“A Midummer Night’s Dream,” written by William Shakespeare, has an extremely confusing plot, with several stories interwoven to form one. Each part has a meaning behind it- a reason for it to be included in the play. Although alone they give a strong message to the reader or audience member, together they create a huge impression of what Shakespeare must have wanted the world to know.
The story starts off introducing Theseus, the Duke of Athens, and Hippolyta, the queen of the Amazons, who are soon to be married. Theseus, expressing his impatience, is interrupted by Egeus. Egeus was concerned about his daughter, Hermia, and requested the Duke’s advice. Theseus ruled in favor of Egeus, and according to his will, Hermia must either marry Demetrius, a man she did not love, or die. The next morning, Theseus and Hippolyta are out hunting to celebrate their wedding day and they come across Hermia, Helena, Lysander, and Demetrius. Theseus decides to overrule Egeus’ will, and says that the two couples will get married alongside himself and Hippolyta.
Shakespeare uses Theseus and Hippolyta to represent what is commonly known as a ‘clean slate’. The theme that they illustrate is, ‘Each new day erases the mistakes of the last’, because although they do not appear frequently in the play, Theseus and Hippolyta appear every morning and right the wrong that has been done. At the beginning, what appears to be the issue is that Hermia will not marry Demetrius, and so Theseus solves it. The next morning, however, the main problem is that the two couples cannot marry who they choose; this, too, is remedied by him.
Most of the story concerns the ‘love square’ formed by Hermia, Helena, Demetrius, and Lysander. After Theseus rules that Hermia must marry Demetrius, she and Lysander plan to run away together. However, they make the mistake of revealing their scheme to Helena, and because of her jealousy, she soon exposes them to Demetrius. Demetrius, being in love with Hermia, follows them, and Helena, being in love with Demetrius, follows him. Puck- who was ordered by Oberon to make Demetrius fall in love with Helena- mistakes Lysander for Demetrius, and spreads a love potion on his eyes. Soon, Lysander falls in love with Helena and abandons Hermia. When Puck finally realizes his error, he uses the same potion on Demetrius, and he too, falls in love with Helena. Yet, Helena, knowing that neither man loved her before, assumed that the two were mocking her. In no time at all, Demetrius and Lysander decide to fight over Helena. While they try to find a place to fight, Puck is at his best, and misleads them so they cannot find each other, much less somewhere to exchange blows. Soon, all four of them- Hermia, Helena, Demetrius, and Lysander- are fast asleep, and Puck spreads a remedy on Lysander’s eyes so he falls back in love with Hermia. The next morning, they are all found by Theseus and Hippolyta, and are married.
Without a doubt, these convoluted circumstances are a testament that ‘Love is entirely unpredictable’, because the two men are constantly changing who they love. No matter how fixed the situation seems to be, it continues to change. It appeared at first that Lysander would always love Hermia, but that soon changes, just as Demetrius’ love, which seemed to be Hermia’s also. And, as Lysander says, “The course of true love never did run smooth.”
While the love stories twist, the Mechanicals- Quince, Snug, Bottom, Flute, Snout, and Starveling- make an appearance as well. They prepare to perform a play that they describe as “A tedious brief scene of young Pyramus and his love Thisby; very tragical mirth” on Theseus and Hippolyta’s wedding day, so they plan to meet in the woods to rehearse. Puck soon finds them, and decides to play another trick. At some point during their rehearsing, Bottom goes offstage, and when he returns, his head was turned into a donkey’s (courtesy of Puck). His fellow Mechanicals are so scared, they run away. Bottom, not knowing that his appearance had changed, thinks they must have been playing a trick on him to make him scared, and starts to sing to show them that he is, in fact, unafraid. His singing wakes Titania, who falls in love with him immediately. Because of her love, he is waited on by the fairies, but she is soon cured of her adoration. He wakes up thinking that his experience with Titania was a dream, and goes back to his friends. Their play is chosen by Theseus to be performed, and although they mean it to be serious, the audience thinks it is a comedy because of their terrible acting.
During all of the other chaos, there is yet another story that unfolds. Titania, the queen of the fairies, and Oberon, the king of the fairies, have a horrendous fight. Titania had decided to raise her deceased friend’s son. Oberon wanted the boy to become his page, but the queen refused, saying “The fairy land buys not the child of me.” Despite the fact that their argument was causing every aspect of nature to go amiss, Titania would not relent. This led Oberon to take drastic measures. He used a love potion to make her fall in love with Bottom, and as she was distracted, she gave the boy to her husband. This done, Oberon spread the remedy on Titania’s eyes, and she was restored.
The fairies’ side of the story tells us that ‘A mountain can be made of a molehill.’ Oberon and Titania could have solved their quarrel easily, but both remained bull-headed and unwilling to compromise. If they had not exaggerated their argument, the debacle in nature could have been avoided, as well as most of the confusion surrounding Hermia, Helena, Demetrius, and Lysander.
Through all of the bewilderment in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” and everything that goes wrong, it would be hard to believe that Shakespeare believed in a happy ending. There could have been countless ways to end the play with characters unhappy- despite the fact that it is a comedy- but everything is resolved in the end, leaving every single person better off than at the beginning. As Puck said, “Jack shall have Jill; nought shall go ill; the man shall have his mare again, and all shall be well.” Shakespeare must have believed that although life is full of difficulties and sadness, everything would be alright in the end.
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