Midsummer Night's Dream Analysis
Illusions
A Midsummer Night’s Dream Essay
Is it a dream or reality? The connection between the real world and a world created by our own vivid imagination while we sleep is somewhat uncanny. A plethora of individuals cannot fathom how the brain can create such realistic scenarios in such little time. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, the author uses his knowledge of dreams to create his play. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is not only the title of this play but the overall theme as well. In the story dreams bring many changes within the plot. Dreams change the opinion of characters and open their eyes to a different reality. A large connection between dreaming and theater is made at the end of the play in Puck’s famous final speech. Midsummer also plays a large role in the theme of this play as well. We will discuss all of these topics within the next few paragraphs.
“Like dreams, love is foolish, crazy and driven by desires.” Says an article called The Meaning of the Title in A Midsummer Night 's Dream by Shakespeare. The relationship between the four lovers, Hermia, Helena, Lysander, and Demetrius is based on their dreams and desires. When Hermia had a nightmare depicting a snake eating her heart, “Methought a serpent ate my heart away,/And you sat smiling at his cruel play” (pg. 64-65) it foreshadowed Lysander’s newfound love for Helena which was only temporary. Lysander was casted into a figurative dream as Puck placed the love petals upon Lysander’s sleeping eyes. When Lysander awoke and Helena was the first one he saw, Lysander began to long for her and fall in love with her. This is important to the plotline because it shows what a dream can do to a person. It also helps build Puck’s character as a careless trickster. Although Helena believes Lysander’s attempts to win her heart as merely a cruel joke the reader understands Lysander is trapped in a dream.
Puck then with instruction from Oberon, the King of the Faeries places the love
A Midsummer Night’s Dream Essay
Is it a dream or reality? The connection between the real world and a world created by our own vivid imagination while we sleep is somewhat uncanny. A plethora of individuals cannot fathom how the brain can create such realistic scenarios in such little time. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, the author uses his knowledge of dreams to create his play. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is not only the title of this play but the overall theme as well. In the story dreams bring many changes within the plot. Dreams change the opinion of characters and open their eyes to a different reality. A large connection between dreaming and theater is made at the end of the play in Puck’s famous final speech. Midsummer also plays a large role in the theme of this play as well. We will discuss all of these topics within the next few paragraphs.
“Like dreams, love is foolish, crazy and driven by desires.” Says an article called The Meaning of the Title in A Midsummer Night 's Dream by Shakespeare. The relationship between the four lovers, Hermia, Helena, Lysander, and Demetrius is based on their dreams and desires. When Hermia had a nightmare depicting a snake eating her heart, “Methought a serpent ate my heart away,/And you sat smiling at his cruel play” (pg. 64-65) it foreshadowed Lysander’s newfound love for Helena which was only temporary. Lysander was casted into a figurative dream as Puck placed the love petals upon Lysander’s sleeping eyes. When Lysander awoke and Helena was the first one he saw, Lysander began to long for her and fall in love with her. This is important to the plotline because it shows what a dream can do to a person. It also helps build Puck’s character as a careless trickster. Although Helena believes Lysander’s attempts to win her heart as merely a cruel joke the reader understands Lysander is trapped in a dream.
Puck then with instruction from Oberon, the King of the Faeries places the love
Bibliography: "A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Analysis of Lines 5-20 of the Epilogue." Article Myriad. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Nov. 2012. <http://www.articlemyriad.com/midsummer-nights-dream-analysis/>. "The Meaning of the Title in A Midsummer Night 's Dream by Shakespeare - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com." Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com. N.p., 10 July 2005. Web. 25 Nov. 2012. <http://voices.yahoo.com/the-meaning-title-midsummer-nights-dream-6294754.html>. Shakespeare, William. A midsummer night 's dream. Washington Square Press new Folger 's ed. New York: Washington Square Press, 1993. Print.