Contents:
Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by. Demetrius No wonder, my lord. One lion may when many asses do. Do you marry him. View all 51 comments. Man, being reasonable, must get drunk; The best of life is but intoxication: Glory, the grape, love, gold, in these are sunk The hopes of all men and of every nation; Without their sap, how branchless were the trunk Of life's strange tree, so fruitful on occasion: But to return,—Get very drunk; and when You wake with headache, you shall see what then. If we offend, it is with our good will.
That you should think, we come not to offend, But with good will. To sh Man, being reasonable, must get drunk; The best of life is but intoxication: To show our simple skill, That is the true beginning of our end. Consider then we come but in despite. We do not come, as minding to content you, Our true intent is. All for your delight We are not here. That you should here repent you, The actors are on hand; and, by their show, You shall know all, that you are like to know.
But belying its great universal appeal it might be a stinging social satire too, glossed over by most in their dreamy enjoyment of the magnificent world Shakespeare presents and also by the deliberate gross-comedy in the end that hides the play from itself. In this fantastic masterpiece, Shakespeare moves with wonderful dramatic dexterity through several realms, weaving together disparate storylines and styles of speech. It is also perhaps the play which affords maximum inventiveness on stage, both in terms of message and of atmosphere.
Also central to the play is the tension between desire and social mores.
His wise words earlier, about his world of the rational, "Lovers and madmen have such seething brains, Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend More than cool reason ever comprehends" could refer both to the action which we have seen so far, and the workmen's play we are about to see. It is quite telling that it was Bottom who accepted love and reason seldom go together and expresses the hope that love and reason should become friends. To view it, click here. Puck's comment, "Lord, what fools these mortals be! If you're into stuff like this, you can read the full review.
Characters are repeatedly required to quell their passion for the sake of law and propriety. Another important conflict is between love and reason, with the heart almost always overruling the mind. Third antipathy is between love and social class divisions, with some combinations ruled out arbitrarily, with no appeal to reason except for birth. This when combined with upward aspirations and downward suppressed fantasies form a wonderful sub-plot to the whole drama. The unreasonable social mores is represented by Egeus, who is one character who never changes.
It is also important that the women's loves not altered by the potion, which is very significantly dropped into the eyes, affecting vision - i. Lack of reason, though embodied in all the lovers, are brought to life by Puck as the agent of madness and of confusion of sight, which is the entry-point for love in Shakespeare. Finally, class aspirations and their asinine nature by Bottom himself Love, Interrupted Out of all these, every character is given a positive light or an extra-human light, in the case of the fairies except Egeus, who is the reason for the night-time excursion and all the comedy.
Hence, it is social mores that compel the wildness on love which is not allowed to express itself freely. When freed of this and allowed to resolve itself in a Bacchanalian night all was well again and order was restored to the world. This reviewer has taken the liberty of assuming that this is the central theme of the play - which is also deliciously ironic since it is supposed to have been written for a wedding.
What better time to mock the institution of marriage than at a wedding gala? So in a way the four themes - difficulties of true love, restrictions by propriety and customs, and the comical unreason that beset lovers, and class differences that put some desires fully into the category of fantasies - are all products of social mores that impose artificial restrictions on love and bring on all the things mocked in this play by Shakespeare.
In fact this is one reason why Bottom could be the real hero of the play as is the fashion among critical receptions of the play these days - he was the only one comfortable in transcending all these barriers, at home everywhere and in the end also content with his dreams and in the realization that he would be an ass to try to comprehend what is wrong with the world. It is quite telling that it was Bottom who accepted love and reason seldom go together and expresses the hope that love and reason should become friends. Again the need for a bit of madness lunacy, mark the repeated moon ref.
It is almost an appeal to the Dionysian aspects of life - see alternate review on Nietzsche for detail. In some sense, Puck, with his ability to translate himself into any character, with his skill in creating performances that seem all too real to their human audiences, could be seen as a mascot of the theater.
Therefore, his final words are an apology for the play itself. Also mark how Puck courteously addresses the audience as gentlefolk, paralleling Quince's address to his stage audience in his Prologue. Thus, the final extrapolation on the theme could be that Shakespeare ultimately points out that though a bit of madness and wildness is needed to bring love back into the realms of the truth, it can also be achieved through great art, through sublime theater - not by bad theater though!
When the actor playing Puck stands alone on the stage talking to the audience about dreams and illusions, he is necessarily reminding them that there is another kind of magic - the magic of the theatre. And the magic it conjures is the magic of self-discovery. Thus the spectators have not only watched the dream of others but have, by that focus of attention, entered the dream state themselves.
That is why Shakespeare has made it easy for us and created an art-form of a play that allows us to dream-in-unreason and wake up refreshed. It might not give the transport and release and inward-looking that is necessary to achieve the madness that true art is supposed to confer. So Shakespeare uses the play to educate us on what is needed to find ourselves and then the play-within-the-play to also show us what to avoid. At the moment when the play most clearly declares itself to be trivial, we have the strongest appeal to our sympathy for it. Here it parallels life and love, both beyond reason, limited only by the imagination.
Of course, this is a very simplistic representation of a wonderfully complicated play. It can be read in many different ways based on the viewpoint you chose to adopt. I have tried out a few and felt the need to comment slightly at length on this viewpoint. Lord, what fools these mortals be , Puck philosophizes, mockingly. And perhaps we are indeed fools - for entering into the dangerous, unpredictable world of love or of literature; yet what fun would life be without it? View all 33 comments. I like discussing Shakespeare in a classroom setting, and being motivated to mark up the text and otherwise process it fully.
I felt like I missed out on stuff here.
I think this is one of the plays you really need to see performed, rather than read it. I recommend watching this I sure want to! View all 15 comments. I've tried to just go where I please instead of being rigid. See my reviews if you care what I thought. I guess that's the best part. Not in , but in the rest of my days. Naturally this plan relied on some assumptions. Second, I assumed that reading one play every three months would be reasonable. There are 37 plays, hence a little over nine years. I would be What order to read the plays in? Best guess as to the order they were written?
The order that they appear in my Complete Shakespeare? By sets of the types of Play? Wresting with this question occupied me until about August. I only got one play read. Okay, this is not huge. I now have 36 to go. An even nine years? Perhaps this is a very favorable , even unrealistic? My answer to 1, and the fact of 2, may be related. But in my experience a comedy is pretty much pure entertainment, like a musical. If it goes beyond entertainment, then it goes beyond comedy.
WoF contains analyses of seven of the plays, together with other essays. The Coleridge book discusses to varying degrees many of the plays. This book seems to be unheard of on GR. Plan of attack Read the introduction view spoiler [I noted the sources listed: Naturally the Faeries are found in folklore. There are also links to three earlier plays by Shakespeare: Theseus and the Amazonian queen Hippolyta are preparing to be wed.
A second Athenian lass, Helena, does love Demetrius, but is spurned by him. Puck is to sprinkle this on Titania and arrange that she will see something or someone ridiculous when she awakes view spoiler [Oberon will only allow the spell to be removed when she agrees to give him her boy hide spoiler ]. It is good fun. I chose to watch the film.
This movie features extensive use of Felix Mendelssohn's beautiful music which he wrote for the play — first the Overture, and then the incidental music. The film features the debut of Olivia de Haviland as Hermia; James Cagney as Bottom his only Shakespearean role, for which he got a lot of deserved praise ; and a thirteen year old Mickey Rooney as Puck. The wording and cadence of Shakespeare is fairly well preserved in the movie, though extensive editing chops out much of the text.
I felt it was a good production, and I was certainly more entertained by the movie than by the play. The ballet done in these scenes was gorgeous, and the way the fairies glided through the air was beautiful. The costuming of the female faeries, including that of Titantia, surprised me by its very suggestive, almost salacious, design. And Victor Jory as Oberon lent that role a dark creepiness which I found very appealing. All in all, these dreamlike scenes were for me the highlight of the movie. Theatrical release poster hide spoiler ] Read any commentaries on the play that I have view spoiler [The only small bit on this play was the following note in the Coleridge book, which is taken from marginalia he wrote at I.
I am convinced that Shakespeare availed himself of the title of the play in his own mind as a dream throughout, but especially and perhaps unpleasingly in this broad determination of ungrateful treachery in Helena, so undisguisedly avowed to herself, and this too after the witty cool philosophizing that precedes. The act is very natural; the resolve so to act is, I fear, likewise too true a picture of the lax hold that principles have on the female heart when opposed to, or even separated from, passion and inclination.
For women are less hypocrites to their own minds than men, because they feel less abhorrence of moral evil in itself and more for its outward consequences, as detection, loss of character, etc. Seeking or going out after external objects. Another sight gives the same definition and example. Is Coleridge the only person who ever used this word? Coleridge on Shakespeare Random review: Mile Failte a Goodreads amateur writing project Next review: The Life and Death of King John View all 55 comments.
Feb 16, Kelly and the Book Boar rated it it was amazing Shelves: Find all of my reviews at: Fucketh off with thee! Originally I read it back in the stone age as a high schooler who opted for additional l Find all of my reviews at: But I never loved it as much as I loved it last night when this happened.
Haters can eat a bag of weiners. View all 29 comments.
Feb 14, Kat Kennedy rated it it was amazing Shelves: It's still as awesome as I remember. Though, unfortunately, causes me some initial irritation with The Iron King. Robbie Goodfellow is a wicked spirit running around having fun and pulling ridiculous pranks. He's not a serious teenage boy who is dramatic and suspenseful or mysterious or sexy. Why do we have to turn everything into sexy these days? Why does every male character have to suddenly fit the romantic male archetype? Why are mythological creatures becoming obsessed with teenage girls? View all 16 comments. When a couple tries to run away, they get followed by a man in love with them, and then by a woman in love with him.
And a fairy fucking around makes it all go to shit. Love all the lead characters, by the way. I have not actually seen this adaptation yet, but I am a huge fan of the casting of this production: View all 5 comments.
Editorial Reviews. From Publishers Weekly. Coville follows up his version of The Tempest (see A Midsummer Night's Dream (The Shorter Shakespeare Series Book 1) - Kindle edition by William Shakespeare, Tracy Irish. Download it once. A Midsummer Night's Dream (Shorter Shakespeare) Paperback – May 1, Story time just got better with Prime Book Box, a subscription that delivers hand- picked children's books every 1, 2, or 3 months Series: Shorter Shakespeare.
Where does it come from? It is spoken by a character called Lysander, in Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream , and articulates possibly the play's most important theme. A Midsummer Night's Dream is a fanciful tale, full of poetry and beautiful imagery, such as, "I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, Quite over-canopied with "The course of true love never did run smooth;" is a famous, often-quoted line - a truism throughout all ages and cultures.
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a fanciful tale, full of poetry and beautiful imagery, such as, "I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine: Beetles black, approach not near; Worm nor snail, do no offence. And as with all Shakespeare's plays, it is impossible to be sure of any dates or an exact order. Unusually, the main plot seems to have been entirely his own invention, although some characters are drawn from Greek mythologies.
Theseus, for instance, the Duke whom we learn at the start of the play is to marry the Amazon queen Hippolyta, is based on the Greek hero of the same name. Plus there are many references to Greek gods and goddesses in the play. The play is set in Athens, and there is a "play within a play" a theme to which Shakespeare returned time after time which is based on an epic poem by the Roman poet Ovid.
The play also includes many English fairy characters such as "Puck" - or "Robin Goodfellow", to give him his alternative name. Fairies had been very much respected and feared for time immemorial. People were in awe of their magical powers. They were believed to often be mischievous at the very least, if not positively malignant, and names such as "Goodfellow" were meant to appease or pacify them, so as not to incur their vengeance. The moon was a source of myth and mystery, to be wondered at and its influence possibly feared. Oberon's, "Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania" And Puck's, "Now it is the time of night, That the graves, all gaping wide, Every one lets forth his sprite, In the church-way paths to glide: Many such elements in Nature were viewed as supernatural; what we now term "pagan" was the norm, and although people were fascinated by the fairies and "little people", they also feared them.
Puck's comment, "Lord, what fools these mortals be! The woodland at night would be both enchanting and thrilling to an Elizabethan audience - an unpredictable place of danger and possible bewitchment. The fantastical atmosphere, and the magic of the surreal fairy sphere which Shakespeare conjures up, are important and unique elements of this play. Dec 13, Isobella Watkinson rated it it was ok. Oct 09, Issy McNamee rated it liked it. A rely good book to read. A small book to read. Oct 03, Emily Wilkinson rated it really liked it. I really like the book but it's a really small book and educational because is a Shakespeare story.
Feb 07, Leanne rated it liked it. First time reading but unlike all the others I've read so far this one was pretty Light hearted. Oct 12, Shayne rated it liked it. This book is good if you like fantasy stories. It is a all right book but it's easy to read I finished it in 20 minuets. Jun 20, Den rated it it was ok Shelves: I didn't like this book as much as the others in the series. The simpler language and the pictures will make it appeal to more people. This is the story where the fairy world collides with the real world. Another arguement is brewing with Demetrius who is insisting on marrying Hermia despite the fact that she loves someone else.
Then there is a punch of actors who can do nothing but argue. Despite magic the humans fall in love with I didn't like this book as much as the others in the series. Despite magic the humans fall in love with the wrong partners and one falls in love with an actor wirh a donkeys head!!
Despite all the fighting, things do straighten out and they all end up with the right partners. Jun 21, Sara rated it really liked it Shelves: A lovely version of Shakespeare's original play! I was intrigued from the very first page. Set in Athens Greece is a magical tale of love and magic. A little bit of magic and mischief gets in the way of true love but it all works itself out in the end. The beautiful and carefully drawn pictures suit the words as well. A lovely tale for everyone. I'll definitely be checking out the movie! Jan 16, E. Raymond rated it it was amazing. I know this book is for children but I believe that this book will help deaf actors who are struggling with English, however, it's William Shakespeare's language - believe me, it is SO useful!!
Nov 26, Mishma rated it liked it Shelves: One of the advantage of literature exams is maybe the only one is to read the whole lot I am assigned to read. I already knew the story,but I haven't read it. Even though it's an abridged version which I normally don't like ,I enjoyed reading it.
This is probably my favourite by Shakespere. I had great fun reading it,I even forgot that I am reading it for my exams. Jan 25, Amy rated it really liked it. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This book was very good. I understood it well and really enjoyed the plot.
This story is about a huge love triangle. Two lovers ran away together and the man got put under a spell and fell in love with another woman Helena. Feb 17, Caitlin Allerton rated it really liked it. This was a good story about fairy's and humans. I have only given it a four because I did not quite understand the story.
The message is that things' don't always go the way you want them to. Jan 28, Valkryie rated it really liked it. May 09, Pam Bartholomew rated it really liked it. Quick telling of story in kid friendly language. Cast of characters helps keep story straight. Dec 15, David rated it really liked it Shelves: Fiction Fiction Classics Category: Also in The Pelican Shakespeare.
Also by William Shakespeare. See all books by William Shakespeare. Inspired by Your Browsing History. Looking for More Great Reads? Download our Spring Fiction Sampler Now.