How Does Shakespeare Use Magic In A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream , William Shakespeare's most popular comedy, portrays the adventure of four young Athenian lovers and a group of mechanicals, and their interactions with woodland fairies through the woods. Shakespeare takes this play and portrays various themes, the most notable being magic which is present throughout whether it's visible or not to the reader's eye. The magic in this play is a force that not only causes conflict but, also resolves it.
It is demonstrated throughout the play, that the central aspect is the source of power that motivates, from the inside, magic .Shakespeare uses magic to embody the supernatural power of love by using the romantic realm of lovers and also of words that captivate the reader every time they read it. He attributes this power to the words, through which human beings can be incited to act, in …show more content…
particular to fall in love, and assigns a decisive role in the manipulation of such words. Though magic is sprinkled throughout the play, the most important association with it is when Oberon plans to punish Titania by administering a love potion to her eyes while she sleeps. This potion exemplifies magic, as it causes the affected person to fall in love with the first thing they lay their eyes upon when waking up. Titania is then awakened by the singing of Bottom who has the head of a donkey thanks to Puck’s mischievous tricks which is another aspect of magic in the play. However, Oberon has other plans for the potion , “ Ere he do leave this grove/Thou shalt fly he and he shall seek thy love” (Act 2 Sc.1 245-6). He intends for the potion to applied to the eyes of Demetrius with the intentions to restore love between Helena and Demetrius. However the potion is applied on the wrong lover , Lysander causing him to love Helena instead of Hermia. In spite of the fact, that the misuse of magic causes disarray, in the end it eventually settles the play's conflicts by establishing the relationships among the group of Athenian youth. Proving to be the solution to all the problems, showing the magic of imagination, its power to harm but, also its power to mend.
Shakespeare effectively imparts the theme of magic through his verse, stressing the aspect of perspective and enabling the reader to see the world as a different place through the eyes of each character , and in this manner experience the magic differently each time within the surreal world he has created.Verse proves to be the medium of expression for the more elevated and poetical parts of the poem using trochaic tetrameter. Through the use of this meter, Shakespeare communicates the lines as if they are spells captivating the reader based on their flow and natural rhythm. The woodland fairy sings
You spotted snakes with double tongue,
Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen;
Newts and blindworms, do no wrong,
Come not near our fairy queen.
Philomel, with melody
Sing in our sweet lullaby;
Lulla, lulla, lullaby, lulla, lulla, lullaby:
Never harm (9-15)
The words of the fairies sound as if a spell putting not only the characters to sleep but, the audience reading it.
The spell seems to be addressing all the evils of the woods and tries to ward them off through its words.
Shakespeare weaves an ongoing idea all through the vast majority of his comedies, in particular the subject of fantasy versus reality. His utilization of two distinct settings: one implying the cruel, colorless world of duty or commitment , and the other a world of illusion where anything is possible, a place where all problems are magically settled. Taking place, in a forest outside Athens, the landscape is a pastoral trope used in Shakespearean plays, loaded with magic. Where he offers a natural world that is somewhat other-worldly. As it is a place of nature which is towards the side of fantasy , inhabited by fairies along with flora and fauna who are perceived as superhuman. Its human guests leave everlastingly changed by their transgression of its borders, straddling a limit between the natural world and the magical
world. In , A Midsummer Night’s Dream, magic is a powerful and useful tool for the characters that have the ability to use it. Some of the characters abuse the power of magic, while others are more capable by the way they utilize it. Oberon, is one of the characters the misuses the power of magic. His magic immensely affects the plot of the play as well as his own life, the lives of other characters and , how all the characters in the story experience magic. The reader is able to see that the person who has the power of magic can be surprised by it themselves. Magic, the ultimate supernatural power is often unpredictable.
It is demonstrated throughout the play, that the central aspect is the source of power that motivates, from the inside, magic .Shakespeare uses magic to embody the supernatural power of love by using the romantic realm of lovers and also of words that captivate the reader every time they read it. He attributes this power to the words, through which human beings can be incited to act, in …show more content…
particular to fall in love, and assigns a decisive role in the manipulation of such words. Though magic is sprinkled throughout the play, the most important association with it is when Oberon plans to punish Titania by administering a love potion to her eyes while she sleeps. This potion exemplifies magic, as it causes the affected person to fall in love with the first thing they lay their eyes upon when waking up. Titania is then awakened by the singing of Bottom who has the head of a donkey thanks to Puck’s mischievous tricks which is another aspect of magic in the play. However, Oberon has other plans for the potion , “ Ere he do leave this grove/Thou shalt fly he and he shall seek thy love” (Act 2 Sc.1 245-6). He intends for the potion to applied to the eyes of Demetrius with the intentions to restore love between Helena and Demetrius. However the potion is applied on the wrong lover , Lysander causing him to love Helena instead of Hermia. In spite of the fact, that the misuse of magic causes disarray, in the end it eventually settles the play's conflicts by establishing the relationships among the group of Athenian youth. Proving to be the solution to all the problems, showing the magic of imagination, its power to harm but, also its power to mend.
Shakespeare effectively imparts the theme of magic through his verse, stressing the aspect of perspective and enabling the reader to see the world as a different place through the eyes of each character , and in this manner experience the magic differently each time within the surreal world he has created.Verse proves to be the medium of expression for the more elevated and poetical parts of the poem using trochaic tetrameter. Through the use of this meter, Shakespeare communicates the lines as if they are spells captivating the reader based on their flow and natural rhythm. The woodland fairy sings
You spotted snakes with double tongue,
Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen;
Newts and blindworms, do no wrong,
Come not near our fairy queen.
Philomel, with melody
Sing in our sweet lullaby;
Lulla, lulla, lullaby, lulla, lulla, lullaby:
Never harm (9-15)
The words of the fairies sound as if a spell putting not only the characters to sleep but, the audience reading it.
The spell seems to be addressing all the evils of the woods and tries to ward them off through its words.
Shakespeare weaves an ongoing idea all through the vast majority of his comedies, in particular the subject of fantasy versus reality. His utilization of two distinct settings: one implying the cruel, colorless world of duty or commitment , and the other a world of illusion where anything is possible, a place where all problems are magically settled. Taking place, in a forest outside Athens, the landscape is a pastoral trope used in Shakespearean plays, loaded with magic. Where he offers a natural world that is somewhat other-worldly. As it is a place of nature which is towards the side of fantasy , inhabited by fairies along with flora and fauna who are perceived as superhuman. Its human guests leave everlastingly changed by their transgression of its borders, straddling a limit between the natural world and the magical
world. In , A Midsummer Night’s Dream, magic is a powerful and useful tool for the characters that have the ability to use it. Some of the characters abuse the power of magic, while others are more capable by the way they utilize it. Oberon, is one of the characters the misuses the power of magic. His magic immensely affects the plot of the play as well as his own life, the lives of other characters and , how all the characters in the story experience magic. The reader is able to see that the person who has the power of magic can be surprised by it themselves. Magic, the ultimate supernatural power is often unpredictable.