MACMILLAN MASTER GUIDES MACMILLAN MASTER GUIDES AMIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE MACMILLAN MASTER GUIDES GeneralEditor: JamesGibson Published: JANEAUSTEN: EMMANormanPage ROBERT BOLT: AMAN FORALLSEASONSLeonardSmith EMILYBRONTE: WUTHERING HEIGHTSHildaD.Spear GEOFFREYCHAUCER: THEPROLOGUETOTHECANTERBURY TALESNigelThomasandRichardSwan CHARLES DICKENS: GREATEXPECTATIONSDennisButts GEORGE ELIOT:SILASMARNERGrahamHandley GEORGE ORWELL: ANIMALFARMJeanArmstrong WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: MACBETHDavidElloway AMIDSUMMERNIGHT'SDREAM KennethPickering ROMEOANDJULIETHelenMorris Forthcoming: JANEAUSTEN: MANSFIELDPARKRichardWirdnam PRIDEANDPREJUDICE RaymondWilson CHARLES DICKENS: HARDTIMESNormanPage GEORGE ELIOT:MIDDLEMARCHGrahamHandley T.S.ELIOT:MURDERINTHECATHEDRALPaulLapworth OLIVERGOLDSMITH:SHESTOOPSTOCONQUERPaulRanger THOMAS HARDY: FARFROMTHEMADDINGCROWD ColinTemblett-Wood TESSOFTHED'URBERVILLESJamesGibson CHRISTOPHERMARLOWE: DRFAUSTUSDavidMale THEMETAPHYSICALPOETSJoanvanEmden WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: HAMLETJeanBrooks TWELFTHNIGHTEdwardLeeson THEWINTER'STALEDianaDevlin GEORGEBERNARDSHAW: STJOANLeoneeOrmond R.B.SHERIDAN: THERIVALSJeremyRowe Alsopublishedby Macmillan MACMILLAN MASTERSERIES MasteringEnglish Literature R.Gill MasteringEnglish LanguageS.H.Burton MasteringEnglishGrammarS.H.Burton KENNETH PICKERING M MACMILLAN © Kenneth Pickering 1985 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First edition 1985 Published by MACMILLAN EDUCATION LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world Typeset in Great Britain by TEC SET, Sutton, Surrey British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Pickering, Kenneth A midsummer night's dream by William Shakespeare. - (Macmillan master guides) 1. Shakespeare, William. Midsummer night's dream I. Title 822.3'3 PR2827 ISBN 978-0-333-37289-0 ISBN 978-1-349-07427-3 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-07427-3 CONTENTS Generaleditor'spreface vi Acknowledgements vii An introduction to the studyofShakespeare's plays viii 1 WilliamShakespeare: lifeand background 4 2 Summariesand critical 2.1 The play 6 commentary 2.2 Originand sources 6 2.4 Plot summary 8 2.5 Scene summariesand critical commentary 10 3 Themes and issues 3.1 Loveand marriage 36 3.2 Discord and concord 38 3.3 Imagination 38 3.4 Dreams, illusions and reality 39 4 Techniques 4.1 Charactersand characterisation 41 4.2 The language 48 4.3 Rhyme and rhythm 50 4.4 Imagery and mythology 53 4.5 Musicand dance 58 4.6 A MidsummerNight's Dream in the theatre 61 S Specimenpassageand 5.1 Specimenpassage 68 commentary 5.2 Commentary 69 6 Critical appraisals 6.1 General criticisms ofthe play 73 6.2 Theatre criticisms 75 Revisionquestions 78 Appendix:Shakespeare's Theatre 80 Furtherreading 84 vi GENERAL EDITOR'S PREFACE Tho aim of the Macmillan Master Guides is to help you to appreciate the book you are studying byproviding information about it and by suggesting ways of reading and thinking about it which will lead to a fuller under standing. The section on thewriter'slifeand backgroundhas been designed to illustrate those aspects of the writer's life which have influenced the work, and to place it in its personal and literary context. The summaries and critical commentary are of special importance in that each brief summary of the action is followed by an examination of the significant critical points. The spacewhichmighthavebeengivento repetitive explana tory notes has been devoted to a detailed analysis of the kind of passage which might confront you in an examination. Literary criticism is con cerned with both the broader aspects of the work being studiedand with its detail. The ideas whichmeetusinreading agreat work ofliterature,and their relevance to us today, are an essential part of our study, and our Guides look at the thought of their subject in some detail. But just as essential is the craftwith which the writer hasconstructedhiswork ofart, and this is considered under several technical headings - characterisation, language, style and stagecraft. The authors of these Guides are all teachers and writers of wide ex perience, and they have chosen to write about books they admire and know well in the belief that they can communicate their admiration to you. But you yourselfmust read and know intimately the book you are studying. No one can do that for you. You shouldseethis book asalamp post. Use it to shed light, not to lean against. If you know your text and know what it is saying about life, and how it says it, then you willenjoy it, and there isno betterway ofpassinganexaminationinliterature. JAMES GIBSON vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am pleased to acknowledge the help and encouragement of Dr Derek Hyde, Dr James Gibson, Professor Harold Brooks and my sister, Jean Pickering, in the preparation ofthis book. K.P. Cover illustrationisSketch/orthe Enchanted Wood:A MidsummerNight's Dream by N.A.Shifrin,courtesyofthe Central Theatre ofThe Red Army, Moscow. The drawing ofthe Globe Theatre isby courtesy ofAlec Pearson. NOTE. It is important to use agood modernedition ofthe play which has the benefits of recent scholarship. The recommended edition to which all references will apply in this guide isA Midsummer Night's Dream edited by Norman Saunders in The Macmillan Shakespeare, This contains a particularly helpful introduction. The Arden Edition, edited by Professor Harold Brooks,willbe found invaluable. viii AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS A playas a work of art exists to the full only when performed. It must hold the audience's attention throughout the performance, and, unlike a novel, it can't be put down and takenupagain. Itisimportanttoexperience the playas if you are seeing it on the stage for the first time, and you should begin by reading it straight through. Shakespeare builds a play in dramatic unitswhich may be divided into smaller subdivisions, or episodes, marked off by exits and entrances and lasting as long as the same actors are on the stage. Studyit unit by unit. The first unit provides the exposition which is designed to put the audience into the picture. In the second unit we see the forward move ment ofthe playas one situation changes into another. The last unit in a tragedy or a tragical play will bring the catastrophe and in comedy - and some of the history plays - an unravelling ofthe complications, what is called adenouement. The onward movement ofthe play from start to finish isits progressive structure. Wesee the chain of cause and effect(the plot)and the progres siverevelation and development ofcharacter. The people,their characters and their motives drive the plot forward in a series of scenes which are carefully planned to givevariety of pace and excitement. Wenotice fast moving and slower-movingepisodes,tensionmounting and slackening, and alternate fear and hope for the characters we favour. Full-stage scenes, such as stately councils and processions or turbulent mobs, contrast with scenes ofsmall groupsor even singlespeakers. Each ofthe scenespresents a deed or event which changes the situation. In performance, entrances and exits and stage actions are physical facts, with more impact than on the page. That impact Shakespeare relied upon, and wemust restore it by an effort ofthe imagination. Shakespeare's language isjust as diverse. Quickfire dialogue isfollowed by long speeches, and verse changes to prose. There is a wide range of speech - formal, colloquial, dialect, 'Mummerset' and the broken English ix of foreigners, for example. Songs, instrumental music, and the noise of battle, revelry and tempest, all extend the range of dramatic expression. The dramatic useoflanguageisenhancedby skilful stagecraft,by costumes, by properties such as beds, swords and Yorick's skull, by such stage business as kneeling, embracing and giving money, and by use of such features ofthe stagestructure asthe balconyand the trapdoor. By these means Shakespeare's people are brought vividly to life and cleverly individualised. But thoughthey havemuch to tell usabout human nature, we must never forget that they are charactersinaplay,not in real life. And remember, the~ exist to enact the play, not the play to portray them. Shakespeare groups his characters so that theyform a pattern,and it is useful to draw a diagram showing this. Sometimes a linking characterhas dealings with each group.The pattern ofpersons belongs to the symmetric structure of the play, and its dramatic unity isreinforced and enriched by a pattern of resemblances and contrasts; for instance, between characters, scenes, recurrent kinds of imagery, and words. It is not enough just to notice a feature that belongs to the symmetric structure, you should ask whatits relevance isto the playas awhole and to the play'sideas. These ideas and the dramatising of them in a central theme, or several related to each other,are aprincipal source ofthe dramaticunity. In order to see what themesare present and important,look,asbefore, for pattern. Observe the place in it of the leading character. In tragedy this willbe the protagonist,in comedyheroesand heroines,togetherwiththose in conflict or contrast with them. InI Henry IV, Prince Hal is being educated for kingship and has a correct estimate of honour, while Falstaff despises honour, and Hotspur makes an idol of it. Pick out the episodes ofgreat intensity as, for example, in King Learwhere the themeofspiritualblind ness is objectified in the blinding ofGloucester, and, similarly, note the emphases given by dramatic poetry as in Prospero's 'Our revels now are ended...' or unforgettable utterances such as Lear's'Is thereany cause in Nature that makes these hard hearts?' Striking stage-pictures such as that of Hamlet behind the King at prayer will point to leading themes, aswill all the parallels and recurrences, including those of phrase and imagery. See whether, in the play you are studying,themes known to be favourites with Shakespeare are prominent, themes such as those oforder and dis order, relationships disrupted by mistakes about identity, and appearance and reality. Thelatterwereboundtofascinate Shakespearewhosetheatrical art worked by means of illusions which pointed beyond the surface of actual life to underlying truths. In looking at themes beware ofattempts to make the play fit someorthodoxyacritic believesin - Freudianperhaps, or Marxist, or dogmatic Christian theology - and remember thatits ideas, though theyoftenhave abearing on ours,are Elizabethan.