A couple of months back, when we were discussing the sources for Love’s Labor’s Lost, we noted that that play had no literary source, one of the few times this was the case in Shakespeare’s Canon. At that point, we mentioned that The Tempest was another that came to mind.
Well, A Midsummer Night’s Dream appears to be another. It doesn’t have any primary literary source, though it seems that Shakespeare was influenced by a number of secondary ones:
Continue reading “Sources (or lack thereof)”
Act Five, Scene One (the only scene of the last act) of A Midsummer Night’s Dream begins in Duke Theseus’ palace; Theseus and his new bride Hippolyta arrive with Philostrate. Hippolyta notes that “‘Tis strange, my Theseus, (w)hat the lovers speak of” (V.i.1). Theseus is dismissive: “More strange than true. I never may believe // These antique fables nor these fairy toys” (V.i.2-3). Theseus, the warrior king, has no time for tales of fairies.
ironic that Oberon claims that Titania once had “love to Theseus” (II.i.76), no?
Act Four, Scene One of A Midsummer Night’s Dream begins in the woods, with Titania and Bottom (ass-head and all), plus her fairies attending on him. More interestingly, however, is the stage direction of “the King (Oberon) behind them” (IV.i opening stage direction); in other words, Oberon watches the first part of this scene, unseen. Titania dotes wonderfully on Bottom:
Come, sit thee down upon this flowery bed,
While I thy amiable cheeks do coy,
And stick musk-roses in thy sleek smooth head,
And kiss thy fair large ears, my gentle joy.
— IV.i.1-4
Love is blind in an ABAB rhyme.
Continue reading “Act Four: A Return to Normalcy(?)”
Act Three, Scene One of A Midsummer Night’s Dream takes us to … well, nowhere since we’re still in the woods. In the Quarto edition (without Act and Scene divisions), there is no break between these two scenes: Titania is still asleep nearby onstage, and the “clowns,” our working-class “actors” enter, ready to begin their rehearsal.
Continue reading “Act Three: Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes”
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This week’s podcast kicks off our month-long discussion of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, including a few introductory thoughts, a plot synopsis of the first half of the play, a preview of the month’s podcasts to come, and our usual recap of this week’s blog entries.
Continue reading “Podcast 39: A Midsummer Night’s Dream Intro”
Act Two, Scene One of A Midsummer Night’s Dream takes us into the woods outside Athens, tomorrow night.
well, tonight… you know, yesterday’s tomorrow night…
And where yesterday’s Act One was filled with humans–the Athenian rulers, the aristocratic lovers, and the working-class actors–Act Two begins with a Fairy entering from one side of the stage, and Robin Goodfellow at the other. Who is Robin Goodfellow? Puck.
Continue reading “Act Two: Meet the Fairies, and Enter the Lovers”
Act One, Scene One of A Midsummer Night’s Dream takes place in the Duke’s palace in Athens. The Duke Theseus enters with his fiancée Hippolyta, the Philostrate (defined in the cast of characters as “Master of the Revels in the court”), and assorted others. Theseus tells Hippolyta that only “four happy days” (I.i.2) stand between now and their “nuptial hour” (I.i.1). He is impatient, but she says that their marriage will come quickly, as “four nights will quickly dream away the time” (I.i.8).
less than ten lines in, and already the concept of the dream is introduced…
April, with apologies to Eliot, is NOT the cruelest month this year. Nope, not with A Midsummer Night’s Dream on tap.
Time for fun, love, comedy, mistaken love/identities, and wacky humor.
We’ve created a MND playlist on our Bill/Shakespeare Project youtube channel…
Continue reading “Time to Dream”
So the month comes to an end. Time to say good-bye to Valentine and Proteus, our two gents from Verona. I’m tempted to say “good riddance” as well, but I don’t hate the play. I just didn’t like it on a first or second read. I’d put it down at the bottom of barrel, both overall and of the comedies as well. It’s rushed. The characters are believable (or at my age, relatable). I’m not bugged so much by that “gift” ending, as Silvia’s silence (of course, I think this is probably why it belongs earlier in the Canon than I placed it).
Continue reading “The Two Gentlemen of Verona: Wrap Up”
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
