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Hatherop Castle
1595/6 is generally accepted as the period when A Midsummer Night's Dream appeared. Shakespeare was 31, an established member of the Lord Chamberlain's Men and had already written The Taming of the Shrew, A Comedy of Errors and Romeo and Juliet . The themes of mistaken identity, conflict and reconciliation again appear in The Dream.
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When Shakespeare was born in 1564 the monasteries, skilled in medical knowledge and the creating of potions, had been closed for a quarter of a century. Yet such knowledge must have been passed on and certainly existed strongly in folklore. Superstition abounded, witchcraft was feared and alchemy flourished. Without doubt, Shakespeare's audiences were familiar with potions. But love potions administered by the Immortals? Within the context of his times Shakespeare was tweaking current familiar beliefs and practices. And to enter a land of fantasy was an Elizabethan delight. No wonder Samuel Pepys a century later described The Dream as "the most insipid, ridiculous play that I ever saw". |
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The play opens with reconciliation after battle. Theseus, the victor, is happy to marry Hippolyta, the defeated Amazonian Queen. It is a dynastic union. These are lofty, princely figures. The energy, spirit and life are enshrined in the clumsy enthusiasm of the Mechanicals and the full-blooded spontaneity of the four lovers; Hermia, Helena, Lysander and Demetrius.
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Yet all is not delight: Hermia is required to marry her father's choice of Demetrius as her spouse. Disobedience will result in confinement in a nunnery or death according to Athenian law. Only through conflict and misunderstanding — engineered by the impetuous elfine Robin Goodfellow — is harmony and understanding realised. Even the Immortals Titania and Oberon are in dispute over the changeling Indian boy and the jealous accusation by Titania of Oberon's devotion to Hippolyta.
But the play is a comedy, and a thing as light as thistledown; there is reconciliation amongst the lovers, satisfaction amongst the Mechanicals that their play is "preferred", and Titania and Oberon unite in blessing the mortals' dwelling. |
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