midsummer nights fream
In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare uses the green world and its inhabitants as a symbol of imagination. The characters flee from reality to escape the laws that govern everyday life in Athens. The importance of imagination reveals itself when the constraints of everyday life are lost in this realm. The fact that actors fall asleep multiple times reinforces Shakespeare's allusion to an escape from reality. Fairies playfully create a magical scene creating a suspension of disbelief for the actors as well as the audience. The problems that these characters face are remedied because of the ability of the mind to create this mythical world. Harmony is restored to the characters' lives because of their ability to bring fantasy into reality. Shakespeare portrays the power of the imagination as humanity's most divine quality because it allows one to embrace a realm outside of this world and allows one envision fantasy. In Athens, laws of the society threaten the characters' freedom. The "sharp Athenian law" pursues these characters and causes them to escape into the forest. Lysander states, "From Athens her house remote seven leagues;/ And she respects me as her only son. /There, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee, /And
Puck is a character referred to as a "hobgoblin" responsible for fooling humans to jest for Oberon. This reference shows the elusive nature of the fairies, and their being. A fellow fairy recognizes Puck and describes him as "he /That frights maidens of the villagery, and sometimes labor in the quern, /And bootless make the breathless huswife churn, /And sometimes make the drink to bear no barm, /Mislead night wanderers, laughing at their harm. Towards the close of the play, Thesius states, Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend The lunatic, the lover, and the poet Are of imagination all compact One sees more devils than hell can hold; That is the madman. The fairies here bring magic to the humans in the forest when lovers become crossed in their paths. Helena lures Demetrius into the forest by telling him about Hermia and Lysander's plans. The fairies, like dreams, have been able to create an alternate harmonious state for the characters by bringing life to the ordinary and mundane. The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling, Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven; And as imagination bodies forth The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen Turn's then to shapes and gives airy nothing A local habitation and a name. Imagination in A Midsummer Night's Dream allows an escape from society into fantasies. Helena and Demetrius retreat into the woods, yet these characters are not led into the realm of imagination to escape the persecution of society. i 246) Both characters flee into imagination because their love is not returned to themselves. Unlike Hermia and Lysander, Demetrius and Helena retreat into the forest because of their infatuation with others.
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