Introduction
The play Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of Shakespeare’s most significant work ever written in the literary works. This essay analyses the play’s theme and meaning and how it gets designed and acted on stage. Furthermore, the essay shall compare and contrast the central theme with the current issues as experienced in the world today.
Theme & Meaning
The central theme of this play is love. The idea of love is illustrated by the plan that Theseus and Hippolyta have of getting married. Furthermore, four Athenian characters also got entangled in love. There was Helena, who loves Demetrius, and Hermia who is loved by two men, Demetrius and Lysander. The theme of love in the play faces external interference from Hermia’s dad and Theseus, who tries to force Hermia to get married to Demetrius. ACT III signifies the foreign forces in scene two, where Puck uses the love portion to make characters like Titania fall in love with the Bottom. The author’s point of view signifies that two people can love each other so much, but a third person can come and ruin the relationship. However, despite the external interferences, Hermia and Lysander ended up together as well as Helena and Demetrius. Some elements that interfere with love in the play include parents, rulers, and magic from Puck. But despite the interference, the falling actions show internal forces of love, ultimately defeating the external forces.
The theme of love relates to the current cultures and values of the society in the following ways. There are a lot of young people who love each other so much; however, there is always a third party who claims to love one of the couples hence ending up complicating the relationship. The interference sometimes ends up causing one pair in the affiliation to cheating with the third person. Additionally, the love triangle in the current world leads to bitterness and hatred – at times, making the afflicted parties commit murder all in the name of love. Furthermore, there are many situations in which parents forbid their children from marrying from a particular group. Such external interference of love emanates from parents of a high social class forbidding relationships with impoverished people. The play particularly appeals to modern society, especially in situations where parents place so much value on material elements when deciding whom their children will marry.
The form of drama in this play is a comedy. The notable comic scene is that of Titania. Puck uses a love potion on Titania, which resulted in her falling ill love with the Bottom of an Ass. In the context of the American culture, the play exposes discrimination when it comes to marriages. For instance, individuals of Asian-American descent are not allowed by their parents to marry from other cultures. The parents of Asian-American children dictate whom the children are going to marry. Furthermore, whites like preserving their top-class hence they exercise social discrimination against African-American suitors.
Design
The elements of the play were all unified and fit together seamlessly in the play. To begin with, the setting of the play is in the city of Athens and the forest. The writer probably uses the city to indicate a place of the rule of law and order. The state of law become signified by the characters, Theseus delivering judgment on the case brought to him by Egeus. The city is supposed to be in contrast to the forest since it is a place of lawlessness. However, the judgment delivered by Theseus is too harsh as compared to the case brought to him. The non-realistic judgment act unifies the city and the forest as places that fit seamlessly since all of them have cruel ways of tackling issues. The cruelty seen in the woods gets supported by the action of Puck using his love portion on other people.
The characters in the play interact in a city and forest environment. The scenic background represents the beauty of nature, bringing out the theme of love. The play begins by focusing on the moon as a force affecting human behaviour. The subject signifies the idea of love as dreamt by the characters in the play. Furthermore, the scenic design of the moon underscores the passage of time. For instance, Theseus states, how the “old moon makes time to progress slowly.” The play also brings out the moon as a witness to the marriage that was to ensue.
The scenic view of the play is replete with woods and flowers. The wood, in this case, represents a powerful symbol of untamed nature. It is in the woods that the four people who were in love got struck with magic. On the other hand, the flowers have a unique role in the play since it shows that people instantly fell in love after seeing a particular set of flowers.
Acting
The performers of the play did not seem believable because there appears to be no supportive collaboration between the characters. In any film and theatrical work, the success of the film solely lies in the cooperation between actors. The performance witnessed on stage with this play displays characters who seem to have recited the scripts and are just giving out narrations to the audience. However, the play brings out a comical and hilarious perspective of the whole play. The audience gets the chance to join the characters in presenting a mockery of the play. Thus, the audience can interact fully with the performers on stage.
Furthermore, although the play seemed to possess some humorous acts, it all seemed unrealistic considering the fairy tales presented in the play. Scenario one of the characters turns into a Bottom ass is an example of a fairy tale that can only live in the audience’s imagination. However, on realistic terms, such a thing cannot happen. A dramatization physical encounter in the forest between Demetrius and Lysander does not show a strong fistfight, as is expected from the viewers. Perhaps the director of the play ought to have done more to ensure the scene looks a bit believable.
The performers must go above board to try and make the events of character look real. Furthermore, even with the stage of ambient moonlight set right for a romantic scene, little gets done from the performers’ side to bring out the whole love scene. There is also a scenario in which Hippolyta and Theseus changes roles to become a fairy king, queen, Oberon, and Titania. The change of vocal traits from one character to another makes the performances sound very unreal. The contrast in the vocal qualities appear when the fairy queens speak, but her voice comes out in a masculine way.
Conclusion
Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of the best works done by William Shakespeare. The play is replete with the themes of love. External forces shake the internal desire of characters, but in the end, it all works out for good. The play exposes some of the external forces like culture, religion, and class, which hinders the love of young people today. However, the lovers can always stick together and fight for what they believe in until their love thrives. An example of cases that relate to the events in the play is that of Asian-American families. They insist on preserving their culture – as a result of forcing their children to marry people they do not love.
