The Three Coinciding Worlds of Midsummer Night's Dream
Audrey
English 8B
11/1/12
Week #10
The Three Coinciding Worlds of Midsummer Night’s Dream
“If we wanted to think about the device in psychological terms, we could see the nested worlds, and double characters as representing the conscious (Theseus and the court), the unconscious (Oberon and the fairies), and the world of art, dream, and fantasy (Peter Quince and the “actors”; “Bottom’s Dream”) that mediates between them.” – Marjorie Garber, Shakespeare After All, 221-222
In the quote above, Ms. Garber makes an excellent point about the characters and worlds inside of Midsummer Night’s Dream. There are several examples of what she has stated throughout the play, and I am inclined to agree with her statement. Here, I will give some examples and points showing that she is correct.
In the example she gives, we see her compare the conscious brain with Theseus and his court. This also coincides with the theory of the three worlds of Midsummer Night’s Dream, this world being the World of the Court. It has strict rules and policies; everything is very rigid, like your conscious brain and your conscious functions. You know what you are doing and there are strict ways to do those things. Actively (3) discouraged are imagination and spontaneity, as this quote states: “The lunatic, the lover, and the poet, are of imagination all compact.” (V, i). The quote, spoken by Theseus, can be boiled down to one principle: imagination makes people imprudent5. This, again, proves that the World of the Court is much like the conscious brain: there are things that must be done and must not be done, and specific ways to do those things.
The second world, the world of Oberon and his court, throws everything the World of the Court holds dear away. Much like the subconscious brain to the conscious brain, the subconscious being responsible for basic functions that can be fluctuated4 when made conscious functions (such as imagination and memories, which1 are subconscious
English 8B
11/1/12
Week #10
The Three Coinciding Worlds of Midsummer Night’s Dream
“If we wanted to think about the device in psychological terms, we could see the nested worlds, and double characters as representing the conscious (Theseus and the court), the unconscious (Oberon and the fairies), and the world of art, dream, and fantasy (Peter Quince and the “actors”; “Bottom’s Dream”) that mediates between them.” – Marjorie Garber, Shakespeare After All, 221-222
In the quote above, Ms. Garber makes an excellent point about the characters and worlds inside of Midsummer Night’s Dream. There are several examples of what she has stated throughout the play, and I am inclined to agree with her statement. Here, I will give some examples and points showing that she is correct.
In the example she gives, we see her compare the conscious brain with Theseus and his court. This also coincides with the theory of the three worlds of Midsummer Night’s Dream, this world being the World of the Court. It has strict rules and policies; everything is very rigid, like your conscious brain and your conscious functions. You know what you are doing and there are strict ways to do those things. Actively (3) discouraged are imagination and spontaneity, as this quote states: “The lunatic, the lover, and the poet, are of imagination all compact.” (V, i). The quote, spoken by Theseus, can be boiled down to one principle: imagination makes people imprudent5. This, again, proves that the World of the Court is much like the conscious brain: there are things that must be done and must not be done, and specific ways to do those things.
The second world, the world of Oberon and his court, throws everything the World of the Court holds dear away. Much like the subconscious brain to the conscious brain, the subconscious being responsible for basic functions that can be fluctuated4 when made conscious functions (such as imagination and memories, which1 are subconscious