In A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, the seasons are vital to the development of several relationships. Seasons are first presented in the title. Each season offers a different attitude. Summer is known for freedom and romance, where winter in contrast is shown with themes of bitterness and death. The season of the play and the themes associated with it allow the characters in the comedy to progress in their romantic relationships. The seasons heavily affect the relationships of the inhabitants of the magical world. Fairy royalty Titania and Oberon, along with their attendants see over the magical world. Oberon and Titania, being king and queen, respectively, are in a fight over an Indian prince. Oberon desires the “little …show more content…
In the natural world there is strife among four lovers. The lovers include a couple, Hermia and Lysander, a competitor for Hermia’s love, Demetrius, and a friend of Hermia and a seeker Demetrius’s love, Helena. The four are affected by the fairies seasonal mix up as well as the fairies interfering with the lover affairs by using a “juice” that causes the affected to “pursue” “the next thing… [they] look upon… with the soul of love” (2.1.177, 180, 183). The love potion put on the lovers causes confusion and conflict among the women. Hermia and Helena argue over the men, who have both been unknowingly tainted with the love potion. This leads to arguments over their friendship which was once so strong that the two were “two seeming bodies but one heart” as well as their physical insecurities (3.2.212). The women are forcing their angers on to each other both because they are angry at each other and because of the love potion confusion and the season switch. Thomas C. Foster describes “hard-wired” traits of winter, which could be the season summer has been confused with by the fairies, as filled with “resentment” and “dissatisfaction” with things life people (186). Towards the end of the comedy, the fight between Titania and Oberon was solved, causing their negative effects in the physical world to subside and allow the seasons to stop their “dissension” (2.1.116). Additionally, the fairies
Throughout My Ántonia, by Willa Cather, the change of seasons is often mentioned and represents the hardships and beauties of the world. The summer and spring are examples of the beauties in the world since the citizens are able to work due to the long days. The spring is almost as important as the summer since it is the time of year when farmers begin to farm again after the winter. But, the winter is unforgiving. During the winter all of citizens are hiding in their nice warm houses trying to avoid the harsh cold. Due to the citizens’ perseverance and hard work their town is able to thrive.
In chapter 20 of How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Foster describes the significance of seasons in literature. Seasons can mean many different things besides the obvious change in weather. Shakespeare uses seasons as literary devices to make comparisons. Seasons often act as metaphors for age in his work. Fall, for example, can also be seen as middle age; the turning point between old and young, summer and winter. Seasons were also used by Shakespeare to convey moods and emotions. Winter is often associated with bitterness, dissatisfaction, or anger. This works because elements of winter include harsh winds and freezing temperatures that make people uncomfortable. Furthermore, authors connect season with the human experience. Each season
In the novel, “A Separate Peace” by John Knowles, the seasons develop actions and characters in the story. The story takes place at an all-boys boarding school in New Hampshire during World War II based off of the author’s previous experiences at a boarding school. The two main characters, Finny and Gene, experience character development alongside different seasons. In written works, seasons are commonly used to symbolically represent a change in the character’s personalities. The nature or setting of the story is used to specifically evolve Finny and Gene in seasons such as the summer, autumn, and winter. Each season change also generates an entirely different mood.
Furthermore, Titania complains due to Oberon’s actions, she and her fairy friends have been unable to meet anywhere for their usual dancing and frivolity without being disturbed. In order to further expand the point of the irrationality of love to the audience, Shakespeare continues to use hyperbole to express her intense feelings. Titania reasons that because of Oberon’s insistence on taking the Indian boy as his knight, there is no place for her to meet—not “on hill, in dale, forest, or mead, by pavèd fountain, or by rushy brook, or in the beachèd margent of the sea” (Shakespeare II.i.86). His continual interruptions have prevented their dances and moreover, his revenge has brought about terrible consequences for the human mortals. As Shakespeare details the affects, he imaginatively uses personification to describe the pale moon in her anger filling the air with disease and the icy winter wearing a crown of summer flowers in mockery. As Titania’s closes her long rant directed at Oberon, she concludes by confessing, “And this same progeny of evils comes from our debate, from our dissension, we are their parents and original” (Shakespeare II.i.118). As a
True love’s path is paved with every step. Through the assistance of fanciful elements as well as characters Puck and Oberon, the true message of love in William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is revealed. The four lovers know the direction in which their hearts are inclined to turn, but when the love potion is administered, the bounds of their rectangle are thrashed without knowledge or consent. The rapid shifts in affection between the play’s “four lovers” is representative of the idea that love isn’t a conscious choice, but a cruel game in which we are the figurines, being controlled by whomever the player may be, relating the characters’ karmic fates.
Titania is uncertain whether her vision is a dream or reality, because dreams are soon
Mandy Conway Mrs. Guynes English 12 16 March 2000 A Critical Analysis of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" William Shakespeare, born in 1594, is one of the greatest writers in literature. He dies in 1616 after completing many sonnets and plays. One of which is "A Midsummer Night's Dream." They say that this play is the most purely romantic of Shakespeare's comedies. The themes of the play are dreams and reality, love and magic. This extraordinary play is a play-with-in-a-play, which master writers only write successfully. Shakespeare proves here to be a master writer. Critics find it a task to explain the intricateness of the play, audiences find it very pleasing to read and watch. "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is a
In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as in many of Shakespeare's plays the main theme is love. Shakespeare presents many different aspects of love in the play. He shows how love can affect your vision of reality and make you behave in irrational ways. He presents many ways in which your behavior is affected by the different types and aspects of love. The main types of love he presents are; true love, unrequited love, sisterly love, jealous love, forced love, and parental love. Shakespeare tries to show what kinds of trouble, problems and confusion, love can get you into.
A Misummer Night’s Dream is a comedy play written by William Shakespeare. In this play there are multiple themes however the most evident theme is love. Why is love an evident theme? It is an evident theme because the play commences with two Greek mythology characters─ the Duke of Athens, Theseus and Amazon queen Hippolita planning their marriage. However as Theseus plans his marriage he has to help Egeus persuade his daughter Hermia to marry Demetrius. Unfortunately both the Duke and Egeus failed to persuade Hermia into marrying Demetrius so the fairies (another set of characters. The fairies in this play consisted of goddess of chastity and Queen of fairies, Titania and King of fairies Oberon and his assistance Robin Goodfellow) decide
The two locations of Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' are essential to the development of the plot, although their presentation relies wholly on the characters we meet there, their adventures and their descriptions of these places. Athens is not an accidental choice of location: although much of the detail of the play is quintessentially English, the classical setting enables Shakespeare to introduce the notable lawgiver, who has had his own problems in love; it makes plausible the reference to the severe law, and it allows Oberon to refer seriously to Cupid and Diana without the play's seeming blasphemous.
The supernatural world is rather distinct to that of the human world entrenched in societal standards and boundaries. Shakespeare’s play, ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, explores this concept, particularly through the use of Puck. In agreement to Harold Bloom’s statement, the following essay will analyse how Puck is significant because, by being so disparate, he is able to show the limitations of the human. This will be done through, first, exploring a definition of the human in relation to the supernatural. Subsequently, the essay will use a Freudian lense to analyse the morality of Puck and, lastly, the essay will focus on Puck’s physical characteristics as well as his ability to span across boundaries in the play and the metatheatrical realm.
From the Platonic view, the essence of beauty focuses on the prosperities and grievances encompassing us in our physical and abstract expressions, by which things like art, music, culture, and people touch us in our everyday lives. They are the embodiment of human virtues, feelings and desires expressed inexplicitly on these more tangible mediums. To go further, Plato explains that the things we like or the things we think to be beautiful hold subtle truths about own lives that we are currently missing. Strength, harmony, balance and peace are some of the many example of things that that humans aspire to obtain but don’t successfully acquire, thus our own desires are projected onto things we see, hear, feel and taste. But is the beauty indifferent
It is only through the machinations of the play’s metatheatrical stage managers that the issue of Demetrius’ unhappiness can be smoothed over into something that resembles the happy ending we expect as an audience. It is, in the end, the Faeries’ magic that allows the happy ending to emerge from all the chaos within the Green World, even if some of that chaos was caused by the Faeries to begin with. Puck, for instance, mistakenly applies the love-in-idleness to Lysander’s eyelids and causes him to fall in love with Helena. Oberon later realizes the mistake, and utilizes the love-in-idleness once more to enchant Demetrius, so it is now Helena who has too many suitors, and Hermia too few. Magic becomes the only force capable of undoing its own mischief, and resolves the play’s tensions by restoring a balance to the love between the four young Athenians. That surreal, fantastic element in the play’s major action allows for happiness to come to light in the end, even if we view the outside influence as something artificial within the relationships.
I had the pleasure of seeing one of William Shakespeare’s most beloved comedies, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, performed beautifully at the Tucker Theatre at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro. This performance space looks more like an industrial warehouse than an art house, but walking in we are transformed to the magical land of Midsummer. I chose A Midsummer Night’s Dream play because its major theme is love. There is plenty of comedy to entice those who are not interested in love, and there are some fairies. Another theme is friendship. Friends and what they think and say are extremely important. Most will have had some experience of two
The story of A Midsummer Night's Dream was mainly about love and its abnormal dealings. In the play, Shakespeare tried to show that love is unpredictable, unreasonable, and at times is blind. The theme of love was constantly used during the play and basically everything that was said and done was related to the concept of love and its unpredictable ness. Shakespeare made all of the characters interact their lives to be based on each other’s. At first, everything was very confusing, and the characters were faced with many different problems. In the end, however, they were still able to persevere and win their true love, the love they were searching for in the first place.