Prompt One: During A Midsummer’s Night Dream, a play occurs during two of the characters’, Hippolyta and Theseus, wedding. While the play occurs, Theseus supports the ‘bad’ actors, saying that the audience should give them praise for at least trying. This relates to what Shakespeare wants during his play, respect for the actors. Shakespeare is saying that no matter the performance or lack of talent that the actors convey, the audience should respect them and everything they are doing. He wants the theater to be a place of respect and encouragement.…
Define “ tragedy,” Comedy,” and “romance” in the literary sense of the words. Explain into what category or caregonist Midsummer Night’s Dream falls and why? - People think of A Midsummer Night’s Dream as light-hearted and funny, full of amusing fairy high jinks, enchantments, and moonlight romance. And indeed, fairies cavort, dance and sing throughout the play and cast magic spells on young lovers forcing them to roam about aimlessly and to engage in absurd antics. Intro paragraph: Theseus , Duke of Athens, is about to marry Hippolyta,Egeus brings his daughter Hermia to court, she and Lysander want to get married, but Egeus wants her to marry Demetrius, who also wants her .…
In A Midsummer Night’s Dream Helena is baffled at the fact Hermia has just called her fair. She continues to go on about how her beauty could never measure up to the perfect nature of Hermia. Helena also wishes that Hermia would her how to win Demetrius’ heart (1.1.185-97). Any young girl, or boy, could sympathize with Helena. The young reader may be able to understand what the young, distraught, lover is…
The status of women and gender roles during the place and time of these plays affected the characterizations of these characters. Women were treated like objects, looks determined whether or not someone was desirable and males were portrayed as more dominant. During this time, women…
In Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Nick bottom, one of the “Rude Mechanicals”, is a conceited actor. He frequently displays his overconfidence/conceitedness throughout act one, scene two of the play. For instance, he boasts he is fit enough to play all the roles in the play, as though he is the best actor, when he proclaims, “Let me play the lion too, I will roar that I will do/any man’s heart good to hear me; I will roar, that I/ will make the Duke say, “Let him roar again, let him/roar again.”” (1.2.65-68)…
‘The lunatic, the lover and the poet’, were spoken by Theseus from A Midsummer Night’s Dream and imply that all three are absolute dreamers. The comic play was written by Shakespeare in 1595 and illustrates the happenings associated with Theseus and Hippolyta’s wedding. The play was regarded a huge success at the time and has entertained its audience extensively all over the world.…
My favorite character so far in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by Shakespeare would have to be Helena who is in love with Demetrius. She doesn't care if he loves her or not she knows how she feels, follows her heart, and stands her ground. She is not afraid of the truth when Demetrius says; "Do I entice you? do I speak you fair? Or, rather, do I not in plainest truth Tell you, I do not, nor I cannot love you?"…
As the opera’s first curtain rises to expose a second bleak curtain, marching bare feet and legs cross the stage as the second curtain rises slightly to the sound of the orchestra. Among the feet and legs, aboriginal, European, and African slaves are represented by varying skin tones and ages in the procession. The orchestra stops playing, and the desolate curtain divides before an utterly dark stage. Red lights flash to show mountains and tropical trees in the distance, but there are no humans on stage as red lights become beams of white. The lights blend into a blue and yellow glow, only to flash dark again.…
Sexism is something most women have dealt with in their lifetime, but in the 16th Century, they were treated as slaves. In Shakespeare’s play, Much Ado About Nothing multiple social commentaries are brought to light. In order to help show injustice on woman, a musical will show how women were not allowed to make choices, they were abused, and they were treated as objects. Women’s lives were in the hands of men. As people grow older, they are allowed freedom of choice, and a larger range of responsibilities, but women did not get that.…
Imagine a society where the only purpose of women is to be wives and bear progenies. That’s primeval Athens, where females are seen as the property of men. However, the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, projects the opposite notion, which is uncommon because the play was written in the 16th century. In the play, a young Athenian woman, Hermia, disagrees to marry Demetrius, the man of her father’s choice. Hermia is depicted as having dominance through her bold actions that go against her father’s authority.…
The Sweet Girl Graduate by Sarah Curzon focuses on this specific representation of gender where the heroine of the play is attempting to comply to societal norms by cross-dressing in order to receive a higher education. The heroine is obliging to the gender hierarchy that exists, and as a result, this portrays the heroine as someone who is attempting to break away from male dominance, while at the same time accepting it as women were expected to. The representation of gender roles in The Sweet Girl Graduate creates a contradictory perception of what women are meant to achieve in the play, and this is due to the portrayal of the heroine as a free individual; however, at the same time she is subjected to follow the status quo forced…
1. After going through the play, my initial expression was that it was full of conflicts. There are a lot of quarrels between the lovers. Hermia and Lysander even ran off to the woods with the hope of starting a future life together. Here there is a presentation of a great personal versus society conflict that would see Hermia executed if she didn’t marry Demetrius as her father wanted.…
William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream portrays the theme of gender roles throughout the play. Shakespeare’s plays were written during an era where in society women had little will and choice of their own, and they were frequently subservient to men. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare dramatizes gender tensions that arise from complicated familial and romantic relationships. In comparison, the 2005 BBC film adaptation by Peter Bowker expresses dissimilar treatment towards women and discontinues to demonstrate patriarchal relationships, specifically through the characters, Hippolyta and Helena.…
Consequently, women in Shakespeare’s plays were often depicted as helpless and confined characters left wishing they could do something, but not able to follow through with their desires. This ultimately reinforced the unequal distribution of power to men because women had to rely on men to accomplish anything of…
William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is filled with details up to reader interpretation from hypothetical curtain open, to curtain close. If the title of the play did not give it away, dreams are obviously at the forefront of these interpretations. Shakespeare’s play is a story of dreams and magic versus the harsh reality of love and real life. It follows, primarily, a few different groups of characters: there are four young lovers (Helena, Hermia, Demetrius, and Lysander) who form a convoluted sort of love-quadrilateral, if you will (initially, Hermia and Lysander are in love while Helena loves Demetrius but Demetrius loves Hermia); there is a company of amateur and unprofessional actors, most importantly a weaver named Nick Bottom,…