Comedy-->A Midsummer Night's Dream

A.) My favorite parts of this play were definitely the conversations between Bottom and his idiotic friends while preparing their play. Their complete foolishness, mis-wordings, and conceit were hilarious. One of the most ridiculous exchanges is here.
STARVELING:
I believe we must leave the killing out, when all is done.
BOTTOM:
Not a whit: I have a device to make all well.
Write me a prologue; and let the prologue seem to
say, we will do no harm with our swords, and that
Pyramus is not killed indeed; and, for the more
better assurance, tell them that I, Pyramus, am not
Pyramus, but Bottom the weaver: this will put them
out of fear.
QUINCE:
Well, we will have such a prologue; and it shall be
written in eight and six.
BOTTOM:
No, make it two more; let it be written in eight and eight.
SNOUT:
Will not the ladies be afeard of the lion?
STARVELING:
I fear it, I promise you.
BOTTOM:
Masters, you ought to consider with yourselves: to
bring in--God shield us!--a lion among ladies, is a
most dreadful thing; for there is not a more fearful
wild-fowl than your lion living; and we ought to
look to 't.
SNOUT:
Therefore another prologue must tell he is not a lion.
BOTTOM:
Nay, you must name his name, and half his face must
be seen through the lion's neck: and he himself
must speak through, saying thus, or to the same
defect,--'Ladies,'--or 'Fair-ladies--I would wish
You,'--or 'I would request you,'--or 'I would
entreat you,--not to fear, not to tremble: my life
for yours. If you think I come hither as a lion, it
were pity of my life: no I am no such thing; I am a
man as other men are;' and there indeed let him name
his name, and tell them plainly he is Snug the joiner.


I chose this passage because it really displayed the studpidity of Bottom and his fellow actors, if we can really call them actors. Bottom is so impressed with himself that he genuinely believes his acting may confuse and frighten the audience and feels the need to add in a prologue just to assure the ladies, whom he obviously considers very fragile and easily deceived, that the lion is actually a real man and that no one will actually be harmed with their swords. Bottom is the ring-leader of the charades in the group and he is definitely the most egotistical. He pretty much declares that he should just play all the roles when Quince is naming the parts. The way he makes adding the prologue and being way overly-sensitive so as not to frighten the audience such a big and important issue proves that he really has nothing better to do with his time. The funniest part of the entire scene is the fact that Bottom does not recognize his arrogance at all. He does not filter what he says and he certainly does not try to avoid making himself seem arrogant and conceited. He does not even realize how obnoxious he sounds.

Another part of the diction that immensely contributed to the comedy was the frequent misuse, misspelling, and incorrect pronunciation by these characters. In the passage above, Snout asks whether the ladies will be "afeard" of the lion. A grown man mispronouncing this word in such a childish way evoked a really comical image in my head. I could picture the group of men prancing around like toddlers thinking up all these "clever" ideas to make their play even better than it already is. Bottom is the glory-hog, constantly fighting to be the center of attention and have everyone recognize and praise his amazing capabilities. The fact that he thinks he is so great and yet his name is Bottom is also comical and ironic. The name Bottom, to me, connotates someone low down and barely mediocre yet Bottom seems to think he is the cream of the crop.

The way Bottom is genuinely trying to cater to the ladies in the audience by repeatedly ensuring them that the play is not real and the characters are actually men is hilarious and ironic at the same time. Bottom obviously is under the impression that the ladies in the audience will be so weak-minded and fragile that they will be fooled by the outstanding acting in the play and think the events are actually occuring. He feels so strongly about this that he insists upon a prologue and constant reminders throughout the play's production. The irony is in the fact that Bottom seems to feel the ladies are the foolish ones yet he is the biggest fool of all. He looks down upon others yet he is the one at the bottom of the intelligence and reality scale. Shakespeare made great use of diction to develop the comedy of this play.



B.) Although I do not generally think of Shakespeare as a comedy writer, he did a great job of representing a seriuos theme in a jovial and light-hearted way. The theme of this play was that love is often misleading and does not always, or usually for that matter, go as planned. Generally Shakespeare's themes of love are created in tragedies and dramas but this play was different. I enjoyed the fact that Shakespeare used a comedy to depict love's hardships and complications rather than a tragedy and was still able to get his point across. Love is saved and order is restored only by the magic of the fairies in the play. This tie to magic symbolized that love rarely happens according to plan and it is truly magic when love does play out perfectly.

Shakespeare establishes humor throughout the play by incorporating the misspellings and mispronunciations of the Athenian craftsman and through many of the comic exchanges between Demetrius and Helena, who is basically an obsessive stalker. I found Demetrius' blunt and harsh responses to Helena's love very comical. Shakespeare utilizes irony in the scene where both Demetrius and Lysander fall in love with Helena and want nothing to do with Hermia and Helena takes it as cruel joke. By mixing up the love lives of the characters, Shakespeare effectively incorporates love's confusion and complexity.

C.) This was my favorite of the Shakespearean plays I have read because I actually found it very funny. Shakespeare uses a very dry sense of humor in this play that I happen to really enjoy. This play was a nice break from the usual tragedies and horrors that I tend to associate Shakespeare with. The character development was one of Shakespeare's best, in my opinion. He created several very different personalities and constructed the play with a couple of unique story lines that all run into one another at the conclusion. I found this play easy to follow and to understand as well. It was interesting because it switched from one story line to another so the reader did not lose interest in what was going on at any point.

I appreciated Shakespeare's ability to tie a real theme into an extremely light-hearted play. The concepts of love, magic, and nature were clearly present throughout the play even though as you were reading it you did not feel the need to get too in depth or interpretative of the words. There were no hidden meanings or obscure themes, at least that I know of. I did not find myself struggling with the plot or the overall meaning of the work at all which made it more fun and relaxing to read.