Critical Interpretation Of The Title Of The Play A Midsummer Night's Dream

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Q.1 Give a critical interpretation of the title of the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

In A Midsummer Night’s Dream the title itself gives a magical and romantic vibe, arousing further interest of the audiences. Shakespeare very wittily gave a hint of fantasy through his title and suggested an adventurous ride to a dreamland.

The entire setting of the play is very enchanting, with elements like fairies and a love potion it has the atmosphere of a magical kingdom. Especially the scenes from the forest look like scenes from a conventional Disney fairytale movie. Shakespeare gave powers to these mythical beings; like during the conversation between Puck and a fairy, the fairy says that she can travel anywhere “swifter than the moon’s sphere” which means that she can travel as fast as the moon orbits the earth (II.i.7). Moreover Puck also talks about how fast he can travel by saying “I’ll put a girdle round about the earth in forty minutes” meaning he can travel so fast that it will take him no time at all (II.i.175). All these examples show that Shakespeare gave the power of speed in his invention of fairies. There are references to other magical beings like when Oberon “heard a mermaid on a dolphin’s back” singing a song and also Cupid (God of love) is mentioned. “Love-in-idleness” is the main element of magic in the play which is a love potion. It is a white flower; when struck by Cupid’s bow it forms a dark purple color in the center of the petals. The play revolves around four people and their passionate love interest (to Hermia), which later on transfers to a new girl (Helena) because of a change of fate due to the interference of the fairies.

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From the word “midsummer” alone, the audience can understand that the play’s setting was in the middle of a summer season, probably in June or July. To be more specific, the play took place on the 23rd of June which is the eve of The Feast of the Nativity of St. John. During the play the audience may see magical creatures like angels and fairies and even how they manipulate ordinary human beings with their magical powers. During Elizabeth’s time, midsummer’s eve meant a festival, a time of celebration. It also has a magical and mysterious aura to it. Considering all these factors, the title “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” does justice to the play.

Q2. Who is the Changeling in A Midsummer Night’s Dream? Where has he come from? What is his origin? What role does he play in the play?

The Changeling is a character with no name and physical presence in the play and yet he plays a pivotal role in the play. He is called the Changeling because it means a child who has been replaced by a human child secretly by fairies. According to King Oberon, the Changeling was “stol’n from an Indian King” by Queen Titania (II.i.23). However, the Queen claims that she was friends with the boys’s mother and “she, being mortal, of that boy did die” so she took the responsibility of raising this child (II.i.130).

The boy, being from India, has a connection with Shakespeare writing this in the 16th century during Elizabethan period when England used to do trading business with India. To the West, India is considered to be a very far-off land with “spiced” air and apparently it is also the place from where King Oberon travelled to attend the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta (II.1.125).

Throughout the play, even though the boy did not make any physical appearance, his strong presence was still felt by the audience. He was the object of heated argument between King Oberon and his wife Queen Titania. The boy has become a primary source of happiness for the queen: she “crowns him with flower” and spends most of her time with him causing Oberon to feel jealous and unwanted (II.i.27). Therefore, Oberon came up with a clever idea of segregating the boy from Titania by offering him to be his “henchman” (II.i.121). In reply to Oberon’s offer the Queen said that “The fairy land buys not the child of me” meaning she will not surrender the child even at the cost of the entire fairy kingdom (II.i.123). From this we can hypothesize that the fairy Queen might have developed a motherly affection towards the boy and that they share a deep bond – that of a mother and son.

Q.3 Write a critical essay on the role of women from Ancient Greek in the play. How do the women break social conventions of their time/Do they suffer when they do so? Did they succeed in doing so? (Feminist theory)

For generations, women fell prey to men’s oppression and in ancient Greek it was no different. Especially in patriarchal societies, women were always subjugated by their male counterparts. They were even relegated to the status of slaves. Women in that age were either a possession of their father or husband.

We see a similar notion in A Midsummer Night’s Dream where an Athenian girl Hermia is forced by her father (Egeus) to marry the boy (Demetrius) he chose for her. As stated in the Athenian Law, girls who did not marry according to their father’s wish will either be excluded from the society or sent to the nunnery and in the extreme case they may be killed. We see an example of this in the play when Hermia’s father says, “As she is mine, I may dispose of her” meaning he has the right to vanquish her as she is his daughter (I.i.42). He further goes on to say that either she will marry Demetrius “[o]r to her death, according to our law” (I.i.44). As defying a father’s wish is punishable by law, King Theseus says to Hermia that “[t]o you your father should be as a god” (I.i.47). This indicates the stereotypical belief how a man of the household was treated like a God in those days. In spite of all these, Hermia boldly defies her father’s command saying she will not accept Demetrius because her “soul consents not to give sovereignty” (I.i.82). Hence, she decided to flee with her lover Lysander, breaking all the patriarchal codes and restrictions of the society. This was a feisty move made by Hermia, which is very unusual in an Athenian culture. Although the play starts out with multiple signs that she will have a tragic end, she gets to marry her beloved Lysander at the end. Therefore, we can say that Hermia was successful in breaking through the gender barriers set up by the society. Even though she faced some difficulties such as when Lysander was influenced by the love potion and proposed her best friend which led to animosity between the childhood friends, these things are trivial if we take into consideration the general hassles of any love relationship.

On the other hand, Queen Titania had a hard time keeping the Changeling to herself because her husband King Oberon did not like it and wanted her to surrender the boy to him. But when she refused, the King plotted a scheme against her – which revolved in using the love potion on that will make her fall in love with the first person she sees after opening her eyes. Oberon would grab that opportunity to take the boy away from her. Woefully, she fell for it and Oberon was successful in tricking her. Likewise, King Theseus married Hippolyta when he conquered her domain. This shows that how society expects men to be the dominant one and take control of women in their life. It was the norm of conquerors to marry the Queen or Princess of the conquered land which we also see in Oedipus the King.

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