Midsummer Night's Dream Magic
Midsummer Night's Dream was not an easy read. Reading a piece of literature that is supposed to be performed on a stage and not consumed as a whole was a challenging experience. To fully understand a play that shifts between extreme metaphor, dark dreams and unstable reality, I had break the acts down by scenes and focus on the scenes to comprehend the hidden meanings and symbolism in the acts. Even though reading the play that way was lengthy and tedious, the process of keeping the certain scenes separate was beneficial and helped me better understand the play. I do admit that the play was confusing at times, so even though I finished reading the play in about a week, I had to go back and re-read a few scenes to finally figure them out.
When …show more content…
One cannot help but wonder if the magic is seen as real or just a dream in the characters and readers eyes alike. In the end, the mystical realm of the unconscious becomes the reality. Act I begins with a fairly pragmatic tone as it begins with Theseus and Hippolyta talking. They represent the mature sensibilities of love throughout the play. Theseus just won the right to marry Hippolyta’s through war. Foolish whims or immature jealousy does not exist between them. Realism stays present with Egeus interfering between his daughter Hermia and Lysander. Hermia sums up their relationship when she says, “The more I hate, the more he follows me. The more I love, the more he hateth me” (Shakespeare 1.1.8-9). The relationship between her and her father Egeus is strained because she was not supposed to marry Lysander, but instead she was supposed to be wed to Demetrius. Then, the story begins to take on an otherworldly shift in Act II when the reality and dreams begin to meld in the play. Fairies cannot be seen by mortals but the audience are allowed to see the for the sake of the plays story. Not only does the reader get to experience the seemingly invisible world that is disconnected from reality, but the reader can hear them speak in poetry. The switch from prose to poetry indicates the shift from reality to dreams as
When …show more content…
One cannot help but wonder if the magic is seen as real or just a dream in the characters and readers eyes alike. In the end, the mystical realm of the unconscious becomes the reality. Act I begins with a fairly pragmatic tone as it begins with Theseus and Hippolyta talking. They represent the mature sensibilities of love throughout the play. Theseus just won the right to marry Hippolyta’s through war. Foolish whims or immature jealousy does not exist between them. Realism stays present with Egeus interfering between his daughter Hermia and Lysander. Hermia sums up their relationship when she says, “The more I hate, the more he follows me. The more I love, the more he hateth me” (Shakespeare 1.1.8-9). The relationship between her and her father Egeus is strained because she was not supposed to marry Lysander, but instead she was supposed to be wed to Demetrius. Then, the story begins to take on an otherworldly shift in Act II when the reality and dreams begin to meld in the play. Fairies cannot be seen by mortals but the audience are allowed to see the for the sake of the plays story. Not only does the reader get to experience the seemingly invisible world that is disconnected from reality, but the reader can hear them speak in poetry. The switch from prose to poetry indicates the shift from reality to dreams as