Concetti Chiave
- A Midsummer Night's Dream, written between 1594-1596, is a quintessential Shakespearean comedy featuring magic, love misunderstandings, and a happy resolution.
- The play combines elements of fairy tales with the presence of magical creatures and a love potion, reminiscent of themes in European literature like Tristan and Isolde.
- Characters come from the lower class, providing comic relief, contrasting with the noble, tension-filled roles in Shakespearean tragedies.
- The setting in a wooded garden filled with wildflowers and herbs evokes a sensory experience, highlighting the fantastical elements of the narrative.
- Puck's epilogue addresses the audience directly, playing on the concept of dreams and promising that the magical world of theatre will continue to enchant.
Shakespeare, William - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Written in 1594-1596, it's one of the most famous Shakespearean comedies.
In common with tragedies: five acts, use of magic, love misunderstanding. If it has comic consequences and a happy end, it will be a comedy. If it has tragic consequences and a tragic end, it will be a tragedy.
In this case, use of magic makes the comedy look like a fairy tale, due to the presence of elves, fairies, sprites and of a love potion, a topos= a theme repeatedly used throughout all the different European literatures, for example Tristan and Isolde and Arthurian Literature.
Characters are from the lower class, except for kings and queens taken from mythology, not nobles like in tragedies. The first ones make the viewer laugh and they can laugh, the second ones are not able because the tension is too high (in fact there were funny interlude to relax the audience). Comedy is a lighter machine, tragedy is a
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There are sleeping characters,with funny effects, where tragedies' sleeping characters are dead instead, for example Hamlet's father is killed
We shadows It is Puck's last monologue=epilogue
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To the audience: Elizabethan theatre often referred to the audience with the narrator.
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What can the audience do if they have been perturbed by the fantastic display they have witnessed? They can simply wake up, because it is A Midsummer Night's DREAM, there is no problem of perturbation.
Domande da interrogazione
- Quali sono le caratteristiche principali che distinguono una commedia da una tragedia in "A Midsummer Night's Dream"?
- Qual è il ruolo dei personaggi di classe inferiore nella commedia?
- Come viene utilizzato il giardino nei boschi nella commedia?
- Cosa rappresentano le "ombre" nel monologo finale di Puck?
La commedia si distingue per l'uso della magia, le conseguenze comiche e un finale felice, mentre la tragedia ha conseguenze tragiche e un finale tragico. In "A Midsummer Night's Dream", la magia crea un'atmosfera da fiaba e alla fine l'ordine viene ristabilito.
I personaggi di classe inferiore, a differenza dei re e delle regine mitologici, fanno ridere il pubblico e possono ridere a loro volta, contribuendo alla leggerezza della commedia rispetto alla tensione delle tragedie.
Il giardino nei boschi è dominato da fiori selvatici e erbe, che evocano i sensi, specialmente l'olfatto e la vista, e sono ingredienti di pozioni curative, creando un ambiente magico e sensoriale.
Le "ombre" rappresentano copie imperfette delle idee platoniche, spiriti immateriali nel mondo magico e attori che interpretano in modo imperfetto qualcosa di irreale, un concetto che il pubblico può comprendere.