Conflict between Reason and Imagination in A Midsummer Nights Dream - Essay Example

Conflict between Reason and Imagination in A Midsummer Night’s Dream There is no denying the fact that A Midsummer Night’s Dream is essentially a play that to a great extent portrays the conflict between imagination and reason. The whole scope of the play is centered on a night time dream scenario that the characters within the play are simply unable to comprehend through reason and logic. Also, extending this primordial conflict between reason and imagination, the writer brings into existence a parallel kingdom ruled and inhabited by fairies, which simply could not be experienced and fathomed by ordinary human beings relying solely on their reason to grasp cognitive experiences. In the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream Shakespeare gives way to a mythical transformation of experiences of the four lovers around which the play revolves, a scenario where loves deprived of their reason, enter into amorous bindings with the people whom they never loved and break away with people whom they actually loved. In fact, Shakespeare goes one step further to accentuate the conflict between reason and imagination in this play by making the main characters enter into a discussion and a debate where they try to grasp the limitations of the mind’s eye in comprehending and making sense of the varied cosmic experiences. Certainly, the bringing in of supernatural element in the midsummer’s night dream fulfils and important theatrical function. As per Nostbakken, “The “lunacy” or lunar madness of the lovers in the woods in A Midsummer Night’s Dream depicts a circumstance in which imagination or “fantasy” has achieved the upper hand, and reason, its opposite, has lost control (Nostbakken 98).” The craftsmanship of Shakespeare in A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream is not inherent in giving way to a plot that rests on the conflict between reason and imagination, but rather on contriving a dramatical experience where the reason and imagination while trying to supersede each other, actually end up coalescing together to give way to an enchanting theme. Shakespeare’s trick of creating a pristine forest inhabited by fairies and lovers in chase, a magical potion that is powerful enough to wrought out love at first sight, a comic character like Puck, part donkey and part man, seem to be almost as real as the real world in the play ruled over by a duke who is soon going to marry an Amazon queen and strongly holds that only a manner of thinking called reason enables the man to grasp the truth inherent in things. Harold Bloom aptly grasps this fact by believing that, “The playwright drives home his point in the final scene... (When) couples... make their way to bed thinking that reality reins again, the stage fills with all those fairies which Shakespeare’s imagination created to embody his vision of the beneficent but tricky forces at work in nature, just beyond the range of the daylight sight (Bloom 52).” In that context it would be really amazing to analyze the interplay of reason and imagination in the play in the light of the varied scenes and actions. Considering the conflict between reason and imagination, the viewers get a hint of this dramatic theme at the very start of the play, in the opening scene when Egeus informs the duke that he wishes to marry Hermia to Demetrius, his logical choice, while Hermia intends to marry Lysander, while going contrary to the dictates of reason and commonsense. In that context, Hermia’s reply is: “In entreat your Grace to pardon me. I know not to what power I am made bold, Nor how it may concern my modest In such a presence here to plead my thoughts, But I beseech your Grace that I may know The worst that may befall me in this case, If I refuse to wed Demetrius (Act I, Scene I; Line 46-52).” Indeed it seems utterly illogical on the part of a girl to be willing to embrace death, while giving into the fanciful determination to marry the person she loves. This unwavering devotion of the two lovers indeed comes out as being wondrous and fanciful to the reasonable and sceptical Theseus (Platt 124). This very theme of conflict between reason and imagination gets highlighted again a little later in the opening scene, when Hermia swears before Lysander that she will surely come to see Lysander in the woods at the outskirts of Athens, as he wishes her to do. Here Hermia swears by: “... Cupid’s strongest bow, By his best arrow with the golden head, By the simplicity of Venus’ doves, By that which knitteth souls and prospers loves, And by that fire which burn’d the Carthage queen When the false Trojan under sail was seen (Act I, Scene i, Line 169-174).” Here Hermia stresses that the veracity of her fanciful vows is more valid than the tricky vows of the men who are unfaithful. Thereby, Hermia well depicts that she is surely aware of the fact that reasonable men do many a times deceivers irrespective of the fact that they may have extended solemn assurances regarding their sincerity and fidelity. In a way Shakespeare intends to stress that love is always possible in a scenario when the lovers are willing to affiliate to the fanciful notions of commitment and faithfulness, irrespective of the fact that the dictates of reason by try to scare them with repercussions that may pose a valid and real threat to their physical and emotional safety. It goes without saying that eventually it is the fanciful world of imagination that continues to exist as a strong undercurrent right from the start to the very end of the play (Smith 133). In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, in connection with the theme of appearance versus reality, the role of imagination continues to be if not less, than at least of equal importance in the play. Eventually it is the benign interplay of imagination and reason that leads to the unification of the parted lovers. However, going by the fact that Shakespeare manages to sustain a parallel imaginary world till the very climax, the playwright no way tends to convey to his viewers that reason is of no importance and relevance in the general affairs of the human life. Shakespeare’s do manages to mark out a disparity between creative imagination and the imagination driven by lunacy. For instance the imagination of a poet always stands subservient to creative themes. Guided by one’s imagination, a poet may create themes that do not exist in reality, yet, it is in this imagination wherein the poetic capacity to be original lies (Farrell 62). Yet, it is also true that the very things created by a poet’s imagination must in no case be construed to be true as the devils brought into existence by a mad man’s imagination (Farrell 62). Herein, Shakespeare manages to convey the creative difference between the unwholesome and wholesome imagination. Going by this fact, we find that in the play, sometimes imagination fructifies into wholesome results while at other times imagination flows into unwholesome results. For instance, Titania’s imagination, when under the sway of the love juice, considers Bottom the ass to be not only handsome, but also wise. In fact, moved by her imagination, Titania takes Bottom the ass into her arms and lulls him to sleep. In that context, Shakespeare manages to generate mirth and laughter by highlighting the extremes of imagination and fancy. Similarly, when Lysander takes the vows of love for Helen, his imagination is also corrupted by the evil influence of the love potion and hence leads to unwholesome consequences. The outcome of imagination in the given two cases is perverse and irrational. However, in the case of Hermia falling in love with Lysander at the very start of the play is a contrast in the sense that it is an example where the human imagination leads the benefactor of that imagination to apt and right conclusions. Egeus considers Hermia’s decision of falling in love with Lysander to be fanciful and illogical; but Hermia’s own sense of love and fidelity, motivated and encouraged by her imagination convinces her that she is right in making such a choice because Lysander’s love for Hermia is deep, true and genuine. In varied cultures, right from the Native Americans to the sophisticated and refined Greek and Roman civilization, the respect and esteem accorded to poets and priests is indicative of a universal recognition extended to the creative and wholesome imagination, which in its ramifications often turns out to be more salubrious than a totally dry and desiccated sense of reason (Prescott 266). Hence, there is no denying the fact that the conflict between reason and imagination stands to be the guiding theme in the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream. However, nowhere in the play Shakespeare tends to establish a solid supremacy of either the reason or the imagination. Going by the action in the play and the ensuing conclusion, Shakespeare perhaps intends to support a benign balancing of the reason and the imagination, which is bound to lead to happiness and fulfilment. Works Cited Bloom, Harold. William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. London: Chelsea House, 1987. Print. Farrell, Kirby. Shakespeare’s Creation. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1985. Print. Nostbakken, Faith. Understanding a Midsummer Night’s Dream. London: Greenwood Press, 2003. Print. Platt, Peter G. Reason Diminished. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1997. Print. Prescott, Fredrick Clarke. The Poetic Mind. London: The Macmillan Company, 1992. Print. Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Night’s Dream. London: Empire Books, 2011. Print. Smith, Hallett. Shakespeare’s Romances. San Marino, CA: Hutington Library, 1972. Print. Read More