A Midsummer Night’s Dream Background information

Background Written Comedy—what does this mean? “midsummer madness”—on June 23 rd, the shortest night of the year, “madness, enchantment, and witchcraft would invade and transform the world” (Garber 218). – Ancient idea—games and fun, planting is over but harvest is a long way off – Fairies were thought to play tricks on people that night (kind of like a summer version of Halloween)

Parallels to a play you know… Written at the same time as Romeo and Juliet “In a way we could say that A Midsummer Night’s Dream is Romeo and Juliet turned inside out” (Garber 213).

R&J and Midsummer Romeo & JulietMidsummer Strong Central AuthorityThe PrinceTheseus Fathers who want to choose daughter’s husbands Old Capulet (Paris)Egeus (Demetrius) Women choose their own love and attempt to run away Juliet and Romeo Hermia and Lysander Daughters threatened to be sent to a nunnery Friar Lawrence threatens Juliet Theseus threatens Hermia Night versus DayNight transforms and changes…. ….while day is rigid, inflexible, where the law is enforced

History: Queen Elizabeth Play is somewhat a battle of the sexes – Oberon versus Titania – Theseus versus Hippolyta Elizabeth as Queen was complicated for the time – Doesn’t marry—preserves power, uses courtship as power – Doesn’t have children—who will rule next? – Will women take over? “Amazons” (Hippolyta) were a culture of female power

Shakespearean Triple Pattern: STARTS IN: “(1) a world of apparent reality and order, with seeds of disorder” MOVES TO: “(2) a middle place, an interior world of transformation, in which things before far more evidently disordered (characters wear costumes, masks, or disguises…play unaccustomed roles, higher or lower on the social scale” RETURNS TO: “(3) the exterior world…armed with new knowledge, and better prepared to rejoin the ongoing world of social action” (Garber 217)

Source Garber, Marjorie. Shakespeare After All. New York: Anchor Books, Print.