Get 2 know - William Shakespeare's Play 'A Midsummer Night's Dream" (Part V)

Symbols
Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.

The Love Potion
The love potion is made from the juice of a flower that was struck with one of Cupid’s misfired arrows; it is used by the fairies to wreak romantic havoc throughout Acts II, III, and IV. Because the meddling fairies are careless with the love potion, the situation of the young Athenian lovers becomes increasingly chaotic and confusing (Demetrius and Lysander are magically compelled to transfer their love from Hermia to Helena), and Titania is hilariously humiliated (she is magically compelled to fall deeply in love with the ass-headed Bottom). The love potion thus becomes a symbol of the unreasoning, fickle, erratic, and undeniably powerful nature of love, which can lead to inexplicable and bizarre behavior and cannot be resisted.

Puck
Though there is little character development in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and no true protagonist, critics generally point to Puck as the most important character in the play. The mischievous, quick-witted sprite sets many of the play’s events in motion with his magic, by means of both deliberate pranks on the human characters (transforming Bottom’s head into that of an ass) and unfortunate mistakes (smearing the love potion on Lysander’s eyelids instead of Demetrius’s).

More important, Puck’s capricious spirit, magical fancy, fun-loving humor, and lovely, evocative language permeate the atmosphere of the play. As Oberon’s jester, he is given to a certain coarseness, which leads him to transform Bottom’s head into that of an ass merely for the sake of enjoyment. He is good-hearted but capable of cruel tricks.

Nick Bottom
Whereas Puck’s humor is often mischievous and subtle, the comedy surrounding the overconfident weaver Nick Bottom is hilariously overt. The central figure in the subplot involving the craftsmen’s production of the Pyramus and Thisbe story, Bottom dominates his fellow actors with an extraordinary belief in his own abilities (he thinks he is perfect for every part in the play) and his comical incompetence (he is a terrible actor and frequently makes rhetorical and grammatical mistakes in his speech). The humor surrounding Bottom often stems from the fact that he is totally unaware of his own ridiculousness; his speeches are overdramatic and self-aggrandizing, and he seems to believe that everyone takes him as seriously as he does himself. This foolish self-importance reaches its pinnacle after Puck transforms Bottom’s head into that of an ass. When Titania, whose eyes have been anointed with a love potion, falls in love with the now ass-headed Bottom, he believes that the devotion of the beautiful, magical fairy queen is nothing out of the ordinary and that all of the trappings of her affection, including having servants attend him, are his proper due. His unawareness of the fact that his head has been transformed into that of an ass parallels his inability to perceive the absurdity of the idea that Titania could fall in love with him.

Helena
Although Puck and Bottom stand out as the most personable characters in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, they themselves are not involved in the main dramatic events. Of the other characters, Helena, the lovesick young woman desperately in love with Demetrius, is perhaps the most fully drawn. Among the quartet of Athenian lovers, Helena is the one who thinks most about the nature of love—which makes sense, given that at the beginning of the play she is left out of the love triangle involving Lysander, Hermia, and Demetrius. She says, “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,” believing that Demetrius has built up a fantastic notion of Hermia’s beauty that prevents him from recognizing Helena’s own beauty (I.ii.134). Utterly faithful to Demetrius despite her recognition of his shortcomings, Helena sets out to win his love by telling him about the plan of Lysander and Hermia to elope into the forest. Once Helena enters the forest, many of her traits are drawn out by the confusion that the love potion engenders: compared to the other lovers, she is extremely unsure of herself, worrying about her appearance and believing that Lysander is mocking her when he declares his love for her.

Get 2 Know - William Shakespeare's Play 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' (part IV)

Motifs
Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.

Contrast
The idea of contrast is the basic building block of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The entire play is constructed around groups of opposites and doubles. Nearly every characteristic presented in the play has an opposite: Helena is tall, Hermia is short; Puck plays pranks, Bottom is the victim of pranks; Titania is beautiful, Bottom is grotesque.
Further, the three main groups of characters (who are developed from sources as varied as Greek mythology, English folklore, and classical literature) are designed to contrast powerfully with one another: the fairies are graceful and magical, while the craftsmen are clumsy and earthy; the craftsmen are merry, while the lovers are overly serious.
Contrast serves as the defining visual characteristic of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, with the play’s most indelible image being that of the beautiful, delicate Titania weaving flowers into the hair of the ass-headed Bottom. It seems impossible to imagine two figures less compatible with each other. The juxtaposition of extraordinary differences is the most important characteristic of the play’s surreal atmosphere and is thus perhaps the play’s central motif; there is no scene in which extraordinary contrast is not present.

Get 2 Know - William Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' (Part III)

Dreams

As the title suggests, dreams are an important theme in A Midsummer Night’s Dream; they are linked to the bizarre, magical mishaps in the forest.

Shakespeare is also interested in the actual workings of dreams, in how events occur without explanation, time loses its normal sense of flow, and the impossible occurs as a matter of course; he seeks to recreate this environment in the play through the intervention of the fairies in the magical forest.

At the end of the play, Puck extends the idea of dreams to the audience members themselves, saying that, if they have been offended by the play, they should remember it as nothing more than a dream. This sense of illusion and gauzy fragility is crucial to the atmosphere of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as it helps render the play a fantastical experience rather than a heavy drama.

GET 2 KNOW - William Shakespeare's Play 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' (Part II)

Magic
The fairies’ magic, which brings about many of the most bizarre and hilarious situations in the play, is another element central to the fantastic atmosphere of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Shakespeare uses magic both to embody the almost supernatural power of love (symbolized by the love potion) and to create a surreal world. Although the misuse of magic causes chaos, as when Puck mistakenly applies the love potion to Lysander’s eyelids, magic ultimately resolves the play’s tensions by restoring love to balance among the quartet of Athenian youths. Additionally, the ease with which Puck uses magic to his own ends, as when he reshapes Bottom’s head into that of an ass and recreates the voices of Lysander and Demetrius, stands in contrast to the laboriousness and gracelessness of the craftsmen’s attempt to stage their play.

GET 2 KNOW - William Shakespeare's play 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' (part I)

Let's taik about the 'Themes, Symbols, & Motifs'

(抱歉，找不到中文译本）

Themes
Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.

Love’s Difficulty
“The course of true love never did run smooth,” comments Lysander, articulating one of A Midsummer Night’s Dream’s most important themes—that of the difficulty of love (I.i.134). Though most of the conflict in the play stems from the troubles of romance, and though the play involves a number of romantic elements, it is not truly a love story; it distances the audience from the emotions of the characters in order to poke fun at the torments and afflictions that those in love suffer. The tone of the play is so lighthearted that the audience never doubts that things will end happily, and it is therefore free to enjoy the comedy without being caught up in the tension of an uncertain outcome.

The theme of love’s difficulty is often explored through the motif of love out of balance—that is, romantic situations in which a disparity or inequality interferes with the harmony of a relationship. The prime instance of this imbalance is the asymmetrical love among the four young Athenians: Hermia loves Lysander, Lysander loves Hermia, Helena loves Demetrius, and Demetrius loves Hermia instead of Helena—a simple numeric imbalance in which two men love the same woman, leaving one woman with too many suitors and one with too few. The play has strong potential for a traditional outcome, and the plot is in many ways based on a quest for internal balance; that is, when the lovers’ tangle resolves itself into symmetrical pairings, the traditional happy ending will have been achieved. Somewhat similarly, in the relationship between Titania and Oberon, an imbalance arises out of the fact that Oberon’s coveting of Titania’s Indian boy outweighs his love for her. Later, Titania’s passion for the ass-headed Bottom represents an imbalance of appearance and nature: Titania is beautiful and graceful, while Bottom is clumsy and grotesque.

to be continue...

夜之梦，花之惑——《仲夏夜之梦》读后感

作者:左志伟 时间:2006-5-29 7:20:01 来源:会员原创

最幻不过梦，最美不过情。正如生活一样，爱是悲剧，也是喜剧，是梦与情的遇合。当我读着莎翁的名著《仲夏夜之梦》时，我总有一种想发笑的冲动。这本薄薄的册子着实让我感到惊讶，因为它诱使着我我去一口气读完可是却似乎无法这样读完。此时的我仿佛置身于山花烂漫的林间，美景应接不暇。 　　

《仲夏夜之梦》为何有如此大的魅力呢？我想这主要缘于其中强烈的幻想、诗意的抒情和机敏的对白——正是这三种因素的交融，才使全书充满着人文情怀和浪漫气息 。

书中讲述了由“魔汁”引起的冲突及冲突被解决、有情人终成眷属的故事。有两个男青年拉山德（Lysander）、狄米特律斯（Demetrius）同时爱上了女青年郝米娅（Hermia），而郝米娅恋着拉山德，她的好友海丽娜（Helena）又恋着狄米特律斯。郝米娅为了反对包办婚姻和情人私奔，来到约定好的森林里。海丽娜将这一消息告诉了狄米特律斯，二人也跟着赶到了森林里。这个森林里本来住着仙王、仙后和侍奉他们的小仙、精灵，此时仙王、仙后正因为一个“换儿”（传说中仙人常于夜间将人家美丽的小儿窃去充做侍童）而不和。仙王为了让仙后做出让步，便派小精灵迫克（Puck）去取来魔汁（西方一朵纯洁的白色小花因为误中了丘比特的爱情之箭，受创伤后而流出的汁液）以戏弄仙后。这种魔汁有这样的魔力：如果它滴在睡者的人的眼皮上，无论男女，醒来一眼看见的生物，就都会发疯似的爱上它。 　

因为魔汁的出现，整个故事发生了戏剧性的变化。魔汁滴在睡着的拉山德的眼皮上，他醒来时一眼看见的是误闯进来的海丽娜，因此而“移情别恋”，对海丽娜大献殷勤，这让可怜的郝米娅伤心万分；而狄米特律斯醒来时一眼看见的恰是被精灵引来的海丽娜，因而“旧情复燃”，这让可怜的海丽娜苦恼万分。两个同样美丽、善良的女孩如今一个被悲伤逼得要发疯、一个被惊喜冲昏了头脑，于是开始恶意地揣测甚至中伤起对方。而另外两个痴情的热血青年又在愤怒中为海丽娜而决斗。此刻我们发现这四个人分别在不同的方向跑着，读来令人忍俊不禁又顿生同情。幸福的斗争是如此艰难，天命弄人，可是这种斗争的过程并非一种痛苦，一种悲剧，而是一种有着快乐意味的戏剧性的东西。而在这个故事中，最具戏剧性的情节恐怕要数仙后在魔汁的作用下与一个闯入林中的织工荒唐的“相爱”。这个滑稽可笑的织工本来是和几个同是手艺人的伙伴们来林中来排戏，小精灵迫克使织工变成了一头更可笑的蠢驴，而仙后在接触魔汁后一觉醒来时正是看见了这个可怜的家伙。于是对于织工而言，“横祸”又变成了“横福”，因为他得到了尊贵的仙后的恩宠。这是多么不可思议的事情，又显得多么滑稽！而这一切都取决于魔汁的威力、仙王的旨意和小精灵迫克的顽皮。后来也正是按着仙王的旨意，魔力得以解除、情人终成眷属、仙人和好如初，仙界、人间复归太平。强烈的幻想融入戏剧性的情节，加上戏剧因素的厚积薄发，怎能不令人赏心悦目呢？ 　　

如今我们对于疯子、情人、诗人三者关系的描述，也大抵如此，似乎他们已经融为一体了，而幻想不正是他们的共性吗？“幻想”这件奇妙的事情，通过诗意的语言的描绘，如拨云见日一般。

仙王和仙后之间即便是“口舌相攻”也饶有情趣。以下是他们在森林中偶遇时的对白： 　　
仙王：“真不巧又在月光下遇见你，骄傲的提泰妮娅！” 　　
仙后：“嘿！嫉妒的奥布朗！神仙们，快快走开；我已经发誓不和他同游同寝了。” 　　
仙王：“等一等，坏脾气的女人！我不是你的夫君吗？” 　　
仙后：“那么我也一定是你的尊贵的夫人了。” 　　
仙王、仙后像凡人夫妻一样拌嘴，本身就是一件有趣的事，再加上略带讥诮的机敏的语言，更让人发笑。不过，莎翁“目无全牛”的境界更是体现在他钟情的敢于冲破封建羁绊、热情活跃的青年的男女们。 　　

在作品开头的部分，有一段对白可见拉山德与郝米娅的真诚相爱：拉山德：“怎么啦，我的爱人！为什么你的脸颊这样惨白？你脸上的蔷薇怎么会凋谢得这样快？” 郝米娅：“多半是因为缺少雨露，但我眼中的泪涛可以灌溉它们。” 　　拉山德把爱人红润的面色比作“蔷薇”，面色的憔悴如“花之凋谢”；而郝米娅一方面把爱人的怜爱、爱情的滋润比作雨露，另一方面又用泪涛来委婉地表现自己此时的苦恼心境。 　　

比起郝米娅，海丽娜对恋人的爱慕则表现得更为大胆、直露、热烈：“疾病是能染人的；哎！要是美貌也能传染的话，美丽的郝米娅，我但愿染上你的美丽：我要让我的耳朵捕获你的声音……要是除了狄米特律斯之外，整个世界都是属于我所有，我愿意把一切捐弃，但求化身为你。啊！教给我怎样流转眼波，用怎么一种魔力操纵着狄米特律斯的心？” 　　

当海丽娜向狄米特律斯告知拉山德和郝米娅私奔的消息，并跟随他来到森林时，她的好心并没有得到好报，反而要为自己或是一时的所谓“愚蠢”付出代价。狄米特律斯讨厌她，让她“滚开”，海丽娜却说：“是你吸引我来的，你这硬心肠的磁石！可是你所吸引的却不是铁，因为我的心像钢一样坚贞。要是你去掉你的吸引力，那么我也就没有力量再跟着你了。” 　　

当狄米特律斯厌恶地说：“不要过分惹起我的厌恨吧；我一看见你就头痛。”海丽娜这样答道：“可是我不看见你就心痛。”当狄米特律斯又奚落她不顾虑自己的体面，甚至不珍惜自己的贞操时，海丽娜不无温情地反驳道：“你的德行使我安心这样做：因为当我看见你的面孔的时候，黑夜也变成了白昼，因此我并不觉得现在是在夜里；你在我的眼里是整个世界，因此在这座森林中我也不愁缺少伴侣：要是整个时间都在这儿瞧着我，我怎么还是单身独自一人呢？” 　　

当狄米特律斯对海丽娜的默默温情依然熟视无睹，甚至威胁着要“任凭野兽来处置”可怜的海丽娜时，后者仍然倔强地讥诮道：“最凶恶的野兽也不像你那样残酷。”充满诗意的抒情和机敏的辩驳不仅让负心的狄米特律斯“理屈词穷”，而且也让仙王生了同情之心。海丽娜的形象也因此跃然纸上，刻画得栩栩如生，变得可爱可敬。 　　

书中还有一处对白彰显着海丽娜的人格，而且也是妙趣横生。（此时拉山德因为魔汁的缘故视曾经心爱的郝米娅为“过饱的甜食”和“异端邪说”）拉山德：“当我向她起誓的时候，我实在一点见识都没有。” 　　海丽娜：“照我想起来，你现在把她丢弃了，也不像是有见识的。” 　　
糊涂与理智在海丽娜机敏的回答中得以凸现，使她的形象更为鲜明、可爱。 　　

当然，书中诸如小仙们与织工之间的“调侃”以及穿插在书中的滑稽戏剧等，无一不是幻想、诗意与机敏的结晶，令人赏心悦目，流连往返。《仲夏夜之梦》的魅力由此可见一斑，我惟有感慨与其相见恨晚了。

shakespeare 24 / Shakespeare Schools Festival

About the project :

Shakespeare 24 (S24) is an exciting worldwide Shakespeare performance event. Beginning in New Zealand and ending 24 hours later in Hawaii. 60 youth groups will stage 30 and 45 minute adaptations of Shakespeare's plays at 7pm, local time on Shakespeare’s 444th birthday, April 23rd 2008.
Young people from around the world are invited to participate in this 24-hour performance event celebrating their youth, culture and creativity - and Shakespeare.