In Shakespeare’s play “A Midsummer’s Night Dream,” a couple, Hermia and Lysander, escape to get married. Helena, Hermia’s friend loves Demetrius whose Hermia’s father Egeus wants her to marry. Helena and Demetrius hear that Hermia and Lysander are going to escape, so they follow behind them into this magical forest full of fairies and artisans. The fairy kingdom, whose queen is Titania, and king is Oberon, add to the comical appearance of the play, and the artisans are working on their own play to perform back in Athens, for Theseus and Hippolyta’s marriage, the king and queen of Athens. In the magical forest, the confusion of love between the couples mix up as a result of Puck giving the magical flower juice to the wrong person. Lysander and
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Gives his audience a positive way to look at life, pretend the bad things never happened, and move on with life like the couple’s in the play. He makes sure that the audience is not frightened, by calling everything a dream. The audience is “presented with images of a nightmare…by framing those images in an illusion, [dissolving] their threat in laughter." (Calderwood) The play that the artisans perform in Theseus and Hippolyta’s marriage has scenes that can scare their audience, but Puck comes and says “this weak and idle theme, No more yielding but a dream," (V.i.432-35), in order for the audience to not be frightened by the play. When Theseus and Hippolyta watch the workmen’s play, Theseus states that with “imagination,” the play can be “amended” for the better, where Hippolyta replies “then it must be [his, Theseus’s] imaginations, not [the audience’s].” (Shakespeare V.I,216, Calderwood). Hippolyta suggests that each individual has their own imaginations, their own ways to interpret a dream, and choose whether or not to accept the play as an illusion. The play’s comical appearance also aids the play’s dreamy appearance. When Bottom is turned into an ass by Puck, under the orders of Oberon, the play gives the audience a hilarious outlook, since with the use of the magical flower, Titania ends up falling in love with bottom, who at that moment is an ass: “see their knavery, this is to make an ass of me, to fright me, if they could.” (3.1.16) Shakespeare’s use of comedy guides us through the frightening moments of the play, keeping his audience at ease, by replacing the frightening moments merely into a dream. His style is the opposite of how a magician deceives his audience by lying about his own tricks; Shakespeare, on the other hand, hides his play 's tricks on his audience through "farcical parody" that not many have noticed,
Gives his audience a positive way to look at life, pretend the bad things never happened, and move on with life like the couple’s in the play. He makes sure that the audience is not frightened, by calling everything a dream. The audience is “presented with images of a nightmare…by framing those images in an illusion, [dissolving] their threat in laughter." (Calderwood) The play that the artisans perform in Theseus and Hippolyta’s marriage has scenes that can scare their audience, but Puck comes and says “this weak and idle theme, No more yielding but a dream," (V.i.432-35), in order for the audience to not be frightened by the play. When Theseus and Hippolyta watch the workmen’s play, Theseus states that with “imagination,” the play can be “amended” for the better, where Hippolyta replies “then it must be [his, Theseus’s] imaginations, not [the audience’s].” (Shakespeare V.I,216, Calderwood). Hippolyta suggests that each individual has their own imaginations, their own ways to interpret a dream, and choose whether or not to accept the play as an illusion. The play’s comical appearance also aids the play’s dreamy appearance. When Bottom is turned into an ass by Puck, under the orders of Oberon, the play gives the audience a hilarious outlook, since with the use of the magical flower, Titania ends up falling in love with bottom, who at that moment is an ass: “see their knavery, this is to make an ass of me, to fright me, if they could.” (3.1.16) Shakespeare’s use of comedy guides us through the frightening moments of the play, keeping his audience at ease, by replacing the frightening moments merely into a dream. His style is the opposite of how a magician deceives his audience by lying about his own tricks; Shakespeare, on the other hand, hides his play 's tricks on his audience through "farcical parody" that not many have noticed,