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A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare: "Act II"

Creators:

• Alcántara, Y.,
• Montañez, J.,
• Sánchez, A.,
• Díaz, J.,
• Rodríguez, J.

A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play by William Shakespeare. Believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596, it portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta. These include the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of six amateur actors, who are controlled and manipulated by the fairies who inhabit the forest in which most of the play is set. The play, categorized as a comedy, is one of Shakespeare's most popular works for the stage and is widely performed across the world.

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Information on the Author

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  Author of A Midsummer Nigths Dream

Date of Birth: 1564
Place of Birth: Stratford-upon-Avon, England
Date of Death: 1616

A Brief Biography:

William Shakespeare has a reputation reveled, perhaps, by no one. At times, simply referred to as the Bard (or by the more regal Bard of Avon.). Although William Shakespeare is viewed as the quintessential English writer, Shakespeare’s poems and plays have altered the course of European and World literature. He is the most widely read of all Authors and the popularity of the Life and Works of Shakespeare, in English speaking countries, is second only to the Bible. The shadow that William Shakespeare has cast over the world has influenced artists, poets, philosophers and thinkers. Also is considered the most important writer in the English language and one of the most celebrated of literature universal.

Historical Aspects of Act

The historical aspect of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is that Queen Elizabeth never married and was celebrated in her time as a woman of chastity, a virgin queen whose concerns were above the flesh. Here Shakespeare alludes to that reputation by describing Cupid firing an arrow “at a fair vestal thronèd by the west”—Queen Elizabeth—whom the heat of passion cannot affect because the arrow is cooled “in the chaste beams of the wat’ry moon.” Shakespeare celebrates how Elizabeth put affairs of state before her personal life and lived “in maiden meditation, fancy-free.” He nestles a patriotic aside in an evocative description, couching praise for the ruler on whose good favor he depended in dexterous poetic language.

Synopsis

•“Act II- Scene I” A fairy meets Puck in the woods, and they discuss the fight that Titania, queen of the fairies and Oberon have over an Indian prince. Oberon and Titania meet and talk about Theseus and Hippolyta’s wedding. She refuses to turn him over to Oberon so he sends Puck to find a special flower with a special juice that when placed on the eyelids it causes a person to fall in love with the next living creature he/she sees. He plans to put it on Titania’s eyelids to enchant her so she loses her attention on the boy and falls in love with a mule. Helena and Demetrius come to the woods looking for Hermia. Demetrius’s insults and threats Helena but since she loves him so much she says she will follow him wherever he goes. Oberon tells Puck to put some of the juice on Demetrius’s eyes so he will fall in love with Helena when he awakens.

•“Act II-Scene II” Oberon places some of the juice on Titania’s eyelids and hopes she sees something repulsive when she wakes up. Lysander and Hermia are very tired, lost in the woods, and decide to sleep for a little while. Puck by mistake places the juice on Lysander’s eyes (thinking he was Demetrius). When Helena finds Lysander she awakens him. He, enchanted by the flower’s juice, falls in love with her instantly. Helena thinks he is making fun of her and runs away. Of course, he follows her. At the end, Hermia awakens, can’t find Lysander, and goes looking for him desperately.

Plot

In the forest, the servant of Titania and the servant of Oberon, meet by chance. Oberon’s servant tells Titania’s to please make sure to keep Titania far from Oberon, because they are very angry with each other. He says Titania has taken a little Indian prince from his father and has the child as her attendant, but the boy is so beautiful that Oberon wants to make him his knight. Titania refuses to give the boy to Oberon. When they finally meet, the two fairy royals confront one another and ask the other’s motive for being near to Athens just before the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. Seeking revenge, Oberon sends his servant to obtain a magical flower, the juice of which can be spread over a sleeping person’s eyelids to make that person fall in love with the first thing he or she sees when the person wakes up. Oberon sees Demetrius in the forest acting cruelly toward Helena and sends Puck, his servant, to spread some of the juice on the eyelids of Demetrius. Before looking for Demetrius, Oberon orders Puck to spread the juice on Titania’s eyelids. Puck encounters Lysander and Hermia sleeping in the forest, but he confuses Lysander with Demetrius and afflicts him with the love potion. Lysander sees Helena when he wakes up and falls deeply in love with her, abandoning Hermia. Puck tries to undo his mistake, but it gets worse; Lysander and Demetrius end up in love with Helena. Hermia becomes so jealous that she tries to challenge Helena to a fight.

Setting

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  Study for The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania

The play begins in (ancient) Athens, where Duke Theseus and Hippolyta are preparing for an elaborate wedding. Despite the upcoming nuptials and festivities that surround a nobleman's marriage, Athens is also a place for law and order. Here, a father can demand the death penalty for a disobedient daughter who refuses to marry the man of his choosing. It's no wonder, then, that the young Athenian lovers hightail it into the enchanted wood, where fairies reign over a gorgeous and lush natural world of magic, wonder, and mischief. The wood is the perfect space for the suspension of man-made rules: Bottom, a lowly workman, can cavort with the Queen of the Fairies; the Athenian lovers can fight and love as lovers do; and, most importantly, fairy magic (not the rule of law) can reign supreme. Still, the human characters can't make a permanent home in the wood and so they all return to Athens in the end. Once everyone is back at Theseus's pad in Act 5, the setting looks less like an ancient Greek palace than an Elizabethan nobleman's estate. After their elaborate wedding, Duke Theseus and Hippolyta enjoy the kind of courtly entertainments that Elizabethan nobles and royals would have experienced.

Characters

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  Washington Allston's 1818 painting, Hermia and Helena, depicting the characters from A Midsummer Night's Dream.

The characters in this act face many situations that change the course of their love interests and goals. In reference to the play’s love circle (Hermia, Demetrious, Lysander, and Helena), they have many different emotions and behaviors that make them suffer from rejection because the person that they are interested in, is in love with another. In this act, there exists a little but daring character called Puck that enchants the wrong man, Lyssander, and in consequence he falls in love with Helena; leaving Hermia without her desired man. By seeing this, Helena suffers even more because she thinks that it is all a lie, a trick, and a punishment planned just for her by the others. In reference to the fairy world characters, Oberon wants his wife, Titania, to turn the little Indian prince into a knight. She refuses to do so and in revenge Oberon tells Puck to also enchant her and in consequence she falls in love with Nick Bottom, a half man and mule that Puck also created. These characters have different personalities according to the circumstance. In this act there are different types of characters; there are round and dynamic characters because of Puck’s enchantment they change personalities and interests. Oberon is considered a flat and static character because he does not change much overtime. The characterization techniques used in the play are seen in Demetriu's view of Helena. A good example of this is that he sees her as a burdened woman who is insanely in love with him. In this play, Demetrius and Lyssander are in love with Hermia, but Hermia only loves Demetrius. Helena is loved by none of these gentlemen and is left alone to daydream about her love, Demetrius. The majority of these characters demonstrate jealousy and lack of respect when it comes to the one they love. They all suffered of love at some point of the play which made them cause fights and dislike each other.The most notable conflicts in the play are the romance elements that sometimes cause comedy and pity making the characters more active and dynamic in the play’s drama and final outcome.

Theme

The themes present in this act are magic and love. Magic is submitted when Oberon squeezes the flower on Titania’s eyelids, so what she look when she wake up, it’ll be her true love and will be full of disgusting fantasies with a man that is more fond on her than she upon her love. Also is presented when Punk squeezes the flower on Lysander’s eyelids and that make him fall in love on Elena. Otherwise at first love is present between Lysander and Hermia, but after what happened Lysander feel love by Elena.

The symbols present in this act are the love juice and the eyes. The love juice make one person fall in love with another, this present the madness way of love. The eyes are the windows of the heart and can give allusion that love is blind.

Stage Directions

On the stage directions on Act II of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, it can be seen that it relates with the atmosphere of the play. Every stage direction helps the audience or readers understand what is happening between the characters and where they are located on the stage. It helps you visualize the play from another perspective.

Examples of stage directions from A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Act II):

  Enter OBERON, the King of Fairies, at one side with his train, and TITANIA, the Queen, at the other, with    
  hers

• This stage direction changes the atmosphere to a tense one, because we already know the King and Queen of Fairies are in dispute because of an Indian child. We certainly know that the Fairies will not be much happy about seeing each other face to face.

     Exeunt TITANIA and her train

• This stage direction means that Titania and her fairies exit the stage. It can be perceived a bad mood or atmosphere, because Titania leaves angry.

     Exit Demetrius

• This stage direction tells the reader that Demetrius leaved the stage. He leaves a tense atmosphere.

Basically, all the stage directions tell the reader, when the characters leave or enter the scene or what facial gesture they do.

Critique of Act

In act two there is much constructive criticism that could give William Shakespeare if alive. Should not write his novels with great difficulty, because when translated into other languages ​​lose essence. In conjunction with the Act two, should be more striking when completing the act and that this act would be the climax of the entire novel. settings where it was held had to be a little more descriptive to call attention well, most of the readers. The protagonist's life becomes a bit confusing, that was excellent, took a great interest the reader for reading safety. He must have used a little more fancy, I mean so magic to join reality with fiction a little more flashy. generally this interesting but if you apply these features will be more interesting to read the act two and the whole novel.

Additional Changes

A Midsummers Night's Dream is written in Old English, which makes it a little hard to understand for us. So, it should be translated into Modern English and maybe change the names of the characters into a more modern ones.

Adaptations

In comparison with the movie “He’s Just Not That Into You” (2009), this act is very similar in many ways because it clearly demonstrates the love circle that the major characters are in and struggle with. The main characters have many difficulties with their love and relationship interests when meeting other people. In the movie and in the play there exist different ways of demonstrating a person’s interest to another. Both the movie and the play have differences, for example, in the play, people in that time were very strict and still believed in being married first before having a serious relationship or having physical contact. This is demonstrated when Hermia’s father tells her that she must marry Demetrius, die or be a nun. In the movie, the major characters could demonstrate their love interest just by cheating on their wives or girlfriends while they would all, surprisingly, know each other. Also, they didn't believe or really wanted to be or get married because it compromised them for the rest of their lives to love only one person. Rejection can also be seen from Demetrius's part to Helena when he tells her to stop following him everywhere;in the movie this aspect can be seen in the scenes where Gigi is constantly being rejected by every man she encounters. Overall, each adaptation has yet different but also similar ways of viewing someone's personal interests and feelings from one person to another.

External Links

http://www.shakespeare-literature.com/

http://www.egs.edu/library/william-shakespeare/biography/

http://www.biography.com/people/william-shakespeare-9480323

http://www.william-shakespeare.info/william-shakespeare-biography.htm

http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/msnd/canalysis.html

http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/literature/a-midsummer-nights-dream/play-summary.html

http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/midsummer/midanalysis.html

http://www.theatrehistory.com/british/midsummer001.html

http://www.sparknotes.com/sparknotes/video/msnd

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr_blGshSDQ

References

" A Midsummer Night's Dream :|: Open Source Shakespeare." Open Source Shakespeare: search Shakespeare's works, read the texts. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. <http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/playmenu.php?WorkID=midsummer>.

"William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream with Explanatory Notes."Shakespeare Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. <http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/midsscenes.html>.

"No Fear Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Act 2, Scene 1, Page 9."No Fear Shakespeare: Shakespeare's plays plus a modern translation you can understand. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. <http://nfs.sparknotes.com/msnd/page_48.html

"Midsummer Nightâs Dream."PediaView.com Open Source Encyclopedia Supplement. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. <http://pediaview.com/openpedia/Midsummer _Night’s_Dream

"Midsummer Night's Dream: Entire Play ."The Complete Works of William Shakespeare . N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. <http://shakespeare.mit.edu/midsummer/full.html