Category: comedy

When we enter the world of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, we enter a clear patriarchy, a place where men (seemingly) rule, where the word of the father is law.
Continue reading “Well, This is Another Fine Patriarchal Mess You’ve Gotten Us Into”

In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Robin Goodfellow, aka the Hobgoblin, aka Puck:

A “shrewd and knavish sprite … that frights the maidens of the villagery” (II.i.33 and 35)

OR

“that merry wanderer of the night” (II.i.43)?

Discuss.

the only other similarly paired character set I can think of is Edmund and Edgar in King Lear… I ended up coming up with a mnemonic device to keep me from failing a UCLA quiz: EdMund — M = Malevolent, he’s the bastard; EdGar — B = Good… he’s the good guy

In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, we have a pair of characters (Hermia and Helena) who are so similarly named, that it can become difficult to remember who is who (at least for me).

Thank goodness the two women are so different that we can keep them straight in our heads.
Continue reading “Similar Names, Different Women; Different Names, Similar Men”

Traditionally, many of the fairies in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (beyond Oberon, Titania, and sometimes Puck) have been played by children.  Legend has it that the play was written for — or at least first performed as — a wedding entertainment (the wedding would have children guests who could then happily be pressed into service).  But is there any textual support for this concept of child-fairies?

Well, sorta…
Continue reading “Freakin’ Fairies”

Though we might think the phrase “midsummer” (as in A Midsummer Night’s Dream) to apply to some ambiguous date somewhere in July or August, the word was actually used to denote the summer solstice.  And though we now celebrate that on June 21 (and rightly so, scientifically speaking), in English tradition Midsummer Day was celebrated on June 24 (coordinated with the celebration of the birth of John the Baptist)… which would make Midsummer Night, the evening of June 23.

But all of that is relatively meaningless.
Continue reading “What’s in a Name: Part Four: the Title”

The names used for the spirit world characters in A Midsummer Night’s Dream carry with them important connotative meanings (as well)…
Continue reading “What’s in a Name? Part Three: the Fairies”

The names used for the Athenian laborer/actors in A Midsummer Night’s Dream carry with them important connotative meanings (as well)…
Continue reading “What’s in a Name? Part Two: the Actors”

The names used for the Athenian aristocracy in A Midsummer Night’s Dream carry with them important connotative meanings…
Continue reading “What’s in a Name? Part One: the Athenians”