Author: William Shakespeare
# of Pages: 192
Star Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Why This Book has Value:
A Midsummer Night’s Dream can be taken in a variety of ways. Some find it amusing and some may even find it a little offensive. Either way, this play affects the reader which is what makes it so valuable. This play is different from other works of Shakespeare, which is most of it’s charm. It is not tragic and doesn’t pose any life-altering questions, the story is very easy going and keeps the reader intrigued with it’s utter lack of order. The play focuses on three different stories which all weave together; coinciding. There are the Athenian lovers (Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius, and Helena), the glorious faeries (Oberon, Titania, and Puck), and the clueless Athenian civilians (Bottom, Theseus, Egeus, and performers).
The play starts out with a heartbroken Hermia arguing with her heartless father, Egeus. Egeus is insistent of Hermia marrying Demetrius, but Hermia loves Lysander and refuses to obey her father’s commands. This is when Egeus involves Theseus, a man of great power in Athens, he demands Hermia marry Demetrius or she be punished by death, Theseus gives her a day to make her decision. Hermia and Lysander are understandably hurt and decide to flee and marry at Lysander’s aunt’s where Athenian law can no longer reach them. In turn an angry Demetrius follows them to the woods after hearing of their plans from Helena. Helena of course, follows Demetrius as well, because she loves him so very much. They have no idea what awaits them in the woods.
This is when the great faeries come into the story. King Oberon is plotting against Queen Titania for her indian boy. He sends Robin Goodfellow a.k.a. Puck, for the flower touched by cupid’s arrow in order to trick Titania. Oberon also witnesses Demetrius’s cruelty towards Helena in the woods and tells Puck to use the flower’s extract on his eyes as well. Now, this amazing flower’s extract makes the person, whose eyelids it is on, fall in love with the first creature he/she sees when they first wake up. This becomes very troublesome as mistakes are made. With no spoilers, long story short, everything works itself out in the end... after a few do-overs.
One of the reasons I find this book to be valuable is definitely the character development. Throughout the play there really wasn't always a hero or villain. There was Puck, the infamous trickster, Egeus and Demetrius, both started out as a villain against Hermia and Lysander, and also Oberon, who revealed himself as both a hero and villain. Oberon seemed villainous for his actions towards Titania, but heroic in realizing Puck's mistake and fixing the lovers' quarrel. You also see him transition to compassionate after seeing Titania tricked into loving a man she would never love--normally. Demetrius also transitions quite profoundly during the play. He goes from loving Hermia and hating Helena, only supporting his own marriage to Hermia; a villainous character. To loving Helena in every way and forgetting completely of Hermia and Lysander. He says, “The object and pleasure of mine eye,/ is only Helena.” (IV. i.157-158) when in the beginning he refers to Helena as some pest he can’t get rid of. Demetrius’s change of heart turns him into a more loved character because his refusal to wed Hermia brings Egeus to a loss.
I also found this piece of writing valuable because of the way it exposed Shakespeare himself. The play was more of a comedy than tragedy, which is what I'd previously known Shakespeare for. In the play, Shakespeare focused on metaphorically making fun of love-- or rather the idea and actions people take for it. This play really helped me understand Shakespeare's type of writing and his feelings that fuel his other writing. Not to mention the play brought quite a bit of comic relief to my life. Especially when Bottom was given the head of a donkey.
I felt what made this piece of writing valuable was also its theme. In the play I think Shakespeare tries to indirectly explain that love is stupid. There are so many unknowns and faults that come from the idea of love and he really establishes just how silly it is. This I can see even in my own life which is occurring hundreds of years later. He demonstrates this in a conversation between Helena and Demetrius, “And even for that do I love you the more./ I am your spaniel. and, Demetrius/ The more you beat me, I will fawn on you.” (II.i. 187-190) I mean how ridiculous does she seem that she compares herself to a dog. She just said that she is Demetrius’s dog! I could never imagine someone saying this to their beloved in the twenty-first century, but just because it’s not said aloud doesn’t mean it’s not true.
Lastly, another thing I noticed about the book which also kept me drawn in was the very unique language it's written in. You are really able to see the similarities and differences between Modern English (what we speak) and Early Modern English (Shakespeare). You realize just how close our language is linked throughout time. These are only a few reasons why I believe this play is valuable.
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