The Moon in Shakespeare
The moon in Shakespeare’s play symbolizes Diana, the Roman personification of the moon, and the Wheel of Fortune. What does the Wheel of Fortune have to do with Diana? Shakespeare considered both of them to be much the same. Both have a cyclical nature: the moon waxes and wanes just like Fortune waxes and wanes. The motif of both figures in Shakespeare's plays reveals his belief that the moon is a symbol of the fickleness and changeability of fortune and luck, at once an omen and a blessing, and the result of the changeability of the moon/Wheel is the character's madness, leading to the audience's laughter (as in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Much Ado About Nothing) or catharsis (as in King Lear, Macbeth, or Hamlet). Diana figures mostly in the comedies, the most blatant example in A Midsummer Night's Dream.
We see that Shakespeare often uses the motif of the moon, in all of it's implications and various deities and properties, as a plot device to spur his characters, in comedy or tragedy, into some sort of confusion that leads to laughter or catharsis. Traditionally, Western literature has considered the moon to be a symbol of blissful romance. Shakespeare, however, shows us the Dark Side of the moon.
In Shakespeare's comedies, especially, the moon is personified as Diana, the Roman goddess of chastity. In these comedies, the foolish antics of lovers (literally, "lunatics") usually occur under the auspices of the chaste goddess, the lovers behaving like hounds about her feet that snap at each other in competition for her bounty. The moon as allegory for the lunacy of romance helps us understand Shakespeare's view of romance. In the tragedies, however, the moon can represent many things at once: Diana, the goddess of Chastity; the cyclical nature of Fortune; and Hecuba, the witch of insanity. These figures, as their names suggest, are feminine. The tragic heroes often refer to their wives as the moon. The wives are often seen as possessing, at different
We see that Shakespeare often uses the motif of the moon, in all of it's implications and various deities and properties, as a plot device to spur his characters, in comedy or tragedy, into some sort of confusion that leads to laughter or catharsis. Traditionally, Western literature has considered the moon to be a symbol of blissful romance. Shakespeare, however, shows us the Dark Side of the moon.
In Shakespeare's comedies, especially, the moon is personified as Diana, the Roman goddess of chastity. In these comedies, the foolish antics of lovers (literally, "lunatics") usually occur under the auspices of the chaste goddess, the lovers behaving like hounds about her feet that snap at each other in competition for her bounty. The moon as allegory for the lunacy of romance helps us understand Shakespeare's view of romance. In the tragedies, however, the moon can represent many things at once: Diana, the goddess of Chastity; the cyclical nature of Fortune; and Hecuba, the witch of insanity. These figures, as their names suggest, are feminine. The tragic heroes often refer to their wives as the moon. The wives are often seen as possessing, at different