Midsummer Night's Dream Propaganda
In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare illustrates a complex web of relationships among the characters; Hermia and Lysander love each other, Lysander’s brother Demetrius also loves Hermia, Helena is in love with Demetrius, and the fairy king Oberon is furious with his wife Titania keeping their adopted son away from him. Meanwhile, the craftspeople rehearse their production of “Pyramus and Thisbe” for the Duke’s wedding. Plotting against his wife, Oberon asks a mischievous fairy, Puck, to conjure up magical flower juice that will make the person fall in love with the first person they see. In the end, Puck uses the flower juice on Titania who falls in love with the donkey version of Bottom, Demetrius who falls in love with Helena, and on
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Lysander who also falls in love with Helena.
Evaluation:
In his analysis on A Midsummer Night’s dream, The Dark Side of Shakespeare: An Elizabethan Courtier, Diplomat, Spymaster, and Epic Hero.
Volume II of III, author W. Ron Hess claims Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream highlights political propaganda and correlates with the international politics and disastrous calamities of the late 1570s. He mentions that during the time the play was written, Elizabeth Vere, daughter of the Earl of Oxford, and William Stanley, son of the fourth Earl of Derby, fell in love in 1591 and agreed to set their wedding in “mid-summer.” Hess subsequently draws a connection between Vere and Stanley’s wedding and Theseus and Hippolyta’s wedding as they both take place around the same time frame. Additionally, Vere and Stanley’s wedding had a six month delay because Lord Burghley waited to see if Ferdinando Stanley’s, the 5th of Earl of Derby, unborn baby would turn out to be a boy. If the baby was a boy, not only would William Stanley lose his inheritance to his brother’s title and assets but Lord Burghley would force his granddaughter to marry someone with a higher rank of nobility. This all relates back to Shakespeare’s characters and how Hermia's father, Egeus, demands Hermia to marry Demetrius because of his nobility. Moreover, Hess ultimately claims that Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream relates back to the pageant clashes of the royal families in the
1570s.
Response:
When I read W. Ron Hess’s analysis on the play, I was shocked by the fact that there is actually a cultural background behind the plotline. Knowing the eccentricity of the plot, it was fascinating to research about the romance connections between the characters and finding out that their relationships correlate with relationships within the 1570s. In addition, although Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream caused me plenty of headaches, I found the plotline quite thought-provoking. As I read the play, I related the play back to modern day entertainment. I realized that many of these Hollywood productions embed several elements from the play into their scripts with a modernized twists. For instance, the complex web of relationships is a common pattern scene in many romantic comedy movies. Consequently, I think it’s extremely interesting how twenty-first century directors incorporate Shakespeare’s work into their own productions. This comes to show that there are similar universal patterns between 1570 and now.
Lysander who also falls in love with Helena.
Evaluation:
In his analysis on A Midsummer Night’s dream, The Dark Side of Shakespeare: An Elizabethan Courtier, Diplomat, Spymaster, and Epic Hero.
Volume II of III, author W. Ron Hess claims Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream highlights political propaganda and correlates with the international politics and disastrous calamities of the late 1570s. He mentions that during the time the play was written, Elizabeth Vere, daughter of the Earl of Oxford, and William Stanley, son of the fourth Earl of Derby, fell in love in 1591 and agreed to set their wedding in “mid-summer.” Hess subsequently draws a connection between Vere and Stanley’s wedding and Theseus and Hippolyta’s wedding as they both take place around the same time frame. Additionally, Vere and Stanley’s wedding had a six month delay because Lord Burghley waited to see if Ferdinando Stanley’s, the 5th of Earl of Derby, unborn baby would turn out to be a boy. If the baby was a boy, not only would William Stanley lose his inheritance to his brother’s title and assets but Lord Burghley would force his granddaughter to marry someone with a higher rank of nobility. This all relates back to Shakespeare’s characters and how Hermia's father, Egeus, demands Hermia to marry Demetrius because of his nobility. Moreover, Hess ultimately claims that Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream relates back to the pageant clashes of the royal families in the
1570s.
Response:
When I read W. Ron Hess’s analysis on the play, I was shocked by the fact that there is actually a cultural background behind the plotline. Knowing the eccentricity of the plot, it was fascinating to research about the romance connections between the characters and finding out that their relationships correlate with relationships within the 1570s. In addition, although Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream caused me plenty of headaches, I found the plotline quite thought-provoking. As I read the play, I related the play back to modern day entertainment. I realized that many of these Hollywood productions embed several elements from the play into their scripts with a modernized twists. For instance, the complex web of relationships is a common pattern scene in many romantic comedy movies. Consequently, I think it’s extremely interesting how twenty-first century directors incorporate Shakespeare’s work into their own productions. This comes to show that there are similar universal patterns between 1570 and now.