midsummer nights fream
In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare uses the green world and its inhabitants as a symbol of imagination. The characters flee from reality to escape the laws that govern everyday life in Athens. The importance of imagination reveals itself when the constraints of everyday life are lost in this realm. The fact that actors fall asleep multiple times reinforces Shakespeare's allusion to an escape from reality. Fairies playfully create a magical scene creating a suspension of disbelief for the actors as well as the audience. The problems that these characters face are remedied because of the ability of the mind to create this mythical world. Harmony is restored to the characters' lives because of their ability to bring fantasy into reality. Shakespeare portrays the power of the imagination as humanity's most divine quality because it allows one to embrace a realm outside of this world and allows one envision fantasy. In Athens, laws of the society threaten the characters' freedom. The "sharp Athenian law" pursues these characters and causes them to escape into the forest. Lysander states, "From Athens her house remote seven leagues;/ And she respects me as her only son. /There, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee, /And
Helena and Demetrius retreat into the woods, yet these characters are not led into the realm of imagination to escape the persecution of society. Unlike Hermia and Lysander, Demetrius and Helena retreat into the forest because of their infatuation with others. Helena is infatuated with Demetrius, who is infatuated with Hermia. Helena lures Demetrius into the forest by telling him about Hermia and Lysander's plans. Helena states, "I will go tell him of Hermia's flight. /Then to the wood will he tomorrow night /Pursue her..."(I.i 246) Both characters flee into imagination because their love is not returned to themselves. They flee into the forest into the realm of chaos and dreams where everything is possible. The elements created within the forest bring the characters into harmony with each other. The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen That is the madman. The lover, all as frantic, Here Shakespeare shows the importance of imagination with in society. Intense states of mentality possessed by people allow the outside world to be seen differently. Monotonous every day occurrences or appearances are shifted to become radical. Imagination is responsible for love, poetry, and madness, all of which create an essence of a different realm in society. The fairies rule in the realm of imagination. They are mythical, elusive figures of the forest, responsible for creating illusion and fooling the humans. Oberon, the king of the fairies, is referred to as
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Approximate Word count = 999
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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