What Are The Dramatic Conventions In A Midsummer Night's Dream

A comical interlude is a part in a play where there is a break from the main plotline and is a chance for the audience and actors to relax. Some may argue that the final scene in ‘A Midsummer Night’s dream’ is only a comical interlude and nothing more as it does not relate to the main story directly. However, I would argue against this and say that the last scene is written by Shakespeare as a clever way of showing the audience what might have happened to the lovers. Also, a common convention of comedies is mockery, so the craftsmen’s play could be interpreted as a way of mocking the foolish behaviour of the four lovers.
Another classic convention of comedy is forbidden love. In both ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ and ‘Pyramus and Thisbe’ there
Hermia and Lysander go to the forest, ‘Steal forth...And in the wood, a league without the town’. The word ‘steal’ automatically shows you that what they are doing is criminal and very serious. On the other hand, Pyramus and Thisbe decide to go to Ninus’ Tomb’, ‘Wilt thou at Ninny’s tomb meet me straightway’. Compared to the serious language used by Lysander, Bottom mispronouncing ‘Ninus’ tomb’ for ‘Ninnys tomb’ is humorous as it shows how uneducated him and the rest of the carpenters are. You could also say that it shows how arrogant Bottom is, as clearly he was not listening when Quince corrects Flute of the same mistake, ‘Ninus’ tomb, man’. The more likely explanation is that Shakespeare is showing Bottom to be the arrogant fool he is, as Quince managed to understand it. There is a huge difference in where the couples plan to meet, the forest is a very magical place where as Pyramus and Thisbe are meeting at a tomb which is a very sad, depressing place. With forests you associate getting lost and confusion which is another classic convention of comedies where as you associate death with tombs and death is a common convention of tragedies. However you could interpret the forest to be like a tomb for the lovers as they fall asleep there and are lucky to be alive thanks to the fairies. The more plausible explanation to why Shakespeare used this comparison between locations is because he wanted to show the strong
Lysander and Hermia get married and live happily ever after, where as both Pyramus and Thisbe kill themselves. ‘Now die, die, die, die’. This line performed by Bottom as Pyramus in the play is an extremely comical moment. Bottom is a self-assured and over confident character who tries to make every part of his role eccentric and exaggerated. So he repeats this line to make it more dramatic but it becomes a comical moment because Shakespeare has created Bottoms character for the audience to laugh at. Another interpretation to why Shakespeare has added in this part is because there is no death in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. This makes sense as the play is a comedy and one of the key conventions of a comedy is that nobody dies and there is at least one marriage at the end. Perhaps Shakespeare included this death of Pyramus because the audiences of the time loved seeing people die. So I think the reason Shakespeare killed Pyramus off in this humorous way to keep his audience interested and laughing at the same time. The repetition of the word ‘Die’ creates humour as it emphasises it to the audience and shows how stuck up Bottom is trying to milk every line he has. Another explanation to why Shakespeare has written it like this is because he wants us to remember Bottom’s humorous death. This particular explanation argues that the craftsmen’s play does have relevance to the main