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Comedy In A Midsummer Night's Dream

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In the play A Midsummer Night 's Dream written by William Shakespeare there are a lot of elements of comedy, and one of those elements of comedy are insults. In act 1, scene 1 Egeus, Hermia 's father, requested of Theseus that Hermia should marry a man named Demetrius, but Hermia loves Lysander. Theseus states that if Hermia does not follow the Athenian law and do as her father says she will become a nun, or be put to death. Lysander makes a smart remark that Demetrius should marry Egeus because he already has his love: “You have her father 's love; Demetrius Let me have Hermia 's: do you marry him” (1.1.88-89). This is insult comedy because he is telling Demetrius to wed a Egeus. This is a “Ha Ha” funny element of comedy because during the …show more content…

Another insult that Lysander had stated was directed towards Hermia, this time in act 3, scene 2. Recently Puck, a mischievous fairy, had rubbed cupid’s flower on the wrong person 's eyes; unfortunately it had been Lysander. This made Lysander fall in love with Helena, not his true love, Hermia. When Lysander expressed his love to Helena it upset her because she thought Demetrius and Lysander were playing a joke on her. This then made Hermia mad at Helena, because now Lysander loves Helena. Now Hermia is wanting to get at Helena but Lysander keeps stepping in the middle to protect Helena and insult Hermia. He says, “Away you Ethiope...Get you gone, you Dwarf; you minimus, you hindering of knot grass made; you bead, you acorn.” (3.2. 228, 329-331). When Lysander calls Hermia an “Ethiope” he is making a racist joke. This insult would be humorous to his audience because he is “roasting” Hermia. The rest of the quote is making fun of how short she is. The readers found this to be a “ha-ha” funny element of comedy because of his word choice.Lysander is over exaggerating and using hyperboles to compare her to Miniscule things like a Dwarf, knot of grass, bead, and acorn.To modern readers it may be funny because the way society is today if you have the right audience anything is funny. Shakespeare incorporated this into the play as a way to show emotion in a humorous

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In the play A Midsummer’s Night Dream by William Shakespeare, many of the characters relentlessly pursue their goals in the face of illogical decisions, and, while fictional items such as the “love-in-idleness” flower are used to explain the character’s sudden love for each other, the play does illustrate how love and ambition can lead to unforeseen consequences. For example, when Puck accidently anointed Lysander’s eyes with the “love-in-idleness” juice, he started a chain of events leading to Lysander and Demetrius fighting over Helena while Hermia is treated as though she is worthless. Moreover, at one point, Lysander and Demetrius even threatened to duel each other when Lysander awoke after being anointed with the flower 's juice and said, "Where is Demetrius? O, how fit a word is that vile name to perish on my sword" (61). This shows how the character’s love for certain other characters, and their ambition to pursue said love, can lead to the destruction of previous relationships and lead them to make dangerous decisions.

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In our scene, lines 42-179 of Act One, Scene One, the characters who try to force love upon others are seen antagonistically, while Hermia and Lysander, who strive for true, naturally occurring love, are seen as protagonists whose love should be defended. The overlying message of the play is that love should not and cannot be forced. Theseus, Egeus, and Demetrius use their power, both as nobles and men, to try and force Hermia into marrying Demetrius. Egeus, in an attempt to bully Hermia into marrying Demetrius says, ‘‘‘She is mine, and all my right of her I do estate unto Demetrius’’’ (1.1.97-98). He sees his power as Hermia’s father as a way to force her into a marriage that will benefit him.

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O me, you juggler, you canker blossom, you thief of love- what have you come by night and stol’n my love heart from him.” ( Act 3 scene 2 lines 283-284) But also Filled with integrity (Asking Lysander to sleep further away)“But Gentle friend, for love and courtesy lie further off in humane

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In William Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream the circumstances surrounding love have been put into question, this occurs when a magical nectar is put in the eyes of three major characters, and changes their feelings towards the people in their lives. Titania, Lysander and Demetrius all have had the nectar put into their eyes, though Demetrius avoids having this done to him in act 2 scene 2 which is the scene that the focus of this paper will be looking at. Throughout the play, we focus largely on the love life of Helena, which unfortunately does not seem to exist. She is in love with Demetrius, whom does not care for her in the same way, he does not cherish her at all before he is under the influence of magic. Once Lysander declares

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The male characters in this play often feel uncomfortable when their female counterparts break gendered stereotypes. This is the same feeling that drove Theseus to war with the Amazons. An equally important woman is Hermia: Theseus and her father have in mind Demetrius for Hermia’s groom, yet she still refuses even after a small threat from Theseus, “Be advised, fair maid. To you, your father should be as a god” (1.1.47-48). Here in patriarchal Athens, fathers are the head households and hold influence over near-all decisions.

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