A Midsummer Night's Dream: AS & A2 York Notes

This is a funny play written by William Shakespeare that is set in Athens. The most comic characters are the craftsmen. When they are rehearsing for their play they do not understand that the audience will be able to use their imaginations and worry about the ladies being ‘afeard’ of the lion. This shows that they are naive and this makes them amusing for an audience because we would know things that they don’t.

The comedy in the play also comes from the lovers when they are confused about who they are in love with. In one scene it is really funny because Helena and Hermia are fighting over the men and this can be really entertaining when it is performed on stage. In a performance I saw with my school, Helena and Hermia were kicking each other and pulling each other around the stage by their hair, screaming and shouting like school girls. This highlighted how their arguments were foolish and childish, which shows that Shakespeare thinks love can be childish. This is a main theme in the play and it was important to the Elizabethans who liked writing sonnets. When it is presented in this way we find it comedy.

The romance between Titania and Bottom is also a very funny scene. We do not expect the queen of the fairies to be kissing a donkey, so there would be much laughter in the theatre when this section is performed. This is true today and for audiences in Shakespeare’s time who would enjoy this silliness. The difference is that they might understand fairies differently to today because of their beliefs in folklore, whereas today, audiences tend to think fairies are cute rather than mischievous. In the scene where the fairies are decorating Bottom with natural gifts, some people say that this shows a hidden meaning to do with sex, like wanting to love an animal (‘Methought I was enamour'd of an ass.’). This seems extreme because Bottom is only made to have a donkey’s head.

The other comedy part of the play is when the Puck gets things wrong and puts the love juice on Lysander instead of Demetrius and he ends up falling in love with Helena. We have already seen him reject Helena so it is funny to see them get it all wrong. The puck is also funny because he is a naughty sprite.

The craftsmen put on a play of Pyramus and Thisbe at the end of the play which is when they perform over-the-top. This could be funny on stage if they are shown to be over-acting and ridiculously dramatic. The noble characters show their power by making rude comments about the performance, which the audience can hear. This adds even more to the comedy as they show us how the players aren’t that good.

Overall the audience know that this is a comedy because there is lots of things said about the moon which is meant to show madness. A comedy on stage is a sort of collection of crazy behaviour and lots of this happens in this play.