the lovers to fall erratically in and out of love with one another. Puck views that irrational and vanishing love can be with the humans. Today, people can go crazy over being in love with one another which can be total insanity and also viewed as foolish and viewed as entertaining to some people such as Puck in this case. The scenes I chose were (Act 3, scene 1), (Act 3 scene 2), and (Act 5, scene 1) to explain how foolishness is shown in the play within the characters including Puck. In Act 3, scene 1, Puck makes Bottom’s head into a head of an ass when he steps aside from the scene he was acting in with the craftsmen and when he reentered the scene the other men were terrified and Puck was chasing after them remaining Bottom behind. Puck also uses the magic love juice with Titania after waking up from her dream to fall deeply in love with Bottom who at the moment has no idea that he is an ass head weaver. Here, Puck is being foolish by making Bottom’s head into an ass head and also having Titania fall deeply in love with him when he has no idea he has a head of an ass in which Puck views as entertaining. In Act 3, scene 2, the four lovers in which were Demetrius and Helena, Lysander and Hermia, were lost in the fairies’ forest acting strangely and were arguing in which Puck is partly responsible. Puck’s mistake applying the love potion to the eyelids of the wrong man which then started insanity between the lovers as he made Lysander pursue love Helena in which Demetrius also pursues Helena. Puck blames the lovers behavior on their own foolishness when ironically he was the one who was foolish for making the mistake applying the love juice to the wrong person which then led to the lovers going insane. In Act 5, scene 1, Duke Theseus says, lovers, like madmen and poets, are fantasists, “of imagination all compact”. Here, Shakespeare shows that love is a form of madness that entails the lover to act in a foolish way.
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My sense is that one of your most important tasks it to define clearly what you mean by “fool,” and you may want to know more about what Shakespeare could have meant by the term (I’m sure “fools in Shakespeare” will give you plenty of results).
You’re being a bit loose in your wording which I think undermines you. Is being foolish the same as being crazy? Is being foolish even the same as acting irrationally? I think we’d agree that Bottom is a fool. I don’t think it would be a great stretch to say all of the mechanicals are fools. Bottom isn’t irrational in the play (other than, I guess, belief in his own acting ability).
I think you also want to think more about what Puck is immediately referring to in that scene. Why is he saying that? It can’t be because of the love they have, because Titania is susceptible to it, too and she’s not mortal. The humans must do something differently than Titania that Puck thinks is foolish. He’s anticipating the two boys fighting over Helena, so maybe it has something to do with the competition?
When Titania falls in love she doesn’t go to Oberon and tell him he makes her vomit. The humans do that. Titania doesn’t fight Oberon about him having other lovers, she just mentions that his calling her his “lady” wasn’t exactly the whole story. You seem to be focusing a lot on things Puck does, but the comment is about the mortals.
I think you’ve got a good direction but have some more thinking to do!
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The theme for my essay is the significance of dreams in the play.
The characters often wander between dream world and reality. Sometimes having trouble distinguishing the two from each other. Interpreting the dreams ands they’re functions for the characters story. Dreams allow the reality of fantasies to occur that are difficult or impossible to occur in real life.
Examples: 1. Bottom’s head turning into that of a donkey and then the Mother of Fairies, Titania, falling in love with him in the forest. Afterwards, he falls asleep and once he wakes up he has trouble figuring out if it was reality or just a dream.
2. Hermia awakes from her nap to find Lysander gone. She later finds him fonding over Helena. She’s quick to question this reality of him actually falling in love with Helena.
3. Demetrius questions the group (Helena, Hermia, and Lysander) if they are indeed still dreaming during 4.1.135 “Are you sure that we are awake ? It seems to me that we yet sleep, we dream”. He’s having difficulty distinguishing whether he is in the dream world or the waking world.
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Just make sure you actually describe the significance of the dreams in the play. Right now, you’re just saying they are and naming them, you’re not showing WHY they are significant.
What message is Shakespeare trying to convey about dreams or to compare to drams and why is this something that is important to him or important for us? What is Shakespeare saying about dreams that’s novel or, silly, or smart, or whatever way you’re thinking about this.
It’s important to identify elements of a text, but your essay is saying THIS is an important element, deserving of explication in an essay and of YOU to read it. So you have to make that case.
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When looking at the different themes, I ws really interested in the following: dreams, fools, and metamorphoses. Part of me wants to explore the understandings of love as either explicitly demonstrated by one or more characters. Perhaps one of the various themes is a commentary on true love (which is what makes me feel inclined to make the title “What is Love? (Baby don’t Hurt Me)” if I were to follow up with that idea). When I think about it, true love is described differently by different characters. I think that Shakespeare could be explaining that true love may not exist, at least not as how we perceive it. He could be making a critique of it in this comedic play. This is shown when even the fairies don’t have quite the perfect love story either, despite being magical entities that are different from human beings (yet almost similar). As ironic as it may sound, Helena might have a more realistic idea of what love is like in her soliloquy in the first scene of the first act. Perhaps love is also something that ties madmen, poets, and lovers all together as well; everyone has a different dream about it, and it can be bizarre for different reasons. It is an intense emotion that could result in brash actions.
Personally, I feel like the notion of love is able to tie the themes I mentioned that I was interested in pursuing; it is possible that I might choose one of them to explain Shakespeare’s critique on love being imperfect. Like other ideas, it is an ideal that often distorts reality, which is why Helena considers love to be a child that is easily manipulated. Even the idea that her love becomes reciprocated due to magic has a touch of fairy tales and stories. Stories are often told to children to teach them a lesson or maybe to give them hope and perhaps make them optimistic. This explains why Lysander thinks that their love is true— he recognizes that love always has some sort of conflict that hinders couples, though this also shows how naïve is his take on love. Even his explanation of love as a bright light that shines for a moment and then vanishes seems quite poorly thought out, kind of like a last-minute decision; who’s to say that the decision to fall in love will be regretted after the spark disappears? What would happen then? Would that lead to a miserable relationship that is forced like Hippolyta and Theseus’s relationship? Would it lead to infidelity as it did for the fairies Oberon and Titania? Is that what true love leads to? Because it appears as though Oberon thinks that Hermia and Lysander are truly in love when he notices that Puck had made a mistake (3.2.91). There is always the chance that their love could be different, though it is not invulnerable; this is demonstrated with how the magic from the flower quickly alters Lysander’s feelings. This simply explains how even a true love such as theirs could be altered or affected as well.
I think I would closely look at scene one from the first act and the first scene from the second act to help demonstrate the development of Shakespeare’s critique on love. These scenes contain different interpretations of love from different couples. I would most likely do a close reading of Helena and Demetrius’s relationship as well as Hermia and Lysander’s while also looking at the conflict between Titania and Oberon. I think I would look at these relationships from this order, though I could also see myself simply analyzing Helena as a whole character considering that she seems knowledgeable and conscious about the effects of love and yet the audience still sees how love affects her.
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It sounds like there’s a lot of nuance in your analysis, but you just need the time to come down on exactly what you’re conclusions are. You’re on the road, and that’s good.
The idea that Shakespeare doesn’t believe in this shiny, perfect, immortal love is a credible one. I don’t know a whole lot of people who do, except when it’s their wedding or something and then, for a day, it’s all rainbows and stars. Why should I assume Shakespeare is one of these true believers?
Compellingly, for this argument, the young lovers all refer to human myths of love, all of which are unrealistic and over-dramatic. Is Shakespeare blaming stories, basically, for giving people unrealistic expectations of love?
Comedies are supposed to be life affirming, though. Maybe there’s a way to read this as a black comedy, that just undermines the idea of love, but maybe it also could be a celebration of the love, in spite of its foolishness. Is there harm to loving fully, or with abandon, or openly… as long as your love isn’t about control (maybe that’s not love anyway)?
This is going to sound trite, but there’s even a way you could read this similar to a movie like Frozen. Frozen is a Disney movie that attempts to subvert the same tropes Disney movies created (oh! the prince turns out to be a villain), but still has a conventional ending. It’s not really as rebellious as it pretends to be. Maybe the prince (Oberon/Theseus), is the villain here, too and Bottom (or whoever), is the Kristoff (the foolish, but ultimately good male lead)?
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<span style=”font-weight: 400;”>A theme that can be identified in A Midsummer Night’s Dream is cheating and infidelity. Throughout the play, cheating is common and seen as a regular occurrence within the story. The couples within the play are frequently interchanged and fought over amongst each other.</span>
<span style=”font-weight: 400;”> The main example of infidelity depicted is between King Theseus, Hippolyta, Oberon, and Titania. It is implied that King Theseus and Titania hold an affair while Hippolyta and Oberon simultaneously are unfaithful as well. However, King Theseus and Hippolyta are to be wedded. This theme of cheating/infidelity is the main catalyst of problems that occur after. As a result of the infidelity, added on with anger from a fight about a boy, tricks are played due to jealousy. Oberon vows to seek revenge on Titania (scene II, act I) and ends up messing with the other main characters; Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius, and Helena.</span>
<span style=”font-weight: 400;”>The love rectangle surrounding Theseus, Hippolyta, Oberon, and Titania is mainly the reason behind the problems that occur, however, Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius, and Helena are also within a rectangle of their own. These characters begin with blinded love for one another but end up interchanged amongst each other with tricks. They become victims of revenge due to Oberon and Titania’s relationship. However, the only reason why Oberon decides to mess with the relationship is due to seeing Helena’s pitiful love toward Demetrius. In Bennett’s adaption, infidelity can be seen in Demetrius and Helena’s relationship due to Demetrius falling in love with Hermia due to her offering more to him due to her fame. However, Demetrius was originally with Helena, hence her obsession with him.</span>
Infidelity/cheating is one of the main themes in A Midsummer’s Night Dream due to being the main incentive that problems arise. Due to the tense relationship that Oberon and Titania share, they end up making others fall victim of their anger with one another. Oberon ends up enchanting Lysander and Demetrius while trying to get revenge on Titania. This causes a mess due to mistakes of the wrong people becoming enchanted. Lysander wasn’t supposed to be victim, however, he does and this eventually almost spirals into a fight between Hermia and Helena.
Points of Infidelity:
– Results in Jealousy and conflict ex: Hermia and Helena almost fighting, Oberon enchanting Titania.
– Shows mockery of love (fickleness of one’s feelings) ex: Lysander and Demetrius becoming enchanted and falling in love with Helena due to love potion.
- Depicts idea that love can easily be interchangeable (Theseus implied with Titania, however, conquers Hippolyta who was an Amazon)
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Hm. I agree this is a significant theme. It’s probably important for you to get an idea of why you think that’s the case. Why would Shakespeare want to make infidelity a reoccuring theme in a comedy about marriage?
I’d be careful about how you link infidelity to the main action, though. Puck announces that the fight between Oberon and Titania is about the child. The infidelity, while mentioned, is neither confirmed nor treated as immediately important. The argument does seem to be the child, and Titania and Oberon end up together after the child’s fate is settled.
I think further, can we really say Lysander and Demetrius cheat on Helena? Demetrius tells us he was betrothed to Helena (4.1.179). Engagement is a promise, but people also break them. If he fell out of love with Helena, do we really expect him to stay engaged to her? We can think he’s shallow or fickle, but by the time we meet him, he’s certainly no leading Helena on. He’s being plane as day, even cruel about his affections. Is that cheating?
When Lysander falls in love with Helena, that’s not on purpose. And its from the magic of a flower, so we can’t accuse him of being disingenuous. Maybe we might suspect his love for Hermia like Egeus, but there’s not doubting that the flower makes Lysander love Helena. Lysander tells Hermia pretty clearly, too. He doesn’t love her anymore. Things are new. Is that cheating? Maybe you can say he runs away from Hermia without waking her up… but that seems slim.
There may be another way of looking at infidelity that proves more fruitful. Maybe something about trust, or time? Oberon calls Titania a “rash wonton.” Maybe the young lovers are rash. They don’t cheat, but they are cruel when they don’t have to. The older lovers are kind to each other, but cruel off stage (with wars, infidelity, etc.). Or maybe Shakespeare wanted to depict infidelity as part of life? If so, that might circle back around to my first questions.
It’s an interesting topic and I’m interested to see where you go with it.
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<span style=”font-weight: 400;”>The topic that I have selected for my essay is that of Hippolyta, and her limited presence in the play. I believe that this is intentional because she is an independent female character: she is the one female character in Shakespeare’s works (that I have seen thus far, and in my personal experience) who does not wish to marry, or to be in a relationship at all. I want to discuss her presence as a mythological figure, and use her myths to add context to her marriage to Theseus. Who is she? How does her mythology matter in the context of the play? How does Shakespeare reinvent her character? How is her personal history alluded to in the play? These are questions I intend to discuss within my essay. </span>
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Your questions are good ones and I think will reveal a lot about the play.
I wonder though if you can say that Shakespeare’s desire is to limit Hippolyta because she’s an unconventional character when it was already his choice to include her. In other words, she wouldn’t be in the play at all if her presence didn’t interest him. There are so many mythological marriages Shakespeare could have chosen from, but he was drawn in by this one. So something about her backstory must have intrigued him.
You’re right, though, that it’s not clearly that much interest. Maybe she’s more interested in what Hippolyta represents? And I don’t know that I mean mythologically (although that’s important). Perhaps the ambiguous relationship between her and Theseus, always strange but in some mths happy and other sad, is all he wants. In that case, Hippolyta is still a means to an end. Maybe Shakespeare wanted to use Hippolyta as a tool to show marital discord but to stamp out, as you suggest, the radically different ways of living life her character represents.
Maybe it’s all very simple in the opposite way, too. If she talked more we’d have to figure out where her loyalties lie. If she was involved in the Hermia discussion, Shakespeare would have to decide if she feels sympathy or not with Hermia, which would inform our idea of Theseus and Hippolyta’s relationship. Perhaps by keeping her quiet, Shakespeare lets us imagine the connections better.
Or… he just didn’t think Hippolyta mattered enough to talk. The extreme version!
I’ll be interested to see how you develop this for the essay!
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For my essay I would like to discuss the defying of gender roles between Hermia, Helena, and Hippolyta. In this time, women were mainly meant to just follow the rules and not have a say in society. However, through reading this play it can be seen that the manners of women were changing in a way that went against the “normal” view. Each one of them also showed the changes differently. They each represented a separate version of a changed woman.
Hippolyta when she is with Theseus is the prime example of what a woman should be during that time. She did not have a lot of speaking lines – fourteen to be exact, which show that women did not have a lot of say, and what they thought or said did not matter as much as the male figures. However, before being engaged to Theseus, Hippolyta could be seen as different from the common culture. She was strong both mentally and physically. She was a brave warrior, which was something mainly depicted through a man and not a woman. Through being engaged and soon married to Theseus, she is turns into a woman who is more domesticated.
Helena goes against societies’ view of women by going after her love interest. During this time women had to wait for men to approach them and prove that they were worthy enough to be with them. There were also cases of arranged marriages, which almost happened to Hermia. However, Helena did neither. She was in love with Demetrius and did and said everything she could so that he would choose to be with her. Some people would look down on her because it would be as though she was being too forward. Demetrius never appreciated her for the trials and tribulations she was going through in order to make him love her.
- To back this up I would use the quote:
- “Run when you will, the story shall be changed.
Apollo flies, and Daphne holds the chase.
The dove pursues the griffin; the mild hind
Makes speed to catch the tiger—bootless speed,
When cowardice pursues and valor flies.” – 2.2.236-241 - This is when Helena makes the exact point that the roles have been reversed. In all of the situations above the more male figure is going after the female one, but in her case it is the opposite.
Lastly, Hermia shows being disobedient and not following the custom of the arranged marriages. As her father Egeus says in the beginning she was the obedient girl and now she is breaking the rules. Hermia also shows that she is one to speak out. Although Hermia doesn’t say a lot to defend her case, the fact that she still says something is just enough.
- “I do entreat your Grace to pardon me.
I know not by what power I am made bold,
Nor how it may concern my modesty
In such a presence here to plead my thoughts;
But I beseech your Grace that I may know” – 1.1. 60-65 - I would use this quote to defend this case, because here Hermia is making the realization that she is also being very bold and out spoken and does not know what caused her to be that way. She has surprised herself and everyone by speaking against her father.
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It sounds like you have a good sense of where you’re going and your evidence looks well planned out. I’ll offer two things to think about.
First, Hippolyta is a mythological character. Her model of womanhood is vastly different than the conventional model. If she’s more ancient than Shakespeare’s time, than her appearance on stage can’t be a sign of changing ideas about women. I’m not saying this about the legal discussion Hermia has. That language is contemporary to Shakespeare’s time, so that does represent a change. That observation suggestions a tantalizing possibility: does Shakespeare include Hippolyta to show a history of women who successfully buck tradition? Another, possibility is more along Emma’s thesis above, that to show Hippolyta getting married is to show that there really isn’t any kind of strong woman. Even the queen of the Amazons get married. Yes Hermia and Helena get the man they want, but they still only get THAT choice. There’s also all the mentionings of Diana, of course another mythological example of an unmarried woman.
Also, in support of your theory, Elizabeth is the queen. What better example of changes in thinking than a female monarch with a military victory?
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<span style=”font-weight: 400;”>The theme I chose to do for my essay is the theme of revenge because I feel like a lot of the characters had points where they wanted to get back at someone. I would use act 2 scene 1 lines 161-170. Where Oberon wants revenge on Titania so he sends his fairy Robin to put the flower on Titania’s eyes while she is asleep in order for her to fall in love with the first person she sees, which ended up being Bottom after Robin had placed a donkey’s face on his head. Oberon wanted to get revenge because Titania didn’t want to give him the little Indian boy she had in her possession because according to Titania the kids mother was held dearly to her since she loved her. The next scene I would use is act 3 scene 2 lines 258-265 in this scene Demetrius and Lysander are trying to fight over Helena’s love because Robin had placed the flower on Lysander wrongfully leading him to see Helena and fall in love with her even though he loves Hermia. In order to fix this problem Robin put the flower on Demetrius which lead both boys to be in love with Helena. Then they both argue about why each person does not deserve Helena because neither of them loved her before and all over a sudden they they want to duel each other to prove their love for her. This shows revenge because both guys are trying to fight eachother proving who loves her more and pointing out what each one has done to show they didn’t like her. Around this scene is when where Hermia wants revenge on Helena for supposedly stealing Lysander from her or just making Lysander like her instead of liking Hermia but the conflict is that no one knows both guys were put under an enchantment or love by the fairy king </span>
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It sounds a bit like you’re establishing plot points. Oberon wants revenge and he says so explicitly (the 10 or so lines you reference). If it’s so open, why is that an important critical statement?
Is revenge the same as competition? I’m thinking of Lysander and Demetrius. You write that they are seeking revenge, but what “wrong” has been done? They just seem competitive to me.
I think these are interesting scenes and there are many possible connections, but I think you need to find something more meaningful here. Keep in mind, too, that you need to make your essay have meaning for your reader. Why is it interesting that revenge happens in this play? Why is it valuable to notice this? What is Shakespeare saying by not only the use, but according to you focus on , revenge?
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For my essay I want to discuss the theme of love throughout A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In this book there are many themes of love such as the positive and negative effects of magic that effects love relationships. The potion that made Helena in love with Lysander for example. Also Hermia and Lysander’s love for each other and how she went against her fathers will. Infatuation is also something I will discuss in my essay as this is shown throughout more then one act. Hermia and Demetrius- Helena is infatuated with Demetrius but he does not feel the same way, instead he is in love with Hermia and wants to be with her. Even though he is rude to Helena she still remains in love with him which shows how deeply in love she is with him. Another example of infatuation in the book is between Titania and Bottom. This is an example of the negative effects magic can have on love. Puck puts a potion on Titana’s eyes which makes her fall in love with the first person she sees. Bottom’s face is turned into an animal and he is the first person she sees, therefore is infatuated with him. There love for each other dissaperd right after the potion was clear and in an instant she was not in love with him anymore. This shows the idea of true love and how magic can manipulate love.
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Since your second sentence reads that there are “many themes” of love, you probably need to narrow that list down to the particular theme related to love that you’ll focus on. What is it about love that you think is interesting in this play and why should it be something of interest to me (remember setting up a frame and stakes for your essay is important).
In the second half of your post, you mention the “negative effects of magic,” which doesn’t seem to the be same as love (even though, in this case, some of the magic is love-related). I don’t think Shakespeare was making a comment on magic being in the real world, so what could the symbolic meaning of the magic be in this situation?
I mentioned to another student above, that I’m skeptical about using the magic to prove that love is alterable. In a world in which magic exists and fairies are running around, why should we imagine that anything can overcome magic? Titania is a magical being and she can’t overcome the spell. The flower is also, itself, pure love (it’s power derives from cupid’s bow), so is there any evidence to believe that it’s somehow false love?
Perhaps what’s important is how people react to love, rather than the love itself.
You have a direction, but I think some more world to hone the idea and the stakes are important.
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