Sarah, Entry #1:
Throughout A Midsummer Night’s Dream, love is one of the main themes. I thought that it was interesting how throughout the play couples were continuously falling in love, whether by force or not, and that others were finding ways of force for someone to fall in love with them. I thought that this was interesting how Shakespeare included so many different forms of how someone could come to love another person; whether it be by force or not. He did not just stay with the original idea of love; when two people see one another and automatically fall in love. One aspect of the relationships throughout the play noticed was that none of them seemed to be very consistent or lasting. It may have been that Shakespeare himself for shadowed this idea in the beginning of the play when Lysander said “The course of love never did run smooth” (Act 1, scene 1, line 134). It is true that only at the end of the play that any of the characters’ relationships actually seen to work well. How do you think the relationships throughout the play evolved? Which relationship did you think was the most interesting?
One of the characters that I thought was most interesting was Puck. He seems to be the one always causing trouble throughout the play, whether he wants to or not. Some of the things he did were by accident, like putting the love potion in the wrong peoples’ eyes. However in the end he managed to put things right again; “The man shall have his mare again, and all shall be well” (Act3, scene 2, line 463). On the other hand, he does turn Bottom’s head into a donkey’s head. So, Puck can be caring, on the other hand he can also be sometimes cruel. However, by the end of the play Puck does seem to have become a nicer person (or fairy). What do you think about Puck’s actions throughout the play?
Tiffany, Entry #2:
ReplyDeleteI also noticed the idea of love mixed with confusion as a theme in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. As if love is not complicated enough in the real world, Shakespeare felt the need to add to the relationship issues by bringing magic into the mix. While magic was supposed to be used for good, it ended up causing more problems. In the beginning of the play, there is a relationship problem as Lysander and Hermia are in love, but Demetrius is also in love with Hermia and has been approved by Hermia’s father to marry her. I think that without the magic that was added into the play, Demetrius would probably not have fallen in love with Helena in the end, which set everything straight. But the magic also caused a huge fight to erupt between Hermia and Helena and between Lysander and Demetrius. I think that magic is the main element in the story that allowed their relationships to evolve as they did. The most interesting relationship in the story to me, however, was between Titania and Oberon. Oberon starts out being against Titania, wanting her to give him the boy she rescued. She refuses, to which he replies, “Thou shalt not from this grove/Till I torment thee for this injury” (Act 2, Scene 1, Lines 146-147) He uses juice from a plant to cause her to fall in love with Bottom, who had been given a donkey’s head. When she does fall in love with him, Oberon feels sorry for her, and they end up falling in love. For me, this was an unexpected ending. Do you think that the story would have worked better if it had been more realistic, or do you think the magic and the perfect endings more effectively entertained people? Based on the book, do you think that relationships have changed from Shakespeare’s time to today?
As for Puck, I saw him as a jokester throughout the play. He really is good-hearted, but he likes to play pranks on others. Another character that I found interesting was Bottom. He seemed to be very bossy during preparations for the play. Quince is supposed to be directing the play, but Bottom must comment on everything that Quince says. The first thing that Bottom says is, “You were best to call them generally, man by man, according to the scrip” (Act 1, Scene 2, Lines 2-3). He gave this order to Quince before the rehearsal had even started, and continues to order Quince’s actions as if he himself was the play director. Do you think it may have been a good thing that Puck gave him a donkey’s head? Does it seem like humiliation helped or hindered him, or does he seem to stay the same throughout the play?