Description
What is A Midsummer Night’s Dream about? What are we supposed to make of Theseus? How much does Shakespeare owe to Ovid? Why is magic so important in the play? Why did Shakespeare bring in the “mechanicals”? What should we make of Titania and Bottom? How are women treated in the play? Why is the play called a dream? How does the play’s language reflect its view of love? How reassuring is the conclusion? What view of the world does A Midsummer Night’s Dream leave us with? A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a glittering masterpiece which was revolutionary in its time, argues Tom Bishop – the most complicated piece of plotting in any English play. Held together by a lyrical energy at once enthralling and playful, it is about love and the role of the imagination in love, and its view of us mortals is roughly Puck’s: “Lord, what fools these mortals be!” But our folly, Shakespeare suggests, is also a blessing: the paradox at the heart of the play is that the source of all that is most dangerous and destructive in the world is also the source of all that is best in it.
