1. BBL4308 (Shakespeare and His Contemporaries) A Midsummer Night’s Dream

2. An overview A Midsummer Night's Dream was written between 1590 to 1596
First performance is 1st Jan 1605
One of Shakespeare’s strangest and most delightful creations, and it marks a departure from his earlier works and from others of the English Renaissance
It makes fun of everything from love at first sight to realistic staging
The play was first printed in a quarto edition in 1600

3. Why is it a comedy?
The plot is very important in Shakespeare's comedies. They are often very convoluted, twisted and confusing, and extremely hard to follow
Another characteristic of Shakespearean comedy is the themes of love and friendship, played within a courtly society. Songs often sung by a jester or a fool parallel the events of the plot. Also, foil and stock characters are often inserted into the plot

4. More about Shakespeare’s comedy
In the comedy itself, Shakespeare assumes that we know the basic plot, and he jumps right into it with little or no explanation
Foreshadowing and foreboding are put in the play early and can be heard throughout the drama
All Shakespearean comedies have five acts and the climax of the play is always during the third act

5. Shakespearean comedies also contain a wide variety of characters
He often introduces a character and then discards him, never to be seen again in the balance of the play
Shakespeare's female leads are usually described as petite, and often they assume male disguises
Often, foul weather parallels the emotional state of the characters
The audience is often informed of events before the characters, and when a future meeting is to take place it usually doesn't happen immediately
Character names are often clues to their roles and personalities, such as Malvolio from Twelfth Night, and Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream

6. Sub-categories of comedy
The comedies themselves can be sub-categorized as tragicomedies, romantic comedies, comedies of justice, and simple entertaining comedies with good wholesome fun
Many of these plays remain popular favourites 400 years after they were written

7. Characters?
Many of the characters are drawn from diverse texts: Titania comes from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and Oberon may have been taken from the medieval romance Huan of Bordeaux, translated by Lord Berners in the mid-1530s
Unlike the plots of many of Shakespeare’s plays, however, the story in A Midsummer Night’s Dream seems not to have been drawn from any particular source but rather to be the original product of the playwright’s imagination

8. What about references?
The range of references in the play is among its most extraordinary attributes: Shakespeare draws on sources as various as Greek mythology (Theseus, for instance, is loosely based on the Greek hero of the same name, and the play is peppered with references to Greek gods and goddesses); English country fairy lore (the character of Puck, or Robin Goodfellow, was a popular figure in sixteenth-century stories); and the theatrical practices of Shakespeare’s London (the craftsmen’s play refers to and parodies many conventions of English Renaissance theater, such as men playing the roles of women).

9. Main theme?
Love provides the main ingredient for the plot. If the lovers are unmarried when the play opens, they either have not met or there are some obstacles in the way of their love
Examples of the obstacles these lovers go through are familiar to every reader of Shakespeare for e.g. the father insistent upon his daughter marrying his choice, as in A Midsummer Night’s Dream; or the expulsion of the rightful Duke's daughter in As You Like It

10. Other theme/s?
Many themes are repeated throughout Shakespearean comedies. One theme is the never-ending struggle between the forces of good and evil. Another theme is that people often hide behind false faces (pretence/disguises)

11. Is there a hero?
Shakespeare uses many predictable patterns in his plays. The hero rarely appears in the opening lines; however, we hear about him from other characters. The hero does not normally make an entrance for a few lines, at least, if not a whole scene. The hero is also virtuous and strong, but he always possesses a character flaw

12. Dramatis Personae in Midsummer

13. Supernatural elements in Shakespeare’s plays
In the time of William Shakespeare there was a strong belief in the existence of the supernatural. Thus, the supernatural is a recurring aspect in many of Shakespeare¹s plays
The supernatural appeals to the audience curiosity of the mysterious and thus strengthens their interest

14. Supernatural elements in Shakespeare’s plays
3 distinct categories:
Spirits
Ghosts
Gods/fairies*
* They are making the humans confused because of their powers. They do what they want and humans don’t realise that fairies are joking with them

15. The role of supernatural beings
The supernatural is an integral part of the structure of the plot
It provides a catalyst for action, an insight into character, and augments the impact of many key scenes. The supernatural appears to the audience in many varied forms

16. Why include ghosts and fairies?
Shakespeare added many of the supernatural apparitions in his plays due to popular demand; he wanted his audience to have fun, so he included ghosts or spirits (invisible entities) when the play needed drama and fairies or other elements when he wanted to create complicate and make funny situations

17. What are they?
From beginning to end, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is filled with supernatural themes
Titania is the Queen of fairies, Oberon is the King of fairies and the husband of Titania, and finally Puck who is the fairy which due to misunderstood, complicates all the situation in the woods

19. Do we still like ghost?

20. Ghost as part of entertainment

21. Do we still love the supernatural?

22. A scary character?

23. A memorable legend?

24. Is there a friendly ghost?

25. Can supernatural be any friendlier than this?

26. In short, the comedy relies on
Forbidden love/relationship
Varied characters
Twisted plot/s
Supernatural beings
And usually
Ends with pomp celebrations/weddings

27. Various adaptations (appropriations?) of the play

28. Characters, characters, characters …
Varied Characters
The artisans/players