A Midsummer Night's Dream Essay

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by William Shakespeare is a play that explores the differing representation of the two main settings. The city is seen as the “real” world where there are issues and resolutions that are rational, whilst the forest is seen as the “realm of dreams and imagination” and is where humans don’t have jurisdiction over what happens. This difference in worlds is shown when the protagonists act against their taught social and gender normalities when in the forest. The disparity between these two settings is reinforced when the fairies are present in the forest, with their actions having large impacts on the other protagonists. In the play the city is seen as real due to laws that are introduced that were most likely enforced

When the protagonists are in or around the forest they do or say things that would have carried harsh punishments if they were in the city. An example of this is when Hermia and Lysander make the decision to elope at his aunt’s house past the city stating “and to that place the sharp Athenian law cannot pursue us”. This decision shows the intelligence of the characters, as they understand that this choice would not be accepted in the city and move into the forest to pursue one of their dreams. This directly sets the forest as a

These actions only take place in the forest setting, furthering the thought that the forest is a place when dreams and imagination run rampant. Evidence of this is when Oberon and Puck have an argument as Puck has put the love potion in Lysander’s eyes in place of Demetrius’. This displays how the fairies have control over the humans, with the humans having no input on what happens. This could be seen as part of a dream or an imagination as we have mentally positioned ourselves as in control of all other living things, whereas this play puts us in the position of being controlled by something else, making us feel as though it’s not in the real world, the