On the surface, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Midsummer from here on), is one of Shakespeare’s most confusing plays. Where do you even start to describe the story? There’s not a love triangle, but a love quadrangle that happens between Lysander, Hermia, Demetrius and Helena; not to mention all the other relationships between Theseus and Hippolyta, and the fairy king and queen, Oberon and Titania. Then there’s the absolutely LOL tradesmen with theatrical aspirations. Taking on the play makes me apprehensive that I may get confused and that I won’t be able to keep up with Shakespeare.
And as much as Shakespeare is stigmatised by high school lit students worldwide, it is always worthwhile to visit Shakespeare in your leisure time, because his plays, even the tragedies are a joy to read. So far out of all the Shakespearean plays, there is nothing more lighthearted and comedic than Midsummer. If you read the blurb and think (like me) to yourself, “Fuck me. How many fuken stories are there in the play?” You need not worry. Even the summaries of the chapters are redundant because Shakespeare will lead you by the hand and take you through the story while you frolic in it.
Midsummer starts with the promise of a wedding. Theseus, who had just defeated Hippolyta, the queen of the Amazons, are professing their love. Theseus in the mythology has a reputation of womanising, but in the play he is waiting for the wedding bells before consummating. Like the best of Shakespeare’s plays there is a wealth of innuendos here, and the implied tensions that go between. As the duke of Athens, Theseus also helps to resolve domestic issues, as when Egeus intended Hermia to wed with Demetrius instead of the man she loves, Lysander. It is somewhat ironic that Theseus, the casanova of Athens, assigned to resolve amorous problems that come his way.
And out of all of Shakespeare’s plays, Midsummer perhaps deal in the widest breadth on the issue of love. The varieties of love, the consequences of jealousies, how the delusion of love may make a fool out of us (as when some of the characters were affected by Cupid’s magic flower). In fact, love is full of conflict and it is seldom only the relationship between two people. In the case of Lysander and Hermia, their love is forbidden by Egeus, yet they decided to elope in the woods anyway, which sparks the subsequent events of the play. Helena’s love to Demetrius is unconditional, to the point that she told Demetrius of Lysander and Hermia’s elopement. The nature of love is multi-faceted and complex in Midsummer, though unlike the real world, most ended happily.
But there is an ugly side to relationships to the point that we are prepared to do mischief to our loved one. Oberon’s plan to make Titania fall in love with the next wild beast she sees is a perverted plan, and he was delighted when Titania did in fact fall in love with Bottom as an ass. And Helena, who told Demetrius of the Hermia’s venture into the woods, what good could have come of it? I feel as though Shakespeare was taking the piss of the act of love itself, that it is an ethereal thing, selfish to the point of disregard and can potentially cause harm, even to those who we claim we love.
Enjoy the book for the language itself, like any other Shakespearean plays. Midsummer is probably one of the most poetic out of all of Shakespeare’s plays. The fairies talk in rhymes and it makes for a wonderful read, especially aloud. Some of the soliloquys, such as Helena’s contemplations also have a similar treatment:
“Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind;
And therefore is winged cupid painted blind…”
And perhaps, out of all Shakespeare’s plays, there’s a ton of double entendres around, such as when Lysander and Hermia was about to sleep in the woods, and the word “lie” becomes ambiguous; and Titania’s treatment of Bottom when she was induced to love him.
Midsummer also has the funniest troupe of characters that I have ever read in Shakespeare’s plays. The artisans are hands down the best part of the play for me, just for the sheer comedy. It is ironic that the play that they decided to act is a tragedy in the vein of Romeo and Juliet, but I guess this irony is part of the humour and part of the theme of how love can end. These guys are absolutely hilarious from start to finish.
Midsummer may not be as potent as Shakespeare’s tragedies, but it is also one of his most acted plays. Just as much as I tear up watching Brokeback Mountain, I need intelligent comedies like Happy Gilmore (yeahhh, you read that right) to balance it out. By that note, Shakespeare’s comedies are as good and necessary as his tragedies.
