A Midsummer Night's Dream Vs Richard 2 Essay

he two Shakespeare plays that Central Michigan University should do in conjunction with one another are A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Richard II. I believe these two plays compliment each other in many ways and Richard II is more appealing to an audience of college students and would be a more appropriate pairing with A Midsummer Night’s Dream (AMND) than Henry IV Part I. College students would enjoy Richard II in tandem with AMND because of the similar themes of love and power in the plays. Also because of the unique characters each play has. If a group of performers at Central Michigan University were to do both of these shows, the audience would get love and comedy in AMND and tragedy and history in Richard II. This is very important because all of the genres of Shakespeare’s plays are identified

One of the major themes in AMND is love. The four lovers are constantly falling in and out of love with one another due to the tricks Puck plays on them. At the center of this play is the long-lasting love between Theseus and Hippolyta and that is vastly different than the inconsistent love between Oberon and Titania. These two relationships are a foil to the other. Compare the theme of love in AMND to the theme of power in Richard II. King Richard banishes Henry Bolingbroke. King Richard II then takes Bolingbroke’s land and title as King. I think this would be an interesting similarity to the main theme of love in AMND. The theme of love in AMND also has to do with power. The comparison between the power struggles will be interesting to an audience because the audience will see a power struggle between a man and a woman, and then two men. Oberon and Titania’s relationship, although they love each other, is one big power struggle throughout the entire play. They start the play in the midst of an argument, and that argument continues until Oberon gets what he