FREE ESSAY ON MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM/ SERIOUS VS COMEDY

MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM/ SERIOUS VS COMEDY

~A Midsummer night's dream ~
Analytical essay 
Does Shakespeare make any serious points in 'A midsummer night's dream', or is it just a
comedy?
Shakespeare's play, 'A midsummer night's dream' is a comedy which also deals with some
serious issues.
The play was written in Shakespearean times as a comedy. The play was written to
entertain two very different groups of people. The upper class, and the lower class
citizens, 
Two different levels of theater had to be written to entertain them both.
An entertaining and comical part, for both groups, would have been the use of fairies and
mystical magic in the play. In those days most grown adults were very superstitious and
believed in such things. The fairies and magic brought comedy to the play because,
although the people were superstitious, they also knew the spirit characters in the play
were fanciful and fictional.
Shakespeare used these characters to bring mischief to the story which caused many of the
comical incidents that happened through the play.
The most mischievous and there for the most comical and entertaining spirit was Oberon's
servant Puck.
Puck was quick tongued and meddling. He was also quite famous for being so. Puck created
a great deal of trouble when, trying to follow Oberon's orders, he mistakes Lysander for
Demetrius. It is comical that this simple mistake, which was hardly his fault, causes
such a mess of all the relationships in the play.
"What hast thou done? Thou hast mistaken quite. And laid the love juice on some true
love's sight." Oberon
An event in the play, which was written as comedy appealing to the lower class, was the
happenings which lead the fairy queen, Titania, to fall in love with a man that has been
enchanted and looks all the world like an ass.
Oberon drops love potion into Titania's eyes which makes her fall for a man that Puck has
prepared. 
"My mistress with a monster is in love"
"When in that moment it came to pass, Titania waked and straightway loved an ass" Act 3,
scene 2.
The scene where the fairy queen takes the ass to bed is most entertaining to the lower
class because they were a little less educated and most of the clever humor went straight
over their heads.
It was also comical because the ass was so ugly and the queen was so beautiful, and as
everyone knows, only the charming, handsome men get the beautiful women.
"My Oberon! What visions have I seen! Methought I was enamoured of an ass!" Titania.
The man didn't realize that the queen was charmed, and was vain enough to believe all the
wonderful things she said about him. This was funny because everyone always like to have
a laugh at people who think so highly of themselves.
In the play there are a group of actors that greatly contribute to the comedy of this
play.
We laugh at things that appear hopeless. And these poor town's folk come actors, are just
that. One of the actors is shy, the other is a man trying to play a woman and another is
a hopeless over actor who wants to steal the spot light. They all make fools of them
selves in order to impress Theseus and his court at his wedding banquet. 
The over simplicity of their production makes to be very entertaining.
Despite the humor in 'A midsummer night's dream', Shakespeare also deals with many
serious issues in this play.
One of these is that love is blind. This is evident in many of the relationships between
the characters in the play.
Both Hermia and Helena fall in love blindly, that is that they fall in love with the
least logical person.
Hermia is in love with Lysander despite the fact that her father would rather her die
than to marry him. It would be most logical for her to love Demetrius and live happily
ever after, but that is rarely the way love goes.
Helena fell in love with Demetruis who was so in love with Hermia, he barely even noticed
that Helena existed.
If it wasn't for the magical happening in the forest that night, it would have been
unlikely that these characters would have ended up as happy as they did.
"hings base and vile, holding no quantity, Love can transpose to form and dignity. Love
looks not with the eyes but with the mind; And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind."
Helena, Act 1, scene 1
A instance in Shakespeare's play where the theme 'love is blind' is much more literal is
the act between Titania and the ass. When Titania fell in love with Bottom, despite the
ugly exterior, she still thought him the most gorgeous creature alive.
Most of the characters in the play were in love, but that love was not always returned.
Helena and Demetrius are the best example of this. Helena was rejected by Demetrius time
and time again, but this just made her love him more. 
" I love thee not, there for pursue me not!" Demetrius 
Demetrius, on the other hand, was madly in love with Hermia. Although
she wanted nothing to do with him because she was so in love with Lysander. 
And all this rejection was even before the meddlesome fairies had a hand in it. When Puck
placed the love potion on Lysander's eyes, things just got worse. Lysander rejected
Hermia's love and both he and Demetrius aimed their affections at Helena, leaving poor
Hermia feeling betrayed.
Hermia thought that the two men were teasing her and denied both of them her love. 
Another is marital problems, this is a serious problem that still occurs today.
In 'A midsummer night's dream', Oberon and Titania aren't officially married, but they
may as well be. They fight like Husband and wife. This is mainly due to Oberon's jealousy
over a child he thinks might be Titania's. 
"What jealous Oberon! Fairies, skip hence; I have forsworn his bed and company." Titania

In the time the play was written, there weren't any marriage councilors and therefore
Oberon used magic to patch things up.
These and more aspects of relationships are very realistic and serious points that
Shakespeare explores in this play. 
Shakespeare's play 'A midsummer night's dream' has been well written so as it combines in
an entertaining way, both humor and serious issues.
By Aerin Langworthy