Consider the presentation of the supernatural in "A Midsummer Night's bream". In what
way does it reveal Shakespeare's moral and philosophical concerns? How does
Shakespeare's stagecraft (setting, Characterisation, language, verse form etc) facilitate
the consideration of his concerns? and how do we as a modern audience respond to the
play as a piece of theatre?
The main themes of "A Midsummer's Night Dream" are the supernatural, dreams, nature
and the difficulty of love. Shakespeare's ideas are represented by his use of symbolism. If
you look at the play in general at a glance it comes across as being benevolent. But if you
look closely then you can see that Shakespeare engages the audience in thought about
the world they live in. The audience is left to think about the difficulty of love, the magic
or supernatural power of love, and what is illusion or dream.
In "A Midsummer Nights Dream" love is a constant theme, there is a clear difference
between genuine love and the illusion made by love, that has no meaning. Shakespeare
suggests that love is an emotion that has to be balanced by reason. Nothing can stand in
the way of true love. Hermia and Lysander are prepared to leave their friends, family,
and home in order to get married, and Pyramus and Thisbe die for the love of each
other.
Titania shows the blindness of love when she falls in love with Bottom she is the
highest immortal - a beautiful fairy queen, but she is in love with the lowest immortal an ass.
Puck portrays the cynical and foolish view of love "lord what fools these mortals be",
he is unaffected by it. Puck is the only one to see the madness of love, he sees it as just
a mating ritual "man will have his mare again and all shall be well.
The exaggerated language of the people under the love spell that Oberon creates from
the "flower hit by cupids arrow" shows how irresponsible and foolish love can be. When
Titania first meets bottom she says "on the first view to say, to swear, I love thee" and
Lysander announced instant love to Helena saying "run through fire I will for thy sweet
sake!" Shakespeare also shows that true love overrides all other loyalties. When Titania
falls in love with bottom she disowns the changeling boy, that she fell out with Oberon
about. Shakespeare shows the reverse side of love through Oberon. Love can cause
jealousy, hatred and dominance. The jealousy between Oberon and Titania caused
disruption in the natural world, and when Oberon falls out with Titania he wants to
make a fool out of her. He does this by putting the juice of a flower which has been
"touched by cupids arrow" on her eyes this makes her fall in love with the next living
thing she sees. When Oberon puts this juice on Titania's eyes he says "Wake when
some vile thing is near!" this shows he doesn't care how much he humiliates Titania as
long as he gets revenge. Jealousy between the four lovers caused Helena and Hermia to
brake their livelong friendship, and argue with each other and Lysander and Demetrius
want to kill each other. Shakespeare tells us that jealousy destroys relationships but
jealousy is a product of love.
The world of nature is shown as a place of natural beauty but also an area of potential
danger. The place where Titania sleeps is an enchanting place where-fragrant flowers
grow. But also in the woods there is no direction or pathway so the mortals can feel lost
and afraid. The woods are dark and a place of mystery and magic, an Elizabethan
audience would associate this with the supernatural. The individual fairies names Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth, and Mustard seed are embodiments of nature They are
all loyal follows of Titania and they spend their time helping nature. The way that the
natural world can be beautiful and balanced is an example to the human world, but
Shakespeare also shows that the natural world can be unbalanced and dangerous just
like the human world. The wood is an embodiment of love.
The Elizabethan's believed that order was an important part of life. There had to be
balance in the world, which was maintained by order, and when order was broken and
the balance was upset it would end up with terrible consequences. Shakespeare uses
this idea in "A Midsummer Nights Dream". The fairies are seen as significant in keeping
order in the natural world and the human world. The argument between Titania and
Oberon means that harmony is gone from the fairy world and as a result the human
world is suffering, the crops are destroyed, the natural patterns of the climate and
seasons have changed and it also effects the mortals lives. Titania is aware of the
consequences of the argument and wants to sort them out "The human mortals want
their winter cheer;" Oberon is less concerned about the consequences. When Titania
and Oberon make up it leads to human reconciliation and blessing, and ends with music
and harmony.
The fairies are superior to humans, they are not restricted by time, place "I'll put a
girdle round about the earth, In forty minutes!" or social rules, this is an extension of
our aspirations and fantasies. The use of language suggests the fairies are never limited
to a concrete appearance, Titania is able to embrace Bottom but the fairies can also
"creep into acorn cups, wrap in a snakeskin, make coats from bat fur".
As the king of the fairies Oberon represents power, but his mischievous use of power
brings chaos and confusion. Oberon can make himself invisible and has such good
eyesight that he has seen Cupid flying "between the cold moon and the earth". There is
a dark side to Oberon, which can make him quite frightening. His jealousy caused
mayhem in the natural world and his plan to get the changeling boy involved
humiliating Titania. The audience sees that he can be selfish and expects, to get his own
way and that he is prepared to be ruthless get what he wants. But also he is capable of
feeling sympathy, he reverses the spell on Titania after he has got what he wanted, and
he sympathises with Helena when he sees Demetrius treating her badly and tries to help
her. The duality of his character can be seen when he uses his magic to help Helena, but
at the same time uses it to humiliate
Titania.''
Titania, the Queen of fairies is described by Oberon as "proud" because she refuses to
agree to give him the changeling boy. Even in the fairy kingdom females are
subservient to male and Titania challenges this as she is prepared to stand up to
Oberon. When he says, "Am I not thy lord?" she replies with "Then I must be thy lady".
Titania is associated with mothering she wants to protect the changeling boy to stay
loyal to the boys dead mother and she is very in touch with nature and its beauty and
almost mothers it, as she sends her fairies to protect the plants and creatures.
Titania and Oberon are given human characteristics and weaknesses, which make them
more believable, and the audience can engage and empathise with them because they
have genuine human emotions.
Puck loves to tease, he is the alternative aspect of the supernatural. He has none of the
dignity of Titania or Oberon. From the first meeting of him the fairy describes him as a
"knavish sprite" and the audience is aware that he finds pleasure in mischief. Puck
doesn't get involved with anything emotionally. He enjoys creating the circumstances
where ridiculous events and behaviour happen, and he just watches. He acts under the
instructions of Oberon, his master, but he still has his own mind and own ideas, like
when he but an ass's head on Bottom. Puck loves practical jokes, but because unlike
Oberon he doesn't have any feelings of guilt the audience probably would not fully
share the pleasure of his tricks. Puck causes most of the mayhem and it has the
potential for tragedy but the audience knows that the watching Oberon will not let that
happen so it results in comedy.
Both Puck and Titania openly interact with humans. Titania interacts and emphasises
with humans she has close relationships with individual mortals. But Puck interferes
with humans purely to play practical jokes, and he does not empathise with them, he
prefers the mayhem even at the expense of human suffering and chaos. Puck mocks the
workmen and takes pleasure in tormenting the "hempen homepuns". Oberon has a
powerful force over human beings, he is interested using his magic to help individual
mortals' e.g.
Helena. He tries to help Helena's relationship because his own relationship has spiralled
out of control. Puck manipulates the lovers and sees humans as an inferior species.
The fairies' magic brings about many of the most strange and funny situations in the
play. At the climax of "A Midsummer Nights Dream" the misuse of magic had caused
chaos and confusion. Titania is in love with an ass. Puck applied the love potion to
Lysander's eyes instead of Demetrius', Oberon bewitched Demetrius so he too is in love
with Helena, and the four lovers are arguing. Oberon wants to sort all this out and
restore the harmony. But Puck enjoys the chaos "this their jangling I esteem a sport"
The magic also resolves the play's tensions by restoring harmony between Titania and
Oberon which leads to the reconciliation among the four lovers.
The human imagination is not restricted or controlled by social order Shakespeare
wanted to show the difference between humans working within social constraints and
humans responding to instinct without limits. Shakespeare provides an insight into the
human mind by contrasting Ancient Athens with the woods. Athens is a civilised world,
which is governed by reason and order, the woods however, has no laws and no
direction or pathway, imagination and love dictate what happens when the characters
are in the wood they are in a dream-like state where reason is clouded. The woods
represent the human imagination and mind when it's relaxed like when a person is on
their own, in their own environment and Athens represents the human imagination and
mind when it has to think about physical social limitations.
In Elizabethan times there were only a limited amount of props and setting that
Shakespeare could use. Therefore he had to take the audience to the fairy world using
their imagination and his ability to create a place by using only words. Shakespeare uses
his words very effectively by emphasising the beauty of the fairy world by using world
like, orbs, gold coats and rubies. The sort of language that Shakespeare uses is an
indication of the type of character that is speaking. Theseus, Hippolyta, Oberon, and
Titania all use blank verse this shows that they have a high status. The workmen speak
in prose this reflects their low status. Puck's language alludes to the darker side of the
supernatural. He shows that good can not exist without evil. Puck speaks of midnight
and darkness. Night-time is when humans are usually asleep and when magical
creatures are about. Humans don't see very well in the dark so this is a time when we
are more vulnerable and feel insecure. Puck also speaks about death and hell "Now it
the time of night, That the graves, all gaping wide, Everyone lets forth his sprite"
humans are confused and scared about death, but Puck is aware of what happens after
death.
A modern day audience would be more doubtful about the existence of the
Supernatural. But they suspend their disbelief so that they can see things from the
character's point of view and get more into the story line. There is more props and
better setting available to make the supernatural more believable.