A Midsummer Night's Dream Play Vs Movie

The director Michael Hoffman helped create the 1999 film adaptation of Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream. As with any film adaptation, I believe Hoffman took certain liberties in bringing the play into the world of film with portraying Nick Bottom, Hippolyta, and Titania, but he also attempted to stay true to the plot and characters of Demetrius and Helena. He and brought them to life effectively using body language and tone, two elements that are not directly implicit in the text. I believe Hoffman’s choice of shaping Bottom as the main character distracted the viewer away from the love-feud between the two couples. Hoffman’s choices involving cut scenes and lines of Hippolyta also take away from character development and the play’s theme of empowering femininity. As a whole, I believe these choice’s regarding character development shape the film adaptation in such a way where Hoffman values some characters over

In both versions, Titania and Oberon’s feud with the changeling boy caused natural disasters, but this relationship takes two different directions in the film adaptation because one scene is left out. Hoffman’s interpretation does include the particular scene of argumentation between Titania and Oberon that was in the play (2.1.61-145), but after this scene, the feud is not referenced again until Oberon gave her the antidote and she acknowledged her mistake of loving Bottom. Then, as if almost suddenly, she seemed to freely give up the changeling boy to Oberon without further fuss. In the play, Titania and Oberon clashed again before she reluctantly gave up the changeling boy. With these scenes and lines (and lack thereof) in consideration, I believe that Hoffman removed elements of plot and dialogue from the play in order to shape Hippolyta and Titania as submissive women rather than powerful