Midsummer Nights Dream Historical Context 3ez5y

Natalie Tham A Midsummer Night’s Dream A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a play written by William Shakespeare. It is a comedic play, and is thought to have been written between 1595 and 1596. The play revolves around three central parties- The Athenians, The Fairies, and The Mechanicals. The play tells the story of Hermia, Lysander, Helena and Demetrius, four young Athenian lovers who all run off into the woods, trapped in a complicated ‘love-square’ (as opposed to a love triangle). These events unfold as Theseus, the Duke of Athens, is preparing for his marriage to Hippolyta, the Queen of the Amazons. The play is set mostly in a mystical forest, where The Mechanicals and fairies reside. The play draws on various historical contexts during Elizabethan times, some of which I will be exploring in the paragraphs that follow. The title of the play is said to make a direct reference to Midsummer Eve, also known as St John’s Day, which is celebrated on June the 23 rd during the summer solstice (however specific dates vary between cultures). The festival is celebrated on a fairly large scale, with the lighting of bonfires to keep evil spirits at bay, as well as lots of partying outdoors, drinking, and collecting medicinal herbs. It is associated with the spirit realm, as it is thought that this was the time when spirits roamed about causing mischief. This is significant as the fairies play a very important role in the play and can be said to be directing the plot. Citing The William Shakespeare Book Club, midsummer dew was also said to have special magical healing powers, and women often bathed in dew to make themselves more fertile. There is a belief that a special plant flowers only during the night of Midsummer Eve, which gave the person who picked it the ability to understand the language of the trees. It was not uncommon for young girls to place flowers under their pillows in hopes of dreaming about their future lovers. The play is set in Athens in early Greece, which was very recognizable as educated people at the time were familiar with the plays and myths of ancient Greek and Roman literature. Many stories were told about fairies and pucks, which made the play all the more relatable. Some critics believe that the play was written for particularly and performed at a wedding, to which Queen Elizabeth I was a guest. This is again important as the play opens with wedding preparations for the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. Shakespeare did not come up with these characters himself, and was instead heavily influenced by Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-400), an extremely famous English poet. In his poem The Knight’s Tale, he writes about Theseus, the Duke of Athens, and his wife Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons. It tells the tale of how Theseus won over Hippolyta by conquering the powerful female warriors: the Amazonians. Theseus also brings back Hippolyta’s sister Emeyle, who was being sought after by Palamon and Arcite. The two men met in the middle of the woods to fight over Emeyle. In comparison, in the Midsummer Night’s Dream, Lysander and Demetrius end up fighting over Helena’s love. It is also widely speculated that Shakespeare was inspired by the great literary works at the time, namely Plutarch’s Life of Theseus and Ovid’s Metamorphoses, from which he obtained inspiration for the characters Pyramus and Thisbe. Fairies and spirits were significantly popular figures in sixteenth-century Elizabethan stories. Many people then believed that fairies existed, especially those in a lower class. In Elizabethan folklore, Puck, also known as Robin

Natalie Tham Goodfellow, is a household sprite who constantly plays aggravating tricks on people, however sometimes helped them with household chores. Fairies were thought to be evil spirits who kidnapped children and sacrificed them to the devil. However, Shakespeare redefined fairies into fairly tamer, more gentle spirits, although they still get up to all sorts of mischief. Looking at the political and historical context of the play, it is useful to note that Queen Elizabeth’s nickname was “The Fairy Queen”, known as Titania in the play.