A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Summary:

On the eve of the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta, two Athenian youths passionately in love - Hermia and Lysander - agree to run off because Hermia’s father has forbidden their marriage and promised Hermia to another, Demetrius. Hermia’s best friend, Helena, who has unrequited feelings for Demetrius, tells him of their plan to elope, and they follow the two into the woods as night falls. At the same time, a group of Athenian tradesmen led by Bottom the weaver also head into the woods to rehearse their play. Unbeknownst to all, these woods are home to a court of fairies, including King Oberon and Queen Titania, who are currently in a lovers quarrel. Hilarity ensues involving a love potion and an ass’s head over the course of the night, but in the end all our couples are happily reunited and we finish with three weddings and a hilarious if poorly acted play-within-a-play.

What It’s About:

Love, like a dream, is senseless and yet true.

Searching for a theme in A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a bit of a challenge given that the play feels as ephemeral as its title suggests. While there is certainly a lot of plot - three separate storylines, each full to the brim with characters - the action itself feels oddly insignificant. It’s also easily resolved, with Oberon swooping in at the end of the 4th act and fixing everything. None of the play’s primary story arcs carry their conflicts into the final act save the tradesmen’s play-within-a-play, which mostly serves as comedic runner. And yet, this makes an odd sort of sense - love, at least within the world of Midsummer, is also an ephemeral thing, changeable and subject to manipulation. Lysander, Demetrius, and Titania all have their affections manipulated throughout the play by the device of the love potion, which makes them fall helplessly for the first thing they see upon waking. Lysander and Demetrius both forget all affection for Hermia - previously the center of their love triangle - and instead dote on the once-scorned Helena. Titania, for her part, is tricked into loving the tradesman Bottom, who is transfigured in a merry prank by Puck to have the head of a donkey. Even before this fantastical device is introduced, Demetrius’s love seems to be changeable - he was previously sworn to Helena, but broke things off when a better offer came along. All the vows made, the oaths sworn, the honest declarations of affection seem to be founded on nothing but artifice and flights of fancy.

And yet, we are reminded at the end of the play that dreams have power - that they show us true things - despite this ephemeral nature. The four lovers awake the next morning after Oberon has set everything right convinced they have simply dreamed the last night’s events - and that those dreams have led them to the happy ending they now enjoy. Moreover, the play produced by the tradesmen and Puck’s final monologue remind us that plays themselves are but dreams, full of artifice and falsehoods built to convey some deeper truth, some meaning that exists beyond mere facts.

The tradesman’s choice of play is also apt - they perform Pyramus & Thisbe, a tale of two tragic lovers separated by their warring families that ends with both killing themselves, believing the other to be dead because of a misunderstanding. If that sounds familiar, it’s because Pyramus & Thisbe served as Shakespeare’s source material for Romeo & Juliet. Midsummer echoes R+J in many ways, but most significantly the tradesmen’s performance of a tragedy that befell star-crossed lovers serves as a reminder of the power of love, and that the various romances of those in the woods could have ended on a much darker note if the players involved were more rash or more uncompromising. The love in Midsummer seems slight - changeable and subject to manipulation. And yet despite all that it still remains love, in all its glory. Therefore, it is true, powerful, and has significant (and potentially disastrous) consequences.

If This Were A Movie:

While not a movie, the dreamlike quality of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is best reflected by a fairy tale. Beyond the obvious - it is a story that involves fairies - it also is dripping with the trappings of the genre; young lovers forbidden from meeting, magical trinkets like love potions, and even the very setting - the forest, a place of mystery and transformation. Characters’ personalities change in an instant, suddenly loving what they once despised, and yet despite all this there’s never really any fear that things won’t be resolved happily. And Oberon himself seems to be the perfect fairy godmother, swooping in at the end to happily resolve everything by pairing off the couples, freeing everyone from their various enchantments, and finally blessing the three pairs of newly weds with happiness and fertility. In other words, a young couple, transgressing against authority runs off to the woods. They fall afoul of mystical mischief, but in the end all is set right by a benevolent and seemingly omnipotent mystical figure. And they lived happily ever after.

The Line From The Play That You Know:
Shall we their fond pageant see?
Lord, what fools these mortals be! - 3.2.114-115

Puck, or Robin Goodfellow, serves as the primary mischief-maker of the play - calling him an antagonist would probably be a bridge too far, but he is the main cause of much of the chaos that makes up the 2nd and 3rd acts of the play. This chaos is ripe for physical comedy, and good actors can have no end of fun playing the fools in these revels. Lysander and Demetrius’s dueling courtship of Helena, and her own growing exasperation with both, is especially of note - when done well it reaches Looney Tunes levels of overblown, slapstick-y romance, as does Hermia’s furious reaction to being called short.

The Line You Should Know:

The lunatic, the lover and the poet
Are of imagination all compact. - 5.1.7-8

Delivered by Theseus as he reflects on the wild story the various lovers have relayed to him following their night in the woods, this line speaks to the seemingly impossible nature of taking something ephemeral - something that does not tangibly exist - and putting it down into words. It seems like madness, and yet that is the goal of both poets and lovers; capturing that which cannot be seen and conveying it to someone else. As mentioned above, the play emphasizes its own dream-like nature and the inherent artifice of a staged production, putting it in the same category here as poetry. It tries to put into words some higher theme, even if that theme by its very nature can’t be defined in words.

Notable Adaptation:

I’m breaking with my established order here, as this is neither a true adaptation, nor is it a movie (though that’s less of an impediment). However, to my mind there is no better illustration of the themes of Midsummer than issue #19 of Neil Gaiman’s landmark fantasy comic series The Sandman. Collected in the series’ third volume, Dream Country, the issue sees the main character of the series, Dream of the Endless - the god-like personification of dreaming and with that human creativity - commissioning William Shakespeare to write Midsummer, and stage a performance of it for the very real fairies that it depicts. The Sandman has had a huge influence on me, and this issue, often called the best in the series, is largely responsible for the interpretation of the play outlined above. It emphasizes the power dreams and stories have in shaping our world as well as our culture - “Things need not have happened to be true.” It’s also delightfully funny, with the various supporting fairies offering a running commentary on the various inaccuracies in how they’ve been portrayed. Add that to the delightful number of Shakespearean inside jokes - Gaiman is definitely a Bard-nerd - and you have an incredible story that lights up all the pleasure centers in my brain.

General Notes:

The texture and tone of this play changes dramatically based on how the fairies within it are portrayed, so it’s worth taking a moment to reflect on their character - both how they would have been seen in Shakespeare’s time as well as how they’ve come to be used now. Textually, the fairies are genteel and well-intentioned, if a little mischievous from time to time. Oberon sets much of the conflict in motion by going out of his way to help Helena, trying to aid her in winning the heart of Demetrius. While this seems familiar to a modern audience brought up on Disney films about benevolent fairy godmothers, it should be noted that this was something of a departure at the time. Shakespeare preceded the Brothers Grimm, and his fairy stories were of the same ilk as the ones they drew upon; morality plays meant to scare children back onto the straight and narrow path. These fairies were alien at best and outright cruel at worst. Shakespeare’s portrayal is therefore something of a departure from what was the style at the time, and in fact it’s been credited as a direct progenitor of the good fairies of Disney films like Sleeping Beauty, Pinocchio, and Cinderella.

Despite that, modern stagings do not always hew to this interpretation. Many choose to play up the inhuman nature of the fairies and their meddling in mortal lives. Puck in particular can either be a merry prankster or a sadistic torturer depending on the actor’s choices. The forest itself is also subject to some interpretation - is it an idyllic glenn reminiscent of Eden, or a haunted copse out of one of your darker fables? And even if a staging doesn’t choose to go full eldritch-horror with the fairies, they still present interesting options for interpretation. It’s become quite popular to have Theseus and Hippolyta’s actors double for Oberon and Titania, giving them more of the air of omnipresent chess masters moving things behind the scenes. And even stylistic choices like casting a trained ballerina in the role of Puck change how these fantastical characters impact the text. As is so often the case with Shakespeare, it’s left to the modern director to find their own meaning in the play.

A Monologue For the Road

If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumbered here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend;
If you pardon, we will mend.
And as I am an honest puck,
If we have unearned luck
Now to ‘scape the serpent’s tongue,
We will make amends ere long:
Else the puck a liar call.
So good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends. - 5.1.409-424