The theme of romantic suffering has been often explored through the motives of love imbalance or romantic situations in which disparities and inequality interfere with the harmony of relationships. The most obvious example of this imbalance is the asymmetric love among four young Athenians: Hermia loves Lysander, Lysander loves Hermia, Helena loves Demetrius, but, instead Helena - Demetrius loves Hermia (“And here am I, and wode within this wood, / Because I cannot meet my Hermia. / Hence, get thee gone, and follow me no more”) - a simple numerical imbalance in which two young men love the same girl, whilst the other girl is left without admirers (Alchin, ed., 2017, Act II, Scene I). In many ways, the play was based on the search for inner
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The entire drama is constructed around a group of contrasts and repetitions. Almost every feature presented in the play has its opposite: Helena is tall - Hermia is short; Pak is a jester – Bottom is a victim of the joke; Titania is beautiful – Bottom is grotesque. Moreover, the three main character groups (derived from Greek mythology, English folklore, and classical literature) are designed to firmly oppose each other: fairies are graceful and magical, craftsmen are clumsy and down-to-earth, whereas lovers are too serious. Contrast serves as defining visual characteristic of A Midsummer Night's Dream, and its surreal atmosphere and, perhaps, its central motive since there is no scene in the play without a contrast.
Theseus and Hippolyta represent the pillars of the play, since they open and close the play’s main action. They leave the scene during the action and appear in with a sunrise and dream’s end. Theseus and his bride stand for tidiness and balance, as opposed to unpredictability, inconstancy and obscurity, characteristic for the most of the play. Theseus and Hippolyta can perfectly handle their own environment, which is untypical for the world of dreams. By having them reappear after the dream-like atmosphere of the night, Shakespeare announces the end of the dream state of the previous night and a return to
The entire drama is constructed around a group of contrasts and repetitions. Almost every feature presented in the play has its opposite: Helena is tall - Hermia is short; Pak is a jester – Bottom is a victim of the joke; Titania is beautiful – Bottom is grotesque. Moreover, the three main character groups (derived from Greek mythology, English folklore, and classical literature) are designed to firmly oppose each other: fairies are graceful and magical, craftsmen are clumsy and down-to-earth, whereas lovers are too serious. Contrast serves as defining visual characteristic of A Midsummer Night's Dream, and its surreal atmosphere and, perhaps, its central motive since there is no scene in the play without a contrast.
Theseus and Hippolyta represent the pillars of the play, since they open and close the play’s main action. They leave the scene during the action and appear in with a sunrise and dream’s end. Theseus and his bride stand for tidiness and balance, as opposed to unpredictability, inconstancy and obscurity, characteristic for the most of the play. Theseus and Hippolyta can perfectly handle their own environment, which is untypical for the world of dreams. By having them reappear after the dream-like atmosphere of the night, Shakespeare announces the end of the dream state of the previous night and a return to