A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare - Essay Example

17 May A Midsummer Night’s Dream Analysis Paper One of William Shakespeare’s most influential and renowned plays worldwide is possibly ‘AMidsummer Night’s Dream’ written in the 1500s. The play revolves around the relationships formed between four Athenian lovers and actors who are manipulated eventually by the fairies in a forest. The ultimate theme of the play is based on love and affection and how this finally leads to a triumph no matter what the situation might be. Through various examples and different characters throughout the course of the play, Shakespeare has tried to help the reader comprehend how love can conquer everything in the end.

He has tried to teach people how to dream of the impossible through this very play by letting people know that it is okay to encounter upon obstacles and pitfalls during the course of their lives. The main thing is to go beyond these and try and succeed no matter what the circumstance might be. The theme of the play is based on the darker aspect of what love is in the real world. Through the fairies, the playwright has tried to give a clear picture of how every couple in the world falls into a plethora of problems because of their relationship and how such a stance might be deceiving at times.

At the same time, love also helps people to look into the lighter and more real side of things, for example, through the eyes of Puck Hermia and Lysander are able to live life with better ease as he provides them with a comic sense of understanding. The two finally get married as well, not remembering the events that they had encountered with respect to the darker side of their love, while serving time within the forest. It is this very aspect of love that drives all the characters around in their quest for ultimate peace and happiness and with time, they begin to understand how reality can be different if one has the power and ability to embrace the same.

Along with this, a very heavy presence of patriarchal control can also be seen during the course of the story as the father always tries to assert his authority on his daughter. Through this, Shakespeare has tried to depict the kind of oppressed society that women at the time were subject to living within. Thus, even though the story initially portrays love to be of an evil kind, it slowly takes the reader into a realm where love is he one sought after emotion that the protagonists of the story are hell bent on complicating.

Towards the end of the story one can easily see how love triumphs and emerges victorious as compared to any other emotion that must have tried to combat its success in the process of the story. Thus, despite undergoing massive bouts of pitfalls and hindrances, it is this very emotion with respect to the characters within the story that is able to come out unscathed. Works CitedShakespeare, William, and W. H. Durham. A Midsummer Nights Dream,. New Haven: Yale UP; [etc., Etc., 1918. Print.