A Midsummer Night`s Dream Critique Essay

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of the many works of William Shakespeare. It is romantic comedy that is said to have been written around 1595 or 1596. It tells the story of young Athenian lovers and their encounter with the Duke and Duchess of Athens and as well with fairies and actors of a play for the Duke’s wedding.

The story tells of how far someone would go in order to find themselves. It also shows the reality of sexual bias in our society, how male dominates and other sexual conflicts. It also shows the power of the gods, how they are able to dictate human lives like in the story of Oedipus Rex wherein the story shows that no one can change their destiny that the gods are in control but in the case of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, fairies had been able to control/play with the human characters in the story.

The story teller in the play was Puck, also a character in the play. He is a fairy and servant of Oberon (the king of fairies).

The story took in Athens in the time of Theseus and Hippolyta. The conflicts in the story started in the Duke’s place and continued in the woods where the king of fairies and his wife were and some other fairies as well. Several conflicts follow in this setting.

There had been theories which tries to explain the reason behind the creation of the story although there is no concrete evidence that are found to support these theories. It had been said that there had been numerous aristocratic wedding that took place during 1596 and it was said that it is for these occasions that play was written. Also, another theory says that the play was written for the Queen and for the celebration of Saint John’s feast day.

What is missing in the story is a tragedy. Although there had been some confusion and conflicts in the play, the ending can be considered a happy ending unlike Romeo and Juliet. Life is also full of twist and turns and as well as tragedies. Also, the ending seems to have been in favor with every character in the story, well, just as Puck said, consider it a dream. Still, tragedy could have been also present but is not easily seen. Well the ending of the story could just really be plain comedy or a hidden tragedy.

The last scene also provides the readers view about reality and as well as imagination. It is also through good imagination that we can enjoy a play or a story. It is what makes these things interesting and really worth our time, money and effort in watching or even reading a play. It requires good imagination and our ability to distinguish what is reality and what is not.

I believe that what makes A Midsummer Night’s Dream similar with several stories that I know (watch, read, or heard) is that it tells how far someone would go for their love. Many stories had also been written that tells of several conflicts that are about to be faced by the characters in order to be able to rest the arms of their loved ones.

The same thing goes for Shakespeare’s other plays like Romeo and Juliet. For me, the story tells of the reality that in life, there are so many trials and obstacles that we must faced before achieving happiness. We cannot have everything that we want and definitely there will be times that we must compromise our happiness for something or someone else.

The story also shows

I believe that everyone will benefit from the play. It teaches some lessons that are applicable to our daily lives. Everyone will really see something in this story that will surely help them or change some of their views and how they perceive some things in their lives. I also enjoyed the story together with the conflicts that arises. It also help me realize that I must respect others decisions, beliefs etc.

Just like in the story, every parent must respect their sons and daughters decisions especially when in comes to matters regarding their feelings. Respect is a very important factor in developing your relationship with other people. Also, it should be a very important part of your personality. If we do not respect others, we should not expect that they will respect us back.

Reference

Sky-McIlvain, E. (2004). A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare. Retrieved

November 19, 2007 from

http://www.leasttern.com/Shakespeare/Midsummer/Dreamhome.htm