A Midsummer Night's Dream Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

A Midsummer Nights Dream - Research Paper ExampleAccording to Stephen Greenblatt, This is a world in which outward appearance is everything and nothing, in which individuation is at once sharply etched and continually blurred, in which the victims of fate are haunted by the ghosts of the possible, in which everything is simultaneously as it must be and as it need not have been (60). Many of these often confusing issues became the subjects of the major literature produced during this era much(prenominal) as in William Shakespeares play A Midsummer Nights Dream. Although the exact date of when Shakespeare wrote this play is unknown, with most(prenominal) estimates suggesting it was perhaps around 1595 or 1596, the confusion between tradition and contemporary times is highlighted within this play through Shakespeares deliberate use of a play within the play. One of the most effective means of reinforcing the major concepts of a account statements plot or of highlighting individual ch aracter traits is to include some form of repeat within the text. Shakespeare was a master at this kind of repetition as is seen in many of his plays including Hamlet and Midsummer Nights Dream. However, he uses these forms of repetition for entirely contrasting purposes. In Hamlet, the play within the play is used to both show the audience put throughs that took place prior to the plays opening as well as to endanger the guilty conscience of the king and thus prove to Hamlet that vengeance is justified. In Midsummer Nights Dream, though, the play is used to link tradition to present solar day in such a way as to demonstrate that despite the perception that times are changing drastically, unsettling many in their comfortable handed-down views, human activity and emotion really hasnt changed all that much. To accomplish this seemingly impossible feat, Shakespeare incorporates an entire mini-play within the greater work. This mini-play appears in Act 5 and its action functions to almost duplicate the principle characters and actions found within the larger work. Not only does it reiterate some of the key points of the major work, but this mini-play also functioned to flat address an element of the audience that might otherwise have felt omitted. In Shakespeares time, everyone attended the plays as a major form of entertainment, but the unenlightened lower elements of society didnt always fully sympathize the high comedy offered by the playwright. By providing this mini-play, even these elements of the audience were able to enjoy the play and understand its message. Thus it is possible to examine this mini-play in order to gain greater appreciation and understanding of the larger play. Within its simple one-scene setting, this mini-play serves to expose the exaggerated romanticism of the lovers, the timeless struggle of young people attempting to marry for love despite the wishes of their parents and the sometimes disastrous problems that can only occur in the confusing evil of night. Although many of Shakespeares plays can be traced to earlier stories as a means of linking them with tradition, this particular play has fewer historical connections. According to Mabillard, Geoffrey Chaucers story of the Knights Tale in his Canterbury Tales is one probable source for the play - both the master play and the mini-play. The Knights Tale is told from the