Hyperbole and Illusion In A Midsummer Night’s
Dream
by Barry Wright
Essay: Hyperbole and Illusion In A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Pages: 10
Rating: 3 stars
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In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare makes heavy use of hyperbole, the twisting of reality into something
greater than what it actually is, in both the dialogue and the ridiculous, larger-than-life nature of the situations
that occur to provide a basis for the conflict between reality and illusion, blurring the line that separates the two
concepts.
Before the symbolism of the woods and the land of fairies, the main sources of the conflict between reality and
unreality, is intact, there are small hints slowly leading to that direction in the opening scene of Act I, scene i.
When Egeus approaches Theseus to aid him with his daughter’s infatuation with Lysander instead of Demetrius, he
claims that Lysander has “bewitch'd the bosom of my child” (Shakespeare I.i.28) and “stolen the impression of her
fantasy,” (Shakespeare I.i.33) and in essence complains that Lysander has stolen Hermia’s rationality and sense of
reality.
As patently ridiculous and impossible as the claim is, it provides a steady basis for the blurring of the distinction
between the real and surreal: a man convinced of his daughter’s lack of a grip on reality complains in a hyperbolic
manner that another man has stolen her capabilities to think clearly, by making her fall in love with him and his
“feigning voice.” (Shakespeare I.i.32) Most audiences, after reading or watching the play would know very well that
Lysander is not capable of doing such things, and his actions afterward prove that he is just an innocent young
man trying to pursue his true love. However, the rather grotesque and unrealistic picture painted of him during
this hyperbolic scene becomes much less otherworldly when compared to some of the things later on in the play,
which exploit the smal...
hyperbole essay, essay using hyperbole