In the words of Freddie Mercury the lead singer of Queen, “Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide, No escape from reality. Open your eyes, Look up to the skies and see…” English playwright William Shakespeare plays with this idea of dreams versus reality throughout a number of his production. The William Shakespeare play A Midsummers Night Dream plays with this idea more than any other play production created by the famous playwright. Within this particular play, Shakespeare plays with the idea of a reality and a fantasy world overlapping each other simultaneously. This causes the audience to wonder if Shakespeare is trying to say that the real world and the dream world are connected in a certain way. When one is
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From this passage one can tell that Shakespeare is intended for his audience to think about what might have happened during the play. By giving the lines to Puck, who is a fairy, Shakespeare wants the audience to truly ponder if what they saw was real or if the play itself is just a figment of our imagination. The last three lines are also very important because they discuss the possibility of ones dreams to make amends with the mind. By having Puck say this at the end Shakespeare is making sure that he leaves his audience with a lasting impression. If Shakespeare were to give the lines to one of the humans within the play it would not work since the audience would be able to associate with the human and realize that if the person is real, then the play must be real. Since Shakespeare gives the lines to the fairy and a mischievous one at that, Shakespeare is now helping his audience members cross over into the fantasy world. Shakespeare also brings up a few key questions with this soliloquy. The first is; do our dreams directly affect how we perform in reality? The second question is; are people directly in control of the dream or is the dream in control of them? The third and possibly the broadest question that Shakespeare brings up from the soliloquy are; what is the importance of dreaming in the first place? All of these questions …show more content…
Before one can understand the dreaming process, one must first understand what is going on during the sleeping process. According to a Harvard Medical School journal sleep is described as, “A period of reduced activity, associated with a typical posture, results in a decreased responsiveness to external stimuli, is a state that is relatively easy to reverse” (The Characteristics of Sleep). The journal also goes on to talk about how humans sleep differently than other mammals; “When humans sleep, the entire brain is involved . . . In these marine mammals, sleep occurs in only one hemisphere of their brain at a time” (The Characteristics of Sleep). From this study it is clear that modern day scientist have figured out how humans are even more unique than their mammal counterparts. By involving both brain hemispheres within sleep, humans are able to what one could assume to be a vaster and in depth dream. That act of dreaming itself occurs during REM sleep. According to the journal article Mental Processes and the Brain During Dreams, author Miranda Occhionero, explains “During REM sleep the level of activation results in the frequency at which brainstem reticular neurons fire . . . Moreover, the ascending activation system was hypothesized to activate other structures for dream imagery . . .” (Occhionero 55). From this passage it is
From this passage one can tell that Shakespeare is intended for his audience to think about what might have happened during the play. By giving the lines to Puck, who is a fairy, Shakespeare wants the audience to truly ponder if what they saw was real or if the play itself is just a figment of our imagination. The last three lines are also very important because they discuss the possibility of ones dreams to make amends with the mind. By having Puck say this at the end Shakespeare is making sure that he leaves his audience with a lasting impression. If Shakespeare were to give the lines to one of the humans within the play it would not work since the audience would be able to associate with the human and realize that if the person is real, then the play must be real. Since Shakespeare gives the lines to the fairy and a mischievous one at that, Shakespeare is now helping his audience members cross over into the fantasy world. Shakespeare also brings up a few key questions with this soliloquy. The first is; do our dreams directly affect how we perform in reality? The second question is; are people directly in control of the dream or is the dream in control of them? The third and possibly the broadest question that Shakespeare brings up from the soliloquy are; what is the importance of dreaming in the first place? All of these questions …show more content…
Before one can understand the dreaming process, one must first understand what is going on during the sleeping process. According to a Harvard Medical School journal sleep is described as, “A period of reduced activity, associated with a typical posture, results in a decreased responsiveness to external stimuli, is a state that is relatively easy to reverse” (The Characteristics of Sleep). The journal also goes on to talk about how humans sleep differently than other mammals; “When humans sleep, the entire brain is involved . . . In these marine mammals, sleep occurs in only one hemisphere of their brain at a time” (The Characteristics of Sleep). From this study it is clear that modern day scientist have figured out how humans are even more unique than their mammal counterparts. By involving both brain hemispheres within sleep, humans are able to what one could assume to be a vaster and in depth dream. That act of dreaming itself occurs during REM sleep. According to the journal article Mental Processes and the Brain During Dreams, author Miranda Occhionero, explains “During REM sleep the level of activation results in the frequency at which brainstem reticular neurons fire . . . Moreover, the ascending activation system was hypothesized to activate other structures for dream imagery . . .” (Occhionero 55). From this passage it is