Sarah, Entry #7:
I think Shakespeare set the most magical scenes in the forest for a reason. In many different stories and plays the forest is often seen as the place where magical things happen. They can be seen as something harmless like fairies or other mystical creatures or dark things like witches or the devil. Obviously Shakespeare was not trying to go for the dark magic affect. That is why I think he set the play in the forest instead of a castle or a mountain peak. To me, when I think of castles I imagine a royal battle and not fairies or other magic creatures. As for a mountain peak, I think that this also does not really tend to display as magical of an affect as the forest.
I also think that Helena and Demetrius are in some ways similar characters. They both are rejected by the people they love and in the end they both end up falling in love (with one another). It also makes sense that Bottom and the fairies are opposites. He is rather bossy and they are for the most part servants.
As for when Snout thought the lion would scare the women; this was probably because back then women where seen as weak. During this time in history women tended to be seen as rather defenseless people. That is most likely why he said this. I do not think that the costumes would have been very scary. After all, this is a play and costumes in plays do not tend to be overly scary. It just seems that they did not want to scare the women because they thought of them as being rather frail. For example, in Act 3, Scene 1, Bottom says: “Masters, you ought to consider with yourself, to bring in (God/ shield us!) a lion among ladies is a most dreadful thing; for there/is not a more fearful wildfowl than your lion living” (Lines 23-25). What do you think? Could he have said this for another reason? Something else that I was wondering about was that after Bottom woke up from his dream, he had just thought of everything as having been just a dream. Do you think that the reason this experience did not really change Bottom for the better is because he thought it was all just a dream and that he had nothing to worry about? I also wanted to know which character was your favorite in A Midsummer Night’s Dream?
Tiffany, Entry #8
ReplyDeleteThe men who were acting out the play probably did see women as fragile and easily startled. During the time period when A Midsummer Night’s Dream was written, there was definitely a mindset of men being strong and independent, while women always needed to be saved from dangerous situations. In addition, lions may have been seen as especially terrifying, as Bottom says, “for there/is not a more fearful wildfowl than your lion living.” Although the costumes probably were not scary at all, the thought of a lion may have been quite horrible for the people of that time period.
Bottom possibly did think that the dream was no big deal and decided not to give it another thought. I agree that this could be the reason that having his head made like a donkey’s did not change his attitude at all. He may have just regarded the dream as a sign that he was supposed to marry Helena. Did you notice that the dreams affected any of the characters or changed the way they behaved? Or do you think that they all disregarded their dreams and went on with life?
My favorite character in the play would probably be either Hermia because of her perseverance and her ability to stand up for herself (something I am not great at) or Puck because of his humorous personality. I do not think that there is a character that I can relate to very closely, but I do think that the variety of personalities portrayed in the play is an essential part of the story. Are you able to see a similarity between yourself and one of the characters? Is there a character that you admire or that portrays qualities that you wish you had? Also, in Act 2, Scene 2, Lysander and Hermia are walking in the woods and become tired. Lysander says, “One turf shall serve as pillow for us both; one heart, one bed, two bosoms, and one troth” (Lines 47-48). Hermia replies, “Nay good Lysander; for my sake, my dear, lie further off yet. Do not lie so near” (Lines 49-50). Lysander goes on to explain that he only meant that their hearts are knit together. What do you think Hermia’s standard of purity says about that time period? Do you think Lysander was sincere in what he said? Do you see a big difference between the way relationships were back then as opposed to the way they are now?