Landscape and Imagination in Shakespeare's A Midsummer's Night Dream
Imagination and reality hold hands in Williams Shakespeare's play, A Midsummer's Night Dream. In this play, we are granted permission to walk along with the fairies of the magical forest and with the mortals that happen to stumble upon their world. Shakespeare deliberately combines the real and the unreal in this poem to create a landscape that is full of adventure, love, and the unexpected. With references to worlds that exist apart from the west, from which the mortals are familiar, Shakespeare compels us to believe in something that does not exist. The fact that the playwright creates and sustains these worlds is only a tribute to his imagination and the fact that the play has remained popular for as long as it has only demonstrates how successful the play is at bringing the worlds together. Greek mythology, Traditional English country, and folklore are all parts of this play that become essential to its understanding. A Midsummer Night's Dream illustrates the nature of Shakespeare's imagination and it forces us to utilize ours because of the variety of worlds and characters we encounter. The simple references that connect the imaginary fairy world to the world of Athens compel us to rely completely on our imagination. T
We are aware that we must utilize our imaginations when we read this play and the success of it comes from the fact that we can and we do - with very little hesitation. These landscapes "constitute three different 'worlds' in the sense that each projects different values and styles, each offers a different slice or dimension of experience" (Ramsey). Puck has a history in folklore and his presence allows us to experience the folly of love. It gives us the opportunity to experience the typical complications that arise with love. The real world of love and responsibility is countered with the fantastical world of the light and less-than-serious world of the fairies. The third realm is the magical forest, which exists outside of Athens and adheres to none of its rules. It is the uncertainty melded with the real that make this play so magical. As a result, we must allow the imagination free reign. Theseus presides over the courtly world while Peter Quince presides over the world of the actors. This is actually the only requirement of the play, one that Puck addresses in the last lines, suggesting that it was all just a dream. When we look into these to worlds, we must have an imagination or the play will not work. It is the extreme nature of the characters and their background that allows them to create such a world for us. Shakespeare pulls ideas from Greek mythology with Theseus and other references to gods and goddesses from Greek mythology. This is not your average romantic comedy, taking place in Seattle or Chicago; this is a romantic comedy that covers not only the mystical but also the very real.
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Acceptance Essays
