The Major Comedic Elements of a Midsummer Night’s Dream Essay

The Major Comedic Elements of A Midsummer Night’s Dream Like most comedies, Shakespeare’s comedies also aimed to entertain the audience and to conclude with a somewhat happy ending. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is no exception to that rule. Also like most of his comedies, the main theme of this play is marriage or the celebration of a marriage. Although marriage is the main theme of this play, Shakespeare conveys many other themes though the lyrical expressions of the work. These themes and many more will be explored throughout this paper in an attempt to prove that A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a comedy. Like most comedies of this time period, this play opens with the discussion of marriage. Hermia refuses to†¦show more content†¦One of the most noticeable factors of comedy is the role of the vice. Where would a good comedy be without a prankster of some sort? Puck fulfills the role of the vice wonderfully whether it was intentional or not. Oberon, king of the fairies, and his wife Titania are in disagreement over a Indian changeling that he wishes to use as a henchman. In an attempt to punish Titania for her disobedience, he hires Puck to help him. Puck’s job is to attain a magical juice, which makes the victims fall in love with the first person or creature in sight. Oberon applies the juice in an attempt to distract his wife, so that she will give up the changeling and he can use him as a servant. This could also be looked at as another example of men versus women in the play. The rise of tension between characters is another characteristic of comedic plays. After Oberon sees the way that Helena has been treated by Demetrius, he orders Puck to apply the juice to the eyes of Demetrius. Puck accidentally applies the juice to Lysander’s eye, which causes him to fall in love with Helena. After the mistake had been caught, Oberon sends Puck to watch Helena and Oberon applies the juice to Demetrius’ eyes. This causes both men to fall for Helena and now the battle is for Helena and not Hermia. Helena is convinced that this is a joke or prank because neither of the two men loved her before. Now because of Puck’s mistakes the four decide to find aShow MoreRelatedManipulating The Supernatural : William Shakespeare s Othello And A Midsummer Night s Dream883 Words   |  4 Pagesgenerate more recognition for his plays. Throughout Shakespeare s plays, Othello and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, he appeals to the audience by relating to their hum an nature. One of the major observations of human nature that Shakespeare likely made and incorporated into his plays is the human desire to be drawn toward the seemingly supernatural and unknown. 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